Is it "Manual" or "Manuel" 
Manuel De La Torre Swing
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ode Is it "Manual" or "Manuel"
So here's the odd thing. He preferred his Spanish pronunciation of his name but even he Anglicized it. Because local folks pronounced it incorrectly he just finally went with it. He would say to the caddies, it's Man-well but you boys can call me Mr. De La Torre. 
His father Angel was quite expressive and I learned some decent Castilian Spanish thru Manuel. You would never see him toss a club but he let out of few under his breath Spanish expressions. 
He believed in being a gentleman.
Another lil tidbit if you watch the videos of him teaching it was hands on. How many today of the PGA persuasion are hands on the club of a student?
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In my research, it seems as if some say the MDLT method is only for beginners or intermediate golfers.
I think you could play well at a high level with this method. The less things to break under pressure you have, the better off you are IMHO.
Sneakylong Ernest Jones was a genius.
pellmell believe it is all hands and arms based swing watch some old video of Manuel
Nice hand picked quote. The quote actually read in full sentence. "And for those that believe it is all hands and arms based swing watch some old video of Manuel we all use our lower body in the swing otherwise you would be stationary over the ball and be an arms swinger which is death to the golf swing."
Sneakylong Milo has gone off in the complete opposite direction in the past few years. He calls his stuff 'Athletic Motion Golf' now and one of his main tenets is that the hands and arms should feel like they are doing absolutely nothing.
So I would definitely take him off the list of teachers that adhere to these teachings.
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Yeah, Malaska was Milo’s mentor. And Jim Flick was one of Malaska’s mentors and Flick was an Ernest Jones arms guy. I watch a lot of Milo’s stuff and as with any teacher they have their own stuff they think is important.
I turned pro at Exmoor CC at the age of 16.
I was a fan of Ernest Jones and his philosophy, so that is how I patterned my teaching to some of the richest people in Illinois.
A year and a half later I was introduced to John Jacobs, An amazingly quiet man who taught me how to teach hi Practical Golf or Ball Flight Teaching method which was very close to Jones, so it was easy to adapt.
Over the coming years I was introduced to the Connection Method of Jimmy Ballard. On tour, Hal Sutton was a devotee. I loved the method and the results. There truly is magic in the words if not the images in that book.
Then, as I mentioned, meeting Mr. DeLaTorre at PGA Business school in Florida, he shared the stage with Bill Strausbaugh, nice guy but his teaching method thrilled NOBODY in the morning session and was politely "golf clapped" off the stage. It was Manuel's turn. With a couple of stage props and dry swings, he had EVERYONE'S attention within 10 minutes. He left to a standing ovation albeit only 12 of us in the room.
He mentioned that if anyone would like to get a little one-on-one teachinmg, he would be happy to go out to the range as he "couldn't stand being in this tie any longer". hahaha
Only two of us went with him to the back of the range.
He sat in the cart, sidesaddle while he talked/taught. He was so upset at my grip pressure with the huge basket of balls in his cart he kept tossing "another" as he said.... He got out of the cart and said, TOO TIGHT, I asked how he knew. He laughed and said, well, if that grip were made of wet clay, what would it look like after I swung it one time? and literally the a golf ball at my knuckles... Perfect hit. It took three more knuckle shots for me to grip it lighter.
I hit two, brutal pull hooks as I came over the top and again, he got out of his cart, stood about 15 feet in front of me, DIRECTLY in line with my 150 yard target flag and said.... "Mike, if you hit me, my dinner plans will be ruined, and I really like this place. " - "Staring right at me from 15 feet he said, hit this ball ANYWHERE to the right, NOWHERE to the left and again, DON'T HIT ME!, and you better take enough of a swing to hit the 150 target you have been aiming at"
So nervous, I tried adjusting my aim to hi oh so near left shoulder.
He said... "NO, do it right"
I asked what he wanted me to do and he said, just don't hit me and continued to stare at me front 15 feet.
No other instructions were given to me.
It was at that moment that ALL of that Ernest Jones book & years of being a devotee to John Jacobs Ball Flight Swing came back to me as if in a movie scene.
Three perfect 6 irons missing him by 5 or 6 feet and softly drawing back to the target.
We were both really happy, but he was probably happy because he was still standing. hahaha
That summer I went to work teaching all day clinics at the John Jacobs Golf Schools in Camelback Arizona.
I was almost 19, and sitting in the orientation conference room in Arizona, we all were to chose our stations for the day. The students, all wealthy, would learn a station for an hour and then drive to their next station.
John Jacobs would ask us to raise our hands when we heard a station that we wanted for the week.
Woods, irons, pitching, chipping, sand shots and putting.
Nobody raised their hands for the sand and since I wasn't taken on the earlier rounds, I raised my hand again on this one.
I was the only one to do so.
All the older pros snickered and smiled... I heard from the side... "Go get em' kid". I didn't know what he meant.
Well, it turns out that I failed to realize that after 8 hours of standing in the sand, the bottoms of everything on my face were sunburned to Hell. Bottom of my chin, upper lip, underside of my nose, just under my eyebrows - all bright red.
I was using the water glass all night at dinner to try and relieve the pain.
Teacher after teacher coming by to see how I did. Funny now, but also simply fun.
Sorry for the length of this post.
Mike
Thanks for Sharing Mike! I love stuff like that.
SMT
Love storytellers. Good one. Thanks for sharing.
Very Cool Mike..... when is the book coming out ? 
braveheart Thanks
a month later
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Subsonic Scott, Can you speak a little about the club face in the MDLT swing? Specifically rotation or rather lack thereof? Thanks.
Basically, the issue for the majority of all golfers is targeting and keeping the target in mind and more finite rather than aimlessly aiming down the middle of the fairway. Club face goes to the target and finishes at the target.
Basic MDLT other than specialty shots is club face to target. If you swing the club head to the target natural club face rotation happens automatically.
What Manuel taught me is if you want to hit a fade you target and set up to start line of ball open club face a very small amount 1 deg/2 deg. neutral grip set club face to where you want the ball to finish but set up and alignment are to where you want the ball to start. The same for draw but vicea versa. This holds true for older traditional equipment persimmon/blades. Where it can controvert is draw bias drivers, large offset irons. Where the club face is targeted is where the ball starts. Most golfers don't really pay attention to the finite need more club face awareness this is where you need to be to shape shots and play to the target. Not so many get weight on front side and finish to the target (ie. those that have to much weight on back foot and don't finish to target-belt buckle at finishing position).
I've referenced this video in the past but always a good reference. This is good MDLT technique. Hands back, upper arms through!
Subsonic So the only club face rotation that occurs in the MDLT swing is what is minimal/necessary. Correct?
With a neutral grip you don't manipulate the face it naturally goes to the target. There also isn't a forward press or shaft lean ala modern instruction. It's more the weight moving forward to the front side. Where club goes face goes. What's good about MDLT is no thinking kinda like Venetos in a different way. Where golfers get in trouble is manipulation of body and over thinking IMO. This kinda technique....this body part needs to be there and the club needs to be here etc etc. I believe most would do better adopting a swing that has less or no thinking. Less rigidity and tension. Just think about the target and let the club go to target. It can be that simple and your swing will "feel" better and even on video look better....performance will gain and all of a sudden I can hit a fade or a draw at will. You'll become a multi-dimensional golfer.
Subsonic I think opening and closing the clubface and intentionally rolling the wrists is a recipe for inconsistency.
I was taught to play that way, too, but I rejected it a couple of years ago and have rebuilt my swing based on the opposite approach. It took a while but it is paying dividends now.
'Neutral grip' can be quite a bit different depending on the natural position of your hand when the arms are just hanging at your sides. What most people consider a 'neutral grip' is actually weak in comparison with the position their hands naturally want to assume. This causes the golfer to to have to intentionally roll the face through impact, which is highly timing dependent. Not recommended.
7 days later
Went to the range today and hit a large bucket while practicing MDLT principles. I really like it. Seems so much more consistent. Really enjoying it.
a month later
MDLT swing is coming along nicely. Wished I would have tried/discovered this swing years ago.
I am using the swing for irons and wedges and really like it. I need to make more of an effort with my driver, but I am just so engrained into my current driver routine.
Do those of you that use the MDLT swing use it for all of your clubs?
Subsonic Do those of you that use the MDLT swing use it for all of your clubs?
Yes. Basically, I look at getting your weight moving and don't worry about where my hands/arms/body is at this point or at that point. I focus in front of the ball and get my weight forward. Forward insures divot in front of ball belt buckle facing target. It's such a low wear and tear on the body that I have never met a MDLT swinger that has had golf swing injuries. There is no resistance in the swing. It's all target oriented.
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I think most senior golfers use a body reacts to the arms swing. Whether they know it or not. Simply because of being stiff from aging. Lol
Another Ernest Jones guy was Henry Cotton. Who was big focusing on the hands. He liked to have his students hit a tire to get the feel of the left hand acting as a fulcrum for the right hand. An impact bag would work as well.
Cotton believed golf was 85% hands / arms and 15% body. He believed the golf swing was more of a hitting action. I agree. The hardest part of golf is to educate your hands. It's the only thing touching the club.
Sneakylong The idea was that the arms swing the club and the body reacts to the swinging of the club. More feel than mechanics.
This is how all other throwing sports are played
No, baseball is a prime example that this is not true.
The baseball hitting examples pictured above are exactly why golfers who are on their back foot like baseball players hit fat shots and can't swing/move their weight on to their front side. Golf IMO is a front foot oriented swing. Baseball is not.
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Couldn’t disagree more. Every throwing or hitting sport is done with the body supporting the throwing or hitting motion. That motion is done with the hands and arms.
Speed and leverage is done by the hands and arms. Your hands and arms can move much faster than any other part of the body.
I’ll leave you with this. Hank Aaron was the greatest home run hitter in baseball. It was said that getting a fastball by Hank Aaron was like trying to get a morning sunrise by a rooster. Lol
Hank Aaron could always look for the curve ball first, but still hit the fastball because he had such quick wrists.
It’s called hand eye coordination. Not body eye coordination.
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Exactly. You can’t have the arc of your swing move forward if you hang back on your back foot. The golf swing is not a singular pendulum swing.
It’s a double pendulum swing. Too many of us swing on a singular pendulum, thus struggle with a forward swing bottom. Resulting in a random low point with fats and thins.
This is what makes golf so hard for most people. You’re trying to hit a ball on the ground with a crooked stick. Oh, and you’re supposed to hit the ball before the ground, but the ball is sitting on the ground. 
And unlike baseball you have to square the club face as well. 
Sneakylong Exactly. You can’t have the arc of your swing move forward if you hang back on your back foot. The golf swing is not a singular pendulum swing.
It’s a double pendulum swing. Too many of us swing on a singular pendulum, thus struggle with a forward swing bottom. Resulting in a random low point with fats and thins.
This is what makes golf so hard for most people. You’re trying to hit a ball on the ground with a crooked stick. Oh, and you’re supposed to hit the ball before the ground, but the ball is sitting on the ground.
And unlike baseball you have to square the club face as well.
Good to hear you get it SL!
Sneakylong Dan Martin says the exact opposite. So does the Zen golf guy.
Whatever thought works for you is fine. I don't think there is one idea that is universal and works for everybody.
The proof is in the pudding.
rsvman2 This thread is about MDLT swing so hence folks that disagree with Manuel's teaching are free to post but know that many of us that have posted in this thread either were taught by Manuel or believe in his teachings. So, many of us won't agree with the non-believers.
rsvman2 I don't think there is one idea that is universal and works for everybody.
I agree.