Day 14 (1st round of golf)

[Jeff Emory]

Little background 1st. I’m a registered 8, but usually play to a 4 (I know, I’m one of those guys;). I’ve been as low as a +2, played in a couple of NGA events about 10 years ago, so I consider myself a decent golfer. I have always played with a 3-4* over the top swing. Now I know why. My posture and my inability to load into my glutes during the takeaway would never allow me to hit the “slot” on the down swing w/o some major manipulation during my swing. So much for the intro. Now to the program.

So I started on Jan. 1st 2016, and as of February, 12th, I have gone through the 1st 14 days of Tathata Golf, and just played my 1st round of golf. All I can say is “WOW”. I don’t have it on video, but I can tell I’m in the “slot” with no manipulation of the hands and arms. And by “surfing to the ball” as I like to call it, well, I can just tell I’m in the right position. Everything just flows better. I did NOT score well at all (82), but I went from hitting a big fade and duck hooks with my driver, to hitting a consistent hook, which I was kind of expecting. My irons, I normally hit fades and pulls, consistently drew or hooked. When I had my ball position correct, I have gone from taking big divots, to almost picking the ball off of the turf, which is something I have been trying to do for years. I know I’ve got a long way to go, but I honestly feel like I can get back to scratch golf with this new approach to the golf swing.

I’m trying my best not to jump ahead to the shape and trajectory series, but with warm weather approaching, it might be hard not to take a peek:)

[Tathata Staff]

Jeff, that’s awesome. Thank you for sharing. More will be revealed as you train further, but look forward to the pressure, speed and strength sections in the program. This is where you may see the most improvement.

Thanks Jeff, enjoy.

[Jeff Emory]

Day 22, (2nd Round of Golf)

[Jeff Emory]

Day 21, (2nd Round of Golf)

Just started the Pressure chapter, so not much feedback yet about this chapter. I will say that my mind is having trouble NOT equating “pressure” to “tension”. I’ve always been a “tempo” player, and I have derived most of my speed from “releasing from the top” and hoping the timing is correct at the ball. I will say that I generated a fair amount of speed going that route. At my peak, I was carrying the ball a little over 300 yds on a solid swing. At the end of last year, I was carrying it about 275 avg. (when not duck hooking), and on a good one, about 290.

Anyway, 2nd round of golf was 2 shots better (80) than 1st round, but still hitting big hooks. Not quack quack’s, but big swooping hooks, with everything but my wedges. I noticed that I have lost about 20 yards on my driver as well. Most were in the 255 to 265 yd range (gps with little roll because of rain).

Not sure if you have any tips about lessening the hooks, or gaining back the yardage, but I’m assuming that will be addressed going forward. Just hope I have enough money left to get my lost bets back in the summer;)

[Tathata Staff]

Great, thank you for your feedback Jeff. You will come to find that “releasing from the top” or “throwing the clubhead at the ball” in Jack Nicklaus’ or Greg Norman’s words is the beauty behind creating world class compression like a Jack Nicklaus or a Greg Norman. There is a difference between “releasing from the top” with tempo and timing and “releasing from the top” with strength leverage and pressure. You will come to find that the pressure section really brings things together.

Please feel reach back out after the pressure section to share your thoughts and feedback. Thank you.

[Jeff Emory]

Day 30 (3rd and 4th rounds),

Well after the pressure routines, most of the big hooks are gone:) Now just mainly what feels like trap draws and straight balls 🙂 Nothing like the feeling when you start the ball a little right, and not having to lean to steer the ball to the left. It just goes that way. I will say this, my driver is WAAAAYYY off. My irons have maybe lost 2-10 yards, but my driver has lost 30 yards of carry. We have a creek that runs about 270 off the tee that I normally fly by 20 yards. Now I’m short of it!! I read another post talking about making sure not to get to a “9” pressure until after impact, which makes a lot of sense, but I’m wondering if my loss of distance is because I’m not anywhere near as “loose” at the top anymore. This idea of pressure vs tension is still stuck in my brain. I will say that my wedges (100 and in) have a lot tighter groupings on the greens because of the pressure routines.

I need help with my distance!!!!!

[Tathata Staff]

Jeff,

Thanks for reaching out and sorry to hear about your loss of distance. The good news is on day 31 you are moving right into the speed and strength portion of the program. Now that your full swing is built and pressurized we get to add the speed back into your motion.

Before diving into the effects that pressure might be having on your distance, I’ll touch on one thing we do notice as students move through the first couple chapters of learning. As students begin building their movements there is a care and precision to get the movements exactly right that can tend to slow down the speed in their swings. It sounds like you have been able to change your movement patterns a bit and wouldn’t be surprised if you simply are swinging more out of care for precise and proper movement rather than the feeling of almost reckless speed that is needed to hit the ball the distance that you are talking about.

I look forward to you moving into chapter 4 and the speed and strength portion of the program. As you train and add speed to your movements, I would encourage you to almost feel a reckless amount of speed at times while you are training through the Speed & Strength Routine. As you do this and add maximum speed to the movements, start noticing where your movements or motions tend to fall apart. You will notice a tendency to revert back to some of your prior movement patterns as you add speed to your movements. Take note of this and train diligently to add maximum speed to your movements while still performing them properly.

As it relates to the pressure you feel at the top of your swing and in transition, I would encourage you to see what it might feel like to over-exaggerate the increasing of pressure through impact, making sure they is not an overly high amount of pressure being built up before this moment. The pressure in transition is intended to make sure that the arms start down as the body starts down and that this happens together. A couple of other things that support this.

If the rib cage is used properly in the backswing and turned fully to the top of the backswing, you will notice that this loads the hands and arms much more in front of the chest and rib cage simply because the rib cage has turned further back and more behind the hands and arms if this makes sense. From there, it is important that the body, hands and arms start down together. We slightly pressurize this moment in the swing to make sure that the hands and arms don’t get left behind the body as it starts into the downswing.

One thing to help you with this as you practice, swing to the top of the backswing in a position where you are fully loaded (club shaft parallel with the ground and target line, arms squeezing together and pushing away, wrists fully loaded, rib cage fully turned while also being pushed back in the glutes and down in the legs), from here make sure that as the front knee begins the motion forward that the hands and arms want to fire down in front of you the minute that happens. There is a connection that sends the hands and arms flying down in the downswing the minute any motion is started forward in the front knee. The feeling that the hands and arms are moving fastest on the downswing than any other part of the body can be helpful as they have the furthest to go. Hand and arm speed with the support of the body properly positioned can dramatically help to add back your distance.

This increase in hand and arm speed may be the missing link getting you back to the distance you are accustomed to and then some. Feel free to let us know your thoughts as you train through Chapter 4 and how these suggestions have affected your speed. Again, have fun through chapter 4 and make it feel reckless. We are trying to add more speed to your swing than ever with the help and support of pressure and proper body and hand and arm movements. You are ready to do this safely, have fun.

[Jeff Emory]

Thanks for the tips. Are you saying that I should fire my hands and arms to the ball (with the body)? Are you saying that I do not “push out” on the downswing like I do on the backswing? So, instead of pushing out on the circle (gaining width) like in the backswing, I should go for more of a beeline for the ball without collapsing the back elbow?

[Tathata Staff]

Jeff,

Adding speed to the hands and arms in the downswing can still be done while increasing width as you come down as well. When the hands and arms “go” or get fired, if they have been setup correctly on the backswing they should fire with speed and width. It is still the feeling like the hands and arms are pushing away from the target at the start of the downswing, but be sure this is not careful but done fairly recklessly with speed. Again, if it is setup fairly well going back, this should almost be a reaction in transition when you add speed. We hope this helps, let us know if we can help with any additional clarity or other questions.

[Jeff Emory]

thanks for the feedback. One more question. Im on day 35 now. Day 34 and 35 are not the speed rountine. I have been using speed and recklessness in these routines (pressure and movements). Just checking to make sure that it is ok to do this.