Wayne DeFrancesco | Wayne DeFrancesco Golf Instruction

Swing Analysis: Babe Didrikson Zaharias- Greatest Woman Golfer Ever?

I confess I didn’t know a whole lot about the Babe until I read up on her, and I think anyone would admit that her story is pretty incredible. I forgot to mention it in the video, but she is the only woman ever to make a cut in a men’s Tour event, and she did it 3 straight times in 1945, and is also still the only woman to ever qualify for a PGA Tour event as opposed to receiving a sponsor’s exemption. Her record as an amateur includes winning 17 straight events, a feat never matched, and won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1946 and the British Women’s Amateur in 1947, this after winning the Women’s Western Open (a major 3 times from 1942 to She turned pro in 1948 and added to her 4 majors she won as an amateur by winning the U.S. Women’s Open. She would win 5 more majors and a total of 48 professional wins before succumbing to cancer in 1956 at age 45. She won the 1954 U.S. Women’s Open wearing a colostomy bag. Think about that for a moment.

Lesson of the Week: Scott Wingrat- Laid Off Backswing Leads to Steepening Shaft

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Scott has a nice athletic move, but his flawed takeaway has the shaft extremely behind him at P2 and laid off at P3 and P4, which he can only fix by steepening the shaft in transition. As we have seen before, the tendency when the shaft tips steeper is for the lower body to try to help the shaft lay back later in the downswing by pushing out toward the ball. Scott had a good grasp of what was going on in our first lesson, but when he came back for the second we found that his takeaway had not changed much at all, another example of how difficult it is to execute a change no matter how simple it seems. Scott can correct this with practice as he shows in his stop and go, which gives him the time to think about and feel the takeaway keeping the shaft more on plane. His sequencing is good, and he demonstrates that when he does the backswing better he has a chance to shallow the club in transition, which, along with work toward keeping his hips deeper, will make him a more consistent ball striker.

Tip Leads to 3rd Round 65 at the web.com LECOM Health Challenge

By J | blog

A nice shout out from Willy Wilcox that we’d like to share. Click the post to view the video.
Thanks Will and have a great 4th round.

Lesson of the Week: Richard Kress- Shallowing the Shaft in Transition

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

I’ve known and worked with Richard for over 30 years, and the one thing we have never been able to conquer is his tendency to steepen the shaft in transition. In this video I go over the important elements of the swing that I believe lead to better shaft movement during the swing. Transition is the most complex part of the golf swing, and in order for Richard to get the club to flatten he is going to have to improve his pivot movement (stop getting more vertical in the downswing by adding pelvic tilt), achieve more width at the top (stop folding the right arm and focus more on extensor action), and work on actively moving the right upper arm and elbow inward while the left arm is being pulled by the body. I would expect Richard’s swing to get a bit shorter as the right arm bends less and the hands stay away from the head. He is now in his early 70’s and while he can still move athletically it is not really possible to maintain a full- length backswing without making multiple errors.

Online Lesson: Trent Tessler 3- Still Working on Sequence

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

We have identified Trent’s #1 problem, his leaning toward the target with his upper body at the same time the legs are shifting, but, as is evident by the swings he sent me, he hasn’t figured out why he does it and how to stop doing it. That’s where I come in, of course. After studying his swings and trying to imitate them in the mirror I found that when I held my left leg to the left and tightened my left hip flexor I had a hard time loading onto my right side and feeling like I could start the downswing by counter rotating the right-side hip muscles against the right foot’s brace into the ground. My suggestion to Trent is simple enough: pinch the left leg inward at address so that the foot feels a bit to the inside, the knee feels knocked toward the right, and the inside of the leg feels activated. When the upper body triggers the backswing, the hips will respond by swiveling more freely as the left leg will be rotating instead of trying to hold its position. This will allow the right hip to deepen as it rotates, and the right side will feel loaded enough into the ground to be able to initiate the forward swing with both lateral and rotational pelvic movement while the head stays relatively still. Producing secondary axis tilt while retaining or gaining posture is essential if the upper right arm is going to be able to drive inward instead of tipping over, and when the sequence is better the lag will increase as well. The lower body must pull the upper body into the forward swing. When the sequence is good the hands can get much more in front of the ball at impact.

Short Game Work with John Lamendola

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

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.

« Previous 1 … 34 35 36 37 38 … 164 Next »