Brian Gay paid another visit to The Swamp this past Monday and Tuesday on his way this week to the PGA TOUR's $5.5 million
Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Massachusetts.
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Monday night involved some fun mirror and balance training down in my 'War Room.' Never one to take the easy way, Brian promptly proceeded to turn the Bosu Ball upside down. "Makes it harder," said he, as he jumped into place with both feet.
Yoda's Warning: Do
not try that little move at home!
In the 4th photo, look in the mirror, and check out that On Plane Right Forearm at Impact Fix. That's what Brian is doing. [Reference TGM 9-2-2 #2 below...any questions?]
The next morning we headed to Swamp Central -- the Marietta Golf Center -- where we worked on a number of things, but wound up concentrating on three: Ball Location, the Turned Shoulder Plane, and Maximum Trigger Delay of the #3 Accumulator. In Photos #6-7, take a look at his Address with the Driver. The Ball is located just inside the Left Shoulder (and hence, just prior to Low Point). His Right Forearm is perfectly On Plane -- reference TGM 9-2-1 #2 below...again, any questions? -- and the Ball position is geometrically correct in relation to the Clubface: slightly 'toward the toe' of the
soled Club (2-J-1) and 'on center' for Impact. Prior to his TGM training, Brian's Right Elbow was much straighter, and his Right Forearm pointed inside the Plane Line. In Photo #8, take a look at his Right Arm Extension and his Flat Left Wrist. In short, a perfect display of the
Flying Wedges into the Finish. And in #9 -- also taken in 'real time' and not posed -- note how perfectly the Clubshaft is parallel to the Plane Line when it is parallel to the ground (1-L-#6).
Photos #10-11 show Brian and 'ol Yoda in a working mode. We were oblivious to all things extraneous. As in that great
Paul Newman 'pool shark' movie,
The Hustler, we were in our own world...the world of the artist: "The hand, the stick and the eye."
In Photos #12-13, we did some work in
The Explanar teaching device. Most of our Plane work had already been done, but when Brian mentioned that he had seen a Plane Board device set up at last week's Reno-Tahoe Open and that he had not been able to get over to it, I hauled out the Explanar.
Until then, it had been simply my own gentle assist to lift his Hands a bit that helped him up 'just a smidgeon' to a true Turned Shoulder Plane. We used video to reinforce the difference between 'Feel' and 'Real.' And then, suddenly, this...
"No way I'm that high," he said.
"Not yet," said I. "But you've been on your way there for the past six months, and with your new 'quiet Shoulders' and 'Right Forearm Pick-Up'" -- which he is practicing in Photo #5 -- "it won't be long now!"
Since I've known him, Brian has always had great
Impact and
Follow-Through Extension alignments. And now, when I look at his
Address Position and the alignments it embodies, and then the new and improved
Top we are working toward -- as evidenced in these last three photos...Hands and Right Shoulder perfectly aligned -- I find myself wondering before his Start Up...
"How can this guy miss a shot?"
It is the same feeling I got as a teenager standing behind
Hogan.
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