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pigaman, thanks for the clarification. Carry on.
Non-Traditional Golf Swing Discussion
Sneakylong Golfbuzz goes global!!!
Took the stitches out of my thumb and it feels good so I should be able to play tomorrow. The plan is to play 6 holes Channel Lock, 6 holes Sparks, and 6 holes Square to Square or Passive Golf. Oh, and putt side saddle. That should cover the alternate swing idea for now.
Good luck tomorrow -- hope it goes well and your thumb holds up
Mr. M hits 322 yard drive under the tutelage of Bill Phillips, "noodle arms Mat, noodle arms"
So I got out today. Played the whites 6097 yards 70/128. Played the first 6 holes with the Sam Goulden version of Square to Square. Shot 29 with 2-5 fw's and hit 2-6 greens. Took three holes to get it going but this swing shows good potential for me.
Next six holes was Brian Sparks swing. Shot 30 with 2-5 fw's and only 1 GIR.
Finally final 6 holes were Jimmy Ballard. Shot 26 with 3-5 fw's and 2 GIRs.
If I had a tournament to play tomorrow I'd go with Ballard, followed by Square to Square. Sparks would need some work. Now as for Channel Lock, that's a dead end for me. Hit some balls trying CL before I started and still the same for me, just way right and weak. Not even playable, that's why I didn't play 6 holes with it as I intended. I just saw nothing to make me think it could work for me.
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garyt1957 Interesting Gary. Of the 3, I'd say the Ballard connection swing method is more like traditional. From my small sampling of CL it would take some time to purge yourself of traditional swing thought. For many I doubt they would be willing to put themselves into doing that much work. I'm not sure score has a lot to do with trying a different way of playing golf. if, I experienced some great ball striking using any type of swing I would say it was worth working on. That might only be a half dozen full shots on a 9.
One factor I did notice on some 2016 YT videos on JH's (1atomicgolf) channel on chipping/pitching is more facing the hole which is aligned with face on putting in fact the two are very much akin. Though it looks like JH and MMI have moved on from that type of chipping/pitching. I thought that was interesting.
scotts33 Yea I just threw score out there but it's relatively meaningless. I didn't go back to see which 6 holes I had the least putts, so the difference could be all putting. I rated them more on ball striking and for me Ballard was the best followed by Sq to Sq. Kinda unfair as I've gone to ballard on and off for years and even had a lesson on the Ballard swing. Sqto Sq was first time I've ever tried it on the course. It's an easily repeatable swing and could be something I work on over the winter.
As to face on chipping, I didn't do that but when off the green just on the fringe I did try putting straddling the line ala Snead and that's something I'm likely to use going forward.
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Have had some excellent ball striking lately. The only thing I've done differently is to externally rotate my right arm at address. To externally rotate your right arm all you need to do is rotate your right arm clockwise so your elbow pit is facing away from you (giving blood position).
The goal is to get the elbow pointed down to the ground more than pointed behind you (waiter tray position) at the top of the swing. I've been doing this for awhile now and recently saw Bill Phillips ironically talking about how to shallow the club. He doesn't mention externally rotating the right arm, but his demonstration shows him getting in the waiters tray position at the top of the swing.
I'm not doing CL, but if anyone is looking to shallow out their swing you could look at externally rotating your right arm. The Pro's do this dynamically in their downswing, but if you can't do that you could set up externally rotated at address in a static position.
There is no guarantee you still won't let the elbow get more behind you, but it may help. It's working for me right now anyway.
Sneakylong Jimmy Ballard...the elbows point to the ground all the way through the swing
6 months later
New here, but I have been using a non-traditional swing since I first read about Moe Norman in the '96 golf digest article they did on him. I've done various single axis methods over the years, and got really good with the driver, but struggled with a lot of inconsistency with my irons and wedges. For a little over a year now I have been learning channel lock, and I finally have some good consistency with my irons, and my overall game actually. Long story short, my average score went from 88 to 82.7 on my phone app. I had quite a few PB's this past season.
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Jtv For a little over a year now I have been learning channel lock, and I finally have some good consistency with my irons, and my overall game actually. Long story short, my average score went from 88 to 82.7 on my phone app. I had quite a few PB's this past season
I follow JH and Bill Phillips on YouTube. I like JH because he is very knowledgeable and thinks out of the box. He does get bored though and wouldn't be surprised if he moves on from Channel Lock eventually. The only reason he might not is his age and may just stick with CL and all his different iterations of CL.
Anyway, glad CL is working for you. I find such an extreme inside takeaway doesn't work for me. I still watch their videos and you can still pick up nuggets from them and use them in a conventual swing.
The scratches on my soles point the wrong direction, yet..........
Sneakylong JH definitely likes to try different things. I do also, so I'm always interested to see what he is doing. I found his channel looking for more Moe instructional stuff. I liked his enthusiasm, and lot of what he was saying clicked for me. When he started with channel lock I was skeptical. I tried it a few times and all I could do was hit the ball way right. Not being one to give up easily, I kept trying it from time until something clicked. It was instantly better for me with wedges and short irons, but longer ones I struggled with. I quit a few times, but I couldn't stay away because when I did hit a good shot with the longer clubs the ball flight was better than I have ever seen. I'm still learning, and I still hit a few bad shots, but they are much fewer, and way less destructive. I also haven't quite got the driver down yet. It's a work in progress, but worthwhile I think . I also find it much easier to self diagnose when things are not going so well. All in all, I can say that channel lock has delivered on the consistency I had hoped to get with a Moe-like swing. I think a lot of that comes from the back ball position, and no need to shift my weight.