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Tallguy Apr 22, 2015
One Thing I’ve found, too. If you try to go back to your “Old Swing” and time the release with your hands, it doesn’t work! We all need to just keep on working & doing the drills. Thanks For being there for us, Ross!Peterswont Apr 21, 2015
I forgot to add. When one manages to keep that lead wrist engaged and leading the hit feels so secure and stable, not to mention straight and max return for the effort put in.DaveF Mar 28, 2017
Thanks Ross, I’m getting there however slowly. I learn something new every day though!Right on, I was watching Rahm and Kjeldsen in the WGC and it seemed like they were competing for “shortest backswing” lol. More than proves your point (if they make a few adjustments they can have the perfect “Ross Swing”…[smile]
So regarding the poor state of golf instruction, I have to share a couple things I’ve been meaning to mention to you for a long time.
#1- I took some lessons at Poppy Ridge here in California years ago, and one time the Pro stopped me for a moment and said “turn your elbows in all the way and give that a try”. The odd thing was after I did it she dismissed the idea immediately, like it was something she invented on the spot.
#2 I’ve been meaning to ask you about another tidbit my teaching pro of 2 years shared with me one day on the range that I thought you would enjoy, that was confusing to me at the time, but makes some sense to me now, but not in a good way.
I was hitting the ball pretty good, but certainly wasn’t winning any distance competitions. His comment was “you can swing faster, but you aren’t going to hit it any further, the ball will just go higher”. I don’t think he was speaking from a technical standpoint, but rather from his teaching experience. Thinking about it now, I think what that meant was when the average golfer tries to get more speed, they use more hands and flip the club head at a faster speed and add loft and so mostly just DO hit it higher?#3 OK, one more. A popular golf shows always end with “…and go see your PGA professional for more on how to improve YOUR swing!” (I think people know who I’m referring to). So I asked my PGA professional at my home course a question I didn’t think needed asking, but I was VERY surprised at the answer. Maybe you can fill in the blanks. I said something to the effect of “So to get your PGA credential, you probably spend a lot of class time analyzing the golf swing, studying physiology, looking at the best swings on tour, using Trackman, etc etc.?” I was, and am still somewhat stunned that they do NONE of that. It requires passing an on course test in competition, but has NOTHING to do with knowing anybody’s golf swing but their OWN?? Really?
Our guy is a classic “jock” type, and tells everyone the same thing (I know, because I ask) “swing hard through to the finish!” Not terrible advice, but you know what I mean.DaveF Mar 27, 2017
Don’t think I could deal with that “rattler”. Wow!BTW, one of those guys this weekend told me he wasn’t going to play with me anymore because I’m too good now. I think he meant it as a compliment, but obviously to your point, everything is a competition to some people…even when they don’t keep score, oddly enough.
I do have a follow-up question on the Ross Move. I made some errors with misinterpreting it, like stabbing or sticking myself in the side with my right elbow (almost) and then trying to turn everything together (more like a whole body heave [frown] Obviously I wasn’t rotating as a result. Worked through that.
So a question on a slightly alternate way of thinking about it:
Since the goal is to swing through the correct impact position, once I have rehearsed it, and I have an impact feel and visual saved, if I let the hips do all the work on the downswing and I rotate around my left hip, and I finish correctly, I must be executing the Ross Move by default right? I mean instead of thinking of it as a separate piece of the swing. I’m finding if I start the downswing gradually with my hips (although I think more about my left knee), and think about everything “collecting” into impact, it’s all good, and I confuse myself less with different clubs.
Thoughts?PS My dad started us on golf, and somewhere he picked up that chestnut of
“Let the club do the work!”. I wonder where he got it from, I’ve yet to hear any teacher, pro, commentator, magazine article or book mention it. Anyway, it’s feeling that way more and more by taking the upper body out of the equation!DaveF Mar 23, 2017
Thanks Ross, I hear that! I do start losing focus around the 15th hole. Luckily my short game bailed me out. Your method gives me tremendous confidence with my lob and sand wedges that I got up and down after a couple poor tee shots, in long rough and to short sided tricky pin positions. I nearly holed both of them.With a full swing it’s sure difficult to resist the urge to “muscle up” on the backswing, regardless of the fact that it NEVER works! It doesn’t help when your partners inevitably trot out the old stale comments like “you must have had your spinach this morning!”, “are you on steriods?”, or “you crushed that”.
I personally just focus on placing my shots and keep it in play, and try and keep to a routine – NOT my strength, working on it.
I had one of my longest drives Saturday and heard all those comments and more. What they should have said was “wow, you had a controlled and compact backswing, you paused, and turned through to a controlled balanced finish”. I just try and tune that nonsense out. So many challenges in golf, never the same game twice!DaveF Mar 22, 2017
Thanks, got it.
I wasn’t entirely using my shoulders on the backswing, so I was trying to create a bigger backswing using arms/torso, and losing connection as you state. I created a routine to help prevent that. I realize I always have be wary of that instinct though. Much more work to do, but I turned it around pretty quickly and had great ball striking this week. Managed to keep it together over three rounds and several hours on the range. Many compliments from golf buddies who I hadn’t played with in a while. Pretty great, but not going to take my foot off the gas.massimo Jan 04
Hi Ross, thanks for clarifying. I have found excellent results with your method. I am hoping to send you a video soon for assessment…mdq2u Sep 17, 2018
One of the ‘mantras’ if you will,that I’ve picked up from watching your videos Ross and use to this day is… “shoulders…PAUSE…hips”lucky2 Mar 09, 2015
Ross. I didn’t mean to imply that Hogan’s method was better than yours. I read his book many times over the years with no where near as much success as I have had with yours. I was just trying to understand the right elbow movement. Thanks. Ralph.ucky2 Mar 07, 2015
Okay. I signed up for the lifetime membership with one swing analysis which I haven’t used yet. How much are additional swing analysis for me at this point? Thanks. Ralph.lucky2 Mar 07, 2015
Hi Ross. Well I got a chance to play again today without being able to practice at all. I tried keeping my right arm from folding like you suggested, but got terrible results. Topping, and hooking mostly. After I began bending my right arm immediately on the backswing, I began hitting dead straight again. Could it be I am turning without using my arms much, if at all? Hogan said to turn your elbows out in the five lessons book but put the right arm up against your chest and let it bend. What do you think? Thanks Ralph.lucky2 Mar 01, 2015
Ross. Sorry for jumping the gun on the email. I will assume that it went through next time. I must admit I was amazed at how far I could hit the ball without any wrists and dead straight too. On one par five, I was only about sixty yards off the green in two. Not bad for a sixty six year old. A few weeks ago, I lost about six balls on the same course, so things are definitely improving. I will definitely keep working on this. I was, however, hitting a lot of low trajectory shots, but they seemed to run forever. Any ideas on what might be causing that? Thanks for all the personal attention. I really do appreciate it. Ralphaminogrp Mar 30, 2016
Ross wrote:
It is the hips or body that start the downswing JoeJacksonQ. The downswing unwinds from ground up, just like throwing a ball. You want to find what works for you. You do NOT start the downswing with the shoulders. The shoulders are done when the backswing ends. I rewrote a little bit of (post #4) since it could be misinterpreted as you did (sorry). Please re-read.i have the same problem regarding the downsing..i move hips and for some reason I go steep and over the top..any suggestion
Tallguy Apr 26, 2015
Ross: I’ve been reading a lot about Teaching pros advocating the left or lead shoulder turning “Down” toward the ball in the backswing. In Fact, My teaching pro advocated me doing this since I’m very tall and have a tendency to “Stand Up” in the backswing. Should I think of this or try to turn the shoulders perfectly level in the backswing? Thanks!
