June, 2018 | Wayne DeFrancesco

Short Game Work with John Lamendola

Wayne D! Apologies if this email gets long. Tee to green I haven’t played with anyone all year who has hit it as good as me. My ball striking has become really really good. What’s been really holding me back is my chipping and pitching from 30 and in. I think it gets a little flippy and the follow through gets long. My miss is thin not fat. Shot 79/75 NYC am both rounds could have easily been in the 60’s. If I can sort this shot out I am very confident I can start winning. Thanks, as always. You have transformed my golf swing!!!!

Swing Analysis: Peter Thomson

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

One of the most underrated players in history (behind Gary Player), Thomson won 5 British Opens, including one in 1965 against Americans Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Tony Lema. He won 28 times on the European Tour, 33 times on the Australasian Tour, and to prove a point came over to the States to play on the Senior Tour in 1985 and won 9 times. The swings you see here are evidence of Thomson’s stellar technique. Starting with a strong grip, especially in the right hand, Thomson planed the club beautifully and transitioned with perfect sequence. As did most players of his era he employed a slightly lifted left heel and a significant amount of lateral movement in transition and into the forward swing while keeping his hips deep and perfectly “in the box”. One interesting note is his tendency to move his hips to the right in the backswing, what would be called a “sway” by most of today’s instructors (including me) but made up for it by maintaining a braced right foot and by recovering immediately by planting the left heel and sliding laterally to the left while turning the pelvis counter-clockwise. Thomson’s footwork is exemplary, and the overall rhythm and efficiency of his swing would be great for anyone to try to emulate.

Online Lesson: Fuad Sulayman- Width and Sequence

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

All the things that Fuad would like to do with his swing are good ideas, but as I will show in the video he is already doomed by the time he gets to the top. The key word here is “width”, which is another way to say, “extensor action”, in which the trailing arm attempts to straighten by pushing into the thumb of the leading arm while cocking the wrists. The governor on how much extension can be achieved is the connection between the lead arm and the chest, which must be maintained. Fuad has some trigger issues that should be dealt with, and I would imagine that if he stops leaning back and sitting as he starts his swing it would make extending away from his center much easier. His left arm needs to be bent and away from his body at address, and he must make sure to keep the space intact all the way to the top and in transition down to P5. If he can accomplish this he must then get his lower body to initiate the forward swing while he keeps his head from moving forward of its starting position. When he feels the proper sequence, his shoulder will be pulled by the body and he will have a chance to move his upper left arm in a totally different fashion to where it can pitch in front of his ribcage and shallow the shaft instead of hanging up and back with the shaft getting steeper.

Wayne D Looking for a Swing that’s Easier on the Back

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

Up until a few months ago my back was feeling OK and I was pleased with the progress I was making with my swing. However, the arthritis in my right big toe has gotten to the point where it is affecting the way I walk (every step hurts) and that, of course, is a very problematical thing for anyone, especially someone like me who already has serious back issues. I shot 80 in a one- day event about a month ago, and it was especially frustrating because my hips and lower back were so stiff and sore I simply couldn’t do what I wanted with my swing. I always like to prepare before I play in a tournament, so I’m going to be practicing and playing more than usual so I can feel ready to play, although over the years I have gotten much smarter about not overdoing it.

Swings from the NCAA Championship Match: Oklahoma State and Alabama

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

It’s always interesting to look at the swings of the young players on the rise, so I recorded the NCAA finals and got at least one swing of the 10 players competing in match play. It’s not surprising that we see strength and athleticism in every player, as well as some variations in technique, although for the most part the swings are conventional in a good sense, with solid fundamentals and nice plane lines. The exceptions would be Matthew Wolfe and Victor Hovland, and if you watched the telecast at all you know how well these two hit the ball (Hovland is the 7th ranked amateur in the world). It’s cool to see a swing like Wolfe’s perform as it did, showing once again that if you’re good, you’re good, and it doesn’t really matter how you do it until it doesn’t work. When you see Wolfe’s swing I recommend you check out Jimmy Bruen and Eamonn Darcy, just to show you that there really isn’t anything new in the game of golf.

Online Lesson: Trent Tessler- Pelvic Movement in Transition and Sequence

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Hi Wayne, Recently joined your website. I like a lot of your ideas and think you can provide some help for my game. I’m still a scratch player but my best golfing days were about 15 years ago when I was consistently ranked as top player in Northern California. I know my swing decently. I tend to run away from club and have never had a lot of lag. Somehow, I still get hands at or even which I think allows me to play pretty well at times. I’ve never been able to fix the runaway problem and have always wondered if I was able to change that would lag would show up. Biggest part of game that plagues me is driver. If I drove it better, I could still compete at a pretty high level. Any ideas w props or other things would be appreciated to help me with this process. Thanks for taking the time.

Online Lesson: Mike Watson-Great Swing, Weak Impact

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

You might wonder how a “great” swing can have a weak impact but in Mike’s case he does everything technically correctly except deliver the club to the ball with the hands forward and the shaft forward leaning. His wide release (hands well away from the vertical line up from the ball at P6) leads to a sweeping type strike with a throw release that does not compress the ball that a drive/hold type release would. My go to when I see good players with throwaway is to have them learn to hit a proper punch shot, played with the ball forward in a narrower than normal stance, a backswing that only gets to P3, and a finish that ends with the shaft parallel to the ground in the follow-through. The idea is to hit the ball as low as possible with a 6,7 or 8 iron from that set up. I demonstrate the shot and then show Mike a drill that pre-sets the wrists and lower body before the backswing starts. Much of the ability to get the hands forward at impact when the ball is hit off the ground is having a clear picture of where you want to be at P6 and P7. I find that those who tend to release the club early don’t understand how the club manages to square up when the hands are already moving past the ball when the clubhead is still well up in the air. The attempt to hit a low shot with the ball left of center in the stance encourages a more descending blow, and the lower finish suggests the feeling of the low point of the swing being in front of the ball.

Online Lesson: Guillermo Cepeda- Closed Clubface Affecting Everything

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Guillermo sent in his swing with the main complaint of losing his posture and early extending, causing a severe loss of power and shanking. What I saw right away was Guillermo’s hips turning to start the backswing instead of starting with the upper trunk, along with him keeping the clubface extremely closed in the backswing, which completely robbed him of any semblance of wrist cock. Since Guillermo turns his hips so early they are pretty much done by the time he gets to P3, and with his wrists unable to cock at all he finishes his backswing by bending both elbows and pulling his left shoulder behind him, which in turn initiates his downswing by leaning his upper body toward the target. With all this going on it is almost inevitable that he will lose the tilt in his pelvis in transition and drive his legs out from under him. I believe that if he can start his swing by turning his upper trunk and have that pull his hips into play, while at the same time maintaining the cup in his right wrist (he is left handed) and gaining some vertical wrist cock earlier in the backswing, that he can totally change his pattern for the better.

Lesson of the Week: Justin Feldman: Getting Rid of Arm Lift

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Justin plays for the University of Maryland and is a member of my former club. He has struggled recently with his ball striking, especially with the driver, which is a real problem as Justin can fly the ball well over 300 yards. He has always kept the face somewhat closed in the takeaway with his right arm pinched, and when he gets to P3 he rolls his left arm up and bows his wrist, getting to the top with a quite vertical left arm that kicks out as the club flattens behind him. My goal with Justin has always been to free up his right arm by keeping space and flaring it more in the backswing, with the hope that he could then keep his left arm more down and under his chin with his left wrist retaining the same cup that it had at address. He feels more powerful when his swing is longer, so I must convince him that he can still hit it miles from a shorter, more efficient backswing. It is such an advantage to have the length he has in that he can tighten up his action to make it more consistent. Distance doesn’t mean much if you can’t locate the ball.

TP&C: Ozzie Newsome-Overcoming Old Habits

By Wayne | Tour Players and Celebrities

I’ve been working with Ozzie on and off for years but haven’t seen him since 2015 until this month when I returned to Woodholme where he is a member. Most of Ozzie’s issues stem from the way he is built, 6’4” and 250 lbs. of muscle with emphasis on huge shoulders and almost no neck. Ozzie has long legs and fairly short arms, and thus feels like he needs to bend over quite a bit to get down to the ball at address. We are working on standing taller and closer to the ball with the hands higher (that keeps the chest more up), while trying to get his backswing not to get laid off at P3 and P4. I would like him to strengthen his grip and maintain the cup in the back of the left wrist throughout the backswing, and I want the clubhead not to lift so quickly in the takeaway. If he keeps the club outside his hands going back it invariably works sideways as it gets to the top, and from a laid off position he always steepens the shaft and pulls on the grip. Speaking of grips, we are trying to strengthen Ozzie’s so that when he bows his wrist at the top the face gets super shut and he hits it dead left, a nice incentive to keep that wrist cupped. He also need to focus on keeping his right-hand pressure points throughout the backswing and transition. If we can get the shaft more vertical at P3 and continue that to the top where he is more on plane I think his athletic ability will eventually allow him to flatten the shaft, which will give his lower body incentive to open quicker so that he can get his hands forward and achieve more extension through the impact area.

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Monthly Archives: June 2018