Okay, you don’t agree yet, but it can be. Playing golf is really just like “Connect the Dots.” You go from here to there, to over there, putt it in the hole and you’re done. “Give me a 3”
Let’s say your game is not like that yet. Well, then what happens with your game? This is the part of “playing golf”, most golfers don’t know, or don’t take the time to think about. “What went on during my round of golf?” What patterns can I find? Were my misses because of line or distance?
Let’s analyze the two words and see what hurts us the most?
Right Line- Wrong Distance:
If your ball goes straight, but is short or long, in most cases it won’t hurt you (unless there’s trouble short or long – rare on most courses). Straight usually leaves you with a good lie still in the fairway (short grass). Straight also keeps you optimistic and with a continued positive attitude. No real shots of adrenaline like when the ball goes sideways.
Right Distance – Wrong Line:
Now, if your ball goes left or right, we know for one thing, we’ve left the short grass, we’ll probably be in the rough, native area or behind a tree, and who knows what kind of lie we’ll have. Here comes the spurt of adrenaline (unless you’ve been there before and know what to expect). Now, these kinds of thoughts will pop into your head… “Hope I find my ball”, “Is that OB?”, “Should I play a provisional?” “What will my friends think of me now?” (and many more non-productive, game-killing thoughts). My point? Hitting the ball in the wrong direction is not good… period!
What I’m saying is… crooked golf adds a lot of stress and makes for a long day and is not near as much fun. So, how do we play straight golf? Well, why does the ball go left or right? It is really mostly one thing… THE CLUB FACE!
Well, I setup with the club face pointing in the direction I wanted to go… What happened?
Maybe it was my alignment… (NO, it was not your alignment). Golfers have been justifying missed direction with incorrect alignment since day one and alignment or path only influences the ball about 20%… it was where the club face was pointing at impact that mostly determined where the ball was going (influence – 80%). So, we can conclude that where the face was pointing, is where the ball went (with maybe a little side spin due to path). OKAY… why did the club face change from where I had it at setup? There is only one reason the club face changes… YOUR HANDS TOOK OVER SOMEWHERE DURING THE SWING. Maybe you were taught to roll your hands open and closed, or you’re using your hands to help lift your arms to the top of your backswing… there are a lot of reasons. BOTTOM LINE… you’re hands must take a passive roll to allow the club face to continually return back to square or how it was at setup.
Your 2 Choices:
Now, you can try to practice thousands of hours (like many Pros we know) trying to groove timing those hands to get back to square for that split second through impact… or you can learn to use the Large Muscles to trap the ball keeping your hands out of the swing. One of these swings let’s you hit the ball straight every time.
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Correct Alignment to my target
Good question Richard. The answer is YES! You essentially have two different sources of power here: My method and Traditional golf swing.
The Traditional Golf Swing:
First, the traditional golf swing sets up OUT OF BALANCE and NON-ATHLETIC. The Traditional golf swing releases the club head at the ball, in hopes that there will be a square club face (hopefully pointing at the target), AND hoping the shaft will magically align with the front arm at impact (with out flipping past), AND maybe hit the sweet spot, for a solid shot. All these must happen to maximize power with the traditional golf swing. You lose significant power if you miss any one of these components. FYI, with a traditional golf swing…most golfers will never get the shaft in line with the front arm at impact. Almost all have a bent flipped front wrist with the face open/closed from how they started. This is from rolling the face open and hinging the wrists and allowing the elbows to separate. It is almost impossible to release the club head into a straight line with the front arm, during the swing. Also, the body is not being used at all as a source of power, because it stops rotating when the hands take over to throw the club head. It is almost impossible to rotate your body and release the club head at the same time (it is one or the other).
My Method – DUPLESSISGOLF:
First, my method sets up ATHLETICALLY IN BALANCE. This allows the Large Muscles to control the swing for repeatability and power. My method traps the ball with the entire body mass as it is accelerating. My method sets up the shaft already in line with the front arm (so it can easily return), we do not hinge or open the club face (no benefit since we rotate and don’t throw the club head at the ball). It is very easy to use the body to bring the club back into impact, because the body is controlling the arms/club. Also, since we did not hinge, or allow our elbows to separate, we don’t have to try to realign all that to hit the sweet spot. Yay!! …hitting the sweet spot is much easier if we setup athletically to begin with. With our arms hanging ready, we can just use gravity as we rotate, to bring our arms right back down where they started (as long as the hands don’t take over*).
* If you setup with your wrists and elbows in perfect impact position, then hold that shape during the swing and allow the body to do the work… we get solid reliable impact! We give the wrists and elbows something to do… “HOLD THEIR SETUP SHAPE” during the swing, so they’re busy and don’t take over. Watch:
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Ross, if you succeed in keeping your hands and arms quiet are you then sacrificing one of your power levers? Would your reply be that the added power of a full hip turn more than makes up for the missing wrist hinge?
I have played today at Buzios,Rio de Janeiro, a Peter Dier project. I ve shot 73, par 72. Going on Duplessis method helped me a lot, adding more enjoyament to the game. For me the Pro of the year.