Monthly Archives: September 2012

Match Play and the Ryder Cup: It’s Personal

By Wayne | blog

I am often asked by golfers who compete about the difference between match play and stroke play, and the question becomes all the more relevant with the Ryder Cup upon us again. There are really only 4 important match play tournaments for Tour pros: the World Golf Championship tournament at the beginning of the year, the limited field World Match Play, the President’s Cup, and the Ryder Cup. One thing is for sure: all the guys will tell you they want to win all their matches, which means they have to beat the guys they are playing against, and only…

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Online Students: Matthew Kontoginais

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Here’s a very sound swing by a powerful guy that could be jacked up to produce freakish distance and dialed down for control by freeing it up in the backswing with wider turn produced by greater overall trunk movement, initiated by a wider move with the upper body and an almost immediate deepening of the right hip. In order to feel this wider takeaway (more “carry” with both arms) I would first have him soften his arms at address to look more like “home plate” (elbows bent) than like the proverbial “triangle”. By concentrating on rotating his spine and including…

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The Myth of Hogan and the One Plane Swing

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

The ascent of the “One Plane Swing”, Jim Hardy’s catchy name for his teaching preferences, is a fairly recent occurrence, coming after Hardy’s success with Peter Jacobsen, Tom Pernice, Olin Browne and other Tour players. Perhaps the most successful of the “one-planers” is Matt Kuchar, who is taught not by Hardy but by Chris O’Connell, a Hardy disciple. I happen to like Kuchar’s swing, and have no problem with anyone teaching what they believe to be viable ways to hit a golf ball, especially when there is evidence that it works, at least for some (which is always the case…

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Student Lesson: Joey Lane

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

You have seen Joey before, and what you find here is more or less a repeat of the last lesson I posted. Joey is a very good junior (he won the Optimist International Junior Championship this year at the Champions course in Palm Beach, Fla. against an international field) but his excellent play has come about fairly recently and his swing is prone to regressing to old habits when he plays in multiple tournaments without getting a check-up. Here he is back to pinching his right arm in the backswing, which sets a pattern for him that ends up with…

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This Guy Must Be Terrible

By Wayne | blog

I don’t think it would be reaching to say that every player who spends time on the PGA Tour by earning exempt status is an excellent player. Some obviously have better careers than others. Some have fine careers without winning, some win then disappear. Some have picturesque swings, some have odd looking moves that might make you think that they weren’t that good, until you remembered where you were watching them (playing in a Tour event). Some hit the ball great and struggle with the short game, some do the opposite, and every now and then someone puts it together…

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Playing for Money: Clayton Rotz

By Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money

I have been teaching Clayton since he was about 14 years old, about 9 years now. He won numerous junior tournaments and played in two U.S. Amateurs as a teenager. He pretty much wasted his college career (he did win the Cardinal Amateur a few years back during the summer) but is now a professional and playing the Hooters Tour, where he has made a bit more than 50 % of his cuts and has been in the hunt a few times. He had his best result to date a few weeks back when he won the Pennsylvania Open by…

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The P.A.T. Project: Student Lesson: CJ D’Arco Part 2

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

If you missed the first installment of the P.A.T. (Player Ability Test) Project with CJ D’Arco you should know that CJ is a young aspiring assistant pro at a neighboring club who, in order to gain status in the PGA of America, must pass the playing test by shooting somewhere in the neighborhood of 78-78 in a one day qualifier. CJ’s problem is that he hasn’t been close to breaking 80, but has made some progress (and has broken 80 a few times) since our first lesson about 6 weeks ago. Here you see why CJ has had such a…

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Online Students: Branden Nagler Part 2

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

One of the things I have to do after watching a swing and looking at exactly what it is doing (although now it seems that the opinion is growing that without a Trackman no one can really see fully what is going on) is to try to come up with reasons for the movements that are present and for the apparent stubbornness of the movements to change. Some of this requires conjecture as I guess that perhaps this does that because of this, or that this won’t do that because of something else, but when it comes to finding ways…

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Lunatic Coach wants to change Matteo Manassero’s Swing

By Wayne | blog

You might think it harsh for me to use the word “lunatic” when describing young Italian star Matteo Manassero’s coach Alberto Birnaghi. However, when you read the following recap of a recent Golf Digest article “The Quest For More Distance” I think you may reconsider your judgment.   “Matteo Manassero is still a teenager, yet his golf resume’ is already filled with some impressive accomplishments: Youngest player ever to win the British Amateur (age sixteen); a T-13 finish as an amateur at the 2009 British Open; youngest player ever to win a European Tour event (age 17). These are the…

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TP&C: Dick Mast – Shot Shaping

By Wayne | Tour Players and Celebrities

Dick Mast is now 41st on the Champions Tour money list with over $285,000, and you can see why he has had his best year ever as you watch these swings. He likes to move the ball both ways (and has a straight shot as well), so I filmed him doing one of each, and you can really see how the swing produces the shot he is picturing in his mind. The changes are subtle but definitely noticeable with the camera, and you can see the change in swing shape produce different impact alignments for each desired ball flight.  …

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