Virge's Swing.

[razaar]

I don't actually , but I have a client that teaches me. When she's away I go to Power Yoga in Neutral Bay. But if you can find one place in your area I suggest you try it. I've learnt to swing 200% effort with only a 60-75% swing if that makes any sense. I'm more flexible than ever , but only use about 60-70% range due to an increase in core strength.

I was doing it at home on my lonesome for a couple of years (from a book by Beryl Bender Birch) mainly the Salutations, surya namaskara A & B; and got out of that routine. They certainly warm you up.

[3oneday]

Don't tell 3OD that . . .

first time I've bothered to look in here, but only because I saw Raz had posted last.


He makes a lot on sense, don't you think

[Bushka]

I don't actually , but I have a client that teaches me. When she's away I go to Power Yoga in Neutral Bay. But if you can find one place in your area I suggest you try it. I've learnt to swing 200% effort with only a 60-75% swing if that makes any sense. I'm more flexible than ever , but only use about 60-70% range due to an increase in core strength.

Sounds like something worth investigating.

I'm pretty sure theres a surf yoga class down at North Steyne surf club early morning. They'd probably do a lot of the same core style stuff that would be useful in golf. I know that most of hitting the lip and doing the monster cut backs is all about coiling/uncoiling.

Met virge last night too. The man just knows his stuff. Marked improvement inside of an hour for me. Could not be happier that I joined this forum.

[virge666]

Nope, it doesn't.

There is no try, only 200% with 70%

It does help when you are build like tank also. Canuck is a very, very fit and flexable individual. Sort of like a Villegas body type.

first time I've bothered to look in here, but only because I saw Raz had posted last.
He makes a lot on sense, don't you think

, he always makes sense.

[Bushka]

I don't actually , but I have a client that teaches me. When she's away I go to Power Yoga in Neutral Bay. But if you can find one place in your area I suggest you try it. I've learnt to swing 200% effort with only a 60-75% swing if that makes any sense. I'm more flexible than ever , but only use about 60-70% range due to an increase in core strength.

http://www.qiyoga.net/yoga_beginners_03.htm

Found this place round the corner from me in Freshwater. $25 for the first 5 lessons and they run a beginners class in Ashtanga.

Going to give it a run.

[razaar]

Virge

How did you go with keeping the left shoulder still during transition backswing to downswing?

I remembered seeing a drill for this in Jim Flick's book which is a cracker. Furyk does this perfectly which makes me wonder if this drill was/is part of his practce routine. I will type it as it appears in the book "Jim Flick on Golf".

The Four -Step Drill
Grab a mid-iron, tee up your ball, and take your regular stance.
Then:

1. C0ck your wrists and lay your club on your right shoulder without changing your spine angle. Fingers secure, arms relaxed and close to your sides.
2. Turn your torso, with your weight moving over your right leg. The turn should be about 90 degrees, with the left shoulder moving behind the ball.
3. Lift the club into the desired position for your normal backswing, that is, shaft parallel to the ground and to the target line. Your hands should be under the shaft with the clubface square and somewhere between the right shoulder and head high.
4. Here comes the hard part. With hands and wrists still c0cked, drop your arms down towards your pants leg while holding your torso and shoulders turned. Think of this as a rehersal of the the first half of your forward swing. Do it three times, letting your hands stop just above the right knee each time. Then, take one final swing - this time, a complete one - with no change in effort level, and let your hands return to your starting position at address so that your club head can strike your ball squarely from inside. Don't worry about your follow-through - the swing's momentum will take care of it.

[virge666]

Alrighty lads I am back. Martin Ayres has inspired me and here is the results.

Same Edwin type swing - just added Martin's load and release as per my interpretation of his 1 hour online video I bought for $35.

Enjoy

[Courty]

Hmmm, interesting.

I've been reading the posts and watching some of Martin's video's, but I still don't quite follow. Maybe I need it dumbed down some more.

[virge666]

Hmmm, interesting.

I've been reading the posts and watching some of Martin's video's, but I still don't quite follow. Maybe I need it dumbed down some more.

You need the vid mate - "most powerful move in golf"... it is only $35 and IMO well worth it, even if some of it is shot in Elk's kitchen.

The bit I like is that I finally have a feel for the release. I finally have the motion of the hands on the way down. I have seen it down - i have read about it being done and I have tried to teach my idea of it. But now I have a FEELING for it.

And it feels like throwing a ball with topspin.

Enjoy

[Yossarian]

I like how you chased the last shot down the range.

[timah!]

Thanks for posting that Virge.
After being away all week I've been swinging all manner of things trying to get a feeling for the 'Marty Move'.
Can't wait to get home and give it a swing with a club.

[markTHEblake]

Alrighty lads I am back. Martin Ayres has inspired me and here is the results.

I would have gone nuts looking at my own swing for as long as you must have done to edit it.

per my interpretation of his 1 hour online video I bought for $35.

I cant see any of Marty in that- thats a good thing, cos thats what they say in the video

but well done, so much more power in that swing now.

[Hogan's Bogan]

You need the vid mate - "most powerful move in golf"... it is only $35 and IMO well worth it, even if some of it is shot in Elk's kitchen.

The bit I like is that I finally have a feel for the release. I finally have the motion of the hands on the way down. I have seen it down - i have read about it being done and I have tried to teach my idea of it. But now I have a FEELING for it.

And it feels like throwing a ball with topspin.

Enjoy

I don't get it. I was looking for a 'magic' move and perhaps that's somewhere in the $35, but I can't see anything but someone executing the load and release of the wrists in a good swing. Passive wrists will never drive through the ball. Try your one handed swing without cocking and releasing the right wrist - it's actually harder NOT to do naturally. It's just like a topspin in tennis which is a created by a rotation of the wrist and forearm. I suck at the one handed drill because I'm a lefty who plays golf right handed, so my right hand is totally unco on its own. But join it with my left and it does what it's told.

Do Hogan's warm up drill and you achieve the same thing. That's assuming I'm not missing something - and that's quite possible given Elkington hasn't come across it til recently.

[markTHEblake]

its that simple, anyone can do that

[Hogan's Bogan]

its that simple, anyone can do that

Yes they can. Swing like Hogan though? Probably not. But the point of the exercise is to ingrain the feeling of the hips and body being the engine room of the swing, and the arms follow the lead of the body, moving naturally, but on a consistent path.

[razaar]

Virge
At a guess I would say that that previously you have been getting the shaft behind the left forearm by the time your arms start going up and rotating. This move with the handle at takeaway has helped you to keep the shaft level with the left forearm right through the swing until the wrists start to unhinge in the start of the though-swing when the shaft then gets level with the right forearm. That is the reason you get the solid feeling of the clubhead in your right hand and right side. You will also be able to control the clubface by tweeking the right hand through the ball when this happens.

[LarryLong]

That one handed swing is really good Virge- at least you know that if you ever lose an arm you'll still be a decent golfer. Struggling to really see the change there, but the results look good, although a few of the later ones looked a bit like a push to the right. Did your consistency suffer at all? I think this Marty move stuff might be a bit complicated for a chopper like me to work out.

Nice to know I'm not the only chopper who walks off the front of the tee box at the driving range occasionally.

[Jarro]

Nice work Virge, i like the way your swing looks simple and very easy to repeat ..... without too many moving parts

[virge666]

Thanks for posting that Virge.
After being away all week I've been swinging all manner of things trying to get a feeling for the 'Marty Move'.
Can't wait to get home and give it a swing with a club.

Try the one handed stuff with a really short club... I have a cut down 3 iron that is filled with sand for weight... this is where the light bulb moment started.

[QUOTE=Hogan's Bogan;602783]
Do Hogan's warm up drill and you achieve the same thing. That's assuming I'm not missing something - and that's quite possible given Elkington hasn't come across it til recently.
[/QUOTE]

The 5 Lessons have been with me for an eternity - there is a picture of the left hand rotating through impact in there somewhere. Hang on found it ... google images is cool




This and some Faldo VHS tapes have been my bible of the release since I started playing. There is also another Edwin drill with the left hand rotating up like a top spin shot in tennis.

None of these drills give you width on the downswing or backswing - nor do they help maintain a radius. Marty's move does.

Also Hogan's warm up is just that - you will see it change further into the video as his hips move with the arms and then they separate and the hips move to drag the arms through. The skill in golf is timing this as well and controlling the wrists through impact. My 5 year old can do the warm up - but she cannot hit the ball for shit.

Virge
At a guess I would say that that previously you have been getting the shaft behind the left forearm by the time your arms start going up and rotating. This move with the handle at takeaway has helped you to keep the shaft level with the left forearm right through the swing until the wrists start to unhinge in the start of the though-swing when the shaft then gets level with the right forearm. That is the reason you get the solid feeling of the clubhead in your right hand and right side. You will also be able to control the clubface by tweeking the right hand through the ball when this happens.

Not quite - I have been hanging back and throwing my hands at the ball. And to compensate - I have been sliding to get the ball remotely straight.

Nice to know I'm not the only chopper who walks off the front of the tee box at the driving range occasionally.

That is just momentum... remember the hanging back and sliding... cant walk forward if you do that.

To be honest - I am just hitting the ball as hard as i can there... enjoying that I can simply bring the club through impact with extra movements.

Also keep in mind I am 12 months out of back surgery and a Staph infection in my spine.

[dan]

At the "BANG" moment and onwards you were swinging/hitting faster.

[virge666]

Lastly,

I am not all hugs and kisses for Marty's method. It was bloody hard work.

This is almost 3 days of trying to work out WTF the right hand going up the spine and the "show the guns" position at the top was all about. All I did for about an hour was hit shots fat, then left, then high right, then tantrum, then another tantrum, then abuse myself for trying to follow some BS, snake oil seller on an golf website. I was quoting "the perfect club" infomercial at one point. "But wait - there's more - you can hit the ball both ways AND fat..."

But, I could do it properly with a shortened club in the office, and I could get the move down well.

So back to the range... I quickly made up a very light club. DG Superlite, STD Length 7 iron and tried again. I couldn't get the club to a position at the top where it felt solid.

So I added a pause at the top - to see if it needed more time. And then it got worst.
So I sped it up... and that got worser.

I then dismissed Marty and a total F-Wit and tried to hit some balls with my old swing. While doing this - I thought... I should just do some short pitches with his method and see if that helps.

Fat, Chunk, Right, Right, Righter...

I still cannot use Marty'smethod for the short game... I can sort of do it with 50m+ pitches, but I do struggle with shorter shots. I have found playing the pitch shot of the back foot helps with Marty's method... I am sure I just need some more work here, but short game is the strength and savior of my game so any changes here may take some time to implement.

It was not till the one handed shots on the range with the light club did I finally start to get it. You can actually see the moment where I lay the club on plane one handed that my brain synced up. It was at that moment that the backswing made some sense too. Lead lag the club up to the top and then reverse rotate to torque it up. I hit about 10 shots one handed and 8 of them were pretty good and past 120m with the superlite 7 iron.

So I added the other hand to see what changes with the other hand... you can see on the vid where i am lead lagging the club outside, then a little less outside, then a little less and a little less untill it looks like a normal backswing. (another magic moment!) I did this a lot for the next half hour... I start a mile outside and slowly swing it more and more inside until I get a good position half way back. I don't quite get the U shaped start that is in the video... but it will have to do.

So about now - I am feeling happier. Marty has been promoted from dodgey golf channel infomercial that he was a few hours back.

The second BANG moment - again on the video is where I find THAT position at the top of the swing. And let me tell you... I woudl have paid for many lessons @ $100 a lesson for THAT moment. This is the position at the top of the swing that you can unleash hell. We can all get to it if you pull the club back and set your self in that position. Baseball players start like this for a reason. The lower right shoulder, the dynamic posture, the right arm locked and loaded and the right shoulder stable and cocked. The problem is getting there on the backswing and especially getting there under pressure.

The video shows the moment where I go from being shut and high to being square, flat and loaded. Finally the "show the guns" move made sense. I spent the rest of the night just belting 7 colours of shit out of the golf balls. No technique, no grace, just belting golf balls as hard as i could from that position at the top. It was most excellent.

I did finish off with some more short pitching - but still cannot use the move for this- the ball goes too far and i do not have enough control.

This morning - no back pain which is also a plus - especialy after 4 hours of practice and some very hard shots at the end of the night.

That is the progression - for anyone listening/reading, the method works... I am sure one on one is a better option than the last 3-4 days have been for me trying to work it out on my own. Short clubs and lite clubs are what gave me the lightbulb moments.

Enjoy

[BroKar]

got to say I have had the same feeling numerous times now where you start to think I am one of the suckers that bought from an infomercial, i still dont get it yet but i am sure i will

[virge666]

At the "BANG" moment and onwards you were swinging/hitting faster.

Yes I was... cause i could. Look at the first couple of swings... they also look faster, but they are off balance with a lot of slide. The last couple are faster but in balance with momentum towards the target - not just me bashing it.

Any idiot can just "hit it harder", but i was able to hit it harder - not fall over and the ball went remotely straight.

That is why I am rather happy.

[Eag's]

Looking good Virge, the ball flight seemed to be identical on each strike.

[Captain Nemo]

Looks good Virge.
A lot like what Robbie Curtis has me doing now.
What club shaft and model was that (serious q's as i was looking at ball flight)