Wisdom in Golf Premium

  • From Scott Narasaki on Top 3 Tasks

    Shawn, I stumbled into something I wanted to share. My favorite analogy right now is cutting grass. While hitting balls off a mat I rolled a ball that ended up towards the front part of the mat. For some reason I addressed the ball and my front foot ended up being right on the edge of the mat. I took a nice easy cut of the grass and just striped the ball. I now fell like I’m cutting grass off the edge of a canyon. I finish into a solid right side ( I’m left handed). It’s like your old braced tilt videos!

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    • From Shawn Clement on Top 3 Tasks

      Hey Scott! Sounds like my oldie but goodie videos called “stop topping and take better divots shawn clement part 1-2”

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    • From Justin McClimans on Top 3 Tasks

      I can’t seem to find the stop topping videos… do you have a link I can reference? Thanks!

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  • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

    Great video Shawn and excellent Instruction as has become your hallmark! Doug D here. If you go back and look at my videos from last year, you’ll see that I suffered from the “neutral” grip. But not anymore! Can’t wait to send you my video this month with the “strong” (45 degree close) as you describe in this video. Worked hard on it for a couple of weeks and I’ve got it. I have gained 10 yards in my wedges! 30 yards in my Driver and the ball is flighting straight. Or fading when I play that shot. But there is something else I discovered. When I take that grip and set up with that natural tilt, as you show in the video, for some reason, I automatically feel totally “connected to”, able to access easily, my back swing.! The takeaway, hip rotation and full turn all seem easily achieved now. I’m not sure why, all I know is how it feels. Any thoughts on that aspect of this? Look forward to your response.

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    • From Shawn Clement on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      Awesome feedback Dan and yes, it is feeling better in the backswing because now you are getting ready to deliver the action THROUGH THE BALL and OUT IN THE DIRECTION YOU WANT TO START THE BALL! (Cue the singing choir)
      Before you were probably setting up to the ball with no purpose, following the “to do list” of a Golf Digest teacher without knowing if it fits or not. Then when it came time to swing, it was harder because the direction from upper management was scrambled.
      Now you have a purpose, a direction, a task, and you are in a position to evolve your game to new heights!
      Congrats to you, really really! 😀👍

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    • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      Thanks Shawn. Ha. Golf Digest indeed. And don’t forget the Golf Channel. Remember that “opportunity “. So glad you never went to that deal.

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  • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

    Wow – history in the making – this video is GOLD.

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  • From [email protected] on PUMP UP THE VOLUME!

    OK – Sav, we have “ Nice Miss”, “ One hit wonder” and “ it’s not that you’re right”!!!!
    Could be time for a volunteer to film from behind the net so we can see how the “1 hit wonder” goes hitting at a target!!!
    Just joking – way to dangerous!!
    Mmmm, unless you have some hockey gear?

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  • From [email protected] on Kinetic Chain - Part 4

    Is the kinetic chain engagement of the glutes and quads going to be the same between the irons, fairway woods, and driver? I am thinking that the driver might be slightly less, since the ball is on a tee and we are catching the ball as the club is moving up on the arc. Is this correct?

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    • From Shawn Clement on Kinetic Chain - Part 4

      Same for all! You are throwing the club to a target and creating and generating an arc. The kinetic chain engagement is completely autonomous (part of the self preserving system) and necessary on all clubs and all shots; even uphill shots!

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  • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

    Awesome video! Had problems to watch it quietly , got all nervous and very tempted to drive straight to the range. Lost a little bit my mojo the last weeks – listened too much to others – but feel back on track now. Love the baseball clip you added in – great to see this energy, power and similarity with golf. Thanks team!!!

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  • From Paul Haber on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

    Another great video. I don’t know how you keep coming up with this stuff.. I’ve struggled for years with staying connected to club through the swing, particularly with longer clubs. I’ve seen improvement when using the baseball grip.

    Do you see any disadvantages to using the baseball grip or should I keep working on the overlap or interlocking?

    Thanks Again!

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    • From Shawn Clement on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      Hey Paul! Glad you are enjoying the content!
      Absolutely 0.0 disadvantage with baseball grip; it is super sound!!

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  • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

    Oh Wow!!!! That was a good one. Everything feels better.

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  • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

    Hi Shawn, I joined today after watching one of your grip videos. I have come back to golf after a few years out as I really struggled last time round with consistency. At one point I was to an 8 HC and then I would just start shanking the ball and this process would repeat over and over. Just to clarify the points here so I am straight on what you are saying.

    1. close the clubface between 35 / 45 degrees and take a neutral grip / with the index hook (no problem this is my grip)

    2. Take a braced tilt over the ball as if setting up to drive an axe into a tree, thus producing a flush clubface at address and impact.

    Is this correct?

    One other point, if I have gathered my facts correctly, where do I aim my shot. Do I set up just as I currently do, using a train track method with parallel clubface and feet to target line, or do I need to make adjustments to the right?

    Thanks, I am really looking forward to trying this all out on Saturday and learning the “Wisdom in golf” way

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    • From Shawn Clement on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      What you are lining up is the MOMENTUM of the swing; see the latest “alignment reloaded” video on premium; as for the shanks; what is very important is the focus on a task through the ball and not to let the ball become the target!! So get really good with cutting grass through the stem of the dandelion like in the “grass whip training series” and to make sure the arms have the room they need in front of you, please see the “football drill series”
      If the shanks start, feel like you are cutting the stem of the dandelion with the end of the blade, not the centre of the blade; sometimes the brain plays tricks on you vision wise and you are actually lining up the hosel to the ball! If you set up off the toe, and cut through the stem with the toe part of the sole of the club, and you hit it solid, stay with that!

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  • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

    Hi Shawn – Outstanding video and made me realize I was lifting my lead shoulder to create the back to square and not tilting properly. Do you close a hybrid the same as an iron?

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    • From Shawn Clement on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      Depends on the hybrid! Some are built for draws and you don’t need to close as much; and some look more open than they actually are because the face of the club is round and not straight like an iron!
      Deliver the action in the direction you want to start the ball and see how it flies for 2 or 3 and then make adjustments where needed.

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  • From David Boyd on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

    Thanks Shawn. Awesome video. I believe my iron inconsistency is caused by trying to set-up with too neutral of a grip and then trying to time my wrists to shut the face. I am all over the course and working my tail off. Funny thing is I use a much stronger grip with my driver and am staying in the fairway much of the time. I got off my strong grip with my irons due to an instructor comment regarding my hooking the ball. I think it was more a of set-up issue. Can’t wait to get back to my stronger grip tomorrow and see the results.

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    • From Shawn Clement on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      Yesss sir!! It is all about the delivery THROUGH to the direction you want to start the ball after that! Please see “target confirmation series” videos on premium.

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  • From Michael Vinton on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

    Great video Shawn. Thanks to you I’ve been playing with a closed face for months and striking it better and better. It’s funny, because all my mates want to point out that my face is closed way too much..

    Nothing prettier than Christian Yellich in full stride ripping a baseball. Great idea to show that momentum.

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  • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

    Shawn, light bulbs going on after watching this, but taking a neutral grip and then “getting behind the ball” to see the face square up seems a little odd to me. Since the levelness of one’s stance, or the distance one’s feet are apart can vary greatly from shot to shot (even in a fairly flat place like Florida where I play) are you ok with barely holding onto the club and delaying taking the grip and first finding your balance and that ideal braced tilt set-up position (like where you experiment on how to find the right ball position with the door frame exercise) and then taking the grip that feels comfortable once you reach that setup now with the club pointed directly at the target? This may seem backwards, but it feels right to me. And as a checkpoint, if I do this in the way I’m suggesting and then I stand straight up to get into the “hammer down” position the clubface is indeed “closed” at that point. I’m just getting there a different way.

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    • From Shawn Clement on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      That works! Then you simply plug it into the “goldie locks” system of prediction to match it to the ball flight plan! 😀👍

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  • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

    Great video. I’m wondering about the task of both hands in relation to the “anatomically aligned” position of lower arm and hands. You emphasize their task as in throwing the club to the target (taking the ball with it on the way).
    Couldn’t it also be seen and done a little differently, and I think many pros do it that way, that the tasks of both arm-hand units are somewhat different?
    Left arm&hand (for a right handed person) swing the club to the target.
    Right arm&hand emphasize the pendulum momentum of the club, throwing the club to the floor (mental picture somewhat in front of the ball)? Like in the task of throwing a stone or a ball in a straight line right at the floor, right at the ball?
    It’s how good players produce high speed?
    It’s what makes the swing such a difficult movement, because both sides have to accomplish somewhat different tasks?
    If the tasks are somewhat different, their targets are different (left arm swinging motion for throwing to target, right arm casting motion of club at the ball or somewhat in front of it) the alignments of the anatomies must be somewhat different too? Means the left hand as you described here. But the right hand maybe a little modified for a throwing at a target at the bottom?
    Baseball, Tennis and Hammering do not have the requirement of the left-right dissociation in the same way. It is what makes the golf swing a challenging task IMO.
    How do you see it?

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    • From Shawn Clement on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      Don’t see it the same way at all; Where did you get this info?
      You cannot own 2 brains and be in 2 different places at once; that was scientifically proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Arm anatomy is same for both right hand left and baseball, hockey, lacrosse, Jai Alai, tennis all have the same human dynamics, just a different tool. I understand it is shocking when you see and hear something that has gone against a prior belief; it happens to me all the time and is what makes us human! 😝😀👍

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    • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      …I use your mental pictures of cutting the stem under the ball and throwing the club to the target for the left arm/hand/grip. The hand travels on a circular path around the body on the swing plane and releases to the cutting stem/throwing club motion. For the right arm I modify it and the mental picture is spearfishing. Throwing a spear on a straight trajectory at the “fish” a bit in front of the ball. The club end with the grip is the tip of the spear. That way the right arm modifies the club angles during downswing quite naturally and creates more lag, but without holding back anything. I believe that is how the good players are swinging the club, it’s the only progressive motion of the right arm that results in the proximity of the right elbow close to the right hip during downswing, which is necessary for in-to-out path and high club head speed. (All for a right handed person) Or what am I getting wrong here?

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    • From Shawn Clement on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      You have a good observation with the mechanics; yes!
      The latest studies on human motor skill learning and the understanding that what you described is a natural movement pattern dictated by human anatomy under the laws of self preservation, Can also be applied to a baseball swing, a Jai Alai swing, a lacrosse swing, and even a hockey wrist shot. The hands cannot work independently because they are merged as one cohesive unit to create leverage and support during the swing. The key is to choose a nice task that supports this pattern naturally without thinking and then let the brain connect the dots on each shot; this is where you will find flow.

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    • From Shawn Clement on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      Yes, on your last post, you are talking about the opposite movements of the hands creating leverage on the handle; all of that is fine and is the flavour that the swing presents to your conscious mind in fleeting glimpses to tell the brain, hey, I like what’s going on or hey, that does not feel very good. What I don’t want happening is you thinking you need to monitor this action because the flight plan, the lie, the situation in the match, all contribute to the way you will be moving through that ball and into the picture. The hands are part of a kinetic chain of events produced in the central nervous system and what starts it is actually just before you swing in the pre-motor cortex. Have a look at “pre-motor cortex series” in premium. You have the feel and the understanding, for sure. I am just going with what I know and the feedback I get everyday from students from the last 35 years of full time teaching and also playing from both sides of the ball; which btw, the feel on my lefty swing vs righty swing are very different, but have the same purpose.

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    • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      You are the master, I’m the student, as far as a golf is concerned. Your mental pictures and methodology are golden for me. But I can’t understand, based on my experience, you postulating that the hands can’t work independently while united in the grip on the golf club. That’s not what’s happening with my hands. They are sitting at different points, right next to each other but offset to each other, on the lever that is the shaft. Like two people paddling in a kayak. They depend on each other and are connected by the boat, but the effects of their paddling movements are different, relative to their position to the center of the moving mass.
      Doesn’t both, the way we control clubface and club position in the 3D plane, depend on the difference how left and right hand work on handling the shaft?
      Having said that, I’m not saying it is the goal to emphasize the differences in the swinging motion. To the contrary, but just the necessary amount at the right time and place, to create a flowing swing hitting the ball with precision and speed.
      I believe if I ignore the difference between the two hands, I will never get more precise.

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    • From [email protected] on IMPORTANT GRIP UPDATE

      People who play musical instruments do have often high independence of left and right arm/hands. To the point where the left hand/arm can do a different task altogether. Maybe I didn’t describe my point well. Of course it can be argued – as you do – that both sides should have the same task for the golf swing. But it’s possible to have different movement patterns in both sides, and I was wondering if that couldn’t be helpful. It certainly doesn’t simplify he movement though.

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  • From Mohanjit Singh on TURBO CHARGED LEAD HAND RELEASE

    Hi Shawn
    Golf has started to limp back here in India.
    As usual I have been following your recent videos on release and grip and trying specifically to implement the lead hand release for either sending the 2 tees through the intermediate point or sending the tip of the tee to the left or right of the intermediate point. I have observed that my release does not have the snap. It is kind of muted. When I turn the club upside down and cut the bamboo shoot it is quite snappy.
    Can I get some advise on this.
    Thanks.

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    • From Shawn Clement on TURBO CHARGED LEAD HAND RELEASE

      This is a job for the “pre-motor cortex series” Mohanjit; let me know if you were getting ready with that kind of flavour that would keep you from defaulting to the ball.

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