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  • What golfer’s can learn about Ground Forces from Bruce Lee.

    Posted on by Warren Raatz in Swing Analysis | No Comments

    Ground Forces

    Ground forces power the golf swing with vertical, rotary and linear motions. And any three of these to all of these can be used as a dominate force. They become layered in varying degrees based on the individual to create maximum acceleration on the ball.

    Golf swings develop momentum from the ground up with a chain reaction of legs, hips, shoulders and arms. This chain develops from a transference of energy that works up through the body; accelerations created from braking actions, not unlike a car when moving at speed, applying its brakes is felt in the restraints of the seat belts.

    Beginning with the legs before each part of the chain has finished the next part has already started to accelerate, causing the forces to sum as they add to each other vertically through the body.

    As …

  • Golf Swings Downswing Path

    Posted on by Warren Raatz in Golf Instruction | No Comments

    Golf Swings Downswing Path

    Golf swings downswing path from the inside can be just as bad as from over the top. What needs to happen is for the path to be determined by each unique golfer’s downswing plane.

    Any single plane automatically produces an inside out downswing path to impact, where both the face and path are at the target and then an outside in path with the through swing to a finish. This happens even though the base of the incline remains unchanged as it stays aimed at the target. However the clubhead path is always changing on the incline plane.

    If one takes an incline and then flattens it the base line will remain pointing at the target. But now the path that the club travels on becomes more from the inside coming down and then more left …

  • Sergio Garcia Swinging Like Ben Hogan

    Posted on by Warren Raatz in Swing Analysis | No Comments

    Sergio Garcia Swinging Like Ben Hogan

    Sergio Garcia swinging like Ben Hogan is a much talked about comparison. In transition from backswing to downswing both Ben and Sergio are seen to flatten the club shaft and increase the angle. This is a fair likeness but there is something far more significant that makes their golf swings comparable and it happens in their delivery to the ball.

    In Hogan’s “Five Lessons the Modern Fundamentals of Golf” he talks of: “the turning of the hips inaugurating the downswing. This movement of the hips automatically lowers the arms and hands to a position just above hip level.”

    Essentially this is a tucking motion similar to baseball. The batter, starting with the hips, tucks the right elbow flattening the bat and leveling the hands to deliver the handle of the bat towards the ball.  …

  • Jordan Spieth’s Hit Hold Move

    Posted on by Warren Raatz in Swing Analysis | No Comments

    Jordan Spieth’s Hit Hold Move

    Jordan Spieth’s hit hold move is considered by many to be a secret move, one that gives him an advantage over the field. Lets take a look  at his swing in slow motion to see what is happening.

    The first thing one can see is that he does not have a straight left arm at the top. And it is not straight coming down, into the ball or afterwards. This shows how the golf swing is based on momentum rather than through positions. With his dominate hand, the right, he is getting the right arm as long as possible through the shot.

    With the right arm fold at the top of the backswing it straightens down to the point where both arms are straight. This is the point of release and it is past the …

  • Jordan Spieth’s Practice Swing

    Posted on by Warren Raatz in About Golf, Golf Instruction, Newsletter, Swing Analysis | No Comments

    Jordan Spieth’s Practice Swing

    Jordan Spieth’s practice swing from waist high to waist high captures the golf swing’s core principals of plane, path, clubface and sequence. With little or no effort, he has these four elements in complete control. Here’s why.

    His practice swing starts with the right arm folding in the backswing and then the left arm folding in the through swing. As he does this back and forth several times the arms are traveling the wrists are hinging. This is arm swing and it is also perfect path.

    Path is the direction the club travels specifically the sweet spot of the clubface. Referenced to the target line at any one time this can be down the line, in to out, out to in, up or down. In motion the swing goes through all of these directions.

    As the …

  • Golf Swing and the X Factor

    Posted on by Warren Raatz in About Golf, Golf Instruction, Newsletter, Swing Analysis | No Comments

    X Factor can be viewed 4 ways

    Golf swing and the X Factor is a term used to describe the difference in turn angle between the shoulders (upper body) and the hips (pelvis), in the backswing. Added to this is the X Factor Stretch which is an increase in the X Factor at the beginning of the downswing produced by the hips starting down before the shoulders. This new revved up version, referred to as downswing loading, intensifies the coil created in the backswing. OK everything here is completely correct and horrible wrong at the same time.

    From this definition it is saying that good golf is directly proportional to how much differential one can achieve between the upper and lower body. And also from this, every golfer is obligated to start the downswing from the hips, that you as …

  • Golf Swing Cause and Effects

    Posted on by Warren Raatz in About Golf, Diagnose and Preventing Injuries, Golf Instruction, Newsletter, Swing Analysis | No Comments

    For Every Effect There is a Cause

    Golf swing cause and effects are born out a most cherished principle in physics that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, called conservation of energy.  This fundamental law can be seen in all aspects or our lives from the heat one uses to make a pot of coffee, the gas put in our cars to make them run, the food one eats to keep oneself moving, the orbit that the earth takes around the sun and when one makes a golf swing.

    The principal of conservation of energy has been validated many time over by scientist, however  it was put on very firm ground some 100 years ago from a German mathematician by the name of Emmy Noether,  who observed that all conservation laws are based on symmetries of nature. Physical laws …

  • Golf Swing Has A Number One Choice

    Posted on by Warren Raatz in About Golf, Golf Instruction, Newsletter | No Comments

     Learn to use the clubface

    The golf swing has a number one choice to hit the outside the inside or the back of the ball. Each choice has an advantage and a disadvantage that comes with it. Lets start by looking at the objective of any golf swing and that is to hit the ball to a chosen target with a square clubface delivered on a desired path and on an incline plane determined by the lie angle of a club, striking the ball in the center of percussion of the clubface at maximum velocity.

    But when doing this one can chose to hit the outside part of the ball, the inside or the back of the ball. As long as the face is square to the target or intended target at the moment of separation, (between the ball and …

  • Indoor Simulators and Wedge Play

    Posted on by Warren Raatz in About Golf, Golf Instruction, Newsletter | No Comments

    Indoor Simulators and Wedge Play

    Indoor simulators with wedge play gives all golfers an environment to calibrate distance control by how much one grips down, narrows and opens the stance. Lets begin with a review on wedge play to see how how one can both guarantee success and give versatility by using the four absolutes of pitching.

    The first is to aim the face at the target as this determines where the ball goes. Next, make sure to point the clubshaft at a center line formed by the belly button and sternum as this maintains the clubface and bounce. (Remember bounce gives this club a resistance to digging.) The arms swing very nicely on the line of the shoulders and finally distance is controlled by how much one grips down narrows and drops either the right or left foot back. …

  • Winter Practice with Indoor Simulators

    Posted on by Warren Raatz in About Golf, Golf Instruction, Newsletter | No Comments

    Winter practice with indoor simulators gives any golfer the best environment possible for improvement in both the golf swing and short game. Here lie the elements for making the fastest and most efficient change possible. Mostly these elements are applied without one being aware that they are being used. Here is why:

    To make a change in any golf swing, it is necessary to have a moment of impact. This means that change is not possible with just a practice swing. But if one can remove the consequence or the requirements of a shot, while still having the moment of impact, change can be both quick and easy.

    Historically this has been done by putting the ball on a tee. Doing this removes any obligation of getting the ball air born and forward thus freeing one to focus on whatever …