January, 2016 | Wayne DeFrancesco

Swing Analysis: Phil Mickelson’s “New Plane”: Really?

I have stated in the past that Phil Mickelson hasn’t changed his swing in any significant way in at least 25 years, no matter what he says or who he works with. What is certain is that he always has something to say about his swing, and that he is one of the best when it comes to talking himself into believing that he is doing something different and better. After studying his “new” swing (he switched teachers again) I have come to the conclusion that…

Online Students: Wayne Miles

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Wayne is a 24 handicap golfer from Australia, and I have learned over many years of teaching that the higher the handicap the more I have to make sure that the player has the correct concepts regarding how the swing works in general. Wayne has the obvious backswing issues as far as technique goes, but he does a marvelous job of sequencing his swing and produces the potential for a lot of power in the downswing.

Swing Analysis: Jordan Spieth

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

I have done Jordan’s swing before, but as he is kicking everyone’s butt nowadays I figured I’d take another look. I tried to imitate his positions in the mirror in my basement and found it impossible. Now, I’m not the most limber and mobile guy with all the problems I’ve had with my back, but I can still move around pretty good and most swings I can imitate fairly closely.

Online Students: Josh Rindfleish

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Josh has a nice, fluid move that would appear to the naked eye to have little to fix. However, upon closer analysis with slow motion video it becomes apparent that Josh suffers from the same pattern tendencies we see all the time with good players who aren’t hitting the ball as well as they need to in order to compete at a high level…

Online Students: Erik Ludtke Part 2

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Eric has made some nice progress implementing some of the suggestions I made in his first online lesson. As you will see in the side by side he has gotten his weight more out onto the balls of his feet, although he may have gotten himself a bit too much bent over from the waist.

Online Students: Rick James

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

I’m going to comment on the video below but I want you to read Rick’s background info first. I find these short bios to be quite interesting because every swing that gets sent to me has arrived at the state it’s in due to everything that has come before it. So here’s Rick talking about his golf:

Playing for Money: Jonathan Krick

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

I think after you watch this video you will agree with Jonathan that we made some significant progress during this 2 hour lesson. The changes we made in the backswing produced exceptionally good looking positions from the takeaway to the top, and although we accomplished this with a stop and go drill it still shows that Jonathan can make a great looking backswing and still hit the ball, and that when he takes it to regular speed and films it he will know just what to look for and to concentrate on to get it to look and feel the way he wants.

Swing Analysis: Wedge Play with Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

This video should help dispel some faulty ideas about pitching, specifically about using the bounce versus forward leaning the club into impact. If you listen to the TV announcers there seems to be an inclination to suggest that all pitch shots “use the bounce”, but I think you will see here that that is not the case. Before we get to that aspect let’s just be sure to note that all these players make full use of their pivot in order to properly sequence the swing and to get the body to lead the hands and arms into the shot.

Online Students: Byron Miles Part 2

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Byron signed up for a phone conversation but decided to send in a couple more swings to see if he had made progress after viewing the first lesson. I don’t understand why more people don’t do two in a row like that as I think Byron will be able to fully incorporate the changes after getting feedback on his first attempts. Some of these changes feel so exaggerated that it’s hard to do them enough because it feels like there is no way that it could be correct.

Lesson of the Week: John Hughes

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

John is a website member who happened to be traveling through Florida at the same time I was teaching in Boca, so he took advantage and came over for a couple hours. John is a big, athletic guy with a nice looking motion but had been really struggling with his ball striking. As usual it was not immediately apparent in a full speed swing what the issues were, but when we slowed it down and looked more closely it was easy to see a common pattern that is produced when the right arm stays too “pinched” in front of the chest in the backswing.

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Monthly Archives: January 2016