18 Comments

1. 

   Jer

   Oct 13, 2017 at 2:55 pm

   I shall use this technique when I next find myself in front of the lake to get rid of the clubs that failed me

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2. 

   OB

   Oct 12, 2017 at 9:59 pm

   Nice try, Shawn, but biomechanically wrong for demonstrating the Kinetic Chain.
   Throwing is not whipsnapping the release to whipsnap the clubhead at the distal end of the chain.
   The only thing throwing demonstrates is the tangential path of the swing with the club rotating around it’s Center of Mass…. not ‘release’.

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   • 

     MB

     Oct 13, 2017 at 2:42 am

     Exactly.

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     • 

       Shawn Clement

       Oct 13, 2017 at 11:03 am

       Yeah!

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   • 

     Andrew Cooper

     Oct 13, 2017 at 7:51 am

     I think you’re over thinking this and getting to hung up on details. The idea is to tap into a movement that you’d do instinctively and athletically (reacting to a target and a task) and bring that feeling into your golf swing. It’s about reacting, not thinking.

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     • 

       Shawn Clement

       Oct 13, 2017 at 11:04 am

       Thank you for that Andrew! Nice comment!
       Shawn

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     • 

       OB

       Oct 13, 2017 at 3:45 pm

       But “reacting instinctively” for a “feeling” is chaotic because the brain works on a “best guess” basis.
       To make the movement automatic and accurate you must first practice consciously and then over time the brain will “grow into” the golf swing movements. You just can’t skip over conscious practice and hope that your instinctive feelings will give you the desired results. You gotta practice for at least 90 days before your brainlet grows enough neurons in your Motor Cortex to become unconsciously automatic at anything you do at high speed. That’s proven biomechanical science… unless you believe in “golf tips” and the power of your massive intelligence and athleticism…. even then ….

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       • 

         Andrew Cooper

         Oct 14, 2017 at 8:07 pm

         OB, you should have more faith in your innate abilities. Trying to consciously learn, or teach someone, the kinematics of the golf swing is doomed to failure. From the top of the backswing to impact is a fraction of a second, accelerating the club head from 0 mph to 100+mph speed- the idea that you could consciously sequence all the moving body parts in that motion is crazy. Yes there is a kinetic sequence to it, but you’re talking about tiny fractions of seconds between one body part firing and slowing down, before the next body part fires and slows down and so forth-it’s simply impossible to consciously sequence it. You can study it, but you can’t consciously perform it. It’s got to be a reaction. And that’s where the beauty of the human body comes in-it can actually do a really good job of athletically sequencing itself, as long as it has a clear task in mind and doesn’t get distracted.

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         • 

           OB

           Oct 15, 2017 at 1:58 pm

           Andy…. it’s obvious you do not understand Motor Control and Learning. I did not say the entire golfswing must be learned in it’s complete movement. A child learn by attempting the whole motion and cannot learn the parts consciously. An adult who attempts to learn like a child by swinging a golf club and learning by trial and error and error and error is futile.
           An adult must train each separate movement, like training the legs and hips through conditioning. If your legs are uncoordinated and weak your golf swing will be erratic. Give up and try shuffleboard.
           If your core has a bloated belly forget golf. If you suffer from joint arthritis stay away from golf.
           If you are a good golfer and you have isolated your problem to one area, train that area without holding and swinging a golf club. Obsessive swinging is a sure path to failure because you must swing consciously and your brain is grooved for failure. If you think your athletic mind can conquer your flaws by mind over matter, you are deluding.
           If your problem is in your arms, hands and club, that is an alignment problem that may only need an adjustment, but if it’s within the body you must recondition and retrain your large body muscles because they have a muscle memory IQ of ~4. Read a text book on Motor Control & Learning …. and learn.

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           • 

             Andrew Cooper

             Oct 15, 2017 at 6:55 pm

             OB, if you know anything of motor skill learning and skill acquisition then you’ll know that attempting to learn or teach through consciously controlling and focusing on training various component body parts (internal focus) is an ineffective method. The science points to an external focus approach (as Shawn Clement advocates) as being more effective.

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             • 

               OB

               Oct 16, 2017 at 2:19 am

               Please read my comment again because I said adults must first condition their individual body parts consciously and then transition to golf-specific movements. If a body part is deficient then the ‘focused’ golf swing will not overcome that deficiency.
               If you believe you can just grab a golf club and somehow imprint, engram, a golf swing I disagree. If you believe a dynamic fault can be fixed with an external focus approach I disagree. If your leg action is uncoordinated because your legs are clumsy no amount of wishful ‘focusing’ will resolve the problem.
               The problem Shawn and all other teachers face is golfers expect some patching will solve their swing, and Shawn can’t tell the golfer he/she is not fit for golf because he would lose all his student.

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               • 

                 Andrew Cooper

                 Oct 16, 2017 at 7:15 am

                 I think you’re overstating the physical conditioning required to play decent golf. Good golfers come in all shapes and sizes. Even among tour players they’re hardly all Olympians. And, yes it’s not a panacea, but an external focus can definitely help improve a dynamic fault. E.g. Someone blading and chunking chip shots-simply focusing on getting a sense of brushing grass with the sole of the wedge can lead to much better physical technique quickly. The brain understands the task, and positions the body to accomplish it. It then uses trial and feedback to get just the right brush feel through the grass.
               • 

                 LenG

                 Oct 17, 2017 at 2:57 pm

                 So what you’re saying is external focus is the same as ‘mind over matter’ and you don’t have to be physically fit to get good results? Sounds like another golfing scam to sucker the duffers out of $$$$$$.
   • 

     Shawn Clement

     Oct 13, 2017 at 11:02 am

     Dude! Seriously? Maybe 2 students in 1000 would understand what you just said; I deal with normal people that need to understand AT THE MOMENT OF DELIVERY and pay me to be understood!
     Shawn

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     • 

       OB

       Oct 13, 2017 at 3:38 pm

       Point taken, so let me graciously retreat. You are talking to your general audience of golfers and not to golf ‘scientists’, and that’s understandable.
       However, what you are trying to demonstrate is the rapid pronation/supination releases of the left/right hands, wrists and forearms in relation to the downswing positions. Your demonstration is okay, but it’s not “practiceable” with golf clubs because the eccentricity of the clubhead creates a feedback torque into the hands. Holding the club at the head is also ineffective.
       I suppose you could cut off half the clubhead (preferably a wedge with a 36″ shaft) from the toe section to reduce eccentricity torque and weight, and then practice whipping that while consciously feeling what’s happening to your hands in relation to your body. You can even ‘throw’ it to watch it spin around it’s Center of Mass on it’s tangential trajectory path!

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3. 

   Marty Knowles

   Oct 12, 2017 at 12:40 pm

   Would have been nice to credit Fred Shoemaker and his Extraordinary Golf system. He’s been teaching this method since the 90’s.

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   • 

     Shawn Clement

     Oct 13, 2017 at 10:59 am

     Glad you just did Marty!

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   • 

     Terry

     Oct 15, 2017 at 1:34 pm

     Fred Shoemaker didnt invent it either. Been around much longer than that

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