One- vs. Two-Plane Golf Swing

As mentioned in my last post (here), I'm having problems with pushes and over-draws. Ultimately, I think this is a problem with swing plane, that is, I'm going off plane in my follow through. This suggests that maybe I'm also not on plane in the backswing, if I can figure out what that means!

The video above gives an explanation of one- vs. two-plane swings. For the single-plane swing (better for the more athletic, "width" player, e.g. Matt Kuchar): (1) stand further away from the ball with feet wider apart, (2) bend over more, (3) swing on the same inside plane as your shoulders. For the two-plane swing (better for less athletic, "arc" players, e.g., Fred Couples): (1) stand closer to the ball with feet closer together, (2) stand up straighter, (3) swing back with the hands in front of you rather than to the inside.

As I understand the single-plane swing, at the top, your left arm will be below your right shoulder. On the follow through, your hands should be below your left shoulder. Give these two check points, your hands (at least) have stayed on plane.

The video below is a little different take on Matt Kuchar's swing from Wayne DeFrancesco. After listening to Wayne, I'm thinking that as long as the hand position on the backswing and follow through have the same relationship to the shoulders and you return the club to the shaft plane, everything should work fine. The preference for backswing and follow through hand position will depend on your level of athleticism and the type of shot you're trying to hit.

I'll experiment with these ideas next week. If these ideas are accurate, it also provides some insight about why Stack & Tilt, which is a single-plane swing, might not be best for everyone.

The Oil Sands Controversy

Oil Sands: good for jobs, good for our economy, and good for Exxon but what about the environmental impacts (here). The ad claims that tar sands oil extraction is "equivalent" to other forms of extraction (drilling) but that might not be the case (here). The ad does encourage us to "Think Progress"!

Demonstrations are going on right now in Washington DC (here), the State Department is about to approve a pipeline from Alberta to Texas (here), the New York Times has editorialized against the project (here) and the controversy was discussed on tonight's PBS News Hour. All the attention is probably too little, too late. In any event, this Exxon commercial is probably a good candidate for the Green Tweener award.

Another Swing Problem: Too Much In-Out

I've been having problems with pushes (hitting to the right) and over draws (big hooks). Here's the diagnosis from the Stack & Tilt Book (p. 180):

Players who hit excessive pushes and hooks swing the hands too vertical in the follow-through. The shaft should reappear below the left shoulder (above right).

My hands appear just above my left shoulder (left image) but not as high as in the "NO" model. Also, my club shaft is half-way between the "NO" model and the prescribed position. It looks like something I need to work on in the future.

Women in Art

by Philip Scott Johnson
500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art
Music: Bach's Sarabande from Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 performed by Yo-Yo Ma

Friday at the 2011 US Amateur Championship

Today we followed three matches in the US Amateur Championship at Erin Hills: Blake Biddle vs. Kelly Kraft, Max Buckley vs. Patrick Cantlay and Peter Uihlein vs. Jordan Russell. Erin Hills will be the site of the 2017 US Open. It reminded me of another Wisconsin course, Wild Rock in Wisconsin Dells, designed by the same architects (Hurdzan-Fry), only more difficult. Wild Rock has wide open driving areas with the amount of trouble increasing as you get closer to the green. The driving areas at Erin Hills are not as open (although they do have the signature marker bunkers in the middle of some fairways) but the trouble around the greens is similar (traps surrounded by fescue grass, multi-tiered greens, some quite small).

Here, without comment, are some video images from the day.

The Blues According to Big Mama

If you haven't heard Big Mama Thornton, now's your chance (some nice guitar work by Buddy Guy, also)!

Mark Bemowski and Me

We typically compare ourselves to professional golfers and assume that we should be copying parts of their swings. I'm sure that it has occurred to some amateur golfers that these kinds of comparisons are unrealistic and frustrating exercises. Maybe we just don't have the athletic ability to copy professional swings.

I had the unique experience this year to follow one of Wisconsin's best amateur golfers, Mark Bemowski, and wrote about the experience here. One question that was on my mind throughout Mark's round was whether there was anything about his swing (as compared to mine) that allowed him to play such great golf through out his entire career.

Since this swing comparison might make more sense than comparing my swing to Tiger Woods or Ben Hogan, here is Mark's driver swing again followed by my driver swing from a relatively similar angle (both are hand-held, cell phone movies).

Maybe this goes without saying, but when I played against Mark in high school he had a long, powerful swing that reminded me a lot of the young guns he played against in this year's WSGA tournament (here and here). Today, Mark and I are both 64 years old, with swings that have had to adapt to aging bodies.

There are a couple of obvious differences in our swings: (1) Mark keeps his right leg more flexed than I do, (2) he shifts his weight slightly to his right foot while my weight stays pretty centered, (3) Mark seems to put a little more acceleration or snap into his tee shot than I do and (4) this was not Mark's best tee shot of the day (about 250 yards to the right side of the 10th fairway) while my shot was probably one of my best drives of the day on the 5rd hole at the House on the Rock front nine, also about 250 yards (check the 5th hole flyover, here).

Now, here's the brutal part. Compare our swings to Tiger and Hogan!

Look at (1) the full shoulder turns, (2) the flat left wrist at the top of the backswing and (3) the sit-down move through impact. These are obviously great, athletic golf swings. I've tried all these moves on the practice range. Without video taping, I can't actually be sure I'm making any of these moves correctly. One thing for sure, I cannot take any of these professional moves to the golf course. If I try thinking about these issues while I'm playing, my game immediately deteriorates.

When I get to the course, the best I can do is think about fairways, greens and tempo. The swing is what it is. I'm not sure what Mark Bemowski thinks about (maybe that's what separates us as golfers), so the best I can do is to compare his golf swing to mine (which seems a little more realistic than comparison to Tiger or Hogan)!

Hogan, Palmer and Me

One of my correspondents asked me the following questions:

GRIP:

1. How do you grip the club at address?
2. How would you describe Hogan's grip at address?
3. How would you describe Palmer's grip at address?

Some more background on the grip can be found here and here.

TOP OF THE BACKSWING:

1. Your left wrist at the top of the backswing: cupped? flat? bowed?
2. Hogan's left wrist at the top of the backswing: cupped? flat? bowed?
3. Palmer's wrist at the top of the backswing: cupped? flat? bowed?

More background on the flat left wrist can be found here and here.

These are great questions and open up a wide range of considerations, arguments and controversies in golf instruction. Here in pictures and commentary are my answers starting with Palmer.

You can view Palmer's early swing sequence here and his current swing here. Obviously, Palmer's swing has changed over the years. His left wrist looks like it has become a little flatter over the years and his grip seems to have become a little weaker.



At the top of Hogan's backswing, we can see that his wrist is very flat and from the driver setup on the right we can (somewhat) see that his grip is weaker than Palmer's (Hogan did use a weaker grip in order to hit a fade).

There is some argument about whether or not Hogan's wrist was slightly cupped at the top of his backswing or flat. The picture above was staged and seems to suggest a slight cupping of his wrist. You can see an analysis of Hogan's swing here.

In the top panel above, my swing was being video taped while hitting a sand wedge into a garage net (here). I seem to be keeping my left wrist pretty flat. My grip in the lower right frame is a little stronger than either Hogan or Palmer (I prefer at all times to hit a draw). The right bottom staged swing shows a slight cupping in my left wrist at the top with the driver. The club face is square.

In the images above, my swing at the top is compared to Mark Bemowski (see the complete swing analysis with video here). Our left wrists seem very slightly cupped (not as flat as Hogan's iron swing above). You can see my full swing sequence here and here.

An obvious question is whether I should make changes in my swing to make it look more like Palmer, Hogan or even Mark Bemowski, all of whom are much better golfers than I am. One thing I am working on is to get a more athletic golf posture and get my left shoulder down and under. Maybe I'll never get there and, even if I did, maybe it wouldn't improve my game that much at my age. Even Palmer (had to?) flattened his shoulder turn out as he aged (which Palmer swing should I copy?). Hogan's swing changed after the car accident (which Hogan swing should I copy?).

Golf instructors who have seen my swing would like me to shift my weight more to my right foot (or to start out with my weight on my right foot) and flatten out my shoulder turn (here). Grip changes have typically not been suggested aside from possibly lightening my grip pressure. I have not had any feedback about wrist position at the top of my backswing.

The Hogan I Never Knew

Here's an interesting analysis of Ben Hogan's swing by Wayne deFrancesco. Hogan played before my time. His swing had very little impact on my thinking about golf until very recently as a result of comments from my readers. There are a number of points I'll comment on in future posts but notice (1) the downward head movement during the iron swing, (2) the straightening of the right leg during the driver backswing, (3) the butt moving "out of the box" on the backswing, (4) stance width on driver swing and (5) position of the left wrist at the top of the backswing--controversial issues in current golf instruction.

The Promise of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

"The appropriately programmed computer with the right inputs and outputs would thereby have a mind in exactly the same sense human beings have minds" John Searle (1999).

The Geico commercial in the clip above is a great spoof on the whole area of artificial intelligence and robotics. What is quite humbling is that the same causal calculus used in machine learning has been very useful to me in developing causal models of social systems (for example: here, here, here and here).

In spite of Geico's on-target spoof, artificial intelligence and machine learning are topics drawing wide attention. Stanford University offered an on-line course that has so far drawn 58,000 students from around the world (here).

Workin' on the Railroad in Egg Harbor

Caught Harry Manx at the Peg Egan PAC in Egg Harbor on July 31. In the clip above he's at the Ladder House in Sturgeon Bay. During Mr. Manx last set in Egg harbor, my wife's hair stylist (and a dance instructor) got up and danced to his blend of blues and Indian music. Mr. Manx and Andrea put on a great show!

Jazz Sax and Vibes Again: Ken Fowser and Behn Gillece

More new, young jazz players getting attention and recognition!