New to TGM. Need help
 

I just recently purchased TGM after becoming frustrated with my golf game over the last year. I have had a handicap between 7 and 10 for a couple of years and felt like I was stuck in one spot as far as golfing goes. Last year I suddenly lost the ability to compress the ball and consequently lost yardage and accuracy. Ultimately this is what led me to TGM. I started working on the basic motion this week and have found it tougher than I thought it would be, don't understand what I am doing, making it more complicated than it needs to be, or just over thinking it... maybe all of the above. I attempted acquired motion tonight at the range and mostly just kept sticking the club in the ground and hitting the ball fat. I have watched all the videos in the gallery and have been reading TGM manual and believe it is starting to make sense to me but I am getting extremely frustrated. I am almost starting to think there is so much information in the yellow book that I am over thinking everything. I am tempted to go back to just swinging the club without thinking about it or taking a break from the game altogether. Any encouragement would be wonderful.

dvdpfstr,

I felt a lot like you until I bought and watched Alignment Golf from Yoda available in the Pro Shop right here at LBG. Mr. Blake and Mr. Trolio do a FANTASTIC job of explaining the fundamentals of TGM. It's hard work, but worth every minute of study.

Please read everything you can both here and at iSeek, once it starts becoming clear, the sky is the limit!

Kevin

Take It Easy and enjoy TGM stick with it
 

I would suggest you take advantage of the massive amount of information Mr. Blake has provided for no cost on this wonderful site to supplement your close reading of TGM. Not to mention all the free videos. Do searches for the topics you are struggling with. It really is amazing how much information is here thanks to Yoda. I would also highly recommend you buy Alignment Golf DVD! It's amazing. Also everyone goes at their own pace understanding TGM, so even if you think you don't understand something today it will come to you in time, incubate those chicks they will hatch in time believe me. Of course finding an AI in your area is ideal as well.

we're on the same journey - bon voyage!

Birdie Chance
Bronx, NY

I would suggest seeing an Authorized Instructor of TGM. When I met Ted I probably understood about 50% of TGM and in particular the basics of TGM. Ted and I then worked on a lot of things that are not exactly what most golfers who get in TGM focus upon. We changed my grip, where my weight was in my feet at address, footwork, getting the club square on the backswing (it was incredibly shut at the top of the swing), etc. Some of that stuff may be tripping you up as well or perhaps you're trying to fix things in an order that doesn't work best for you.

I still highly recommend reading this site and watching the videos. I've only furthered my understanding of TGM and improved my swing by learning from the great posts and videos here. There's been some times where I've caught myself applying the methods incorrectly and didn't realize it until I read a post or watched a video. And I plan on purchasing the 'Alignment Golf' DVD very soon for the very same reason, to learn more and to improve.




3JACK

Oh man. You opened a can of worms by buying that book. You break it you fix it. :confused1 If you live within 6 hours of one of the contributing Pro's on this site, better get a motel reservation and gas up the car.

Did you buy the Cliff Notes or did ya just go cheap and buy the yellow book? You ain't gettin anyhow without them cliff notes. :naughty:

Advice? sure. 1 four hour lesson from one of these guys is worth 1 year of reading that book. :salut:

WOW! Doesn't sound very good for me. I didn't have any intention of going "cheap", I just found out about TGM on another sites forum and thought I would buy the book and read as much about it on this website and others. Sounds like TGM might be too complicated by that response. I might just need to get out the old "Five Lessons" and re-focus on that. Thanks for the input guys.

Go back to basic motion and stay there for a while. The club head moves two feet back and two feet through. No pivot, flat left wrist, steady head and you will start to get it. Go slow, even if you only hit the ball 10 yards it doesn't matter, just get the club moving back, up and in - down, out and forward with that flat left wrist, no scooping! Results will come, this is a journey and not a sprint.

"getting the club square on the backswing (it was incredibly shut at the top of the swing)"

Does the hitter suppose to have a shut clubface at the top due to impact address, less fanning (swifle than the swinger)?

At the top they look very similar. It is more how they get into that look that is different between hitter and swinger.

You will get to SEE this soon:)

I think that I scared that guy away. :confused1 I don't know. Was it something I said? :confused1 Whoa, Sorry about that. :oops:

Easy Does It . . . Or Does It?
 

Let's see now, dvdpfstr . . .

You signed on with your first post at 9:39 p.m.

The author of the book in question spent forty years producing the work that ranked him #6 on Sport's Illustrated's All Time Great Gurus list (as ranked by Golf Magazine Top 100 Instructors / 2007).

You got four, non-combative and well-intentioned responses in 39 minutes.

And you're 'opting out' in favor of an already well-worn Five Lessons?

:scratch:

My advice: Embrace that 'old' lamp. Things won't change, of course, but it is much more comfortable (and much less challenging) than the 'new'.

:salut:

Are there really Cliff Notes or something similar for TGM? What are you referring to here Daryl?

OB

:laughing9 :laughing9 It's just my sense of humor. It would be illegal to publish a TGM book, but not to publish the Cliffnotes. Wouldn't you want both? And if I did have the Cliffnotes, how much would they be worth? Where are the Cliffnotes? There are right here on Lynnblakegolf.com :laughing9 :laughing9 They just need a little touchin up. The Archives. :)

I thought it would be reasonable that my first post would be to ask for help understanding TGM. But, if a senior member of these forums(forums that were suggested to me from members of other forums) say's the only way I will make any progress with TGM is by gassing up the car and driving 6 hours to stay in a motel to get a lesson from a contributor to this website, that's a little tough for me. As a father of three young children, a husband, full time career, and a part time college student, makes that option a little tough.

Like I said, I am a legitimate single digit handicap who plays in the mid- to low-80's with occasional rounds in the 70's who is just now starting to practice during the week to improve my game. I don't think that's too bad. I didn't mean to offend anyone and I apologize if I did. Seems like TGM aficionados are a little defensive.

For what it's worth though, Ben Hogan was pretty good.

Got a feeling the Cliff notes would be four thousand pages long and omitting much of the original content.

Congrats on the Black Hawks making it to the Eastern Finals.

oB

I'm not dissing you dvdpfstr. :crybaby: Ben Hogan was one of the worlds greatest Golfers and It took him Twenty years of grueling hard work to start becoming one of them.

You aren't starting out any different than any of us. :) But, I had my first lesson after reading the book on my own for over twenty years and though I hate to admit, I learned more in that one lesson about the Golf Swing than I had during the previous twenty years on my own. But, I didn't have the INTERNET and all of the help from members on this web-site. I'm trying to save you time and agony. The truth is, why would anyone want to go through this just to improve their Golf Game? :naughty:

You said "single digit handicap". Do you really want to study and learn everything about the golf stroke before you can apply that knowledge or are you simply seeking a few tips to get back into the single digits? It's an honest question. :salut:

If you only need a few component changes, why would you study the book? You wouldn't study X amount of years to become a Dentist so that you could "pull your own teeth". :laughing9

But the Golf Stroke seems simple and innocent. :confused1 Anyone can learn it. Right? Everyone has time and understanding enough, especially if someone can just tell you the answers. But hey, anyway, it should only take a few days, right? :eyes:

During these past 25 years, I could have become a Physicist, Doctor, Lawyer, and Dentist. And, I'm just beginning to learn what took Homer Kelley 40 years of his life to understand. Call me stupid. :laughing9

I'm just trying to save you time. :)

Defensive. Hmm? Maybe. It's my time as well as your time.

Hold on, dvdpfstr, reset....

As Augusta Golf said, go back to Basic Motion. Make sure you're in impact position, have the ball off your right foot, apply Extensor Action and zero out your pivot.

There is plenty of free video and spectacular, consistent info on this forum. And remember, while we take our Golf pretty seriously, we don't take ourselves too seriously. :)

You bet... I bought Cliffnotes in College and if the book was 200 pages, the Cliffnotes boiled it down to 20. Can you imagine the Golfing Machine Cliffnotes? :laughing9 200 pages for TGM and 2,000 pages of cliffnotes. Man, it's encrypted. :crybaby:

Hi dvdpfstr,

Have you used an Impact bag? If not, then an old baseball bat with a big pillow or old couch might do the trick. Start hitting that Impact bag from 2 feet back. Retain the impact, and observe your impact alignments.

Assuming your a righty.

Is your left wrist flat (4-A-1) or bent (4-A-2) ?
Is your right wrist bent or flat ?
Is your left thumb aft of the shaft?
what pressure do you feel in your right index finger ?
Is the shaft and right forearm on plane?
Is your left wrist level (4-B-1)?

Yoda also has a short Impact Bag video.

Good luck and stick with it and you'll be pleasantly suprised.

TGM is not complicated if you focus on the core concepts. Just understanding the 'flying wedges' can really be a big shortcut.

flying wedges = left arm and shaft in line (face on view) and right forearm and shaft in line (down the line view)

flat left wrist, bent and 'level' right wrist

Read the drills linked in my signature, and focus on the diagram in 1-L.

TGM has a lot of detail, but you don't need to understand the details to play well if you understand the concepts.

Here is a suggestion. The thing that started my quest, not to get too poetic or anything. Try it out, perhaps you'll like it. Something kinda small that works for all shots however big.

Go to a mirror. Put the club in your right hand only with it down the shaft a little as per usual. The club running through the palm and not under the heal pad. Place the club on the ground in a chipping like stance and point the grip end at your left shoulder. Freeze your right hand in this degree of bend. Firm grip pressure. Now do the same for a down the line view in the mirror. Adjust your right arm and club so that the right forearm (only) is on the same plane as the club. This will take some getting used to and adjustments.

Next, with the grip pressure kind of firm in the last three fingers but kind of light in the thumb and forefinger , draw your attention to the area of the right forefinger between the knuckle and first joint. The upper section of the right forefinger on the aft of the grip. This is not tight to the grip but gently wrapped around it. This is the Lag Pressure Point, which senses the Lagging condition of the clubhead vis a vis the hands. With the club lagging there will be pressure at this point. With the club not lagging there will be no pressure there. This is the secret to golf. Wag the club around a little and feel it. Learn to nurse that Lag pressure so you can sustain it for a longer period and be able to take it right through and past an imaginary ball.

Next go to a range and hit little 10' chips beside a green with just your right arm. Put your mind on the pressure point, feel the lag. Sustain it. Give it some time, hours or days even if need be. If you keep the alignments as mentioned above and swing the right forearm with the wrist frozen you should notice some strange things. Namely, compression plus, a thought that you should chip one handed all the time, the sweet spot etc. Most importantly, with your focus centered on the Lag Pressure Point you'll notice a relationship between your loss of Lag pressure and bad shots.


I was very, very taken aback by all of this (Id been chipping for 30 years or so already and never felt anything like it) and wanted to take these alignments and this Lag Pressure into all my shots, with both hands on the club. I wanted to unlock the secrets this drill contained. It might take a life time or two.........But that is how it all started for me.

And so it goes.

Great Exercise. I don't do enough of that. I think I'll start all of my practice sessions that way. :salut: The john Daily putting warm-up routine.

Yep, gotta keep that left hand free for a brewski!

Eldrick too. Putting and chipping.

I start every pre round warm up that way. First right hand putts, then left, then both. Next right hand chips, left hand chips, both.

Then over to the range from wedge up and back down to wedge to finish, then back to the pratice green repeating my warm up above, short putts, longer putts, back to short, back to one handed. Then off to the 1st tee.

I have got to sort of disagree with Daryl's earlier sentiments. I worked with a GSED about 10 years ago. We worked on a 'swinging' pattern. I really wanted to learn TGM, but he was pretty reluctant to teach me the nuts and bolts of TGM in fear of making things too complicated for me. I did learn a lot from him and my game improved because of it.

Fast forward to February. I had just gotten back into the game after an 8 year layoff in January and I went to see Luke over at the swamp. I made it clear to him that I planned on learning TGM and I would appreciate it if he would help me with things I didn't understand.

My brain and my personality is the such that I really need to know the technical stuff and what other people are doing. Otherwise, when I start to struggle I start to contemplate what other golfers do differently from me and that may not be a correct component to my golf swing. But, I'll try to make it a component of my golf swing.

I will say that I believe most golfers do not have this type of mentality. Just tell them what they need to do for their golf swing and if the info is pretty good, they are good to go with a bit of hard work and practice. Just as there is no one way to swing a golf club, there is no one way to learn about the golf swing and improve one's game, IMO.

And at the very least, I don't think it's a detriment to a golfer if they learn some of the basics of The Golfing Machine.




3JACK

I want to thank everybody for the positive responses I got and I will choose to ignore the negative ones. I am going to print the suggestions I received and work on them over the next couple of days and I will post back with the progress I've made. I am truly interested in TGM and believe it could help me in my journey to play better golf. I also understand that other golfers have had success with other approaches other than TGM, and when you see how many TGM fans believe "their" way of TGM is the only way of TGM, I will try to take what I need and leave the rest. I also want to thank Jeff for his message and let him know I will probably be up half the night reading the stuff on his Awesome site. I have some friends who have never heard of TGM before I told them about it and am going to direct them to your site also. Great stuff.

@Daryl - I thought your original reply was great advice laced with humor.

People always misunderstand each other on forums... thats just the way it is.

I tell ya what, I wish there was a TGM pro in Upstate NY. I think I'm just going to have to save start my pennies for an airfare. :laughing9

BTW, Chuck's forum is awesome, but it's not free, so there isn't a lot of 'action' on it. In a way I wish it was free, but there is so much video content that I can't blame him for having to charge $ for it.

Not everyone saw the humor Andy R. :laughing9

There was an AI around Chicago years ago but he's been long gone. Why is it that TGM Instructors reach Bachelor and some Masters but never reach their Doctorate? Hmm? That should start a new thread.....

I thought Chuck went "Medicus" and gave up the forum business. Putting away Hinge Action for a Hinged Club. :laughing9

Didn't he move to Florida years ago? Great guy, super knowledgeable and He can really hit the Ball.

Time is'nt on my side. No it is'nt.
 

You just want to "up your post quota" on Jeff. You don't really need to go there. Just lookin' to pad your stats :( .

Chuck is in Destin and is 100% Yellow Book. He contributes regularly to our Medicus forum which is also loaded with TGM video and concepts. With this and the Medicus forum together you guys have access to every TGM concept imaginable from two awesome instructors. Thanks Lynn and Chuck for leading us all down the path to better golf.

B. J. Hathaway- Medicus Golf Institute Instructor

Oh, thanks for the info Augusta Golf. :) I didn't know Medicus had a TGM forum. I thought that they leaned toward Stack and Tilt.

Is Chuck with Medicus Instruction? We lost touch while he was teaching in Arizona. Hot and Dry to Hot and Sticky.

S&T is only a portion of the Medicus Golf Institute, all of what we teach is TGM. Chuck is our Executive Director of Instruction.

Is the Golf Institute a part of the Hinged Club Company or is it a completely separate company?

What came first? The Hinged Club or the Instruction Institute?

It's a fascinating Business Model. How many Locations?

Do you notice a slowdown because of the economy? My business is down 25%

Every time I think about Chuck, I see him standing there with a string tied around his left shoulder and his right hand holding the other end, while he demonstrates extensor action. It's burned into my brain. A great demonstration. One of the best ever in TGM.

O.B. Left, I did exactly as you explained in your right arm drill and was impressed how well it started to feel after a while. It has helped me to understand how basic motion should feel. After I got home from practicing the drill you described, my dad came by the house and wanted to got to the driving range. While at the driving range, I did nothing but what I understand acquired motion to be, while focusing on the #3 pressure point and, voila... the feeling of compressing the ball like it used to feel was back. Now I know I have a long way to go but it sure did feel good to start compressing the ball again.

I started thinking about it and think that when my swing started losing compression last year, without knowing it, I started swinging "harder" to get that feeling back and it just made me cast the clubhead even worse. Maintaining the #3 pressure point really helped with my rythm also. Going to work on basic motion again tomorrow and continue the journey.

@dvdpfstr - great to hear things are going in the right direction. You're on your way, for sure. :)

Forgive me for a moment if I rave about the TGM part of the Medicus site (I haven't checked out the Medicus forum). They have a ton of Chuck's fantastic videos and excellent discussion/info in the forum. Off the top of my head, his videos of the 21 points of 1-L certainly stand out.

Chuck also has a Swinging and Hitting 30 day video/Flash course that is, to use Augusta Golf's phrase, 100% yellow book. From putting to full swing, it features drills (dowels, laser/flashlight, rackets etc..) and comprehensive training/explanations. They also provide 'live' video lessons using standard web browsers, but not for us Mac guys yet. I got around this by sending video and having Chuck send back an analysis with his commentary, etc...

Chuck makes himself available by phone and/or email in case you have questions, or whatever, along the way. Clearly, I'm a fan :laughing9 but for good reason, as many of you know, he, like Lynn, is one of the foremost experts on TGM, and like Lynn, has zero ego about it, and is only too happy to go above and beyond the call of duty to help you improve.

One "Armed" Bandit
 

Very nice O.B. and if I could add to make sure from Impact to Low Point the Clubhead continues moving "Down" and "Out". The three dimensional Impact (no need to focus on the Forward) is so important even on shorter shots. I have been using this drill for many years and always return to it.
At Cuscowilla, Lynn watched me do the drill over and over to make sure I was doing it correctly. I slept better that night when he did'nt change anything. Then again, I am sure the beers and late nights may have had something to do with my sleep as well.

Gold In Them Thar Archives
 

Here is a reprise of a great thread in the making (on the Swinger's Hand Pressure Points) that somehow was lost in the fray: http://lynnblakegolf.com/forum/showt...re#post 46153. I especially enjoyed the one-two punch of Bagger's #5 and Drew's #7.

:salut: