Frank and the video of his swing

Frank a sheet metal worker had taken a few golf lessons. Each lesson went the same, I would give my instruction and then Gus his friend would give him either his version of my lesson or tell him ten mechanical things to do.
One day Frank walks into the shop and tells me that he had seen pictures of his swing and that it looked terrible. He said, his club would come straight up and it looked like he wasn’t taking the club away long enough, said he was going to try and take the club away slow and low for the first foot.
O.K., “I said, how long do you intend to do that? How many buckets of balls are you going to hit in next few weeks to fix that pesky problem?
“I hit a few buckets a week”.
Did you know that according to the PGA it takes up to forty- hours to change muscle-memory? Three buckets a week would take you over twelve weeks to accomplish that. What are you going to do when you forget to do it?
“I won’t forget to do it”, he said.
“How do you know if you are doing it correct if you don’t have the camera on you videoing every shot you take? How do you know if you are not correcting one thing and screwing up another?”
A mechanic named Bob was listening in. I turned to Bob and asked, “If I looked at an engine or listened to an engine would I be able to determine what is wrong or right with my car”.
Bob said, “you should be able too”.
I told Bob, “I’m not a mechanic”, and that, “I didn’t understand the first thing about such things.”
Bob said, “well, then you might have a problem”.
I said, “Bob would it be easier for me, as a layman, to feel the performance of the car rather than trying to fix something I know little of? Isn’t it easier to tell if the car is out of alignment then it might be to determine any real malfunction of the vehicle?
Frank understood where I was going but then again Frank likes to tinker with “things”, you could see it in his eyes.
Oh well?


* * * * * * * * * * * *

The moral of the story:

Remember the movie staring Tom Cruise, Rolling Thunder, he didn’t know a thing about cars but he knew how to drive fast. As a player, it might be better to think of yourself as the driver of the car rather than the mechanic. Beside, didn’t Cruise get the girl?

The Trappings of Mechanically based cause and effects golf lessons.

Question: What is a pro really doing through CAUSAL approach to golf lessons?

Answer: Manipulating the structure of your body to produce "the proper swing path", to “time” the clubface to meet the ball squarely. When the Golf Professional adjusts timing through mechanics without telling the student how to do it or what is happening S/he leaves the student dependent on endless adjustments.

The problem with this logic: the professional did not learn this way. S/he was born to do it, to hit a golf ball with a stick toward a target, in the same way you were born to be a computer analyst, a doctor, a sleezy lawyer, a writer, a painter, a truck drivier, a carpenter.

-You do not have the Professionals athleticism
-You do not have the Professionals timing and rhythm.
-You do not have the Professionals talent
-You do not have the Professionals hand-eye coordination
-You do not have the Professionals work ethic
-You do not have as much time to put into the game of golf as did the professional.

BUT most golf professionals TREAT YOU AS IF YOU DO!

And it is not because they are trying to take advantage of you...they just don’t know any better. They don’t have the training I do in NLP or Hypnosis.

I am sincerely sorry, but unlike what the NIKE commercial may say;

you are not Tiger Woods!

So then what do you have to do..,What do we have to do? What does a golf professional have to do to get you to hit the ball better, to play better golf?

Show you how the tools work, the tools being:

The Clubs
The Ball
The Course
and you...that’s right the pro has to show you how you work; what your habits are, what the path of least resistence is...in your particular instance and then...


Talk your language. It does you little good if the only one that understands anything in said during the lesson is the pro.

Just because the pro knows how doesn’t mean he can communicate how he does it.

More about this later...you can just read something my buddy Twenty Twenty wrote for me a few days ago... tomorrow or the next day.

just checked out my google analytics...

I find all this 'stuff' fascinating. I have gotten over a hundred hits on my website and only one sale.
Most people and especially internet marketeers would find that number maybe a little skinny.
I find it more than a bit humorous.

Here is the throw down:

I have a challenge for you. Let's say you go to my site because you are curious about who the ungolf pro is or what the ungolf pro is all about and you look around and quench your curiosity. That is fine.
I have little issue with it.

Actually, I have little issue with what any of you do.

Just like when giving private sessions of golf to my clientel I am not attached to the outcome.
One of the many things I have leaned from playing golf.

non-attachment.

Now, if you are interested in playing better golf. If you are a baseball player and want to play better golf and are too cheap to buy this $12 product then I can't help but laugh because it would be the best thing you eve did for your golf game.

The lessons are simple and they are doable.

I would place this type of communication against anyone in the world.

Hey, my fantasy golf lesson is with Charles Barkley. I would not fix him as would all the other golf professionals.
That is just not where my head is at.

I am not into fixing anyone. God knows how many golf professionals not to mention girlfriends have attempted to fix me.

Just frustrates the hell out of me.

What I would do is talk to him.
Notice what his tendencies are...
and move to the path of least resistence.

That's the best anyone can do.

Look at what Hank Haney put Charles through.

A matter of fact, if anyone knows Charles Barkley I will bet $10,000 I can show Charles how he works best so that he can play competent golf in one session. The session would be no less than 1 hour and no more then 3 hours.

I am not into torture after all. I am a golf pro not Vlad the Impailer.

But I degress...

If you are into learning about golf and you are a baseball player than go to my webpage and download the free lessons and try them out.

See if they work. If they do not then stop right there, do not pass go, do not collect $200, but if they do then do yourself a favor and buy the books.

12 bucks isn't going to change my life. 12 bucks just might change your golf game and how you perceive the world.

ciao

Golf Sessions Vs. Golf Lessons

While giving a 14 year old student of mine a golf lesson she blurted out something about, Perfect practice makes a perfect swing or whatever that axiom is...

So I laugh and being the sensitive girl she is says, what’s the matter you don’t believe in that?

I said, No, but there is way too much wrong with that idea.

She said, Like what?

I said, For one.., you cannot see yourself so...

And then unless you feel what you are working on...but then there is another axiom, “feel and real or often different” so...

The other is that is takes repsonsibility off of the instructor. I have actually heard a pro say something like this to a student: Well, if you didn’t practice perfectly or enough or whatever then the onus is on you not the instructor.

And then she says, “information is power”.

I laughed.

She siad, “What you don’t believe in that either?”

I said, “No that is a wonderful idea but axioms usually end at then end of the sentence where the period is.”

She questioned what I meant. She asked what I meant.

I said, with axioms, just like with most advice the action usually doesn’t move beyond the flapping of the lips; and they are soon forgotten or cloud or manipulate the issue.
Just like, you need to practice perfectly. What you need to do is to have fun and feel.

Then we felt the clubhead throughout the swing and...good things happened.

Barkley and The Golf Channel

Professional Athletes take unconventional golf lessons.  How is it that skilled athletes - who possess natural athletic ability - are continually humbled by the game of golf?   It is because traditional golf instruction dismisses, for the most part, the athletes existing knowledge base and skill set of their sport to focus instead on the mechanics of the golf swing.  The result is little improvement ...much frustration. 

Skilled athletes are the most frustrated because they have difficulty understanding why their talent, athleticism, drive and focus in their sport is not playing out on the golf course.  An athletic person possess all the skills they need to improve, yet they’ll never reach their potential because no one is properly guiding them with the information framed in a common language that allows them to discover how well they can play while using what they already know on an athletic intuitive level.   

Concept: A professional athlete takes a golf lesson where I show them howtheir personal knowledge of their sport translates into golf basics.  We begin each show with the profile of the athlete, their experience as a golfer, and then what they think of golf compared to their sport. We show the emotion of their experience.  They talk about their “problems”.  They hit a couple shots to show where they  are in their experience as a golfer.  We all relate with their experience. We feel for them.. they can even play a few holes. Then I come in and just talk to them about what is similar from their sport in to golf.  Think of it as a kind of “The Dog Whisperer” for famous athletes and regular people having difficulty making the transition to “golf competence”. 

My name is Thomas Pranio and I am a Certified NeuroLinguistic Programming Practitioner ( NLP is the science of excellence).  I have worked with the likes of Otis Anderson (football), Jay Williams (basketball), Gary Gait (lacrosse), Jerry Cooney (boxing), and Carl Banks (football).  In describing my method of drawing out the athletes knowledge Otis Anderson said, “You teach golf like a football coach teaches football, you take what the person already has and improves on it.”   Gary Gait (considered the Michael Jordon of Lacrosse) said, “It was easy to understand and apply on the golf course.  The best part...it was so simple and fast.”  Boxing legend Jerry Cooney said, “If you were my size I’d knock you out!” 

I am the author of Golf for Baseball Players, Beyond the (Golf) Ball, and Virtual Golf.   You can see my books at: www.lulu.com/blacktailpress.  I am in the process of negotiating with New Chapter Press to author a seven book series of Golf for Athletes, which includes; Golf for...baseball, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, tennis, basketball, and football.  It is my goal to get any athlete to make the transition from their sport to “Golf Competence”.   

The name of the program can be something like: Golf for Professional Athletes, or The Golf Whisperer, or The Wow Experience!  Personally I like The Golf Whisperer. 

Enclosed is a video taken of a golf lesson with one of my baseball player/gofers.

I hope you find is as interesting to watch as it was to participate in...Dan is a complete beginner and in the time it would take to fly from New Jersey to Orlando he became a “Competent Golfer”.   He broke ninety his first time out!  

Understand that it wouldn’t make a difference which sport or activity the learner would come from because it is a matter of taking established information and translating it into a language they understand.  Baseball appears to be the obvious sport to make that transfer but some other sports which are just as easy:  Hockey, Soccer, Lacrosse, Soccer, Boxing and Cricket. 

How Does This Process Work?

By using the established knowledge and skills set the athlete golfer bypass having to learn something anew...

The way in which we normally learn a new skill set is by going through the four stages of  learning:

Unconscious Incompetence 

Conscious Incompetence

Conscious Competence 

Unconscious Competence 

By showing The Athlete how they work through their sport rather than teaching golf basics and mechanics from the beginning they are able to skip the first three stages of learning  and go straight to the fourth stage, Unconscious Competence. 

The theory behind this learning is... it is assumed the student already understands what they are doing, they already know how to hit a ball with a stick toward a target... they just have to be reminded of what they know, and remember.    Once the negative trance of miscommunication (verbal mechanical teachings) is taken away they realize they work just fine and that is when the fun begins.  By making the proper analogy appropriate to their awareness the athlete/golfer experiences immediate “Unconscious Golf Competence”.   It is what many have called a “WOW Experience!” 

*I suggest the first episode, i.e., if you can arrange it, to be with Charles Barkley.

You can say Charles Barkley is a bit of a fantasy lesson for me, it would be a kind of Holy Grail of golf lessons especially when I know it would take all of about one hour to straighten him out. 

Imagine for a moment Charles on a lesson tee with me...a bit of hard nosed, cranky golf pro/NLP Practitioner and I explain golf in a manner that makes sense to Sir Charles and he begins to strike the ball without a hitch.   The only person on the line here is me!   Actually, I am in a no lose situation.   He’s had several of the top 100 teaching professionals try and help him and they cannot because they are teaching him from a left-brain approach.   Charles Barkley is a right-brian kinesthetic and everyone teaching him is a left-brain visual, Faldo, Tiger, Butch, Hank...whomever.   

Not only aren’t they speaking his language in a very basic way they are teaching him the mechanics of the swing which will only harm his ability to get out of his way.  In a way these instructors are reinforcing his ineffective embarrassing behaviors.   

quick tip...

I am out at a party last night and I get into a conversation with Mark, a Financial planner that tells me he "sucks at golf"...that he had taken lessons before and the pro straightened him out for the day but then he couldn't reproduce it. 

I explained that was a typical experience with taking lessons and that most people will not get much out of even a series of lessons unless they are extremely talented or put in an incredible amount of time to improve, basing their learning on developing muscle memory.

He asked if there were an alternative to lessons like that to which I claimed yes. 

I asked him if he'd ever played baseball.

He said yes.

I said, here's an example.  When a professional directs you to "hit down and thru the ball" most people do not know what exactly it is the professional is talking about even when the student has played for years.  

It is a matter of a complex equivalence in the phrase: "down and thru". 

What is down and thru for me might be different for you or anybody else so...

Where does that leave us?

You play baseball I said so if I asked you to hit a grounder down the third base line do you think you could do it?   

He said, yes.

I said, that is the equivolent to hitting down and thru in golf.

He perked up.

I gave several other examples.   I said, if you hit the ball to the right what does the typical golf professional do?   He tries to get you to hit the ball straight.    I do not....I get the student to hit the ball as far left as possible, because if you know how to hit the ball to the right and try to hit the ball straight there is a constant struggle but if you remember how to hit the ball left then straight in somewhere in between.  

If you hit the ball to the opposite field then you have to learn to pull the ball.  That takes all of about ten minutes....then you have the option between right, left and straight. 

Of course there is a little more to it, which is why he is coming to see me next week for some time.  

Eight Steps to Drinking a Glass of Water Part #3

Step Three: Developing a Thirst

After you have selected what depth of glass and type of water, you are on your way to “drinking a glass of water”.  The third advantage you must "consider" is to develop the desire to drink, or as we say, “gathering up the thirst”.     There are many ways to which the drinker can acquire a thirst.  If you are not into exercising perhaps I may suggest eating Japanese or Chinese cuisine... but before doing so make sure to consult your physician.  If you are suffering from high-blood pressure may I suggest low sodium soy sauce.   It is a good alternative to the sodium content of regular soy sauce, but none-the-less it will produce a whopping parchedness.  For other ways and vices to induce the required thirst consult my book, How to Dehydrate, by Jim McCabe.  

Eight Steps to Drinking a glass of water Part #2

Step Two: Picking a Water

  In the early days of competitive drinking - it wasn’t cost effective to practice drinking with anything other than regular tap water.  With the pollutants of the day, acid rain, pesticide contamination and carcongens that seep into the water table it is almost mandatory these days to pick a good spring water, if not purified water.  Do not forget, purified water doesn’t have any minerals as well as contaminants so when drinking a purified water you may want to supplement these missing minerals.  Spring water seems to be the natural alternative so try and find a reputable company.  

BEWARE:There are many companies that claim to be “pure” spring water that capitalize on the better known waters by imitating, emulating and copying the labels of more reputable companies.   A list of the more reputable bottling companies can be found in the appendix of Rules and Regulations of the NDA, which can be purchased at your local pub, brewery or water plant near you.   Because of obvious legal reprocussions the NDA cannot dissuade anyone from purchasing waters from these disreputable companies.  Believe me, you don’t want to muddy your shoes with these rain by night companies so my advice is to keep away.   A red flag should immediately go up when noticing a bottling company claiming to produce spring water from New Jersey. I once knew a fellow to have claimed to have only drunk from such ponds in Jersey or New York and alas as you can imagine he is no longer with us.   He is serving time in the New York Penitentury for the Criminally Insane.  

KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN DAMN IT!

Eric’s Story:

Eric is a tree climber for a local tree service.  He hits balls a couple times a week at the range I work at.  We  became friends after a few sessions.  One day he is hitting the ball all over the place and says as I’m passing him by. ..”damn it Tom, no matter what I do I can't seem to keep my head down”,  I yelled while still waking by.., “maybe your body knows better than your brain?”

An hour later he palms me a twenty and says, “drinks are one me, tonight.”

I ask, “What happened?”

He said, "I stopped trying to keep my head down and let it do whatever it wanted and my ball just straightened out."

"Remarkable." 

Eight steps to drinking a glass of water

Step One: Equipment

In order to “drink a glass of water” you must first have the proper equipment.  If you are short in stature, weighing less than 140 lbs., you might want consider starting with something like an 8 oz. glass.  If you are over 140 lbs., you might have better success practicing with a 12 to 16 oz. glass; that is unless you’ve just gone for a healthy run or a brisk walk or a work out at the gym and then it is acceptable and even advisable to use up to a 24 oz. glass.    This practice comes in handy especially when drinking against the heavy-hitting drinkers of today.  

After you have established the proper equipment it is time to discuss what kind of water you should be drinking.  Remember, when competitive drinking began the original members of the NDA (National Drinking Association) started out using Whiskey and Scotch...that is until the great Russian drinker Vladimir Condroitin entered the scene in the late fifties to have become the greatest drinker of all time.   His preference of libation as you could imagine was good ol’homemade distilled Vodka.   Since then and because hardly anyone could finish the competition, practice as you may, in 1973 it was established that no spirits or libation of any kind could be used for competitive drinking.  As a result since then some of the greatest modern day drinkers have used merely simple tap water when drinking in competition, but of course that was before the advent of distilleries and water purifiers.  

The Trigger Finger and the right Thumb...

THE TRIGGER FINGER AND THE RIGHT THUMB

WHAT DOES THE TYPICAL GOLFER DO?  

Place the right thumb straight down the middle of the shaft.  

The thumb straight down the shaft increases grip pressure,

THE MECHANICS: THERE IS LITTLE INSTRUCTION. 

WHAT IS NATURAL: A space forms between the middle and index fingers. The index finger and thumb do not touch.  

WHAT DO BASEBALL PLAYERS DO?

In THROWING, BATTING and PITCHING, the thumb of the right hand is slightly left on the side of the thumb.   The thumb and index finger counterbalance the object while a third (the middle finger) supports and balances.  Balance is the ultimate goal regardless whether the ball is round or the bat cylindrical. 

DO IN GOLF AS YOU DO IN BASEBALL:

Drill: Get partner, have a game of catch (overhand).  Hold your throwing hand and arm behind your ear then while your cocked, swing your arm around to see.     

Notice: Your thumb, index and middle fingers balance the ball. Your right thumb is along the side of the ball, on its side. 

Now: Place your thumb down the middle of the ball.  Would you ever consider throwing a ball like that?   

Experience: Take the club like a dart or spear near the club head.   Look at your fingers as you balance the club, the thumb, index and middle fingers balance and counterbalance.  The only difference gripping the club near the head and by the grip is the actual grip on the club.   How you grip it is the same.  Slide your fingers down the shaft. This positioning of the right thumb lightens grip pressure, allows feel of club head and shaft, and allows hands and wrists to move freely.

Notice: A gap forms between your middle and index fingers.  This forms what is known as a trigger finger.  The trigger finger helps control the club. 

 

A TRIGGER FINGER is essential for reasons of 

FEEL and TOUCH, 

POWER and CONTROL.

Something I screwed around with a few years ago after reading a book by Robert Masters...

John Lennon wrote the song Imagine after reading on of Master's books. 

The idea for this writing was taken from a book called Neurospeak written by Robert Masters; just like in his book the information is not to be taken on an intellectual level but let the words work as an afterthought.  The idea is to let the words work to let in what is to be let in.   

There is a righty and lefty version of the Neurospeak experiment.  The idea came to me after reading his book on how words influence neurology.  For a more informed 

Ideally one would be in a relaxed position in a chair, sitting with both feet planted on the ground, read the material slowly, each word separate from the others.  Then follow the short instruction afterward.  Either write down or just experience the Neurospeak phenomenon.  

in your imagination focus your attention on the golfball

then focus your attention on the ball and the club head

see the club head above the ball

then expand your awareness from the ball and club head to the shaft

the shaft may be silver or gold or black

see the contrast in colors between the ball, the club head and the shaft

move up the shaft and feel the texture of the grip with your hands

the grip may have a softness to it

it can also be sticky or smooth

go back down the club starting from the grip to the shaft to the club head and notice how they are attached to one another

see the weight of the shaft in your hands

see the texture of the grip in your hands

see the balance of the clubface in your hands

feel the clubface in your imagination

notice how they are separate 

notice how they are one

the club head

the clubface

the shaft and the grip are all separate but they are one

 part of a system

 a whole

the clubface directs the ball 

the club head puts mass behind the hit

 the shaft is a link to the grip

the grip is a  link to your hands

expand your attention beyond the ball beyond the clubface beyond the club head up the shaft toward the grip and into your left hand

the index finger of your left hand feels your texture of your grip and your weight of your club 

you can feel the edge of your clubface with your index finger and thumb of your left hand

you can feel every finger of your left hand you can feel your index finger balancing your club you can feel your texture of your club in your thumb and index finger, you can feel your middle finger of your left hand you can feel your ring finger of your left hand you can feel your pinky of your left hand resting between your index and middle finger of your right hand

focus your attention on your weight of your club head and your shaft and your texture of your grip in your index finger of your left hand

focus your attention on your weight of your club head and your shaft your texture of your grip in your index finger and thumb of your left hand

as your club and your shaft extend into your left hand it becomes part of your left hand

your hand and the club are attached

they are one and the same

you feel your left hand on the club like you feel your wrist attached to your hand 

your left hand and club are attached the way your wrist and hand are attached 

the club head and shaft are part of your left hand

your left hand feels the weight of the club

the club head

the shaft

the grip all have weight 

the club and your left hand are one

the club head 

shaft 

left hand are one

the club and your hands are one like your hands and your wrist are one and your wrist and your forearm are one and your forearm and upper arm are one and your entire arm and shoulder are one

your shoulder is part of your arm is part of your hand is part of your club is part of the system

your shoulder is  your arm is  your hand is  your club is the system

Now go hit a golf shot!

Where does the left thumb go on the bat and club?

WHAT DOES THE TYPICAL GOLFER DO? 

ARBITRARY!  Not what feels comfortable or makes sense.   

“Your hands are the only part of your body that touches the club so your grip better be good.”

-Ed Famula, PGA Professional

THE MECHANICS: SHORTEN OR LENGTHENING THE THUMB 

TO SHORTEN THE THUMB: 

TAKE THE CLUB IN YOUR LEFT HAND, POINT THE SHAFT STRAIGHT IN THE AIR, DROP THE CLUB HEAD DOWN AND ALLOW THE THUMB TO SLIDE UP THE SHAFT. 

TO LENGTHEN THE THUMB:

PUSH THUMB OUT AND DOWN THE SHAFT

WHAT IS NATURAL: The thumbs are in opposition with the index and middle fingers to create a counterbalance. 

WHAT DO BASEBALL PLAYERS DO? 

Whether holding and balancing a bat or a ball the thumbs are tucked to the side on the side of the thumb (you would not make a thumb print). 

DO IN GOLF AS YOU DO IN BASEBALL:

Experience: Hold a golf club like a bat (you cannot possibly have shorter thumbs than when placing your hands on a bat or ball).   

Experience: Hold a ball in your left hand.  

Notice: While looking at your hand from your view, your left thumb is shorter in appearance than your index finger.  That is the way it is supposed to look when you balance a grip in your hands. 

Try holding a ball with a long thumb then try and throw it.  It is virtually impossible!

The LEFT THUMB is neither long nor short; it is simply where it is.  The idea of a long or short thumb is just another way to think and control your athleticism.  

WHICH FINGERS CONTROL THE CLUB?

WHAT DOES A GOLFER DO?

Many golfers have poor grips simply because of the sequence to which they place their fingers on the club.   MOST golfers do not understand “how” to start let alone finish taking a grip.  

MECHANICS: THE PINKY AND RING FINGER OF THE RIGHT HAND GO ON THE CLUB FIRST. 

WHAT IS NATURAL: Regardless whether picking up and controlling an object, or implement, or creating an action, we control the implement with our index finger and thumb: whether it is a pencil, a nose pick, scratching dirt off a window, pointing a finger, turning the page of a book, swiping a lock of hair from our face, turning on and off a light, or steering a car. 

When we feel the weight and/or shape of the object or implement we are able to control it.

WHAT DO BASEBALL PLAYERS DO?

Ball players control the bat and ball by counterbalancing it with their index, middle fingers and thumbs. 

DO IN GOLF AS YOU DO IN BASEBALL: 

Question: Which fingers of each hand first hit the bat or ball or any implement?  

Answer: Usually, and in sequence, it’s the index finger, thumb and middle finger.  Understand how you pick up and control other objects, implements, balls, bats, rackets, and you understand how to pick up and control a club.  

Experience: 

Grab a bat, and feel where the weight falls in your hand and fingers.   

Grab a ball, feel where the weight falls in your fingers. That is how you control it, by feeling the leverage, the length and weight. 

You may notice the weight falls to the first and second knuckle of the index finger, rests on the side of the middle, and is balanced fully when coordinated with the pressure of the thumb.  

Experience: Turn a doorknob.  

Notice: How you use your fingers and thumb against the other.  That is how you grip a club, by counterbalance. 

What Finger Touches the Club First?

     

WHAT DOES THE TYPICAL GOLFER DO?

Golfers tend to focus on the pinky and ring finger of both hands.    

(I have heard some say you should grip a club as if you are shaking someone’s hand.  When shaking someone’s hand or picking up and placing any implement into one’s hands the first finger to touch is the index finger, not the pinky and not the ring finger).  

    

There is too much focus on the left hand and not enough on the right.  It is counter-intuitive.

THE MECHANICS: THE PINKY AND RING FINGER BALANCE AGAINST THE BUTT OR MEATY PART OF THE HAND. 

WHAT IS NATURAL: We pick up all implements; bats, balls pennies, pens and pencils, first by finding and touching it with our thumb, counterbalancing it with our index fingers before balancing and picking it up. 

WHAT DO BASEBALL PLAYERS DO?

In sequence: First, they find the handle of the bat with either their thumb or index finger then balance out the weight before heaving it up whichever hand they choose to do it with.  Once the barrel is balanced and controlled place the other hand on.  

DO IN GOLF AS YOU DO IN BASEBALL:

Exercise: Grab a bat.  Pick it up.  Which finger of what hand touches the bat first?   It is the index finger not the pinky and ring finger.  

Now: Attempt to pick up the bat the way we are told to do as golfers with the pinky and ring fingers.  Again, place the bat into your hands.  

Notice: Which finger of which hand touches the bat first, copy doing the same with a club. 

Also: It is important to notice which finger of the second hand touches the bat first then to apply that strategy and sequence to the club. 

 

Anything other than what we do is either trying to reinvent the wheel, an attempt to control nature, or thinking we are smarter than thousands of years of evolution and development. 

Why do anything other than what we do?

      

      

   

Picking up and Controlling and Implement

WHAT DOES THE TYPICAL GOLFER DO? 

They lay the club behind the ball then grab the club.  

There is little forethought toward the process of holding and balancing the club.  Some problems arising from taking your grip with both hands while the club head rests on the ground:

Too much grip pressure (resulting in lack of feel of the club),

Too strong or weak a grip, or an imbalance between the two hands,

An open or closed club face,

An imbalance between pressure points in the hand and fingers (more about this later).

THE MECHANICS: TAKE YOUR GRIP WHILE THE CLUB HEAD IS IN THE AIR NOT ON THE GROUND!

WHAT IS NATURAL: One of the common denominators when grabbing a bat is too control the barrel UP and balance it before placing the other hand upon it. You would never place both hands on the bat while it was resting on the ground.  

WHAT DO BASEBALL PLAYERS DO?

Regardless what level baseball player you might be, one common practice is the placing of their hands on the bat while in the air. 

DO IN GOLF AS YOU DO IN BASEBALL:

Experience: Take a bat in your hands.  

Notice: Which hand brings the bat into the air, which hand controls it?  

Searching for the sequence:

Which hand, finger touches the bat first?

Which hand lifts the barrel (can be different than the first)?

Where is the bat? At what angle, up, down, angled to the right or left?

Drill: When you understand the sequence, timing and rhythm, and positioning of grabbing a bat go through the same routine when gripping a golf club.  

Once you understand how YOU are wired as an athlete, as a baseball player, what remains is a sense of the familiar. 

Grip Pressure...How to Use your Baseball knowledge to play better golf.

GRIP PRESSURE

WHAT DOES THE TYPICAL GOLFER DO?  

Most golfers squeeze, choke and suffocate the grip.

They step up to the ball erroneously believing the tighter they grip the club the more power and accuracy. Squeezing the club slows the club head through the hitting area. It is probably the most debilitating of these taciturn misinterpretations.  

Telling someone to lighten or tighten their grip pressure is an abstraction of words.  Light to me might not be light to you. 

THE MECHANICS: LIGHTEN  OR TIGHTEN YOUR GRIP PRESSURE! 

WHAT IS NATURAL: Batters and pitchers hold the bat and ball just enough to balance the pressure in order to produce the perfect amount of control without diminishing power.  

WHAT DO BASEBALL PLAYERS DO? 

The batter can hold the bat heavy handed or light.  It all comes down to bat speed.  The lighter you hold the bat the faster you will make the barrel through the hitting area. 

DO IN GOLF AS YOU DO IN BASEBALL:

Experience: Grab a bat.  

Questions: Do you hold the bat lighter in grip pressure than you do a golf club?  Do you find anything interesting about that fact?   

Experience: Take a club, point it straight up in the air; 0 grip pressure on a scale from 1 to 10; then allow the club head to fall forward. It is this initial grab of the club with your hands, which regulates grip pressure that is optimum for accuracy and power.  

It is from here you will be able to feel the barrel of the club. 

(Many baseball hitters, Rafael Palmeiro comes to mind, appear to be hardly holding onto the bat with his hands.  By holding the bat lightly Palmeiro, as do many batters in the Majors, create bat speed).  

DOING THE DRILL WITH A BAT AND CLUB.