Fitness for Golf: Who Needs It?

I love the Titleist Performance Institute. I am a certified Golf Fitness instructor (L.1) and a firm believer in functional movement screening and training. It’s magical stuff. But where does it fit in the context of improving your golf game? At what point should physical training become the focus for your game? Those are tough questions. Here’s the copout answer, that unfortunately also happens to be true: It depends.

The physical capabilities of your body set the ceiling for your ability level in anything you do.  No matter how much I train in the water or how good I get in my swimming technique, I will never be able to swim like a seal. At some point in any pursuit, our body becomes the limiting factor. Let’s call this concept Physical Capacity: the point at which your body’s physical capabilities begin to limit your skill development. Consider the following depiction of a club golfer below. Lets call him “Donny.”

Donny’s diagram above represents a LOT of club level golfers. Donny isn’t a star athlete by any means, but he stays fairly active in his daily life and maintains a decent level of stability and mobility in his body. He has a couple of nagging injuries from the past, but nothing that causes him any pain or serious movement dysfunction. However, Donny is new to the game and his skill level is quite mediocre. He has a long way to go before he reaches the point of physical capacity. For Donny, working on his fitness may not be the fastest way to improve his game. His time would be better spent with his PGA of Canada instructor, improving control of ball contact, direction, curve, or speed.

Now, consider the following diagram of a player with an equal physical capacity but much more developed skills. Let’s call this gal “Alex.” 

Alex has dedicated lots of practice time to improving her game, and has had some great direction from her PGA of Canada instructor. However, she lacks a lot of stability, has weak glutes and a weak core, and struggles to generate rotary speed in any sport that she plays (this makes her a perennial late pick at company softball). Alex’s skill level is very close to her physical capacity. This suggests that for her to continue to progress, addressing the issues in her functional movement patterns are going to be very important. Otherwise she is going to hit that physical capacity ceiling and “plateau.”

The reality is that very few golfers ever get to Alex’s position. Most are stuck somewhere between her and Donny, never reaching their physical capacity for skill. And here’s the important part: If you haven’t yet reached your physical capacity, improving your physical capacity can’t lead to an improvement in skill!

It’s been said that “It’s easier to sell ‘em something than to tell ‘em the truth.” Chiropractors (some, anyway) make a darn good living out of assessing your problems for free, then prescribing an expensive course of treatment to fix them. Trainers and golf pros who go overboard on the “golf fitness” bandwagon are no different. For most players (if not all), a full TPI screen will show a great many areas in which physical capacity is lacking. First, keep in mind that these deficiencies are deficiencies by comparison to PGA Tour players, the best of the best. The standard for your game should never be based on what Dustin Johnson can do (very few can live up to that!) unless you’re competing against Dustin Johnson. The standard for your game should be based on what you want to accomplish. Second, in many cases there are technique adjustments that can be made to work with physical limitations. For many golfers, this will be enough to reach an acceptable standard of golf. Third, there is nothing to indicate that if a student improved their fitness until they were able to pass every test, it would make any difference whatsoever on their skill level.

This is NOT to say that golf fitness training is not important. It is. The best golf coaches understand human movement and work with their students (possibly a trainer and medical professional as well) to build a swing that will work for them and the physical capacity of their bodies. Functional movement screening (the basis for the TPI screening protocols) is also important in reducing the likelihood of injury, and in determining movement dysfunction. It is a piece of the puzzle. But it is rarely the whole picture. 

This post is largely based on opinion. Please leave your own thoughts on the topic in a comment below, and consider sharing this post via the social media links provided. As a bonus, check out Ben Crane’s amazing gym abilities, honed by a childhood spent in gymnastics.

Grey Poupon and Your Right Knee

Here’s a universal truth: We like to deal in universals. Its easy to put ideas and concepts into little boxes, and turn them into rules that supposedly govern the way all of us behave. It gives us clarity, order. Method to the madness, if you will. In fact, big chunks of 20th century science has been based on this concept. We want to explain things to ourselves, and to do that we need rules.

Lets talk about one “rule” that’s existed in golf instruction for the last decade or so. For a long time, it’s been taught that the optimal golf swing is one where the golfer’s trail or rear leg (right leg for RH players) keeps as much flex as possible during the backswing. This is done in order to create “stability” in the lower body, and increase the amount of “X-factor” in the golfer’s swing, by limiting the hip turn. Check out this explanation of the idea. Note: This isn’t a good thing to focus on for most players. I do NOT endorse it.

What does this have to do with Grey Poupon? Lets talk about the food industry in the early 1980′s. At the time, there was one kind of mustard on the market, the standard yellow kind. Then, Grey Poupon came along with a mustard revelation: Dijon. Their mustard was a better quality of seed, made with wine, had a kick for the nose. And it took the mustard world by storm. The condiment guys took this to mean that Grey Poupon had broken the paradigm for mustards, that the Grey Poupon mustard was a far superior type of mustard. A game changer. A mustard to aspire to. A perfect mustard, even. The fact that people loved Grey Poupon became a universal, a new rule that explained how we all consume condiments. But really all Grey Poupon did was offer choice, a new way in a one-dimensional world.

Now, back to golf. Lets put this in the context of a golfer’s trail knee. The conventional wisdom in the golf world over the last 10 years or so (maybe longer) has been to retain as much flex as possible in the trail knee during the backswing. Yep, that’s right, keeping the trail leg flexed is the yellow mustard. See the following recent magazine image from Top 100 teacher Brian Mogg: 

Contrast that little gem with the following comparison of Rickie Fowler, created by Sam Quirke an instructor from the UK who is well versed in the swing method known as Stack & Tilt. One of the tenets of the Stack & Tilt swing is to consciously straighten the trail knee during the backswing, as Fowler illustrates here:

Yep, you guessed it: Straightening the trail leg is the golf world’s Grey Poupon right now.

Ok, back to the mustard for a sec. Even though Grey Poupon wasn’t necessarily a better or perfect mustard (at least not to everyone), it filled a taste preference for millions of people.  They loved that it was different from the yellow mustard, that it gave them choice, that it filled a need that they hadn’t even known they had. Here’s the gem from Malcolm Gladwell on the topic: “There is no good mustard or bad mustard, there is no perfect mustard or imperfect mustard, there are only different kinds of mustard that suit different kinds of people.”

I mentioned above that most of 20th century science was spent searching for absolutes, for universals. What I didn’t mention is that in the last 15-20 years, a shift has taken place. Nobody in the scientific community is looking for universals anymore, they’re looking for an understanding of variability.

Examine those pictures again. Is there really so much difference between Rickie Fowler and Brian Mogg (if you ignore the yellow lines)? Both have straightened the trail knee flex to some degree. Mogg has just straightened his knee a fair bit less than Fowler has. So clearly, we’re all using mustard of some kind to garnish our hot dogs. The real gold is to understand the variability in the action of the trail knee. Rather than debating whether or not the trail knee should lose flex, we should be seeking to understand the characteristics of that variable. To paraphrase Conor O’Shea, PGA of Canada professional at the Academy at Piper’s Heath, and contributing teaching professional for SCOREGolf magazine:

The RATE at which flex comes out of the trail knee, and this rate’s effect on a golfers hip turn, pivot, and ability to use the ground is the more important debate. Everyone agrees that your trail leg has to straighten some amount. How and when is up for debate.

He’s right. Jim Mclean, David Leadbetter, Brian Mogg and Andy Plummer (or Matt Diederichs!) will all agree that the trail leg is going to lose some flex during the backswing. They’ll also also agree that it shouldn’t ever reach a completely locked position. So, the real question becomes, as Conor said, how much to straighten the leg and when. Ask yourself: Why would a golfer choose to release more flex in the right knee? What effect would this have on hip turn, pelvis movement, pivot, ability to use the ground to create forces, weight shift, overall stability, and balance? (Sorry, that’s about 2000 words worth of conjecture that I really don’t want to write.) The simple fact is that again, there is no universal. Changing this variable in one golfer could (and probably would) have drastically different results when contrasted with changing this variable in another. Just as surely as yellow mustard isn’t for everyone, neither is dijon. And that’s ok.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it via the social media links below.

Watch the TED talk with Malcolm Gladwell that I cited earlier, it’s an interesting one. Learn how a psychophysicist forever changed the face of pasta sauce. Also a big thank you is due to Conor O’Shea for suggesting I write this, and pointing me towards the Gladwell piece. I highly recommend you read his cover story in last year’s SCOREGolf Magazine entitled, “Never Hit it Straight Again.” It’s an excellent primer on ball flight.

A Good Eye.. for Chunks

Experience matters. This is generally accepted across most disciplines, that a more experienced person will perform better in most situations. But why? Let’s examine one of the “intangibles” that an experienced coach is said to possess: a good eye.

An experienced coach can usually pinpoint an issue with performance, at least in the technical aspect, within a short period of time. Observers will attribute this to having “a good eye,” suggesting that the coach sees something they don’t. This also suggests that having “a good eye” is an innate attribute, something that good coaches are blessed with. But let’s suppose for a minute that “a good eye” is a skill, not an attribute, that it can be learned. After all, there’s no way that the same coach could have picked up on that same technical error when they were 5yrs old.

Examine the following sequences of letters:

RABLIAVE, TPIMAC, GINWS, CKITEIN, TORRYA

Now turn away and try to recall them. Tough, right? Now try these ones.

VARIABLE, IMPACT, SWING, KINETIC, ROTARY

Same letters, but much easier. This can be attributed to a process called “chunking” in which our brains recall patterns, rather than individual stimuli. We’ve seen the second set of letter patterns many times, the first is a new pattern. Each of those words also has a meaning, a result of the pattern. The same applies to movement. Rather than seeing a golf swing as a bunch of individual actions, an experienced coach sees a “chunk,” a pattern of many movements based on his previous experience of movement patterns. Much like the words above, each “chunk” of movement has a meaning to the coach, based on what he’s seen before. The amazing thing is that this happens mostly unconsciously.

Nick Faldo and Johnny Miller, golf commentators, are good examples. Both possess an unbelievable eye for patterns, honed over decades of watching swings and results. They can watch a player strike a ball, and immediately know that the ball is headed into the right gack. But since this process of recognizing movement “chunks” is an unconscious one, they often struggle to articulate to viewers the reasons why the ball went to the right. Usually they fall back on jargon (which drives me up the wall..) and anecdotal evidence.

So, how do you develop “a good eye?” Simple. Watch thousands of performances (in golf, thousands of swings) with knowledge of the result. Your brain will begin to associate movement “chunks” with result. Watch golf with the TV on mute and try to guess where the ball is headed after each strike. The science says, your “eye” will start to improve.

Your Back vs. Stack and Tilt: The Discussion

I recently wrote a post entitled “Your Back vs. Stack and Tilt” which created a ton of discussion. The main point I made in the post was that lumbar extension is bad for your back, regardless of swing style. It was my understanding at the time that the reason the reverse spine characteristic and the reverse C finish were bad for your back was largely due to lumbar extension.

A friend of mine, TPI physio Andrew Grant, responded that there was no credible link between lumbar extension and back pain. (Read his full comment here) This surprised me, and I went back to the TPI materials I had at my disposal. The material I have describes reverse spine as being bad for your back, but doesn’t elaborate as to the reason. I have a scribbled note that says “Reverse spine angle causes compression in the trail side lumbar region,” which must have made sense to me at the time but isn’t so good now.

So I reached out to the network of golf professionals and TPI experts that I have built in hopes of gaining some clarification. Below I’ve listed some of the information I got back, complete with the sources.

“I’m no expert but I’m guessing by your note to yourself that lateral compression of the lumbar is the big problem which would be on the trail side of the target for the golfer where this would take place. I’m pretty sure the lumbar is designed to go back to front and front to back but not side to side. Extension with lateral compression is the issue I think.” -John Graham (@JohnGrahamGolf)

“I believe that the lumbar spine works predominantly on the saggital plane. So for me pure lumbar extension should not account for back pain. In reverse spine angle the lumbar spine is pushed in to lateral flexion on the coronal plane.” -Andy Gordon (@golfvalencia)

“I think that your note refers to the downswing where the trail side compresses down with a reverse spiner. In my experience this has caused some low right side back/hip issues.”  -Justin Parsons (@JPGolfWRX)

“It&s not the back thats the issue. The sore back is a result. It’s a weak core that cannot remain stable during the swing, that can cause a golfer to compromise posture.” -Dave Longmore (@Complete_Golf)

“These gents seemed to have nailed it. The lumbar spine is designed primarily as a stable segment. As part of the “core” it acts as an anchor such that the t spine and pelvis can move more efficiently about their respective ranges of motion. Saying that, the lumbar spine does have movement capabilities which should be pain free assuming they are in control and stabilized by the rest of the core. These safe movements are primarily about the sagital plane. Like the t spine, the lumbar is not intended to be stressed in multiple planes simultaneously. With the t spine, the result is limited rotation. With the lumbar, the combination of sagital extension with coronal side bend has the potential to produce vertebral compression and shearing forces. As mentioned earlier, the primary factor is the presence of core stability. If the lumbar is acting as a prime mover in the downswing, as opposed to simply another segment of rotation, shearing forces may be present. However, if core support is maintained throughout, the lumbar should be safe to move about it’s limited range of motion while it’s girdle keeps it under control. It all comes down to whether the player keeps the strings tight on his girdle.” -Alex Riggs (@riggsgolf)

“Thanks for the question and it is not surprising that it has created some confusion since the mechanics are complicated. Here are the reasons reverse spine angle (not lumbar extension) can create lower back pain:

1. The Facets: The lumbar spine was not designed to rotate – the facets (joints) are oriented for flexion and extension, not rotation. Anything that takes the spine into extension and then forcefully rotates the lumbar spine can lead to facet (specially the right side) damage over time.
2. The Discs: If the lumbar spine loses its natural curvature (neutral lordosis) and goes into forced forward flexion, the lumbar discs are put on stress. Unfortunately the pelvis posterior tilts (flattens the back) during the downswing on most players to help orientate the oblique abdominals to forcefully rotate the thorax. This is a very good position for power, but can lead to disc herniations (specially the right side) over time.
3. Here’s the Problem: The problem with reverse spine angle is that is forces the player into extreme extension on the backswing. This then forces them to have a violent flexion and right side bend on the downswing. This causes the facets on the right to slam into eachother first and then most of them forcefully flex their lumbar spine through impact which can injure the disc. It is a double whammy. If they stay extended in their spine throughout the swing, you will get more facet damage. If they forcefully flex their spine, disc injuries will occur.” -Dr. Greg Rose (Co-founder of the Titleist Performance Institute)

“I have two points to make on this topic:

1. The #1 cause of back pain is a previous injury to the back. Obviously stabilizing the core and gaining functional movement again will help anyones back regardless of swing style. Injury or pain causes the body to move differently to protect itself from further injury. I use a term called “guarding” to describe this. If the body lives in a state of guarding for a prolonged period of time, the body makes compensations to gain a form of function in the new movement pattern. You now have 2 choices. Teach a swing style that fits the clients movement pattern or fix the movement pattern. Do you want a band aid or a cure?
2. Debating swing styles is like debating whether you like hot fudge or caramel on your sundae. They both make you fat. The best instructors I have seen build a swing that fits the persons natural movements. Water flows to the path of least resistance. Try to control it and you create issues. Same issue with trying to get someone to fit into a swing style. Issues!” -Jason Glass (@jasonglasslab)

“Surely a key factor would be the position of the pelvis as to the degree of extension and relative injury? This would link up to Mr Glass’s comments of teaching a swing style to fit around the individual.” -Jason Floyd (Jason Floyd Golf Academies)

“My first thought would be how important the term extension is here. If the lumbar portion of the spine is truly only extended I don’t see that as harmful at all, however if it is arched there becomes a problem. That was much more the case in the old “reverse c” you describe. In the S&T swing we definitely do not prescribe the arching, only extension, and much of the extension comes from the releasing of the hip tilt out of flexion (i.e. going from anterior to posterior tilt) as well as the thoracic extension which you touched on.” -David Wedzik (@GolfEvolution)

“The reason arched backs in the finish are bad for backs has to do with the lever-forces on the spine. We as humans have no issues bending forward, the back supports that motion quite well and keeps the centers pretty stacked from a side-on view. As soon as the upper center is to far behind the lower center however, the entire upper body exerts enormous forces on the lower spine, causing it to over-extend, hence the issues. S&T prescribes an extended finish with centers stacked.” -Meindert Jan Boekel (@BKLGolf)

The comments from all involved have helped me to understand this topic much more comprehensively. A big thank you is due to everyone who has participated in this discussion. One of my big goals in writing this blog is to engage and spark discussion, leading to the learning for myself and others. I think its safe to say “mission accomplished” in that regard!

Your Back vs. Stack and Tilt

Swing styles and methods are always a hot topic in the golf community. Differences in the characteristics of swings tend to polarize people and strong opinions are formed. By far one of the most polarizing discussions in golf instruction today is the topic of Stack and Tilt. Those that dislike the method tend to write it off as “bad for the back,” and point to the style creating a reverse pivot (which it doesn’t), a pattern proven to be bad for the back. Those that like the method point to the fact that Stack and Tilt suggests a pattern of extending the back, a healthier motion than turning in flexion. Regardless of the swing method, their are certain truths as to what is safe for your back. In fact, its possible to hurt your back or to swing safely, regardless of the swing style.

Lets talk about the way your body is supposed to move. Your body’s joints work in an alternating pattern of stability and mobility, starting from a stable foot. When it comes to your back, for this purpose it is important to differentiate between parts of the spine: Lumbar, Thoracic, and Cervical as illustrated to the right. The Lumbar curve is designed to be stable, the Thoracic curve mobile, and the Cervical curve stable. That means that regardless of your swing style, any extension that you create with the lumbar spine is going to cause you back pain. To swing without pain, the spine extension that is inherent to some degree in all golf swing styles must come from the Thoracic curve, which is designed for such an action. Regardless of the swing style you choose, it is possible to swing safely or to cause back pain, depending on the part of the back you extend with.

A friend of mine recently wrote a blog detailing the events of a conference in which a prominent TPI expert in the field of human kinetics stated that “assuming the player (has) no imbalances or weaknesses that stack and tilt presented the least amount of sheering forces in the spinal region when performed correctly.” (Read his full post here) Stack and Tilt aficionados immediately jumped upon this as definitive proof that the Stack and Tilt pattern is the best thing for everyone’s back. If you look at that sentence though, the part that should jump out at you is the phrase “assuming the player (has) no imbalances or weaknesses.” Do you know anyone that fits that description? I know I don’t, and I have physically screened enough players to know that the majority of people do have some form of an imbalance or weakness.

When it comes to spinal extension, using the correct part of your spine is largely a function of core strength. Simply put, if your core is unable to stabilize your lumbar curve during the swing, you will likely have some lumbar extension. Vice versa, if your core is able to stabilize your lumbar curve you will tend to extend safely from the thoracic. That would suggest that back safety in the golf swing is a function of core strength, rather than swing style. You can demonstrate this to yourself in a very simple way.Get into golf posture, let your abs go completely slack and then stand up. Note the movement in your lower back. Now, get into golf posture again, contract your abs firmly, then stand up again. Note that the movement came from the middle and upper back. An important distinction.

While I personally like the principles inherent to the Stack and Tilt golf swing, one of its major characteristics is a fully extended spine. This full extension allows the  shoulders to turn in a circle with the head remaining fixed over the ball, a very sound principle. However, a player who attempts this full extension must have a strong core to avoid lumbar extension. Simply put, a player who attempts Stack and Tilt needs a strong core to avoid back pain. In my opinion, a player with a weak core that fails to stabilize the lumbar spine will be safer attempting a swing that maintains some forward flex in the spine, or a more traditional golf swing. A player with a stronger core is free to experiment with a more extended style.

Slicers: It’s NOT an open clubface

Among everyday golfers, the face of the club gets a bad rap. It takes the blame for every shot that doesn’t go perfectly straight. For most people, slice = open clubface, since that’s what they’ve heard from their friends over the years.

The question is, what kind of slice are you hitting? There are three types: One that starts left and curves back; one that starts straight and curves right; and one that starts right and curves further right. The first two are the most common. Here’s the kicker: neither are caused by an open clubface!

When it comes to determining the flight of the ball, the swing path tends to play a larger role than the clubface. In the first two cases, a severely out-to-in swing path (relative to the clubface), is causing the call to curve away from its starting direction. Whether it starts straight or to the left is determined by the direction that the clubface is pointing at impact.

So what does that mean? First off, you can stop trying to fix your slice by turning the club to the left. That might stop the ball from curving, but now the ball will go straight left, which isn’t really any better. The only way you’re going to fix those two slices is by changing your swing path. You’re trying to create a swing path that swings out toward the right of the target for as long as possible, not to the left.

Changing your path hits the root cause of the slice will actually fix your shot shape for good, rather than temporarily. What you’ll notice is a gradual improvement. What was once a 30 yd slice will become a 20 yd slice, then a 10 yd slice, then hopefully a straight shot or a draw. And that’ll start to get fun.

Skiing Your Way to Better Golf

As the golf season starts to wind down for the year, most of us start to migrate toward other sports. If you’re lucky enough to live near a mountain, skiing and snowboarding can be a great way to spend the winter. Both have benefits for your golf game, but in particular skiing can deliver big cross-training benefits. Check out the video above. As an Olympic level athlete, Jenn Heil has some advantages when it comes to training for her sport. However, the sport itself provides an opportunity to build mobility and stability in places that are extremely important to an efficient golf swing.

Look closely at the video at about 0:45, where you can see Jenn ski close-up from the front. She’s doing three main things that are great cross-training for golf.

1. Moving her lower body independently of her upper body. Jenn’s ability to separate the movements that she makes with her hips and legs from the moves she makes with her torso is impressive. In golf, this ability allows us to efficiently and quickly transfer energy through our body to the club, giving us both power and ballstriking consistency.
2. Building stability in her glutes and quads. As she rips down the course, Jenn absorbs the impact of each bump with the large muscles in her legs, giving them a good workout and building stability. A strong lower half allows us to create a stable base for the golf swing, and also to build power by using the ground.
3. Stabilizing the skiing motion with her core. The whole time she’s skiing, Jenn’s core is working overtime to keep her upright. The constant changes of direction, the requirement to stay in perfect balance and the aerial moves all require a strong core to perform without wiping out. The consequences of a weak core in golf aren’t nearly as painful, but a weak core will make it hard for us to create and maintain a solid posture position, leading again to poor ballstriking and inconsistency.

Now its unlikely that many of us are at the level of Jenn Heil, one of the world’s top World Cup and Olympic mogul skiers. However, even on the bunny hill we need to use the same skills that she uses to be successful. So if/when your course closes for the season, try to hit the slopes on skis too cross-train. And who knows, you might have some fun in the process!

Please, No More Drills!

You know what I’m talking about: swing drills, repetitive movements that mimic parts of a golf swing. Golf Digest is full of them, golf professionals love to prescribe them, and we all hate doing them. Even if we take the time, they arent doing us much good. So stop. Please.

In the learning process, there aren’t many absolutes. But one of them is that to improve at a skill (such as golf), you have to practice that skill itself. This allows your brain to produce myelin to insulate those connections in your brain, making you more efficient at that skill. (See previous posts for more on that.) When you spend 3 hours hitting balls off your left toe with one hand, for example, you aren’t really practicing the golf swing as you want to perform it. Therefore you aren’t getting any better, except at trick shots.

When it comes down to it, most golfers are feel players. We have to be able to feel the move we’re trying to make before we perform it. Thats where the value in drills lies, in creating a feeling that you can carry over into your actual golf swing. Thats the key piece, performing the movement as part of a full golf swing. When you practice, rehearse a swing with the feeling you’re looking for. This is a much better way to learn, as you are actually practicing the movements you’d like to make.

So if you must perform drills, try to use them in that fashion, to create a feel for your actual golf swing. Your days of pounding hundreds of balls with no improvement will be over.

The Stack and Tilt Golf Swing: Why you shouldn’t write it off

There is one absolute in any discipline: People are quick to be critical of things that they don’t understand.

Swing technique is commonly discussed in 19th hole grill rooms around the world. Golf swings are analyzed in minute detail on every PGA Tour broadcast. Teachers and golf instructors make a living describing techniques. Players live and die by their swing planes, postures, and grips. Current conventional technique is beaten to death by golf magazines, dvds, and tv programs. And because conventional ideas of the swing are so widespread, many golfers understand the things that they are supposed to do: shift your weight, stay behind the ball, take the club back low and slow, etc. The question is: Who decided that these were the things that help you to hit a golf ball efficiently?

Stack and Tilt is a technique espoused by Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, two former tour players turned golf coaches, who have devised a simpler way to hit the ball. Their technique contradicts almost every commonly held idea of how the golf swing should work. Key pieces of the S&T swing involve keeping the weight on the front foot and swinging your arms in a circle behind you. The technique works. And they have been blasted for it. Prominent teachers have spoken out against the technique, and have been unceremoniously derisive. Why? Two reasons: 1) The swing taught by Plummer and Bennett shakes their belief systems and causes them to doubt their teachings. 2) They simply do not know enough about the technique.

Critics point to two things: Flaws in the technique, and to the mixed success of prominent tour players who have tried to implement the technique. The arguments vs. the technique are typically not well researched, and are in some cases, fundamentally incorrect (see Mike Bender’s argument here). This is because the critics have not researched the topic before judging. Success at a tour level is also not an accurate judgement, because the players that are successful on tour are successful for many reasons, not just swing technique (mental game, short game, fitness, and practice habits come to mind). Just because a player makes a technical change, it is unfair to expect them to immediately show massive improvement (although this has been the case for some). So how can you come to a decision? There’s really only one way: Try it!

For the everyday golfer, the lesson is simple: When you read something, see something, or are told something, do not immediately take it as gospel. I don’t care if Butch Harmon says it, or it comes from the Pope, Mother Teresa, or Gandi. It may not be true, and it especially may not be true for you. Take the time to gather some information, evaluate it, and make an objective decision based on what you think, not another person’s opinion. This should be your process whether you are evaluating Stack and Tilt, or whether to vacation in Puerto Rico, or whether to purchase a new type of breakfast cereal. Make your own decisions based on complete information.

An added bonus of thinking for yourself? It engages the intellectual part of your brain, building more myelin (see my last post) and helping you to improve faster. And really, isn’t that what it’s all about?

Can Sausages Improve Your Golf Swing?

A nerve encased in sausage-like layers of Myelin.

Ever wonder how you get good at stuff? Skill development is one of the most misunderstood subjects in the world. Many people attribute the skills of experts in every field to “natural talent.” This is simply not the case.

While your genes do have an effect, the way skill development works can be boiled down to one word: Myelin. To preface this, understand that “skills” are simply pathways developed in our nervous system. The brain sends a message through a nerve, which in turn relays that message to the muscles, which perform the action. But this really doesn’t explain differences in skill level. Once you acquire the ability to send the right message thru the right connection, shouldn’t you be an expert right away?

Myelin answers this question. Myelin is an electrically insulating material that forms layers around the nerve. By insulating the connection, the signal from your brain to the muscles is transmitted much faster, which means a more efficient golf swing. As you practice, more and more layers of myelin wrap the connection (in sausage-like link shapes, hence the title), gradually increasing the speed of signal transfer.

Now the bad news: Myelin is developed best by a technique called deep practice, in which the student teeters constantly on the edge of their ability, corrects their own mistakes, and analyzes their own performance. This does NOT mean wandering down to the range and hitting a few balls. It means focused, engaged practice.

Second, if you are deep practicing, but deep practicing the wrong moves, that’s even worse than not practicing. Myelin doesn’t know that the move you are making isn’t a good one, it just knows that you’re practicing it. And it will insulate the connections you are using to make that incorrect action. This is why poor habits developed over a long period of time are so hard to break.

The moral of the story is this: Practice properly in a focused and engaged manner, and make sure you are practicing moves that will make you a better player. If you follow that process, you can’t help but improve. After all, it’s science!

Note: Big thank you Daniel Coyle and his book “The Talent Code,” an eye opener for any coach in any sport. Well worth the read.