Haney Eliminates At Least Three Of Barkley's Backswing Belches

Telegraph: "Scientists find secret of perfect golf swing"

Take that, golf magazines!

Reader Michael passed along Caroline Gammell's Telegraph exclusive on the news we've all been waiting for: scientists discovering the perfect golf swing secret.

The key is knowing at exactly what stage of the swing you should exert the maximum force, according to research.

Hmmm...that's helpful.

Using a complex mathematical equation, Professor Robin Sharp from the Department of Mechanical, Medical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Surrey, has calculated which parts of the upper body should be used at what stage.

Breaking with conventional thinking, his study suggests that the wrists are not as important as the way a golfer uses their arms.

His research also concludes that height is not as advantageous as previously thought, with short people able to hit a ball almost as far as their taller competitors if they use the right technique.

Verne Troyer will be relieved.

Prof Sharp studied three professional golfers from the 1968 Ryder Cup - Bernard Hunt, Geoffrey Hunt and Guy Wolstenholme - whose swing action was photographed on a high speed camera.

Guess footage of Dai Rees wasn't available. Boy and that was a great Ryder Cup team. Too bad they didn't play one in '68 or that Wolstenholme never played in a Ryder Cup!

"Bring back walking. Play with nine clubs."

Jim Achenbach is advocating playing with fewer clubs, but not as a way to combat distance increases. Instead, he has folks who think it'll make your game better.

Leadbetter Dishes On Wie, Els

Robert Thompson found David Leadbetter in a chatty mood about his clients Michelle Wie and Ernie Els and offers some interesting thoughts on what it all means. Thanks to reader Andrew for this.

"Stage a tournament for marquee instructors."

I'm a little behind in my reading, so I just got to Bill Fields' column from the March 14 Golf World where he suggests his platform if he were President of Golf.

While I loved all of his ideas, I particualrly loved the thought of this one.

• Stage a tournament for marquee instructors. How fun would it be to see Hank Haney, Butch Harmon, David Leadbetter and other teachers to the stars practice what they preach? The odds against that happening, though, might be greater than getting Tiger back to play in Milwaukee.

"I've been surprised at the level of contempt"

Lorne Rubenstein sat in on a Stack and Tilt clinic with Mike Plummer and Andy Plummer and relays his observations.

Meanwhile, some teachers and players have been critical of stack and tilt. Well-known instructor Jim McLean points to photographs of Nicklaus that he says refute the impression that he didn't shift his weight during his backswing. Six-time major champion Nick Faldo works for The Golf Channel and was critical during the Mercedes telecast.

"I've been surprised at the level of contempt," Plummer said.

Some of the complaints came in this Golf Digest piece. And here is the answer why there has been so much contempt:

But students have been doing well. Weir has been working with Plummer and Bennett for more than a year. Aaron Baddeley has won twice since beginning to work with the twosome. Plummer and Bennett are in demand from professionals and amateurs alike, and believe their critics wouldn't be so harsh if they understood their ideas. Their database includes more than a million swing photos.

"Just to be clear, though," Plummer said, "we're not doing this because Nicklaus and Ben Hogan did it. They're examples of what we're saying."

"For the same reason it works for the best players, it works for everyone."

Golf World includes the Stack and Tilt dudes in their year end newsmakers issue. Peter Morrice writes:

On the PGA and Champions tours, six players have won in a year and a half using Stack & Tilt: Aaron Baddeley (pictured), Mike Weir, Dean Wilson, Eric Axley, Will MacKenzie and John Cook. Converts also include: Jesper Parnevik, Steve Elkington, Charlie Wi and about a dozen others. Plummer estimates they'll add 10 more tour students before next season. But the Plummer-Bennett plan sees the tour as just a stopover. "Teaching tour players gets you great exposure, but we want to change the way the average person plays golf," says Bennett, 39, who grew up in upstate New York and still tries to Monday-qualify for tour events. "It's the simplest way to swing a club," adds Plummer. "For the same reason it works for the best players, it works for everyone. The geometry doesn't change."

Stack and Tilt Part 2

Having toyed with the Stack and Tilt concept a bit more on the range, and having had the privilege of working with Mac O'Grady back when he was still mad at Deane Beman, I now regret my initial remark that this is Mac Made Easy. Several elements are quite different from Mac's teachings, particularly the takeway (was that P2 or P3!?) and some of their thoughts on the role of the right leg. 

Anyway I haven't been able to follow the little community within a community that has developed on the original post here, which is up to 327 comments.

The latest Golf Digest installment's best component is the input from other jealous instructors trying to debunk the potential of Stack and Tilt.

The MIDI!

Thanks to reader Tuco for the heads up on Damon Hack's New York Times story about an interesting new tempo device. There's also a video segment on the story narrated by Hack, who clearly missed his calling as an NPR reporter.

Grober has created an instrument that gives a player an immediate response to the golf swing. A smooth, rhythmic swing with Grober’s sensor emits a pleasing tone. A herky-jerky motion lets out a wail.

To create the sound of a golf swing, Grober used Musical Instrument Digital Interface technology that combined instruments like the piccolo, the oboe and the French horn. The music — an audio interpretation of the swing itself — is transmitted wirelessly to the golfer through a headset.

“This dimension that they can access while they’re hitting the golf club opens up a whole world of information that they hadn’t otherwise had,” he said. “Getting it in this format, in a real-time basis, helps people to change on time scales which are much shorter than traditionally. It used to be if you wanted to make a mechanical change in your golf swing, it could take months to do that. But if you can hear what’s going on, you can change the sound space almost instantly.”

Grober said by having players focus on tempo instead of swing mechanics, the mechanics often followed anyway. “Really quickly they understand it’s about tempo and they forget all these complicated thoughts about position,” he said. “When the motion becomes dynamic and smooth, there are some good physics behind that.”

Grober, whose product is scheduled for release in January, said he has worked with 200 golfers and teachers on his invention. While the technology is new, the idea of using physics to teach a golf swing has been around for decades.

Ben Doyle, who wrote the foreword to Homer Kelley’s popular instruction book, “The Golfing Machine,” said he could see benefits in a golfer being able to listen to the sound of the golf swing.

“You hear the thrust of centrifugal force,” said Doyle, the golf instructor at the Golf Club at Quail Lodge in Carmel, Calif. “If a student can hear that sound, it’s very important feedback.”

Stack and Tilt Follow Up, Vol. 2

Bob Carney expands on the Stack and Tilt cover story with some cool photos of Harry Vardon.

Also, the Golf World story on Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett was in fact posted and contains some interesting anecdotes, including this quote from Jack Nicklaus:  

"I don't believe in a lateral shift," says Nicklaus. "Of course not. I believe in staying on the ball." Asked what he thinks about teachers who advocate a weight shift, he answers, "They don't know how to play."

The story also looks at the Mac O'Grady connection and at Dean Wilson's improvement thanks to Plummer and Bennett (and boy does Wilson have a pure move). Wilson was introduced to the duo by Grant Waite, a super cool guy who let me videotape his swing at Riviera during the L.A. Open when I was in college and who let me walk around with him during a practice round. (Well, it wasn't totally one-sided, he wanted to check his swing on tape!)

I mention this not only because it was something that probably doesn't happen too often today, but also because around the same time the lovely Jodie Mudd complained about me videotaping his swing from outside the ropes. While I was taping! Oh did I have fun showing that to people!

Stack and Tilt Follow Up, Vol. 1

The original post on Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer's teaching method received all sorts of intriguing comments, including someone signing under Andy's name (and sounding like him!).

After fiddling with the concept on the range a bit Sunday, I have to say I love backswing concept because I've never believed the traditional weight shift was a natural move (nor very easy on the right knee). But as for the downswing, I'm still not clear on what thought or sensation you want to trigger. So I have the same question as reader Mike Uysal, who wrote that Plumber and Bennett...

...advocates upward thrust of the buttock muscles while the arms are swinging down. MY QUESTION IS: As the body stands up through the soda can being crushed with the left leg (right hand player) - are the arms swinging down or is the trunk rotating left and tilting with arms close to the rib cage?

In other words, is it an arm swing or trunk rotation?

Anyone out there understand the question he/we are asking and have a thought? Because Lord knows, we all need more swing thoughts! 

Stack and Tilt

Which one is Stack and which one is Tilt? Oh wait, that's the method they're teaching. I was thinking of Bored and Grouchy over at GolfDigest.com.

I'm curious what you all think of the hottest teachers in the game, Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, and their "Stack and Tilt" method that Golf Digest is humping the daylights out of in the June issue.  And Bob Carney followed up in the editor's blog.

It seems (to me) anyway that someone has finally taken what Mac O'Grady has been teaching for years, tweaked it a bit and simplified the message? No?

"The teaching of golf is a bitchy business."

John Huggan uses his Inverness On Sunday Scotland On Sunday column to highlight the drama queen antics of golf instructors and players...

Especially at the top level, the teaching of golf is a bitchy business. Typical was the vitriolic reception that Hank Haney received from many of his peers in the wake of his assuming the role of coach to Tiger Woods, replacing the aforementioned Harmon. For a while there, things were neither hunky nor dory.

The last word in that particular skirmish, however, belonged to Haney. In the immediate aftermath of the 2005 Masters Tournament - Woods's first of four major victories under the tutelage of his new coach - the Dallas-based instructor lifted a leaf out of Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, and took dead aim at one of his biggest critics, wannabe star teacher Jim McLean, describing him as "the biggest asshole I have ever met" - a label that left little room for misinterpretation.

"As for other teachers who have been critical [most notably and ironically, Harmon and Smith], it was obvious where they were coming from," Haney declared. "I viewed them speaking out as a form of pre-emptive strike. They wanted Tiger to lose patience with me before we even got started, so I wasn't surprised by the crap they were talking. Those other instructors never wanted to give us a chance. The result was never going to make them look better."