In the aperfectswing method the Tempo of the swing is controlled by the speed of the lower body as it first slides laterally to shift the weight to the front post, and then rotates as the legs rotate the pelvis on top of this post.

Due to this aperfectswing players have very little trouble with tempo, although with the longer clubs and especially with the driver the timing of the pivot can be too quick for the arms and hands to keep up with.

This situation is a sign that the legs are working well but the arms are too weak to keep up with them. This is a common problem since we use our legs much more in modern life than we do the arms. If the arms and forearms do not have the strength to make the club head catch up with the left arm at impact, the swing will suffer with pushed shots. These shots start out to the right of the intended target, are generally short and have a slight tail to the right that occurs as the ball falls.

If you are hitting shots like these look to the timing of your arms with the pivot, these shots occur due to the club head having not been given enough energy to catch the left arm. Until the hands, forearms and hands aquire enough strength the speed of the pivot must be reduced.

Try making a very slow pivot while at the same time trying to speed up the twirl of club head, you may be surprised to find out how much you need to slow down the hips to make the club head catch up. To do this properly it is vital that the chest must not unwind from the hips, you must be striking the ball alongside of the right pants pocket. Any unwinding causes the player to arrive at the impact position out of time so that the flick of the hips which is vital to driving the left hand through impact becomes mis-timed.

At impact the left arm and club will be in a straight line as seen from an observer facing the player at address. seen from behind the left arm and club will still have the original arm shaft angle, however the right arm will still have some bend at the elbow and the right hand will still have a cup at the back of the wrist.

The above described impact position will find the right elbow in the act of straightening and the right hand in the act of throwing through. In simpler terms the right arm and hand are reacting exactly as they would in a sidearm throw, they are moving through the described positions not frozen in them. Slow down your shift and turn as you twirl the club through the conical release, when you get the above described timing of the release actions down the ball will leap off the club. After you are doing this for a while simply speed up both the pivot and the twirl.

Gradually as your strength increases (don't worry, it will, and quite quickly) you will be able to hit the ball hard with both your pivot and your twirl. A little time spent getting the timing right will be well rewarded.

4/5 GAINING DISTANCE, AND SCORING

Once the swing is learned 2 things build further distance, #1 is strength, the muscles will get stronger simply by doing it. #2 is speed, this comes from the strength you gain and the “trust” you must get to let the swing freewheel. Gaining strength quickly can be done by either hitting a ton of balls, or excercise.

A great excercise is to wring out a sopping wet bath towel until it is totally dry several times each time reversing the wringing motion so that the hands and forearms are worked in both directions. Another is to swing a weighted club, while swinging a weighted club gradually add weight and gradually build speed while being sure to maintain form. The best weighted club is one that you make yourself by adding fishing sinkers, or other heavy items,to the club head using duct tape to secure them. I ended up with just a large lock that I clamped on the shaft. It is important to wrap some duct tape around the item an the shaft as well, this prevents the weight from pulling the club head off and causing injury or damage.

Scoring however is about thinking, shot selection, execution and feel. These things are separate from the golf swing and are the reasons why a good swing does not necessarily create a good score. However having one does make it a lot easier to get one.

WE WILL BEGIN LEARNING THESE THINGS WITH THE SHORT GAME.

Here is a great drill to produce feel, start on the putting green, using only 2 balls. Pick out an imaginary spot on the green 8 to 10 feet away and roll the ball to it. Place the second ball down and immediately try to hit the first ball, do not dally by reading the putt, simply hit it. Try to hit the object ball hard enough to move it away at least 3 feet. If you hit it do it again, from the new spot, each time hitting it hard enough to move it at least 3 feet.

This drill gets the mind on driving the ball at the objective without any thought as to speed control. It is basically a drill for getting the ball started on line. Next roll the first ball 8 to 10 feet and attempt to hit the second ball and leave the balls as close together as possible, touching each other is perfect. Together these 2 drills give touch for speed and line in a way that gets the sub concious involved.

Having done that on the green with the putter, now go off the green and do it by chipping. Start with the 7 iron and chip the ball over at least 3 feet of the fringe, put down another ball and try to hit the ball and move it 3 feet or more. Then try again (from off the green) to just make them touch. Do this with all clubs from the sand wedge to the 5 iron while doing the above drills. When you get pretty good at this switch up clubs, hit the first shot with a sand wedge or 6 iron, then choose another club to make the second shot. Vary the shots make one ball move after hit by thye second ball or make them touch. Soon you will have a number of available clubs and shots to hit around the greens and the touch of a safe cracker. This selection of shots and the touch that goes with them will give you the ability to 1 putt much more often.

4/16/07 KEEPING YOUR COOL AFTER A BAD SHOT

The best way to follow a bad shot with another bad shot is to lose your cool. Even 1 minute spent berating yourself is a minute that could have been spent thinking about the swing you just made to identify the cause of the error and to then make the practice swing or 2 that will set it right for the next swing.

To this end we must organize our thoughts to quickly find and repair our errors, rather than waste our time and mental energy being angry. Then, until we are ready to hit the ball again, focus only on finding the ball and deciding what we must do to recover. Once the plan for the recovery shot is formulated it is important to make a few practice swings to both feel the swing that will create the correct ball flight, as well as to rehearse the errorless swing we have found the repairs for previously. This way we will have a far better chance of excecuting the recovery swing properly and not making the same error in the swing that got us into trouble in the first place. It is these repitition of similar swing errors that reinforce the mistake into habit.

It is often the failure to remember the repairs that we have decided to make and then to put those thoughts into play as we plan the next shot. Then the planned recovery shot containing the error creates another bad shot further complicating the hole.

Always remember the error you found in your earlier swings and make practice swings to feel the correct way that you want to swing the club. This way we will minimize the repeating of errors. It is the repitition of errors that creates frustration and the loss of "cool".

Learn this and you will not only play better, you will also feel better about yourself and make your playing partners a lot happier to play with you. A frustrated an angry player not only plays worse, he also makes his friends unhappy.

4/23/07 UNDERSTANDING THE TWIRL

The twirl is a purely circular motion of the clubhead around the point of the arm shoulder triangle at the wrist joints. Due to its circular nature it produces much speed similar to the way we can make a keyring gain speed as we twirl it. The speed of the clubhead created by the circular twirl of the clubhead around the hands is combined with the speed created by the circular motion of the point of the arm shoulder triangle at the wrists as the hands are rotating around the swing circle center.

Thus the twirling hands are returned to and through impact powered by the weight shift and the hip turn. Due to the perfect control of the path and the plane created by our leg and hip actions the center of the rotation of the twirl is perfectly controlled as it is directed and powered around the swing circle center by the pivot. Together these 2 speeds, combine to provide rapid clubhead speed with very little application of effort. In the words of Mike Dunaway "You get more out of less with this swing than with any other way of swinging the club". He could not be more right.

The twirling action of the club is felt to be a rotation of the 2 lower bones of the right forearm, however it triggers the action of many other right arm movements. Remember that all of the muscles that we will use on the down swing are stretched by the motions we make as we swing back, thus they are ready to reverse the actions as we swing down simply by contracting.

This contracting action will happen in the perfect sequence and at the exact right time and place in the downswing if we correctly trigger the start of the motion. Especially important in the backswing is the counter-rotation of the forearms which positions the right hand as if we were holding a plate of spaghetti on a small tray. This action correctly winds up the forearm bones, stretching additional muscles that we can use to add clubhead speed.

These additional muscles are very quick acting small muscles that cause the club to rotate around the wrists in a true circular motion relative to the point of the arm shoulder triangle. As you know this point is independently driven around the swing circle center by the pivot, together these 2 coinciding circular motions create much power and the precise swing plane, clubhead path and clubface control. Done correctly these actions are the true secret to the formula for power and acuracy.

The trigger that starts all of these actions is a light push of the right thumb to begin the clubhead rotation of the twirl as the hips slide left caused by the actions of the feet and knees that starts the pivot. Correctly done all of the effort of the golf swing is done in the first 2 feet of the downswing, from there the swing freewheels as the contraction of the stretched muscles combine with centifugal force and gravity to provide enormous power and a precisely controlled clubface ball contact.

5/7/08 Swing Speed

Many people in a misguided attempt at hitting the ball hard make the mistake of trying to hit it too hard. You can tell if this is you if you do not make consistant Club/Ball contact, or if you find that you cannot get the clubhead to catch up to the left arm.

The catching up of the clubhead to the left arm is vital to getting the full transfer of energy from the club to the ball, thus it can be a big surprise to the player when he slows down the actions of the body (the pivot of the body and the forcefull right arm hit) and by doing so, feels the right hand tossing type release happen through the ball.

If you feel that you are doing the pivot properly and that the rest of the swing is also functioning according to the concept, a simple slowing down of the pivot can work wonders.

Remember, it is not the speed of the left hand around the body that creates clubhead speed, it is the speed of the twirl. When the body correctly shifts the weight and then rotates on the posted left leg the massive power created by that action can cause the player to not have the hand and forearm strength to make the club catch up. This strength can and will be gained through repitition, but if it is not yet there a simple slowing down of the pivot will allow the weaker body parts to get the release to happen on time. This will cause a much better transfer of energy, which equals longer shots. Later when the hands and forearms gain strength the speed of the pivot may be increased.

It is far better to execute the motion perfectly than it is to ruin the action by overpowering it, there is much more power to be had in this golf swing, but it must be done gracefully, not forcefully.

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