WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:04.759 Golf Smarter number four hundred and forty six, originally published 2 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:07.080 on July twenty second, twenty fourteen. 3 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:12.439 Welcome to Golf Smarter Mulligans, your second chance to gain 4 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.079 insight and advice from the best instructors featured on the 5 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:22.079 Golf Smarter podcast. Great Golf Instruction Never gets Old. Our 6 00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:27.000 interview library features hundreds of hours of game improvement conversations 7 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:30.640 like this that are no longer available in any podcast app. 8 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:33.359 What you really have to have is a relationship with 9 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:36.479 the target, not the target itself. If you try to 10 00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:40.039 point perfectly towards something, your arm in your hand will shake. 11 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:42.759 If you try to hold a cup of coffee perfectly still, 12 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:47.320 you'll spill it. But if you just calmly find a relationship, 13 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:50.840 it's like looking through a window, and where your hands 14 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:53.200 end up is kind of like where the window is sitting, 15 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:56.039 and you're trying to get your hands in a relationship 16 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:59.039 with that target, not reach toward that target. Just like 17 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:02.039 firing a gun. You see the target and you're pointing 18 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:04.519 a gun in relationship to that target, but you're not 19 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.319 actually trying to get to the target. I think that's 20 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.719 another mistake people do is they try to guide things 21 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:14.040 toward a target. You have no control over that golf ball, 22 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:17.760 literally zero. So what you've got to do is control 23 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.400 what's within you. And the only thing that's within you 24 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:24.280 is this balance that comes to finish in relationship to 25 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:29.560 that target. 26 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:32.719 See it, feel it, do it. As told by Jimmy 27 00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:37.359 Demura to Evan denn This is Golf Smarter. Welcome back 28 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:38.840 to the Golf Smarter Podcast. 29 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:41.920 Evan, Hi, Fred, how are you doing today? 30 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:45.159 I am so well. I've already got the Texas accent. Wow, 31 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:47.239 I've talked to you for ten minutes and I am 32 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:51.920 so well. You're contagious, my friend. 33 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:55.760 You haven't heard the real Texas accent. Go to West Texas. 34 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:58.719 Oh well. You know, if I ever spend like a 35 00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:00.680 week in Atlanta, which I used to do a lot, 36 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:02.640 I would have to go down. I would come home 37 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:08.280 with all y'all. Yes, I love all y'all, and even 38 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:10.039 I go to New Orleans. It just takes a couple 39 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:11.879 of days and all of a sudden, I've picked up accents. 40 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:17.560 It's nuts. Yes, it's been a long time since we've spoken, 41 00:02:17.639 --> 00:02:22.919 but we've continued to promote your power Field Golf DVD 42 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:27.800 and training booklet on the Golf Smarter website at our 43 00:02:28.199 --> 00:02:31.479 golfers Maart and we have been getting reaction to it. 44 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:34.919 People find it and they purchase it. We really appreciate 45 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:35.960 you selling it here. 46 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:38.560 All I appreciate you carrying it too. 47 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:41.479 Well. Yeah, and it's been what two thousand and nine, 48 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:43.879 episode two hundred and eleven was the last time you 49 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:47.080 were on, so there are people who will remember you. Yeah, 50 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:48.919 though people remember you, but there are a lot of 51 00:02:48.919 --> 00:02:52.000 people who have not heard about power Field Golf, and 52 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:54.159 I thought it would be great to reintroduce them to 53 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:58.159 that and talk about what's going on in your teaching 54 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:01.960 and your method of teaching because I found it very effective. 55 00:03:03.319 --> 00:03:06.039 Well, I would say the biggest thing Fred that's gone 56 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:09.879 on since we last talked is my goal is always 57 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.719 to make it simpler because I feel the simpler you 58 00:03:12.759 --> 00:03:15.680 can make the game, the more fun it is. And 59 00:03:16.039 --> 00:03:19.360 you know, get people to understand how to use their 60 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:24.080 inate abilities rather than trying to imitate or copy somebody else. 61 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:28.199 And you know, like I was always told, when you 62 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:31.240 try to paint by numbers, which is what majority of 63 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:35.240 instruction is, and they try to tell you what positions 64 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:38.759 to be in that doesn't fit your body. Everybody's different. 65 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:41.759 We've got five hundred and something paired muscles and we 66 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:44.919 have to learn how to use them the way that 67 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:48.759 works best for us, not the way that looks good 68 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.680 with Rory McElroy or Adam Scott or somebody else, because 69 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:54.159 we're just not going to be able to do that. 70 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:56.560 Unfortunately, that's true. 71 00:03:56.840 --> 00:04:00.240 Yeah, but yet we can find our best game if 72 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:01.280 we know where to look. 73 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:05.840 Yeah. Well, one of the complaints are the major complaints 74 00:04:05.879 --> 00:04:08.000 of golf is it's too hard, it takes too long, 75 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:11.599 it's too expensive. So when you're saying make it simpler, 76 00:04:11.639 --> 00:04:14.159 are you talking about making the game simpler or making 77 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:15.479 instruction simpler? 78 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:19.879 Well, really both, but instruction and the way you go 79 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:22.399 about practicing simpler. 80 00:04:22.439 --> 00:04:23.319 That's huge. 81 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:27.600 Yeah. If you think about if you change the way 82 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:31.319 you see something, what you see changes. And most people 83 00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:34.160 just see golf in the wrong way. They see that 84 00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:37.000 they're supposed to hit a ball with a golf club 85 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:40.000 and make it go somewhere, so they're trying to control 86 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:43.360 the end of the club rather than understanding how that 87 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:46.959 really happens. It's just like if you tried to focus 88 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:48.839 on the end of a fork while you're eating or 89 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:51.560 the end of a fly swatter. While you're swatting a fly, 90 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:56.560 you'll be very unsuccessful. Go on. 91 00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:58.120 I am enthralled. 92 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:02.399 Okay, well, what I found over all the years, and 93 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:05.199 it really goes back to what I learned from Jackie Burke, 94 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:07.879 Jimmy to Merritt, and Ben Hogan and a few others 95 00:05:07.959 --> 00:05:11.079 like Julius Boris, who I was fortunate enough to be 96 00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:13.240 around because they were all good friends with my dad. 97 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:17.079 And actually Jackie Burke and Jimmy to Merritt, I lived 98 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:20.560 five hundred yards from the club they owned down in 99 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:24.480 Houston called Champions Golf Club, and so they were my teachers. 100 00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:27.680 I started playing when I was nine, and as soon 101 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:29.480 as they saw that I was going to be pretty good, 102 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:32.720 they started helping me. Well what they started telling me 103 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:37.519 was and unfortunately I kind of steered away from after 104 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:39.560 I thought I was really good. I wanted to know 105 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:43.279 too much. They taught me how simple the game really 106 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:48.879 could be. But then once I got into probably my 107 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.240 junior year of high school, I started listening to all 108 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:54.199 these guys. They were talking swing theories and everything else, 109 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:57.360 and rather than getting better, I got worse like most 110 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:01.199 people do, and so I went through college doing that, 111 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:05.480 played college golf major college golf, and then I played 112 00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:08.240 a little bit of professional golf. But I never felt 113 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:10.360 like I had the same game that I did when 114 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:13.480 I was fourteen or fifteen years old, because I felt 115 00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:17.959 like I had lost the ability to just feel the game. 116 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:20.600 And one of the things you and I were talking 117 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:23.240 to prior to the show we were talking to personally 118 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:26.839 about was where see it feel it, and a lot 119 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:29.959 of people call it trust it came from. Was when 120 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:32.519 I was about fifteen years old, I was playing golf 121 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:36.879 with Jimmy Demerit and he rarely played. He played like 122 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.480 once a year, and he was in his late fifties 123 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:43.720 back then, and he asked me to go play one morning, 124 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:45.879 and so we went out to the golf course. He 125 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:49.160 didn't warm up or anything. His clubs had dust all 126 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:51.639 over them, which is in my book, and so we 127 00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:54.000 get out there and he just smokes it right down 128 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:58.199 the tenth tee. We played the tournament course to a 129 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:02.480 cypress creek course, and he continued to do that the 130 00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:05.680 whole nine holes, and on the eighth hole I was 131 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:09.160 even par. He was like five under already, and I 132 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:11.639 looked at him, I said, mister de merit, I don't understand. 133 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:14.480 You never touch a club, you don't practice, you don't 134 00:07:14.519 --> 00:07:16.800 do anything. You come out here and you make it 135 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:19.240 look like it's a walk in the park and there's 136 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:21.600 no effort to your golf swing. He said, Evan, you 137 00:07:21.639 --> 00:07:24.639 see that green up there. He said, all I do 138 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:27.519 is I see it, I feel it, and I just 139 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:30.600 do it. And he said, I don't think about it. 140 00:07:31.079 --> 00:07:33.079 He said, I know what it feels like, and i 141 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:35.920 know how to control the shot from my hands, and 142 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:38.519 I'm not thinking. He said, I'm not thinking about where 143 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:43.839 the clubhead is, or my foot position or anything like that. 144 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:48.360 So and that's the way he grew up. He rarely 145 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:49.360 made to feel the game. 146 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:53.279 When you rarely make mistakes, you don't have to second 147 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:57.279 guess yourself. For many of us who picked up the 148 00:07:57.319 --> 00:08:00.279 game later in life and don't play competitively, just love 149 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:05.959 to play the game, but are always struggling. Every golfer 150 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:10.439 is struggling to improve. That's all across the board. But 151 00:08:11.240 --> 00:08:15.279 for those of us weekend hacks, you know, we're working 152 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:17.120 all week, don't get a lot of time to practice. 153 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:20.040 Would love to practice more, you know, inch out every 154 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:22.959 hour that we can in the backyard or at a 155 00:08:23.079 --> 00:08:28.519 range or something like that, wherever we can. I don't 156 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:32.759 see it as being so simple like that. What am 157 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:33.200 I missing? 158 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:37.279 Well, what you're missing is where you focus your energies. 159 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:40.639 Like I started to say earlier, where most people focus 160 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:43.480 their energy is on hitting the golf ball and trying 161 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:46.480 to steer it to a target, so they reach toward 162 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:50.200 the golf ball rather than swinging toward the target. And 163 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:54.039 one of the things Jackie Burke told me when I 164 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:57.399 was probably twelve or thirteen years old was Evan, the 165 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:01.159 golf ball goes wherever your hands go, good or bad. 166 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:05.559 So if you understand how to get your hands to 167 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:08.919 go there, and you have control of the club, then 168 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:12.080 you have control of the shot. Now it's happening at 169 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:15.440 a fast pace, you know, the usually you're swinging at 170 00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:18.000 about eighty to one hundred miles an hour. The clubhead 171 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:21.840 is but your hands really aren't moving that fast. So 172 00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:24.480 it's the clubhead that's moving that fast. But your hands 173 00:09:24.519 --> 00:09:27.360 you can slow them down if you want, to speed 174 00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:30.159 them up if you want to. But the main thing 175 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:33.159 is once you learn how to control the tool in 176 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:37.000 your hands properly and direct that energy toward the target 177 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:39.639 instead of toward the ball. You change everything. 178 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:47.879 I like that idea, So let's figure out how to 179 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:50.559 make it simpler for all of us. What are the 180 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:53.399 elements that we have to focus on and what do 181 00:09:53.480 --> 00:09:58.639 we have to stop beating ourselves up with that's going 182 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:00.559 to make well the process simpler. 183 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:04.120 Okay, let's first get rid of the things you don't need. 184 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:08.360 You don't need to know how to put your feet 185 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:11.360 at a certain width. You don't need to know where 186 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:14.039 to put the club in your stands. You don't need 187 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:16.879 to know how to bend your knees. You don't need 188 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:19.799 to know how to keep your head down. That's one 189 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:22.399 of the worst ones, is keeping your head down because 190 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:25.360 that actually gets in your own way of your golf swing. 191 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:28.679 So think about that. You What you're really trying to 192 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:31.480 do is have as clear and as clean a path 193 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:34.279 for your hands to work on as possible. Well, that 194 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:38.559 starts with balance. Balance is a feeling. It's a feeling 195 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:41.840 of having a tool in your hands balanced that you 196 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:45.519 can swing back and forth, not up and down, which 197 00:10:45.559 --> 00:10:48.279 most people swing up, down and out, and that's why 198 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.399 most people slice it. But if you can swing back 199 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:56.120 and forth with your hands balanced, then the body will 200 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:59.679 support that action and it will give the illusion of 201 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:03.320 an eye shoulder turn, a nice hip turn. It'll give 202 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:06.240 the illusion that your head stayed down when in reality, 203 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:10.120 your eyes are clearing the way for your hands on 204 00:11:10.200 --> 00:11:13.720 the follow through. So you know, if you really watch 205 00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:16.879 the players on tour, you won't see their eyes stuck 206 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:21.519 on the golf ball. You'll see them gently guiding toward 207 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:24.759 the target in front of the hands. So it's like 208 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:27.759 it's like throwing a baseball. You don't look at the 209 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:30.399 baseball while you're throwing it. You look toward the target 210 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:33.480 and you kind of clear the way mentally and visually 211 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:36.480 for your hand to come through toward that target. Well, 212 00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:39.559 the same thing happens in golf, but you can't do 213 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:44.679 that until you put your energies, your mental especially that 214 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:47.919 third eye. If you understand what I'm talking about, toward 215 00:11:48.039 --> 00:11:51.240 the target. In other words, if you look at something 216 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:57.120 ahead of you in pre shot before you swing, and 217 00:11:57.159 --> 00:12:00.240 you bury that image in your head, then that's where 218 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:02.960 your hands want to go. So then you hold that 219 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:05.120 image in your head and you kind of do a 220 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:10.039 blank stare toward the golf ball, which keeps you from 221 00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:12.279 focusing on the ball. It kind of takes it out 222 00:12:12.279 --> 00:12:14.519 of focus, if you want to say it that way. 223 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:19.600 So what we're really trying to accomplish is this clear 224 00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:22.279 space for the hands to work in until they finish 225 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:22.840 their work. 226 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:30.639 Why do you use the word illusion? 227 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:37.080 The illusion of the golf ball is. What you're really 228 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.440 trying to do is get your mind. You know how 229 00:12:40.519 --> 00:12:45.519 when you stare through somebody, you're kind of daydreaming about something. Yeah, 230 00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:47.679 and you can look right at someone, but you don't 231 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:50.159 really see them they're right in front of you because 232 00:12:50.200 --> 00:12:52.639 you're daydreaming. That's the I call that. 233 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:56.919 I actually call that peeing in the ocean. That look 234 00:12:57.000 --> 00:12:58.440 you get on your face when you're peeing in the 235 00:12:58.440 --> 00:13:01.000 ocean's like exactly. 236 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:03.759 That's what you should have on your face when you're 237 00:13:03.799 --> 00:13:08.159 standing over a golf shot and swinging, because that way, 238 00:13:08.279 --> 00:13:11.320 your mind, your mental energy is toward the target, not 239 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:14.480 at the golf ball. Most people stare at a golf 240 00:13:14.519 --> 00:13:16.639 ball the way if I was looking at you, I'd 241 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:20.039 be staring at your nose. It does very little good, 242 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:24.320 doesn't do anything for me. You've got to be thinking ahead, 243 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:27.799 not right in front of you. And that's why most 244 00:13:27.799 --> 00:13:29.960 people hit at the golf ball because that's where all 245 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:32.919 their energy, mental and physical is directed toward. 246 00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:40.320 This is a complete coincidence, but two of the last 247 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:44.480 three episodes of Golf Smarter we're on target oriented golf. 248 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:51.720 We even had JB. Holmes, caddy talking about the work 249 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:55.320 that he's done with Colin Cromac who's in the UK, 250 00:13:55.879 --> 00:13:58.360 and Colin was on talking about his whole program of 251 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:02.480 target oriented golf. You sound like you're a believer. 252 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:06.759 Well, okay, that's a small part of it again, just 253 00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:10.799 like process is a small part of the picture. A 254 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:15.600 process is extremely important. Target oriented is very important. But 255 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:18.080 if you don't have good balance of the tool in 256 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:21.759 your hands, if you don't have the idea that you're 257 00:14:21.799 --> 00:14:24.960 clearing space for those hands to work in, if you 258 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.399 don't have the idea that you know that your vision 259 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:33.320 is toward that target, then it doesn't matter if your 260 00:14:33.399 --> 00:14:37.559 target oriented. If you don't understand the whole process. Just 261 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:40.600 like if you have a process but you don't understand 262 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:43.519 that all that energy has to be directed toward the target, 263 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:47.279 then neither one work. They have to go together. You 264 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:51.159 have to have both process and target to go along 265 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:55.320 with understanding what gives you the best opportunity to get there. 266 00:14:56.360 --> 00:14:58.639 So it's not just one or the other. It's actually 267 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:03.000 a combination of things. But the one the phrases I 268 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:07.519 like to use is it's balance, control, and vision if 269 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:10.519 you don't have good balance. And when I mean balance, I. 270 00:15:10.360 --> 00:15:12.759 Was going to ask you about that because my biggest 271 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:15.639 issue is with the driver. It's the only club that 272 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.879 I like. Fall out after I swing my driver because 273 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:23.159 I'm probably swinging it too hard, but no other club, No, 274 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:23.879 keep going. 275 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.360 It's typically not because you swing it too harsh because 276 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:29.440 you swing out of balance. You fall because you're out 277 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:30.000 of balance. 278 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:30.600 Okay. 279 00:15:30.679 --> 00:15:32.759 And when I say out of balance, balance is not 280 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:36.679 at the feet. The feet are there to be soft 281 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:40.879 and to allow the hands to work freely. The balance 282 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:43.240 is in the hands. To imagine you had a medicine 283 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:46.600 ball in your hands, a ten pound medicine ball with 284 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:48.879 a couple of handles on it. You know, you see 285 00:15:48.919 --> 00:15:51.720 those ones with the handles on it, and you're swinging 286 00:15:51.720 --> 00:15:54.080 that medicine ball back and forth, just like you would 287 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:57.240 a golf swing, kind of underneath you, and you're trying 288 00:15:57.240 --> 00:16:00.600 to throw it into a wall. Okay, if you throw 289 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.240 it out away from you. You're going to fall over 290 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:07.440 toward out away from you. If you just use it 291 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:10.559 along your body and you find a place that's easy 292 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:13.159 to release it in front of you, that's where your 293 00:16:13.159 --> 00:16:16.559 best golf swing is. In other words, what you're doing 294 00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:20.120 is you're reaching down the target line or the ball 295 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:23.720 line rather than actually, let me put it a different 296 00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:26.200 way so you can kind of get the visual. If 297 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:28.320 you had two lines. You had a line from the 298 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:30.799 ball to the target, and then you had another line 299 00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:34.320 from your hands to the target. The ball to the target, 300 00:16:34.440 --> 00:16:37.240 your hands have to reach out to go down that line. 301 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:40.919 The line from the hands to the target is a direct, 302 00:16:41.080 --> 00:16:44.840 easy to balance line. If you swing that line, the 303 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:48.519 golf club works properly. If you swing down the ball line, 304 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:53.039 everything's messed up, everything's off balance. 305 00:16:54.679 --> 00:17:02.200 Okay, this is making so much sense to me, especially 306 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:03.879 thank you for telling me I'm not swinging too hard 307 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:05.440 because it like, Yeah, you. 308 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:07.079 Can swing as hard as you want to if you're 309 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:11.519 in balance, if you're efficient. Another good word is efficient. 310 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:15.240 If your hands are working efficiently in front of your body, 311 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:18.960 then that club is working efficiently too, and you can 312 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:22.359 swing with as much effort as you want to as 313 00:17:22.359 --> 00:17:24.799 long as you don't swing out of balance and out 314 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:27.440 of balance. If you were to put your hands the 315 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:29.279 left hand to the left of you, right hand of 316 00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:31.799 the right of you, where you feel like if you 317 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:36.000 were holding two five pound medicine balls up in your hands, 318 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:39.359 that's as far as you can swing in balance straight. 319 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:41.359 Are you saying I'm trying to do this? Am I 320 00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:42.400 putting my arm that straight? 321 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:46.599 Without straightening your arms where you're relaxed and comfortable, hands 322 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:50.039 are in a like at a handshake distance. Okay. You 323 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:52.880 never extend your arm fully out to shake someone's hand. 324 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:55.119 You extend it with a slight bend in your elbow 325 00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:58.559 and a relax in your shoulder. And so if you 326 00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:01.319 think of handshake distance on the left side of you 327 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:03.119 or right side of you, or in front of you, 328 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:06.960 as long as you swing within that, you are in balance. 329 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:11.759 In other words, your hands work at a certain distance 330 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:15.640 from your body most efficiently. Once you try to reach out, 331 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:18.200 If you take your hand right hand or left hand 332 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:20.240 and you reach out away from you, you'll feel your 333 00:18:20.279 --> 00:18:24.839 body go the opposite direction to keep you from falling over. Okay, 334 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:27.599 And that's what you experience when you swing the golf 335 00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:30.480 club that's out of balance in your hands. When your 336 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:32.839 hands are out of balance, so is the golf club. 337 00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:36.240 And not only that, it slows the golf club down 338 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:39.400 because your body has to shut down in order to 339 00:18:39.480 --> 00:18:42.319 keep you from falling again. It can't work faster, it 340 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:45.839 actually works slower. So your best golf swing, your most 341 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:49.480 efficient golf swing, actually feels slower even though it's actually 342 00:18:49.559 --> 00:18:50.480 working faster. 343 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:56.359 And is that the control part of balance control, vision, well. 344 00:18:56.359 --> 00:18:59.400 Control is actually how you hold it in your hands. 345 00:18:59.799 --> 00:19:04.079 You put pressure from your palms out, then you're not 346 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:08.000 controlling the club the right way. So think about it 347 00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:10.960 like your your fingers or your hands become a vice 348 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:14.400 on the club and you find where that vice is 349 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:18.160 and you hold it up, not pushing out, So you're 350 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:22.960 using your finger muscles more in toward toward the sky, 351 00:19:24.119 --> 00:19:26.559 and you're balancing that club just like you would balance 352 00:19:26.599 --> 00:19:28.640 a plate or something out in front of you. 353 00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:31.720 And you lost me, what do you mean pushing up? 354 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:35.720 Okay, pushing and not pushing up, holding up, holding up. 355 00:19:35.799 --> 00:19:38.599 So like you if you had a platter and you're 356 00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:41.240 holding a platter right in front of you that's full 357 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:44.960 of food, say, or wine glasses or something you're not 358 00:19:45.079 --> 00:19:47.160 going to push out with your palms because the whole 359 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:48.279 thing's gonna tip over. 360 00:19:48.279 --> 00:19:50.960 Right right, Okay, I got the visual. 361 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:53.039 Going hold up with your fingers. You grab the two 362 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:55.319 sides and you hold it up with your fingers. If 363 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:57.839 you imagine that's the way you hold a golf club, 364 00:19:58.759 --> 00:20:02.440 then now you have control of that tool. And the 365 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:05.440 way Hogan showed me that one was he shook my 366 00:20:05.559 --> 00:20:07.799 hand and he showed me in a handshake. And I'll 367 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:11.799 never forget that feeling because you could feel how firm 368 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:14.880 his fingers were yet how soft his arms were. 369 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:18.839 That's awesome that you can say. 370 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:22.880 And actually that brings up a great point because everybody says, well, 371 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:28.160 Hogan said hold the club lightly. That's absolutely false what 372 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:31.880 he said. And because I asked him that question when 373 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:34.400 I was about sixteen years old, I said, I can't 374 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:36.920 hold the club like that, and he said you shouldn't, Son, 375 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:40.440 and he used a few expletives to go along with it. 376 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:46.000 And after he got through berating me about it, he said, 377 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:48.480 here's how you hold it. You hold it like you 378 00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:51.240 mean it so no one can take it away from you. 379 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:54.880 But you don't squeeze it with your palms. You use 380 00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:57.839 your fingers to control it, not your palms. And he 381 00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:02.119 said that means that all your pressure will stay constant 382 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.319 throughout the golf swing, because now you've got a control 383 00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:08.359 that you can use. Rather than if you're pushing with 384 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:11.839 your palms, your fingers come loose. Try to hold anything, 385 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:14.400 push out with your palms and try to tighten your fingers. 386 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:15.519 You cannot do it. 387 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:24.160 Right. Why is it that everybody wants to quote Hogan? 388 00:21:24.839 --> 00:21:27.640 Was he a teacher or was he just an amazing player? 389 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:31.319 Actually, Jimmy Demarrett was his teacher. He was an amazing player, 390 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:34.160 but he had a major flaw in his golf swing 391 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:37.559 that cost him early in his career and he had 392 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:41.200 to do a lot of strength training over in order 393 00:21:41.240 --> 00:21:45.000 to overcome it. And that was that he swung out 394 00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:48.720 toward the ball a little bit. And so that's why 395 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:50.960 his swing looks flat because it was an end to 396 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:54.759 out swing and when it wasn't working quite right, it 397 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:59.759 turned into a snap hook. And if you talked to 398 00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:01.839 him who knew him later in life, he could not 399 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:05.799 keep from hitting that snap hook because of that. As 400 00:22:05.799 --> 00:22:11.119 he got weaker, and the best swing in any if 401 00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:16.039