Martin Ayers Group Forum: A group for everyone to discuss my teaching methods. I have based what I teach on many lessons learned both through mentors of mine and by looking at some of the greats of the game. Particularly going back into previous eras, where I believe much of what was learned has been forgotten. There has been many advancements made in Golf, but I believe for every one of those there has been a corresponding piece of wisdom lost.
I'm always open to new ideas, so if you have one, feel free to share it in the group forum, you'll find all kinds of views are welcome.
Marty, I have always wanted to know, how does Ben Hogan have that limited follow through? even with the Driver. Yourself, Elk is the same. The video of Abe Mitchell I have seen, suggests he barely has a follow through yet I see a comment he was not a short hitter. The best and longest ball striker I have ever seen in my life (yet remained a nobody) had virtually no follow through at all, perhaps even less than Abe.
I have always belted myself in the back of the head with the shaft, or even swung right through and pointed the shaft at the target. As an impressionable young golfer in the early 80;s I was a big fan of Jerry Pates reverse C also Ballesteros and Norman who all had an extended follow through. This is probably why my back is stuffed, hence a Hogan-esqe follow through would ease that issue.
However no matter how hard I would try to have that 'short' finish, I could not make it happen, and I could not get my head around why I cant do it. So how can I do that?
Now during the week i had my first session hitting balls since I had got the 'move' figured out in my brain, and I think I am on the right track. Well one of the more noticable aspects of the results was that I no longer belted myself in the back of the head, I had that nice finish just like Hogan, Elk, Marty, but it is not something I tried to do, it just happened and it felt good.
So I think I have answered my question, it is not a conscious or contrived finish, but it is just the consequences of how the follow through naturally finishes.
Is your experience, and that of Elk, Abe and Hogan, the same?
The key to that finish is really spending all you have into the ball....if you're whacking yourself in the back with the shaft....you should have put that energy into the ball/ground
Sounds like you have it going now....let me know if you relapse.
unfortunately you cant spend all you have into the ball, thats impossible. if that did ever happen you would stop right at impact and that would be more or less an elastic collision so good luck with that. regarding Mr Hogan if you watch any limited footage available of him from the 40s there is no limit to his follow thru and that was the time when he actually participated in and won long drive contests.
The body center of gravity is in line with the axis of rotation.
That sounds good in a text book Drew...now how do we apply that to a ball?
@Anton....you can endeavor to spend all your energy through the ball into the ground....what's left after that should be like exhaust....all I'm saying is don't keep firing all the cylinders long after the ball is gone....that's wasted energy.
The body center of gravity is in line with the axis of rotation.
That sounds good in a text book Drew...now how do we apply that to a ball?
Sounds textbook but in fact, many of the great ballstrikers that are able to "free wheel" through impact do this, and each in their own way to achieve both power AND balance.
Since body CoG is (somewhere in your pevic region) and your axis of rotation is (somewhere in your neck region) you need to line them up. It helps to have a good core (abs, obliques, etc.) connecting the two.
Center of gravity in line with axis of rotation = balance. When you are in balance, you can rotate fast.
Applying this to the ball, some have called this getting into or onto their pivot early. When you do that, with maintaing proper extension toward the ball you can come down and through and back up and around unrestricted, there's no goat hump, no reverse C finish.
You can add the vertical drop like Moe and Nelson, or not.
Some of many examples:
What throws things OFF balance, is lateral weight shifting. When you move lower body weight laterally to the edges of your base of support , you have to canteliever in the opposite direction to stay in balance. Reverse C is the canteliver of upper body weight moving away from the target as lower body weight moves toward the target. Lots of strain on the body that way.
i know what you are saying Martin, i just think there is very little one can do about it past certain speed. its basically becomes something like the more speed you generate the more energy is wasted and the harder that recoil becomes. the arc in relation to body might have something to do with how that recoil is absorbed and then how it looks but it has to go somewhere. its like that hammer throw you talk about, imagine what would happen if a golf ball was in its path and the guy would hold on to that handle. maybe not the case of original poster here, certainly not my case but worth a mention.
I have found your 'slap the right hand' drill very helpful. Holding extended left arm toward the target, then let the right hand go thru the entire swing motion until it slaps the right hand lets me know my thru swing is COMPLET/FULL..no more to give.
When I try this drill with my old right side action, I come up 6 to 12 inches short of slapping my extended left hand....no extension thru the ball?.
Using the 'move' with the club, by the time my hands are in that slap position I am spent and just hold on to the momentum of the 'mass' to the finish. It pulls me up.. never had that ...I think that is what 'Elk' said in the video.
