club face

I Gave Myself A Chance

March 7, 2009 by admin

“I gave myself a chance” was Moe’s way of describing how he prepared himself to play and perform his best. This was the way Moe maneuvered his golf game and his life. He prepared himself and played golf from a place of preparation and process, not an expectation.

Whenever I play golf events and tournaments, I only have one goal – to be ready. That’s it. I don’t place expectations on my score or try to hit every fairway and every green. My only expectation of myself is to be fully prepared. Then, once prepared, I go through the process of playing one shot at a time.

We are now approaching golf season and many of you are just weeks away from your first round of the year. Are you ready? If not, how do you get ready? In this article, I want to help you learn to prepare yourself to play golf.

Only one word describes the type of practice necessary to prepare yourself for your first round, the word is: FUNDAMENTALS.

You must start some fundamental/basic training practices so that when your first round arrives, you are able to play your best golf. Let me describe exactly what fundamental practice is and how I work on these fundamentals.

Fundamental practice is the foundation of a great golf swing. To start this preparation, you must first ask yourself how is your address position? This is the best place to start. As Moe said “If you don’t have a great address position, you ain’t got nothing”. How true this is and this fundamental starting position starts with your hands on the club.

The Grip

You must make sure your hands are correctly aligning the face and shaft from the two lines we describe in our Single Plane teaching. I developed the GGA Training Grip/Club for exactly this purpose. It solves my grip issues and helps me get the club-face aligned.

Learn more about the “Feeling of Greatness” Training Grip/Club HERE

Arm alignment

Furthering your address position, you must work on how the arms align the club with the body. We call this the two-line address position consisting of the club aligned with the lead arm and the club aligned with the trail arm. I usually use a mirror to check this position.

Check out the Single Plane Position Trainer HERE

Arms aligned with Body

Next, you must align the two lines with the body referring to the pivot point where the club is beneath the nose (Face-on view) and the club aligns through the mid-spine intersect™ point. These lines can only be accomplished with the proper leg position (straight with a slight bend in the knees) and the proper bend from the waist. I use a mirror to check this position also.

Stance Width/Ball Position

Next, I make sure I am standing the ideal width with the correct ball position. I developed the GGA Alignment and Ball Position Trainer to help me make sure I have this issue correct each time I practice.

Find out more about the Alignment and Ball Position Trainer HERE

After I have reviewed my fundamental address positions, I am ready to begin a few target ball-striking sessions.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you start your best year of golf ever.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us anytime.

Good Luck.

Lie Angles Don’t Lie

January 20, 2005 by admin

Definition: The “lie angle” is defined as the angle made between the shaft and clubhead. The key is to have a club with a proper lie angle that ensures the sole of the club is parallel with the ground at impact, thus eliminating lie angle induced errant shots. Improper lie angles will cause directional control problems.

The direction of a golf shot is determined by the following:

Path of swing (determines up to 30% of direction)
Face Angle (determines up to 70% of direction)
Centeredness of hit on club face (determines up to 10% of direction)

Meaning, the face angle has twice as much effect on direction as the path of swing and close to 6X as much as where you hit on the face of the club. Face Angle at impact is GREATLY affected by the lie angle.

First some lie angle facts:

A 9 iron that is off 4* in lie angle (either too flat or upright) will cause a pull or push of 22 feet right or left of the target.
A 5 iron that is off 4* in lie angle (either too flat or upright) will cause a pull or push of 40 feet right or left of the target.
Most fairway woods, in essence, do not have a lie angle needing adjusting as the sole is rounded and does not dig heel or toe.
Drivers do not have an effective lie angle as are not made to hit off the ground.
The single axis swing DOES NOT need more upright lie angles in clubs.
For every 1/2 inch you add to a club, the lie angle is effected by 1/2*.
The longer the club the FLATTER the lie angle is needed. For example, if you add 1 inch, the club needs to be 1* flatter.
There is no 1 standard for lie angles. Every company has a different standard. Maltbie’s Standard (used by PGA) is 60.5* for a 5 iron.
The best way to determine an individual’s needed lie angle is through dynamic fittings (off lie board) – but – with the single axis – single plane swing – static fitting (using height vs. wrist to floor measurement, etc.) is very effective and very accurate.

There are two ways to fit lie angles. One is to fit the lie angle of the club to your current swing, the other is to fit the lie angle of the club to a swing you are trying to model (hopefully the Moe Norman single axis swing). We prefer to fit the lie angle to your single axis swing as, with you see above, you will make compensations away from a good swing if the lie angle doesn’t fit. For example, if you need a 61* lie angle in a 5 iron for your single axis swing, and you currently have a 64* lie angle, when you swing gets better (toward the needed 61* club) you will be pulling the shots significantly because the club’s heel will be digging into the ground rather than the middle of the club…. you will have difficulty making changes…

So, as many as me – it comes down to the chicken and egg theory. If you were going to play in a tournament tomorrow – I would definitely get a lie angle that fits today’s swing. If you are trying to make swing changes to get a good single axis swing – I would get clubs that fit that swing you are working towards. Hopefully, those lie angles aren’t too far apart and your clubs can be bent to adjust accordingly.

Good Luck – Check Those Lie Angles – See what they are telling you…

Remember – ALWAYS PRACTICE WITH A PURPOSE!!

Talk about Clubs: What Flex Shaft in My Drive?

January 20, 2005 by admin

Got a great question on our chatroom a couple of weeks ago wanted to share with all those that didn’t see it:

Question:

“Suppose you swing the driver 110 miles per hour. Based on that swing speed, you should be using a firm shaft, right? Probably hit the ball 260 yards or so. But, would you be better off swing at 90 mph, and using a regular flex shaft? I have walked into golf shops, and the first thing I am asked is what my swing speed is. But, how do I know how fast I should be swing a driver?

Should I putter around at 90 mph and hit a granddaddy shaft, for should I smoke every drive like J.D.? Thoughts, please. AG”

Our Response: Distance of a golf shot is determined by the following:

Speed of swing
Centeredness of hit (on club face)
Angle of approach

The direction is determined by the following:

Angle of club face (60 to 70% effect)
Path of Swing (30 to 40%)
Centeredness of hit (up to 10%)

Driver speed and distance are equated as approximately 2.4 yards per mile an hour (with highly rated CT/COR driver). If you want to calculate swing speed – take average FLY (minimal roll) distance and divide by 2.4 yards.

With that said – slowing down the swing will probably cause an increase (or should) in centeredness of hit. But, the centeredness of hit will not make up for a large decrease in club head speed.

As Moe said – swinging 80% is good to control the direction and will still get good distance, but there is a point of diminishing returns in which you will be sacrificing distance for direction.

The ultimate answer here is to fix the 90% ++ distance factor. As we always say – if your path and face are in good positions – grip it and rip it… If you want to hit it further, swing harder as long as path and face are in good positions. A good path and face will account for over 90% of directional issues (and to be honest, if path and face are good – centeredness of hit will probably be good also).

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