Should You Wear a Golf Glove?

What does science say about water and the human hand? You may have noticed that when your hands are soaked your fingers wrinkles. Wikipedia describes it as:  “The wrinkles that occur in skin after prolonged exposure to water are sometimes referred to as ‘pruney fingers’ or water aging. This is a temporary skin condition where the skin on the palms of the hand or feet becomes wrinkly. Some researchers have proposed that this wrinkling response may have imparted an evolutionary benefit by providing improved traction in wet conditions.”

Human skin on the gripping surfaces of our hands and feet, furrows up creating tire tread-like traction certainly an “evolutionary benefit” but also in my experience a golf benefit: here is the rule of thumb for your golf game: When the water comes from the inside in the form of perspiration, the golf glove works well but when it comes from outside [rain] then a glove, unless its specially treated, probably doesn’t work as well as your own skin.

The Surly Pro has a Go at the Architects

     Now its official – the guy who helped caused the problem is now part of the solution! No I’m not talking about Barney Frank and the housing industry collapse – I’m talking about Jack Nicklaus and the slow play crisis. When Jack was playing you could time him with a sundial; like Lots wife Nicklaus stood frozen over every shot – and millions copied him. But that wasn’t his biggest contribution to slow play; that is reserved for the almost impossible course layouts he built. The Nicklaus course design philosophy was recorded in an interview with Golf Week writer Bradley Klein a few years ago “I don’t take a lot of special consideration for women. Its like, “how do you design a course for a man who shoots 110?”

    The surly pro answers that instead of shooting 110, and losing seven balls over five hours you could design the course so he shoots 80 and it only takes him two hours and one ball to do it. Granted that as Nicklaus aged and his ability to play his own courses diminished he softened his layouts but not so with other architects like Pete Dye who still builds courses that are so hard it takes five hours+ to play even if you’re an expert.

     So what is the suggestion to ease slow play”? To speed up play, some including Nicklaus, are suggesting playing only 12 holes as was done last week in a golf tournament at a Nicklaus course in Ohio. Say what? That’s like wanting to shoot 72 and then ending your round when you get to 72 strokes – a solution that accomplishes the goal but destroys the process.

     A tip from the Surly Pro: Never mind playing 12 holes --- instead, stop building such difficult golf courses.

A Flare for the Game

Here’s a question for you: Do you need a complete swing re-construction or just a custom re-matching? If your swing is really bad and you have the time and dedication for a complete overhaul find a teacher who’s going to be around for at least the next year, agree on the blueprint and stick with it. It took Tiger a year  plus each time he retooled his swing, so be patient.

But you can also improve dramatically by understanding how to customize your golf swing. Here’s how it works: There are some combinations of swing elements (like ball position, grip, clubface position etc.) that match-up well and some that don’t. The problem is that being miss-matched creates a “golfing Frankenstein” by combining swing parts that just don’t fit together: for example a forward ball position and a shut clubface don’t match well and neither do a weak grip and quiet hands.

Playing with miss-matches makes golf hard so you and your teacher need to scout your swing to make sure you have the correct match-ups.

One of the most important matchups pairs is foot flare and release. If you’re hooking, your clubface is too closed at impact, so flare your front foot out to delay the release so the clubface stays open longer. If you’re slicing do the opposite: Decreasing the flare of your target foot makes the toe of the club rotate over the heel sooner, something a slicer can use to square the face at impact.

General Caption: “The less front foot flare, the sooner the clubface closes, the more flare, the later. If you’re a slicer try less flare, for a hooker, experiment with more flare.”

From the Mind of Golf’s Greatest Player

A few years ago I asked a number of PGA tour players what they thought about while they swing and their responses ranked all the way from ‘nothing’ to four swing keys -- one during the takeaway, one at the top, one at impact, and one at the finish—a lot of thinking for a second and a half. The majority had two thoughts or guides, one during the backswing and one through impact.

Its always been known that the best player ever, Jack Nicklaus, saw a video in his mind of the shot before he hit it – he called it going to the movies. But recently he’s expanded on his thinking. Here is what he said about how he almost holed his tee shot on 16, the year he won his 18^th Major at age 46.

‘My [thought pattern] was, I've got 175 yards, I've got to hit the ball high in the air, I need to hit it softly. Make that swing. Some people think about what they're mechanically doing through the ball.  I think about what I want the clubhead to do through the ball to make the ball do what I want.  People look at things differently. … I didn't play by swing mechanics; I played by feeling things that would make the mechanics happen."

[Jack Nicklaus in Golf Digest, April, 2011]

So first you learn the swing mechanics such as left elbow or right knee then on the golf course you focus, not on those mechanics, but on what has to happen at impact to make the shot you just saw in the your mental video.

But       Repetition: IBM vs. the Start Up

Science tells us some important things about repetition. "It is a well known principle that learning is better when training trials are spaced out than when given all together," says Dr. Wayne Sossin, of McGill University in Montreal. Sossin proved that spreading the production of the neuro-transmitter serotonin over five weeks of repetition leads to better learning than a tsunami of serotonin over a short time.

Another researcher TJ Shors and her team at Rutgers have shown that the adult brain makes new neurons in substantial numbers -- between 5000 to 10000 a day. These cells are thought to be available to capture new learning – if such is presented to them. If not they die within two weeks.

As a learner trying to grow your golf brain this tells you that:

[1] There should be an incubation period between each learning session [I would rather have you hit 30 balls once a week for five weeks that 150 balls in one day.]  

[2] Since you are producing new learning cells every day you can rewire your golf brain if [and only if] you make the effort to run your reps through these cells – so much for ‘can’t teach an old golfer a new swing.”

[3] I have outlined previously that while you are rep-ing you need to apply full intention and full attention to every repetition -- ‘mindless repeating is defeating.”

[4] You must alternate between mixed and block repetitions. Mixed reps involve hitting a six iron then a driver then a wedge etc. with the focus on ball flight just like you do on the golf course. When you block-rep you are not interested in ball flight but in the repetition of the swing mechanic you are learning. 

[5] There must be enough reps of the non-negotiable swing mechanics you lack [coil, radius, sequence etc.]. The scientific literature is vague but my experience suggests the following as a guideline: 300 reps for each non-negotiable as a New-learner; 3000 reps to relearn each non-negotiable as a Re-learner. As you can see it is harder to relearn than to learn for the first time.

More important than an exact number of reps is the concept that you need to put your 5000+ new learning cells to work every day. Use them or Lose them!

Changing Your Traffic Pattern

To engender patience in my learners I use the analogy of their old swing as IBM aka Big Blue. Every time a client [a stimulus] comes in the door it runs through the biggest golf program in your brain making Big Blue even bigger with each rep. Since it is traffic that makes IBM so powerful, if you want to change your swing you’ve got to change the traffic pattern.

Prompted by years of bad shots you decide to grow a rival company – let’s call it New Swing Inc. or Little Red. At first your new company has a very low traffic pattern i.e. the electrical stimuli that control how you make your golf swing are all sent through Big Blue.

But being an entrepreneur you are not helpless and by using conscious intervention you force every repetition through Little Red – in effect you engineer a hijacking of the clients. As more and more stimuli flow through Little Red your new swing gains a foothold and your golf brain physically changes -- if you could look inside your brain you’d see Little Red’s interconnections growing to handle the overflow of new clients.

Hello Big Red

As your golf brain grows here is the progression you can expect: First your new swing will not work at all – then it will work on the practice tee but, since you revert to your biggest motor program under stress, you will fail to transfer Little Red to the course -- its not yet big enough to call the shots!.

Now failure on the course brings a critical juncture -- it is at this point that most abandon Little Red. But you must be patient and continue your reps until your new company grows bigger than IBM. Once you reach this point your new swing will become the swing of choice under pressure – it’s now Big Red and you are ready to hunt targets with it.

Duane and His Other Brother Duane

Duane is a student who never makes the same swing twice because he is always tinkering with his swing. It’s like teaching Duane and his other brother Duane – when I see him in the lesson book I’m never sure who is going to show up.

Duane is looking for perfection and he’ll try any tip no matter how whacky – he’s tried cross-handed, eyes closed, holding his breath, and screaming like a banshee at impact – and those are some of his more modest experiments. At one point he wrote instructions on his shirt so he could read them just before his swing. When that didn’t work he proposed to me that he was going to rig a pair of glasses with a video screen to read his swing cues while he swung – at which point I put my foot down.

The Power of Repetition

The problem he has when it comes to learning is a major one: For the ‘Duane clan’ repetition means one-in-a-row, not a good approach when reps are such a key element in learning the golf swing.

Good News for Duane

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley led by Jose Carmena taught monkeys to use their own brain signals to move a computer cursor to various targets using a prosthetic device [not a golf club but who knows in the future] and after they understood the task, the monkeys learned to wield a robotic device using repetition and practice to entrain the motion. "When your own body performs motor tasks repeatedly, the movements become almost automatic," said Carmena "Beyond its clinical applications this line of research sheds light on how the brain assembles and organizes neurons, and how it forms a motor memory to control the prosthetic device" Now if Duane can just channel these monkeys he’s got a chance.

The Neuro-Biology of Performance

Experiments at the National Institute of Health by Douglas Fields explain why practice and repetition are so important. There is a substance produced in the brain called myelin that acts as an insulator – it wraps around your neurons and prevents the electrical current that energizes your networks from leaking into the periphery. Brains that have thick layers of myelin think and act faster. When Albert Einstein’s brain was dissected they found glial cells in much higher concentration then in a normal brain and that was about the only difference between his brain and a normal one. And what do glial cells do? They manufacture myelin.

In an email to me Dr. Fields explained what triggered the brain to make myelin. “Different signals released by axons [a part of a brain cell] in response to impulse firing regulate the growth, proliferation, and differentiation of myelinating glia, and myelination of axons.” In other words when you repeat the same golf swing it sends a signal down the pathway and it is that signal which prompts the brain cell to generate a wrap of myelin. Do this enough and you have yourself a neuro-template of how to swing the club – and the more you wrap it, the more efficient the performance.

Of course you can learn a bad swing perfectly – perfectly wrong -- so it’s the job of the learner to make sure the technique they rep is the correct one.

Duane and His Other Brother Duane - Part 2

If chimps can learn to use a prosthetic device using repetition so could my student Duane whose idea of a repeat swing was one-in-a-row. To help Duane focus I instituted my Ten-Times Rule: Duane agreed that he would exactly repeat the task we were working on ten times in a row before he would experiment with something else and he promised that he would do his ‘other’ swing only five times in a row, if that– no matter what.

My rule is not haphazardly derived. The literature shows how motor learning can be affected by the conditions under which the practice is conducted. This is why I broke down Duane’s learning model into distinct segments, each made up of mini-tasks that combine to form a major task – everything you learn in golf should be broken down into manageable chunks -- then it’s your brain’s job to knit these pieces together into ‘your swing’ – that in fact is what your brain does for a living i.e. it makes blueprints of the territory from info it has gathered!

I explained to Duane that after a part of the blueprint is learned there should be a spacing of at least six hours before he learns the next task. The research describing this crucial incubation period called the Window of Vulnerability comes from John Hopkins University and is summarized on my web site www.tjtomasi.com.

FIFA

At he repeated his task I encouraged Duane to enlist his two best friends when it comes to learning golf – Full Intention [FI] and Full Attention [FA]. There is much to suggest that robotic repetition is no better than flitting from swing to swing. I would rather have Duane hit 10 shots with FIFA then 100 shots with his headphones on trying to groove muscle memory, impossibility since muscles have no memory. In fact the physical act of repetition is only part of the learning process. Of considerable importance are the cognitive processes involved when you repeat a task– mere rote, where your brain takes a holiday, is not what Duane needs to be doing.

Learning with the Three Bears

During his reps I want Duane to be a problem solver. I want him to have a goal for each repetition in terms of what the model looks like and how close he comes to it with each attempt. Full Intention tells his brain the reason why he is doing the rep, for example he repeats ‘a correct takeaway sets up impact.’ In this way he can use the power of bracketing to perfect the process. Bracketing is the brains fine-tuning mechanism that adjusts after each rep to bring the learner closer to the model i.e. like the three bears -- too hot, too cold, just right. His other friend, Full Attention, means that the brains mental spotlight is focused on his performance of the rep to the exclusion of other swing thoughts.

You’ve Arrived When You Own Your Own Learning

Learning is a process of successive approximation using bracketing – you identify the model [goal] and each trial is a piece of information telling you how close you are to matching your model. In this schemata failure is simply a piece of information that helps you come closer to the correct: Its partner, success, is also just a piece of info and at this stage success and failure are of equal value to a brain that is bracketing. I call this whole process ‘running software’ and it is my gift to my students. When they begin running software the student now owns their own learning and I recede into the background to prepare the next segment. Duane is no stranger to successive approximation – no one is. Duane learned to walk that way – he learned to talk that way and now if I have my say, he’ll learn to play golf that way.

Duane: Last Episode

I recounted the story of Duane a student whose problem is so common that I use it to help you to learn to teach golf. Duane’s major problem was that he had no blueprint for the swing changes he wanted to make and so he constantly tinkered with his swing trying every tip that floated by. As I do for those students who need swing construction, I gave him a blueprint of the technique and broke it down into manageable chunks. I encouraged him to repeat each chunk, one by one, separated by an incubation period until his brain had enough info to knit all the pieces together into a home-base golf swing. Some think this is the long way home but it is actually the short route to learning a golf swing.

And I would be remiss if I did not tell you one more thing I asked Duane to do – and it is by far the hardest part of the learning process – at certain points along the way, ignore ball flight.

Here is the rule: When you’re learning the pieces of your swing, don’t let the ball be your master.

The Tyranny of Ball Flight

When the ball is your master you make changes after every bad shot. Instead of returning to the template and repeating it exactly you tinker in order to hit the next shot better. In a typical profile you hit two good shots and make no changes then the third shot slices so you adjust your grip – and the forth shot is too high so you move the ball back – the fifth shot is good but you have no idea why – then you pull the sixth so you adjust your aim – and so it goes until all the balls in your basket are gone and so is your swing -- no motor template can survive so many random changes. This is what I mean when I caution you against letting the ball be your master – it can ruin your ability to learn golf.

This young professional player is working on releasing the club so it matches his shoulder plane. While he is learning this swing piece I don’t want him to be influenced by the ball flight and wearing the long billed hat I designed called the “no-see-um” does the trick – he can’t see the ball after he hits it. As soon as he learns the feel of this move, the hat comes off.

Match the Model

So here is the rule: When you’re learning a new “swing piece” your evaluation system should be how well you match the blueprint of the task - not how good the shot is. Once you have your blueprint in place, you can troubleshoot your swing on the basis of ball flight. In this case, however, ball flight is your servant, not your master.

Sleep on It

And lastly my recommendation to Duane [and to you] is to write down the essentials of the task you wish to learn and read them before sleep. Matthew Walker a neuroscientist at Harvard believes that if used correctly sleep can be put to work to boost the performance of athletes, musicians, and doctors learning new surgical techniques – so I asked Duane to sleep on it.

As we have seen in this three part series the most direct route to learning the golf swing is to follow the laws of motor learning. Why? Because no amount of talent will over-come a deficiency in the human learning protocol. Once I explained this to Duane he vowed that he would give his brain a chance to work its magic. Duane is now a happy golfer living and playing great golf in Port St. Lucie Fl.

What You can Learn From Jack

Jack Nicklaus is a good example of the power of matching-up correctly - matching your swing to your body [For more on this, see my book The LAWs of the Golf Swing].

When he was in the prime of athletic shape, Jack dominated the pro tour beginning in 1963, but by 1978-79, decreasing flexibility and his steep downswing began to catch up with him. His shots lacked the old power and accuracy, and it became apparent to him that something was wrong. Nicklaus realized that to maintain his world class form he must change his swing to better suit the characteristics of his changing body.

With Dustin Johnson and Tiger Woods setting the modern day standard we have a tendency to forget that Jack Nicklaus was an awesome combination of power and accuracy, perhaps the straightest long driver that ever played the game. When he first came on the PGA Tour, experts predicted that his swing wouldn’t last. Their theory was that with his arms so high above him by virtue of his flying right elbow, it produced a very steep downswing that was prone to off center hits, unless his timing and his flexibility were perfect. 

His swing developed this way because his teacher, Jack Grout, drummed into him to reach for the sky and to do that and also keep his head still (another Grout fundamental) Nicklaus let his right elbow fly. As a burly teenager Jacks chest was large so he flew his elbow even more as an adjustment to his build. But when you fly the elbow it pushes the club high over your body and as he began to age and his hip speed decreased, he could no longer compensate for the steep downswing that occurred as a result of the wayward elbow. 

Swing Modification

In 1979 he realized this and set about to flatten his swing plane a change that allowed his swing to last long enough for him to win 73 tour events, play in 154 consecutive major championships and tie for 6th at the 1998 Masters, four strokes back of eventual winner Mark O’Meara. - 36 years after he joined the tour in 1962. In my opinion this is even more incredible than his 1986 Masters win at age 46.

What can you learn from Nicklaus? You need to adapt your swing as your body changes. Find a pro that knows how to match your body metrics to your swing and don’t be afraid to make the adjustments.

The oracle sayith and you payith

You often hear it said "there is no secret to golf" or put in a slightly different way "The secret to golf is there is no secret." Well there is a secret - many secrets in fact- if the true meaning of the word carries any sway. A secret, according to Webster is "known to only a few - something that is hidden from most." and if there is any sport that is "hidden from most" its golf with the myriad of swing theories festooning the learning landscape, the ever growing flock of swing oracles who with great regularity contradict each other much to the confusion of their subjects who don't realize that oracles are in the secrets business and business is good - very good.  

From Olympus to the Golf Channel

We have always paid our oracles well - with cash, high status and the ultimate respect due someone who has the "divine breath" the term describing the wisdom dispensed by the mother of all dispensers - the Delphi Oracle. Booked years in advance, priestesses in flowing white robes laid around all day answering questions of great import put to them by kings, warlords and the scions of industry -- answers that starting in 1400 BC markedly influenced the course of world events for over 1000 years.

The problem was they didn't just tell you straight-out stuff like "don't declare war on Rome" or "buy salt futures." When the oracle opined it was a stream of convoluted and arcane statements more confusing then an Enron audit. But not to worry - To make the information more user friendly there were priests who did nothing [at least during office hours] but translate the cryptic answers for their high paying clientele. But if you’re an oracle talk is not cheap – you are well paid, but in 67 AD, Emperor Nero, who was just 30 years old and had killed his own mother in 59 AD was told by the Oracle:

‘Your presence here outrages the god you seek. Go back, matricide! The number 73 marks the hour of your downfall!’

Nero never one to suffer bad news well, had her buried alive. His reign came to an end after a revolt by Galba who was 73 years of age at the time. I guess if you look hard enough for 73 to verify the prediction, the guys age will do but it’s a stretch.

Why did the babes babble so? The newest research confirms what had been speculated for centuries - the priestesses were stoned on the underground natural gases emanating from the ground at the foot of Mt. Parnassus, in Greece where the oracle was located. It was a good gig – find a mountain, get stoned, babble and get paid for it.

Today there are a growing number of oracles in golf - gurus who dispense their brand of the 'divine breath' wisdom. Instead of Mt. Olympus they are on the Golf Channel and on infomercials, CD’s and videos.

They form cult methods based on 'proprietary knowledge' which they defend with fanatical zeal. One such teaching method is based on 'physics' and the bible their use is so convoluted it needs priests to translate it, priests whose reason for being is based on the opaque nature of the material. Another uses a video tape of your swing explained to you by local operators located in strip malls who teach from a one-size fits all computer program based on dubious assumptions. Another guru does card tricks symbolic of his professionalism. Still another basis its entire marketing program on one golfer. His pronouncements about the golf swing rival the prattle from the ancient stoned-heads. The modern priests tell you that you need special high price clubs and a special swing - not like Ben Hogan's, winner of all four majors, unlike Tiger's,  and not even close to Sam Snead's who won more PGA tour titles than anyone. In this method everyone must swing exactly like a player who never won a tournament on the PGA Tour and that nobody who plays for a living has ever copied.

The moral of the oracle: if you want to play better golf beware of the 'divine breath' crew - they need you but you don't need them.

Dr. Gary Wiren, who literally wrote the book (The PGA Teaching Manual) paid a visit to Keiser University College of Golf and did a wonderful presentation to the student body. 

I have worked with Gary over the years and he is considered by all to be great teacher and one of the authorities on the History of Golf.

TJ on the left, Dr. Wiren and Dr. Eric Wilson, Head of the College

This is the teaching staff at the college with Dr. Wiren

TJ, Dr. Wilson, Dr. Wiren, Donna White (former LPGA player), Brian Hughes, Master Professional, David Wixson, PGA Professional and Frank Longabucco, PGA Professional



READ THE LATEST NEWSLETTER FROM GOLF MAGAZINES TOP 100 TEACHERS.

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TJ's birthday (which is today) was surprised by a combination celebration.  He has written his syndicated newspaper golf page for over 11 years and as you can see by the cake, that is a lot of pages to come up with new ideas on a weekly basis.

Happy Birthday and congratulations

I love you,  June and the kids (Billy, Willie, Tillie and Heidi

To see a copy of TJ's weekly nationally syndicated column:

Click here

Fixing Your Swing:   It could be as simple as the Ball Position

Hit a bad shot and the common explanation  usually involves something to do with your golf swing. You were too handsy or you didn’t shift your weight properly but there is another cause of bad shots, one that is easier to fix then a swing fault – its your ball position. When you set up to the ball basically what you’re doing is arranging a collision between the clubhead and the ball and if the ball is misplaced, a mis-hit results. Position the ball too far forward and your shoulders open (face to the left of the target for a right handed player). This encourages an out-to-in swing path characteristic of a slicer. Position the ball too far back, and your shoulders close, promoting an in-to-out path that can produce a hook.  Here’s how to handle your ball position.

For the Woods

For a driver or other woods on a tee, a golfer with my body type should position the ball off their underarm.  I’ve placed guides on the ground so I can check my position —you should do the same.

Since the ball is on a tee with the driver it should be positioned off my left heel to promote a collision just after the clubhead has reached the bottom of the swing arc and is on the way up. This is the collision point that will optimize launch angle and driving distance. See how my hands are slightly behind the ball, this creates the same shaft angle I want to return to at impact.

For the Irons

For my 5-iron I have placed the ball off my left cheek to make sure I hit the ball with a descending blow (before the bottom of the swing arc), the collision point that will optimize the iron launch angle and help ensure the proper distance control. This is the same position I use for any iron from the 5 through the sand wedge. Again, notice the reference boards -- this time my hands are ahead of the ball in the position I want to mirror at impact

For the Fairway Woods

For fairway woods hit off the ground, or for a long iron such as a 3 or 4, the ball should be positioned in-between these too extremes—opposite the logo on my shirt.

Your body type and your golf swing should match. In my book, “The LAWs of the Golf Swing,” I divide players into three prototypical body classifications: Leverage Players who have balanced body characteristics; Arc Players who are long-limbed and thin-chested; and Width Players who are short-limbed and rounded. Then I outline three basic swing types—Leverage, Arc and Width (thus the LAWs) that match the three body types.

I’m a Leverage Player and the ball positions shown here are for golfers with a similar build. If you tend toward either of the other types, the rule of thumb is that Arc Players should position the ball more forward and Width Players farther back. Your can find out more details in “The LAWs of the Golf Swing” available on my website.

    The Ghost in the Mindset

    In my observation the average player is either short of the cup or missing on the low side when they putt, afraid that they won’t make the come-backer if their ball goes by the hole.

    The ghost in the mindset whispers to them that 18 inches past the hole is excessive while two inches short is a “gimme.” And since the player does not expect to make the putt, two putts becomes the safe standard. Basically the golfer who holds this costly past-the-hole bias, is doomed to two or more putts. This subconscious bias is exposed only by record keeping.

   Two Interventions for Past-the-Hole Bias

    The first step in the intervention process is to keep records of your putts – how far short or long, high side of the cup or low. This brings your bias up from the murky depths into the light of day. The rule of the healthy golf mind is: "Intervention begins with understanding."

    The Hop Drill

    Second you need to train yourself to hit aggressive putts by using the hop drill where you lay a shaft across the hole with the goal of striking the putt just hard enough to hit the shaft and hop over it into the cup or just a few inches past should it miss.

    After enough repetitions using this drill your brain will understand how firmly you must hit your putts. In general I think it’s bad practice to die putts into the hole because if you let up just a fraction under pressure, you'll leave it short. Firmness has room for error since the cup is 4 1/4 inches from back to front so a firm putt can be two inches shorter than planned and still go in.

    So the intervention process for making more birdies in particular and more putts in general is to [1] adopt the concept of firmness and let that rule all attempts [2] engrain firmness by using the hop drill pictured below.

Make sure the shaft on the ground does not lay at an angle to you line of roll i.e. the arrow is perpendicular to the shaft. Also check that the shaft is flush with the ground. Note how the face is downward to the ground to promote flushness.

It didn’t go in but I know the speed was correct because it hopped the shaft.

The controlling concept here is called the Window of Vulnerability [WOV].  Research from Johns Hopkins University shows that to learn a new skill, it’s not enough to simply practice it – in addition you must allow enough time to pass for the brain to encode the information.

Researchers found that during this critical time frame the brain's internal model of the task physically shifts from its initial location [zone 1] in the front of your brain to the pre-motor areas in the parietal lobe near the back of the head [zone 2]. Basically learning a motor skill like the takeaway is a two step process that starts in one area where the learning is fragile then moves to another area where it is much more resistant to change. The good learner knows this and structures the lesson accordingly.

Neuro-Plasticity is a Plus

Please note that this fragile period is of great value for it gives you the opportunity to over-write your disk i.e. while in zone 1 adjustments can be made to the new template. If at some point early on you couldn’t write over newly learned stuff how would you prune it of error? By the same token a certain amount of stability in our motor response repertoire is essential. Thus in the initial laying down of golf tasks the learner as well as the teacher must expect new memories to be vulnerable during the over-write period. Here is why Duane’s promise of exact repetition is so important for it is repetition of the task that conveys to the brain that this particular template is ready and should be moved from zone 1 to zone 2 where it becomes a stabilized motor template otherwise know as “I learned it, so what’s next!”

Thus to promote super learning each lesson must have an anatomy [a structure] and a biology [a dynamic that is alive and unscripted]. Each lesson must be choreographed so that it matches the way the brain learns. No amount of talent will over-come a deficiency in the human learning protocol.

Just returned from doing to clinics at Reunion Resort in Orlando and Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, F.  These are two beautiful resorts and wonderful golf courses.  I had a great time and the students that took advantage of this opportunity for a tune up came away with valuable information.

The Power Crouch

To get the most benefit out of this article takes a bit of leg work – both figuratively and literally – but I can assure you it is worth it when you see one of the most remarkable golfers on the planet. His name is Manuel De Los Santos, a three handicap. I believe that by studying his swing you will understand how power is produced. The secret is coiling the upper body then setting up a wall and driving across it at high speeds.

To see a demonstration of this principle go to youtube.com and type in Le swing de Manuel de los Santos Avril09.

[You can stop the video by clicking the start button -- the second swing is in slow motion.]

When you look at the video note how he flexes his leg to start the downswing. This “power crouch” is the same technique Tiger uses to generate much of his power. Most amateurs do exactly the opposite i.e. they start back to the ball with stiff legs that deaden their body. 

Santos comes out of his crouch with a power-packed straightening of his leg that fires his club at the ball. You know he’s swinging in an arc around his body because to keep from falling down he hops in the direction the force is taking him -- around behind him.  

A Power Image

The release of the club-head to the ball is not a “make” but a “let.” By this I mean that while it would seem that the 90 degree angle formed by your front arm and the club shaft must be forcibly straightened by conscious effort, this is not case. In fact if you try to make this angle go straight it will ruin your swing. As Santos shows us you must rely on physics,  namely the conservation of momentum to get the job done. His swing may be long but he doesn’t control it with his arms and shoulders – they work beautifully but the trigger for the release of the club is the snap of the lower body.

Here is the image: A horse and rider approaches a six foot jump at full gallop and suddenly the horse stops dead – the rider picks up the momentum of the stopped horse and is “released” over the wall at high speed. The club-head is the rider and the upper body plays the part of the horse while the wall is the front leg and hip. Your goal is to use your legs correctly so a collision occurs as you run the right side of your body over the resting left side. The result of this collision is a “Santos release” – full, complete and with no fear.

    Drill:

    Take your normal address posture with a tee’d up seven iron. Then pull your back leg about 12 inches behind you and balance on the toe with your heel in the air and all your weight on your forward leg. The idea is to make you a one—legged golfer for a few swings so you can feel the power of establishing a wall to hit against. From the top of your swing make sure the first move down is a flexing of the front knee -- then at impact allow the leg to straighten as you release the club over the leg – and of course as with all your full swings, keep rotating.

     You’ll probably never hit it as far as Santos [he regularly drives it 300 yards] but by swinging one-legged you’ll understand how power is generated. And remember that power comes from technique so swing under control and be sure to ask your doctor if it’s ok to do this drill before you attempt it.

Predator or Prey?

In a study of I.E.D. detection researchers found that troops who were the best at spotting hidden bombs tended to think of themselves as predators on a hunt rather than prey being stocked. First-rate training builds confidence and when you see yourself as the competent hunter your stress chemicals work for you i.e. instead of overwhelming your capabilities to respond effectively the stress chemicals enhance them. If you’re good at being a predator, then under the heat, the butterflies are flying in formation rather than dive bombing.

The Predator Package

The pump of the hunt, the confidence in the outcome and the excellent preparation and training all place the predator in control of the situation, its rules, and eventually the outcome. As Tiger Woods said after an important loss “I didn’t play well, I didn’t have my A game today -- but there will be other days.”  They can run from the Tiger but they can’t hide. 

And if your DNA determines you’re a predator, you are provided with a predator package complete with a specialized visual apparatus

Everything with their Head Down Gets Eaten

In addition to the psychological differences between predator and prey there are also physical differences, the major of which is that predators are built with their eyes in front of the head while prey have their eyes to the side. Prey, mostly herbivorous, have much better peripheral vision so they can spot a predator as they munch in the alfalfa patch while predators intent on pouncing see much better straight ahead – they augment their weakness in peripheral vision by a sophisticated pivot system that extends the range of side vision – the neck.

Paying Your Dues: The Predator’s Mindset

Of course in a civilized society we satisfy much of our DNA imprint through sports where lesser players can develop the predators’ mindset through hard work, determination and training.  Along with the emotional and physical machinery conferred by evolution comes a learned mindset that must be developed – in any given circumstance a predator can become prey and a prey can turn the tables and become a predator.  “This is why they play the game” as ESPN announcer Chris Berman likes to say.

I train a number of golfers who want to be tour players and it is a key moment when one morphs from prey to predator.   An important part of 'paying your dues’  as a golfer is this maturation process. I took a very raw rookie to watch a tour event and after seeing all the great players I asked ‘well, what do you think’ – the response was ‘I can beat them.” About the same time I asked another of my players to describe her performance in a tournament and her response was “I saw Paula Creamer in the parking lot getting out of her BMW; she’s bigger than I thought.”

One predator in training, one prey in waiting.

                           Walk Or Take A Human!

The Center for Disease Control predicts up to 40% of Americans could be infected with the Swine flu; The World Health Organization says 2 billion infections worldwide Possible. Given twenty six million golfers that's 26 x 40% = 10,400,000 golfers who could get the flu.

I teach at the PGA Learning Center in Port St Lucie, Fl. and every winter thousands of golfers visit us to take lessons and play our three championship golf courses so for all the golfers who are on the road during the flu season I reproduce below some advice I give to my touring professionals on safe travel:

 Precautions:

     *As soon as you enter a new hotel room, spray with a virus/bacteria killer. Blast every surface including light switches and TV remotes. And don't forget the shower curtain, pillows and head backboard. Spray your room as if the previous occupant had a deadly, communicable disease -- who knows, it could be.

   *The only time you should let your skin touch the bedspread is when you strip it off and throw it in the corner. Hotels rarely wash bedspreads and studies show they contain human leavings such as urine, feces and vomit. Blankets are no prize either -- use your bathrobe for a blanket. 

   *Let your shower run 30 seconds before you step in -- bacteria build up in the shower head and the first 30 seconds or so is a spray of germs.

   *Never accept maid service -- the service may inadvertently reintroduce germs into your newly sanitized environment. And every time you return to your room it’s a good idea to spray again because your clothes, hair, hands etc. can download germs into your space.

    Remember the old joke: Two germs are talking about going cross town and one germ asks the other: "Shall we walk or take a human?"

 *Wash you hands frequently and scrub them aggressively. While hot water and soap is helpful the most effective part is "the scrub" because those critters dig in and can only be dislodged and rinsed down the sink by 20 seconds or so of "rubbing and rinsing."

   *When you use a public restroom turn off the facet with a paper towel - this prevents re-infection of your hands then open the door with that towel.

   *Most germs are housed in the mucous membranes of the nose and when you have a cold its easy to get some nose fluid on your hands -- then you shake hands with someone and now they have your germs and of course vice versa. Actually its best to not shake hands at all. Instead use the "knuckle bump" tour pros use when they make a birdie. Even if you do download some germs you don't see many people with their knuckles up their nose.

   *One of the most diseased part of your trip are the menus in the restaurants. They almost never washed and everybody paws them. If a table turns 80 people in a night during flu season what are the odds that one of those has the flu – at 40% of our population the number is 32. Carry pocket size Purell and use it just after you hand the menu back to your waiter.

 *I suggest you wear a golf glove when you travel. This gives you one hand that’s germ free so when its time to eat you take off the glove and use your germ-free hand.  Finger foods like peanuts and foods you hold in your hand like sandwiches are an invitation to infection. Does it look strange to wear one glove -- perhaps, but better weird than sick.

  *Never eat at a buffet. They are a breeding ground for germs. A person wipes his nose on his sleeve then reaches across the potatoes for the corn. His fluids drip off his sleeve into the buffet food and under the hot lights the germs multiply until you come along an hour later and take a heaping helping.

* The worst thing you can order when you travel are salads. If there are six ingredients [chicken, lettuce, egg, tomato etc.] that means someone had to touch all of them and if s/he is sick, you will be too.

*And stay away from kids, bless their little hearts. Don't touch them and don't sit next to them. Since their immune systems aren't fully developed, kids are the Tiger Woods of germ carriers.

 Are There "Not's" In Your Putting?

For an enlightening experience go to any practice putting green and watch golfers putt. In actuality what you'll see is golfers practicing missing putts! It goes something like this: they throw down three balls and from 15 feet they leave the first putt short, pull the next two, push the fourth and crash the fifth attempt 10 feet by the hole. And its not long before the brain gets the message "the chances of a putt going in are not good so I'm not going to make many putts today." Thus the golfer goes to the course perfectly prepared to miss everything but the gimmees and the knockaways. He or she has "nots" in their putting.

Statistics show that on average a tour player misses about 54% of the six foot putts he attempts over the course of a year. And that's on perfect greens! So what chance does a weekend golfer have from 15 feet on bumpy, overused practice greens, where the cups are rarely changed? Keep track of how many putts you make in a putting session and I'll bet you it's less than 20%.

You can change this around simply by following these guidelines: 1. Practice distance first and most. 2. Always end your putting practice by making four or five short putts in a row.

1. Practice Distance: If by some magic (or some practice) you always had the right distance on your putts, you'd be a heck of a putter. Most three putts occur because of poor distance not bad direction. Look at it this way, unless there's a huge, slippery break, it's hard to miss a putt left or right by six feet but it's easy to leave one six feet short or long.

To develop your touch for distance lay out three shafts on the putting green at intervals of 10, 20 and 30 feet. Then drop three balls and putt to the shafts. First putt all three balls to the same shaft.  Next stroke a ball to the 30 foot shaft then the next ball to the 20 and the last to the 10. Then change the intervals between the shafts. Notice that you are not putting to a cup and therefore have not "seen" a ball not go in. There's no "not's" in your putting using this technique. You may have putted long or short of your shaft but you haven't "missed" in the traditional sense.

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2. Finish up by seeing the putts go in the hole: Just before you end your session find a level three footer and ram four or five putts dead center into the middle of the cup. Then go play golf knowing that you can putt up to three feet from anywhere and then make it.

Make the Right Choice to Score Low

Around the greens the trick is to pick the shot that gives you the best chance for success. Take for example the short shot in the accompanying photos. Here is what I am faced with:

* The ball is 30 feet from the hole;

* The ball is sitting up in a perfect lie;

* There are 36 inches of ½ inch fringe between the ball and the putting surface;

* The surface is flat all the way from the ball to the hole.

This is a relatively easy shot but you have to be careful not to make it “too easy” by not considering all you options. Don’t simply pull your “favorite” chipping club and slap away. Here is how you should think about your options:

• You could select a lofted club, say a lob or a pitching wedge, but you’ll have to take a swing long enough to hit the ball about 15 feet in the air and roll it another 15 feet after it lands. Remember the grass is clipped short so you run the risk of the clubhead digging into the turf behind the ball leaving the ball way short -- a terrible result for a shot this easy so the lofted clubs are out.
• You could select a mid-iron—say a 5 or 6-iron—and take a much shorter swing creating a greater margin for error s so that the ball carries a foot or two onto the green then rolls the rest of the way to the hole. It’s a safer shot than the choice above but the risk is that since you have to clear the fringe you hit it too hard, running the ball well past the hole. Percentage wise this is not the best choice either.
• You could putt the ball. A good choice but the ball has to roll for almost 36 inches through ½ inch fringe before you reach the putting surface raising issues about exactly how hard to hit it.
• The best choice is to chip the ball with a 3 or 4-wood using your putting stroke as  detailed below.

The ball comes off the face of the fairway wood without side spin so it holds its line all the way to the hole. This shot requires a very short swing, as shown in photo 1 (059) and with such a short swing, little can go wrong. Another advantage with the fairway wood is that you can keep the clubhead low to the ground going back and coming forward, making it easy to make solid contact with the back of the ball. The worst that can happen is a slight scuff which will only take a foot or two off the expected roll.

The loft of the fairway wood also insures that the ball will jump before it rolls so you don’t have to negotiate the full 36 inches of fringe as you would if you putted. Take a look at photo 2 (052);  I have so much confidence in this shot that I have removed the pin. You should sink a significant percentage of shots like this, almost as many as you would putting on the green from the same distance.

One last tip about this shot: arch your wrists downward when you address the ball so that the heel of the clubhead is slightly off the ground. This will minimize the amount of the clubface exposed to the grass and further eliminate any possibility of a scuff.

Help me, T.J.! I'm pushing my irons 
  
T.J.,
I was wondering if there are any practice tips to help me correct a push with my driver and my irons. I am not slicing, I am just hitting it straight right. Any help.
Allen T., via email