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.