| |
Main
Date: 12 Mar 2007 16:19:12
From: \R&B\
Subject: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
Okay, so I'm not exactly built like John the Pflagstick Pflum. I cast a
much wider shadow.
Played golf this weekend for maybe the first time since the new year. If
I've played since Jan. 1, it was so unmemorable that I've forgotten all
about it. Anyway, I haven't played much since the cold weather set in back
before Christmas. But we had a beautiful, sunshiny, 70-degree weekend here
in the south, and I'd been working at all hours of the day and night for
nigh on to three weeks tweaking my website and learning a few new technology
tricks. So I made up my mind that at the next warm weather opportunity, I
was gonna take a break and get out and play some golf. I really needed the
fresh air.
Saturday's round was unspectacular for many reasons. I didn't play horribly
(and some might say I even played fairly well considering how little I'd
played in recent months). I hit enough good shots (okay, ginally good
shots) that the day wasn't a total bust. And I chipped and putted
surprisingly well, considering that my short game is usually the last thing
to come around after a layoff. (My putting is never far from excellent, but
my chipping often goes into hybernation in the winter.) But on this day,
and most days in the past year or so, my driving was horrendous. A big ugly
slice seemed to appear out of nowhere Saturday, and repeated its ugly self
consistently on almost every drive. Hell, I never slice. Not like this.
These were big ugly banana slices. Some were so short, I felt like I could
have run out there and caught them with my bare hands. I've thrown frisbees
farther and straighter. And my iron play and fairway woods were not much
better (I've long considered my fairway woods to be among the most
dependable clubs in my bag). I couldn't make solid contact on any full
swings. They were all "bone-rattlers." If I didn't play Callaways, I would
have been in traction that night.
Then on Sunday, it was more of the same. Both days I hit a nice long,
straight drive on #1. But after that, the ball was taking a sharp right
turn while in flight. My iron play was even worse than on Saturday.
Couldn't hit a solid shot to save my life. And on Sunday, my chipping -- a
strength only a day earlier -- had suddenly gone south for the winter (and
didn't seem to realize that winter was taking the weekend off). On days
like this, if I couldn't putt, I would hate this freakin' game.
But then, on one shot in mid-round, and again late in the round on Sunday, I
made a few swings that suddenly produced my old, more predictable shot
shape. A nice high straight trajectory (with maybe a slight draw), that
while not long by most "big boy" standards, is plenty long enough for me.
It's exactly the kind of shotmaking I used to make when I used to play
pretty well not so many years ago.
What did I do differently on these shots to produce this different result?
Sadly, that has too often been a question I've asked myself in the past
whenever I've produced sharply different (and more favorable) results
without much of a clue as to the answer. But on this occasion, I knew
EXACTLY what I'd done differently, and once I tried it a few more times
toward the end of the round in a successful attempt to repeat it, it
switched on a huge, bright light bulb above my head.
For years since first learning about "connection," my set up to the ball
always included a move with my upper arms to get them out in front of my
chest -- to sort of lay them on top of my front side, rather than just
letting my arms hang to my sides before I began my takeaway. In this way, I
could get my elbows closer, something we've all seen recommended by many
experts. And indeed, several years ago when I first started playing this
way, I got very good results.
In recent years, I've put on a few pounds (more than a few, really), and as
a result, have become...uh...shall we say, a bit "rounder" up top.
I had noticed that most of my poorly struck shots were hit out on the toe,
so I would try to compensate for this by inching myself ever closer to the
ball at setup, figuring I just wasn't standing near enough to the ball at
setup. But with my upper arms out in front of my rather round torso, I
could only move so close before the hosel of the club would be aligned right
behind the ball (not exactly the setup that inspires confidence, even if
Fuzzy Zoeller did make a career of doing it -- I am not Fuzzy Zoeller).
Honestly, I felt as if I had already moved my setup as close to the ball as
it could comfortably be. Yet still, my mis-hits were mostly toed shots,
something I could verify most clearly on par threes when my divots were
almost always decidedly closer to me than the tee that was left in the
ground after the ball was struck.
But on these shots that were hit much more authoritatively Sunday afternoon,
I didn't bother with the move to put my upper arms out in front of (or on
top of) my chest at setup. I just let them hang to either side.
Of course this "wider" setup with my arms at address flies in the face of
the "elbows close together" setup advocated by such experts as Ben Hogan
(who, not so coincidentally, *was* built more like John The Pflagstick
Pflum). With my arms hanging at either side, there was decidedly more space
between my elbows, but this change seemed to make all the difference in the
world.
What I suddenly realized was that when I had been putting my arms in front
of my chest at address, this old setup had been forcing me to swing more
"around" my round upper torso, and more importantly, put my right elbow in a
position at address that was considerably farther toward the ball than it
would be when the clubhead returned to impact the ball, when my elbow was
tucked in more closely to my right side (not in front of my chest) as my
hips cleared through the shot. This difference in path was easily a couple
of inches (maybe more), which no doubt accounted for why all those shots
were being toed before made this setup change.
So the lesson I learned -- and will certainly apply when I next go out to
play -- is to just play with my big fat body the way it is, and let my arms
hang to either side of me rather than placing them at address in front of
(on top of) my chest. While this "front/top" position may work well for
skinny guys (and worked fine for me before I put on this extra weight in
recent years), it causes a definite problem for players like me whose upper
bodies occupy more cubic footage. Nobody who ever advocates this
"front/top, elbows-close-together" address position in books and written
articles ever bothers to mention that it works best for flatbelly golfers,
but for widebodies like me, it won't work nearly as well, if at all.
Now you know.
In hindsight, what I realize now is that by swinging with the body I have
(such as it is), I was better able to maintain structural connection, rather
than letting the triangle structure that I'd laid on top of my chest at
address slide one way and then the other during the swing, and completely
fall to my side as my hips were clearing. In other words, a complete (and
inadvertent rerouting on the way down).
Not surprisingly, better connection produced more solid ballstriking, and
for sure, kept the ball going straight for the remainder of the round. From
the very first moment I started swinging this way, the slice disappeared
immediately and I hit some of the best shots I'd hit in a year or two
(including a sweet little hybrid-3 from around 190 to within about 5 feet of
the hole that never left the pin while in flight).
Fat boy is back.
Randy
|
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 18:52:15
From: EdSmithers
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
> it won't do a damn thing to
> help their golf swing THIS WEEKEND.
Any God that would allow Tiger to shoot 73 today, not quite as good as
immortals like Jeev Singh, Hunter Mahan, and Johnson Wagner, clearly
doesn't rule over a world worth saving.
So, golf all you want, golf while evil winds are blowing out there at
Bay Hill, where the ghost of Arnold Palmer rips one last drive into a
fairway bunker, while us high-handicapper fatties try to swing around
our big bellies - despite the wise and healthful advice from
nincompoops here and on the tellyvision.
Because the endtimes are nigh. If Tiger is still chasing Stephen
ino and Sean O'Hair this time tomorrow, I'd find a nice cool spot
to rest until the fires are over.
Ed
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 15:48:57
From:
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
On 16, 4:16 pm, "\"R&B\"" <noneofyourbusin...@all.com > wrote:
> <bigoldc...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1174061267.939162.215840@y80g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
>
>
> > On 16, 8:29 am, "EdSmithers" <spirosdarlo...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> > I find it sad when people refer to
> >> > themselves as "Fatty" ot "fat-boy". Living as a fat person cannot be a
> >> > good experience and with a little will power it can be changed.
>
> >> How about minding your own fucking business? I can guarantee you that
> >> you'll feel a lot better.
>
> >> Ed
>
> > Ed baby, what got into you? The health of fellow humans is a concern
> > of mine, since my tax dollar will be paying for all these medical
> > problems waiting on the obese. I'm glad that some states are starting
> > to hold parents responsible for their obese children. As for you
> > EdSmithers, this is an ugly side of you we haven't seen here before,
> > must've touched a nerve. You morbidly obese or worse got one of those
> > circus fat lady wives?
> > Why not put on some Dylan and kick back and think about what you wrote.
>
> Let me make this real clear for you.
>
> The purpose of my original article was to inform others of my discovery --
> namely, that some of the mechanics taught in golf books don't take into
> account different body types.
>
> If you feel the need to use that as a launching point into a diatribe about
> how others should live their lives, that's your business, and you're
> certainly entitled to express it. But it misses the entire point of my
> post. And while the spirit behind your advice may be ultimately helpful and
> healthful to those who might take it to heart, it won't do a damn thing to
> help their golf swing THIS WEEKEND.
>
> Randy- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
I'm glad that you got that the spirit was to be helpful and healthful.
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 13:36:36
From: EdSmithers
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
> EdSmithers, this is an ugly side of you we haven't seen here before,
> must've touched a nerve. You morbidly obese or worse got one of those
> circus fat lady wives?
Actually both, and we both have thick beards. No obese children
though, because bringing children into the crowded and dying planet is
irresponsible and arrogant.
Ed
PS: Dylan, like God and love, is dead.
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 09:07:48
From:
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
On 16, 8:29 am, "EdSmithers" <spirosdarlo...@yahoo.com > wrote:
> > I find it sad when people refer to
> > themselves as "Fatty" ot "fat-boy". Living as a fat person cannot be a
> > good experience and with a little will power it can be changed.
>
> How about minding your own fucking business? I can guarantee you that
> you'll feel a lot better.
>
> Ed
Ed baby, what got into you? The health of fellow humans is a concern
of mine, since my tax dollar will be paying for all these medical
problems waiting on the obese. I'm glad that some states are starting
to hold parents responsible for their obese children. As for you
EdSmithers, this is an ugly side of you we haven't seen here before,
must've touched a nerve. You morbidly obese or worse got one of those
circus fat lady wives?
Why not put on some Dylan and kick back and think about what you wrote.
|
| | |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 17:16:04
From: \R&B\
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
<bigoldcat2@yahoo.com > wrote in message
news:1174061267.939162.215840@y80g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> On 16, 8:29 am, "EdSmithers" <spirosdarlo...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> > I find it sad when people refer to
>> > themselves as "Fatty" ot "fat-boy". Living as a fat person cannot be a
>> > good experience and with a little will power it can be changed.
>>
>> How about minding your own fucking business? I can guarantee you that
>> you'll feel a lot better.
>>
>> Ed
>
> Ed baby, what got into you? The health of fellow humans is a concern
> of mine, since my tax dollar will be paying for all these medical
> problems waiting on the obese. I'm glad that some states are starting
> to hold parents responsible for their obese children. As for you
> EdSmithers, this is an ugly side of you we haven't seen here before,
> must've touched a nerve. You morbidly obese or worse got one of those
> circus fat lady wives?
> Why not put on some Dylan and kick back and think about what you wrote.
Let me make this real clear for you.
The purpose of my original article was to inform others of my discovery --
namely, that some of the mechanics taught in golf books don't take into
account different body types.
If you feel the need to use that as a launching point into a diatribe about
how others should live their lives, that's your business, and you're
certainly entitled to express it. But it misses the entire point of my
post. And while the spirit behind your advice may be ultimately helpful and
healthful to those who might take it to heart, it won't do a damn thing to
help their golf swing THIS WEEKEND.
Randy
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 07:40:13
From: EdSmithers
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
> I guess then that attorneys, doctors, teachers and especially
> preachers, should all seek psychological help.
>
> Wait!
>
> They would be seeking advice from someone delusional.
That's the first thing you've ever written on this newsgroup that I
agree with.
If it's not in you, hoss, you can't get it from someone else.
Ed
|
| | |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 14:43:27
From: Bobby Knight
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
On 16 2007 07:40:13 -0700, "EdSmithers" <spirosdarlotts@yahoo.com >
wrote:
>
>> I guess then that attorneys, doctors, teachers and especially
>> preachers, should all seek psychological help.
>>
>> Wait!
>>
>> They would be seeking advice from someone delusional.
>
>
>
>That's the first thing you've ever written on this newsgroup that I
>agree with.
Don't sweat it. Being consistently wrong doesn't make you a bad
person! :-)
>
>If it's not in you, hoss, you can't get it from someone else.
>
>Ed
That's being consistent. Ever go to a golf pro?
--
___,
\o
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 06:59:59
From: cja
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
On 16, 9:50 am, "EdSmithers" <spirosdarlo...@yahoo.com > wrote:
> > Good for you, too. People on earth take my advice to gain from my
> > experience and wisdom. I do the same to take advantage of what others
> > have to offer. How arrogant, and perfect, are you that you can't learn
> > anything from anybody?
>
> "People on earth" take your advice?
>
Just a small joke on your "why on earth" question.
> I'm waiting for your wisdom to float into every corner of the globe.
>
Be patient.
> I'm imperfect in countless ways, and know enough about the world to
> know that anyone who thinks their advice is going to help someone
> else, has serious delusions.
>
Quite the pessimistic view of humanity.
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 09:47:23
From: Miss Anne Thrope
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
The obese are so locuacious.
|
| | |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 14:00:28
From: Bobby Knight
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
On Fri, 16 2007 09:47:23 -0400, High_Colonic@webtv.net (Miss Anne
Thrope) wrote:
>The obese are so locuacious.
And ... sometimes loquacious.
--
___,
\o
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 06:50:58
From: EdSmithers
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
> Good for you, too. People on earth take my advice to gain from my
> experience and wisdom. I do the same to take advantage of what others
> have to offer. How arrogant, and perfect, are you that you can't learn
> anything from anybody?
"People on earth" take your advice? Do you have an infomercial? How
can we learn more? Can I buy a DVD?
I'm waiting for your wisdom to float into every corner of the globe.
I'm imperfect in countless ways, and know enough about the world to
know that anyone who thinks their advice is going to help someone
else, has serious delusions.
Ed
|
| | |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 13:58:45
From: Bobby Knight
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
On 16 2007 06:50:58 -0700, "EdSmithers" <spirosdarlotts@yahoo.com >
wrote:
<clip >
>I'm imperfect in countless ways, and know enough about the world to
>know that anyone who thinks their advice is going to help someone
>else, has serious delusions.
>
>Ed
>
I guess then that attorneys, doctors, teachers and especially
preachers, should all seek psychological help.
Wait!
They would be seeking advice from someone delusional.
--
___,
\o
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 06:41:36
From: cja
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
On 16, 9:28 am, "EdSmithers" <spirosdarlo...@yahoo.com > wrote:
> Good for you, but who gives a shit? Why on earth would anyone take
> advice from you? How fucking arrogant are you? Really arrogant?
> What works for you is terrific. Live it up. But I don't give a shit.
>
Good for you, too. People on earth take my advice to gain from my
experience and wisdom. I do the same to take advantage of what others
have to offer. How arrogant, and perfect, are you that you can't learn
anything from anybody?
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 06:29:32
From: EdSmithers
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
> I find it sad when people refer to
> themselves as "Fatty" ot "fat-boy". Living as a fat person cannot be a
> good experience and with a little will power it can be changed.
How about minding your own fucking business? I can guarantee you that
you'll feel a lot better.
Ed
|
| |
Date: 16 Mar 2007 06:28:39
From: EdSmithers
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
> Here's an idea: lose some weight! Get in shape! Why is that not an
> option? Inertia is powerful, and it's easy to be lazy. There are any
> number of excuses people have for not making time for their health and
> fitness, beginning with the sad fact that most of us spend a great
> deal of our time and energy at work. I don't want to tell people how
> to live their lives, but I know that staying in shape improves my
> quality of life and my enhances my ability to do my job (which is all
> mental, by the way); most importantly, my golf game benefits as well.
Good for you, but who gives a shit? Why on earth would anyone take
advice from you? How fucking arrogant are you? Really arrogant?
What works for you is terrific. Live it up. But I don't give a shit.
You don't want to tell people how to live their lives, so then why
didn't you just stop yourself there. Is the "wonder of you" so
magnificent that you imagine people outside your own family and
friends want to hear about it? That's awfully sad.
Ed
|
| |
Date: 15 Mar 2007 06:05:16
From:
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
On 15, 7:06 am, "cja" <c...@excite.com > wrote:
> On 12, 4:19 pm, "\"R&B\"" <noneofyourbusin...@all.com> wrote:
>
> > So the lesson I learned -- and will certainly apply when I next go out to
> > play -- is to just play with my big fat body the way it is ...
>
> Here's an idea: lose some weight! Get in shape! Why is that not an
> option? Inertia is powerful, and it's easy to be lazy. There are any
> number of excuses people have for not making time for their health and
> fitness, beginning with the sad fact that most of us spend a great
> deal of our time and energy at work. I don't want to tell people how
> to live their lives, but I know that staying in shape improves my
> quality of life and my enhances my ability to do my job (which is all
> mental, by the way); most importantly, my golf game benefits as well.
>
> - cja
You took the words right out of my mouth. When I saw the title, I
thought that it was about losing some weight, instead it was about
adapting to obesity. I didn't respond because I didn't care to hear
the denial and other excuses. I find it sad when people refer to
themselves as "Fatty" ot "fat-boy". Living as a fat person cannot be a
good experience and with a little will power it can be changed.
|
| |
Date: 15 Mar 2007 05:06:07
From: cja
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
On 12, 4:19 pm, "\"R&B\"" <noneofyourbusin...@all.com > wrote:
> So the lesson I learned -- and will certainly apply when I next go out to
> play -- is to just play with my big fat body the way it is ...
>
Here's an idea: lose some weight! Get in shape! Why is that not an
option? Inertia is powerful, and it's easy to be lazy. There are any
number of excuses people have for not making time for their health and
fitness, beginning with the sad fact that most of us spend a great
deal of our time and energy at work. I don't want to tell people how
to live their lives, but I know that staying in shape improves my
quality of life and my enhances my ability to do my job (which is all
mental, by the way); most importantly, my golf game benefits as well.
- cja
|
| | |
Date: 15 Mar 2007 12:40:39
From: \R&B\
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
"cja" <cja@excite.com > wrote in message
news:1173960367.297398.129530@y66g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> On 12, 4:19 pm, "\"R&B\"" <noneofyourbusin...@all.com> wrote:
>
>> So the lesson I learned -- and will certainly apply when I next go out to
>> play -- is to just play with my big fat body the way it is ...
>>
> Here's an idea: lose some weight! Get in shape! Why is that not an
> option? Inertia is powerful, and it's easy to be lazy. There are any
> number of excuses people have for not making time for their health and
> fitness, beginning with the sad fact that most of us spend a great
> deal of our time and energy at work. I don't want to tell people how
> to live their lives, but I know that staying in shape improves my
> quality of life and my enhances my ability to do my job (which is all
> mental, by the way); most importantly, my golf game benefits as well.
A nice suggestion, and something I had committed myself to doing until I
sustained a knee injury about a year ago (one of the reasons I stopped going
to the gym, and one of the reasons I stopped playing golf regularly). Just
recently have I felt like it's no longer an issue.
But whatever I do in that regard isn't going to have an immediate affect on
my body shape, and hence, my golf swing right away. It will pay dividends
in the long run, but it will take months before any meaningful change will
become apparent (and then I'll have to learn a whole new golf swing).
But thanks for the suggestion anyway.
Randy
|
| |
Date: 13 Mar 2007 23:09:14
From: David Laville
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
On Mon, 12 2007 16:19:12 -0400, "\"R&B\""
<noneofyourbusiness@all.com > wrote:
>But on these shots that were hit much more authoritatively Sunday afternoon,
>I didn't bother with the move to put my upper arms out in front of (or on
>top of) my chest at setup. I just let them hang to either side.
Arms on top of your chest is just the surface issue, you have to look
below the surface. If you put your arms on top of your chest you can
never get your right forearm to trace the proper lines and geometry it
needs to.
David Laville, G.S.E.M.
The Golfing Machine Authorized Instructor
TB-8982
|
| |
Date: 12 Mar 2007 14:16:54
From: gp
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
Thanks for sharing your discovery.
You'll enjoy this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwW9YPiqJ8w
On 12, 3:19 pm, "\"R&B\"" <noneofyourbusin...@all.com > wrote:
> Okay, so I'm not exactly built like John the Pflagstick Pflum. I cast a
> much wider shadow.
>
> Played golf this weekend for maybe the first time since the new year. If
> I've played since Jan. 1, it was so unmemorable that I've forgotten all
> about it. Anyway, I haven't played much since the cold weather set in back
> before Christmas. But we had a beautiful, sunshiny, 70-degree weekend here
> in the south, and I'd been working at all hours of the day and night for
> nigh on to three weeks tweaking my website and learning a few new technology
> tricks. So I made up my mind that at the next warm weather opportunity, I
> was gonna take a break and get out and play some golf. I really needed the
> fresh air.
>
> Saturday's round was unspectacular for many reasons. I didn't play horribly
> (and some might say I even played fairly well considering how little I'd
> played in recent months). I hit enough good shots (okay, ginally good
> shots) that the day wasn't a total bust. And I chipped and putted
> surprisingly well, considering that my short game is usually the last thing
> to come around after a layoff. (My putting is never far from excellent, but
> my chipping often goes into hybernation in the winter.) But on this day,
> and most days in the past year or so, my driving was horrendous. A big ugly
> slice seemed to appear out of nowhere Saturday, and repeated its ugly self
> consistently on almost every drive. Hell, I never slice. Not like this.
> These were big ugly banana slices. Some were so short, I felt like I could
> have run out there and caught them with my bare hands. I've thrown frisbees
> farther and straighter. And my iron play and fairway woods were not much
> better (I've long considered my fairway woods to be among the most
> dependable clubs in my bag). I couldn't make solid contact on any full
> swings. They were all "bone-rattlers." If I didn't play Callaways, I would
> have been in traction that night.
>
> Then on Sunday, it was more of the same. Both days I hit a nice long,
> straight drive on #1. But after that, the ball was taking a sharp right
> turn while in flight. My iron play was even worse than on Saturday.
> Couldn't hit a solid shot to save my life. And on Sunday, my chipping -- a
> strength only a day earlier -- had suddenly gone south for the winter (and
> didn't seem to realize that winter was taking the weekend off). On days
> like this, if I couldn't putt, I would hate this freakin' game.
>
> But then, on one shot in mid-round, and again late in the round on Sunday, I
> made a few swings that suddenly produced my old, more predictable shot
> shape. A nice high straight trajectory (with maybe a slight draw), that
> while not long by most "big boy" standards, is plenty long enough for me.
> It's exactly the kind of shotmaking I used to make when I used to play
> pretty well not so many years ago.
>
> What did I do differently on these shots to produce this different result?
>
> Sadly, that has too often been a question I've asked myself in the past
> whenever I've produced sharply different (and more favorable) results
> without much of a clue as to the answer. But on this occasion, I knew
> EXACTLY what I'd done differently, and once I tried it a few more times
> toward the end of the round in a successful attempt to repeat it, it
> switched on a huge, bright light bulb above my head.
>
> For years since first learning about "connection," my set up to the ball
> always included a move with my upper arms to get them out in front of my
> chest -- to sort of lay them on top of my front side, rather than just
> letting my arms hang to my sides before I began my takeaway. In this way, I
> could get my elbows closer, something we've all seen recommended by many
> experts. And indeed, several years ago when I first started playing this
> way, I got very good results.
>
> In recent years, I've put on a few pounds (more than a few, really), and as
> a result, have become...uh...shall we say, a bit "rounder" up top.
>
> I had noticed that most of my poorly struck shots were hit out on the toe,
> so I would try to compensate for this by inching myself ever closer to the
> ball at setup, figuring I just wasn't standing near enough to the ball at
> setup. But with my upper arms out in front of my rather round torso, I
> could only move so close before the hosel of the club would be aligned right
> behind the ball (not exactly the setup that inspires confidence, even if
> Fuzzy Zoeller did make a career of doing it -- I am not Fuzzy Zoeller).
> Honestly, I felt as if I had already moved my setup as close to the ball as
> it could comfortably be. Yet still, my mis-hits were mostly toed shots,
> something I could verify most clearly on par threes when my divots were
> almost always decidedly closer to me than the tee that was left in the
> ground after the ball was struck.
>
> But on these shots that were hit much more authoritatively Sunday afternoon,
> I didn't bother with the move to put my upper arms out in front of (or on
> top of) my chest at setup. I just let them hang to either side.
>
> Of course this "wider" setup with my arms at address flies in the face of
> the "elbows close together" setup advocated by such experts as Ben Hogan
> (who, not so coincidentally, *was* built more like John The Pflagstick
> Pflum). With my arms hanging at either side, there was decidedly more space
> between my elbows, but this change seemed to make all the difference in the
> world.
>
> What I suddenly realized was that when I had been putting my arms in front
> of my chest at address, this old setup had been forcing me to swing more
> "around" my round upper torso, and more importantly, put my right elbow in a
> position at address that was considerably farther toward the ball than it
> would be when the clubhead returned to impact the ball, when my elbow was
> tucked in more closely to my right side (not in front of my chest) as my
> hips cleared through the shot. This difference in path was easily a couple
> of inches (maybe more), which no doubt accounted for why all those shots
> were being toed before made this setup change.
>
> So the lesson I learned -- and will certainly apply when I next go out to
> play -- is to just play with my big fat body the way it is, and let my arms
> hang to either side of me rather than placing them at address in front of
> (on top of) my chest. While this "front/top" position may work well for
> skinny guys (and worked fine for me before I put on this extra weight in
> recent years), it causes a definite problem for players like me whose upper
> bodies occupy more cubic footage. Nobody who ever advocates this
> "front/top, elbows-close-together" address position in books and written
> articles ever bothers to mention that it works best for flatbelly golfers,
> but for widebodies like me, it won't work nearly as well, if at all.
>
> Now you know.
>
> In hindsight, what I realize now is that by swinging with the body I have
> (such as it is), I was better able to maintain structural connection, rather
> than letting the triangle structure that I'd laid on top of my chest at
> address slide one way and then the other during the swing, and completely
> fall to my side as my hips were clearing. In other words, a complete (and
> inadvertent rerouting on the way down).
>
> Not surprisingly, better connection produced more solid ballstriking, and
> for sure, kept the ball going straight for the remainder of the round. From
> the very first moment I started swinging this way, the slice disappeared
> immediately and I hit some of the best shots I'd hit in a year or two
> (including a sweet little hybrid-3 from around 190 to within about 5 feet of
> the hole that never left the pin while in flight).
>
> Fat boy is back.
>
> Randy
|
| | |
Date: 12 Mar 2007 21:56:35
From: AKA gray asphalt
Subject: Re: Big discovery -- you fatties, listen up!
|
Here's another clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vxaiw03YIg
|
|
