I'm going to admit, all this stuff has been somewhat of a davinci code to unlock. I watched the MPMIG a few times over contorting myself into the positions trying to figure out exactly what was being described or taught. Every time I thought I made some progress on figuring it out I eventually came to realize that the sensations weren't exactly what they should be.
In a continuous search for answers I started browsing all the topics of this forum and watching countless numbers of Martin's vids trying to figure out exactly what he was getting at. It seems that things slowly came in one piece at a time, be in the motion of the hammer toss, the forward intention, etc.
Now I know I have tendency sometimes to 'bounce out of the shot' as talked about in the shovel video and further in the LATT drill video so I decided to practice these drills to really feel myself staying in it and counterbalancing the left swing with the right movement. To me this was a huge step in and of itself but then I saw this tip back video with the cricket bat and it seems all was unlocked!
It was clear that I could never figure out what Martin meant by continuing the twirl and this video and the notion of resting the mallet on your shoulder and rotating your body to let it go was the epiphany for me. It's obvious that in an actual swing the club will never rest down like that and although it feels like im swinging it back like john daly (overswinging) in reality it probably never even passes parrelel. I feel like im trying to cut an apple in half horizontally with the ground with the flattened out blade of the club (almost like i was playing a lob shot) and wham, I've never had the club sling through so fast and remain so in balance.
Granted, all this has been outdoor practice swinging and I have yet to pound through a bucket but I seriously for the first time feel what tour pros must feel. So free to just swing without thought and rip the club through without any real effort.
I don't know if you have further advice Martin, hopefully some day you can work your way up to Canada!
Ok so I went to the range today and started hitting buckets.... having practiced the move I took a couple quick warmup swings, and a couple quick tennis drills and when to hit the first ball. FLUSHED it. Thinking this was a coincidence I loaded up the gun again and FLUSHED another one. For the first time in my life my swing isn't full of thoughts, just the little halfmoon start and let it happen. I must have been hitting 5irons close to 200yards.
Couple questions for Martin:
1) I find the tennis drill really helps me maintain my spine angle and allows me to turn the corner properly in my swing. Now every so often I will lose the shot left in that it will fade off (obviously moreso with longer clubs). I feel that when this starts happening I can repeat the tennis drill and the dispersion will tighten back up. I'm just looking for a bit of an explanation, is 'bouncing out' or not finishing a good downward turn the source of this right miss? Ball starts down target line but then will take a big fade off.
2) I feel like it is almost impossible to miss left with this swing, I was blasting fades out all day. My question comes to how I can draw it if I need to? I tried strengthening my grip (if anything it just kept it even straighter), or closing the face a little and closing my stance but still couldn't get it to draw. Any tips?
that on top of the drill where they are hitting the cricket stick on the first page really gave me the right feel of keeping the club turning like i was going to try and hit the ball with the back of the club (or like i was trying to use tons of bounce).
I'm pretty sure the big fades (or straight pulls with short clubs) are coming from forward movement of my body at times when I get lazy, in that if i kept my head back and made only rotational movement vice lateral, I would rotate around perfectly a la ben hogan and at most hit a little cut. Practicing this turn in a mirror gives me the exact ben hogan type impact position. So when I lose the ball right, or hit a straight pull I'm sure that is my problem (too much lateral movement forward resulting in a bit of an OTT move) - That I can solve simply with practice.
When I get this grooved i'll mostly be nailing straight short or baby fades,
I'm just not sure how I have to learn going about manipulating shape shots. (intentional fades and especially draws)
Martin or others who get this move-
After watching MPMIG video and practicing for a couple days, I am having a hard time understanding the dynamics of the full swing. If I keep containment during backswing I feel like my hips don't want to rotate into a full backswing. Do I break containment just enought to move into a full backswing with the hips? On downswing I also feel stuck because I am keeping containment with body and twisting arms in opposite direction. What needs to give? I can't wrap my mind around opposing forces while at the same time moving through a full swing. In the video it says that body is moving toward target and arms are moving in opposite direction until the arms finally have to release into ball. How can the body flow throw a swing with these two opposing forces? On the video Elk does the downswing in slow motion where he continues to turn hips back to address and at same time twists arms back away from adrees until he says he can't do it anymore and the club releases. What does this feel like in full speed? Do the arms win on the backswing and the hips win on the downswing? Any help on understanding the dynamic of being able to have opposing forces while still going through the full motion of a swing would be greatly appreciated!
martin, have you changed your mind regarding what the hips do on the initial downswing? in the sit down video, you state to take the right hip to your right heel. in the hammer throw video, you state to keep the right hip behind the left hip.
