No longer know who I am or where I\'m going

[Michael]

I’m 9 days in. Played 18 and hit the ball all over the place. My usual miss off the tee is a pull or pull hook, so I always aim to the right of the fairway. However, I was now aiming right and hitting huge slice which I hardly ever did prior to Tathata. Also topped a few and cuffed a few. don’t know if I should continue with Tathata. Anyone else have a bad experience early into the program??

[Tathata Staff]

Hi Michael!

Thank you for reaching out and sharing your experience 9 days in. The training is designed to simply just be “training.” You will get to learn some really simple movements. You will also get to learn and see how the greatest players and athletes move!

When it comes to playing however if you try to go out and do everything you are learning all at once, what will end up happening is you will have to many swing thoughts. Let the training build into your body and build into your golf swing naturally. The more you do the movements the more they will become part of your golf swing. Leave the training in your living room. Let the movements build the same way we would give our body patience if we were going to train and build muscle in the gym or in other sports!

Golfers have been mis-led in many ways to believe that a new club or a new tip is going to be a magic pill and solve all of our problems. We are introducing the concept of training into golf for the first time so let the training be yours. Do everything you would naturally do on the course in terms of your golf swing knowing that over the course of the program your movements will evolve and grow.

Also please feel free to see the additional training options available on the website where you can send in your swing to receive customized personal feedback and routines, along with online follow ups, and live training.

We are here to support you along the way!

[Les]

I also experienced a pull-back in quality after Chapter 2. Once I got through Chapter 4 things starting to come back together nicely.

Going from a pull or hook to a slice during the Hand and Arms chapter wouldn’t surprise me. This is the chapter where we learn to keep the arms connected to the body and swing with our core. The hands need to develop more strength to work with this movement. Chapter 3 pressures and Chapter 4 strength and speed help to build on this new movement.

Good luck and I think you will be rewarded for sticking with the program.

[Larry]

I’m sure most people experience a dip in their game during the first weeks of training; I sure did. The things that help me cross the Tathata chasm are: 1. Timeframe – it’s important to move beyond thinking of improvement after a certain number of days or even weeks but rather being an endless path of improvement that spans golf seasons and beyond. Don’t expect improvement will happen in a certain timeframe, just let it happen however long it takes. It will take some time but it will happen. 2. Mental clearing – the goal is to remove all swing thoughts when playing and just as an important on the range. Don’t think of the Tathata movements and don’t think of your old swing keys/positions. This was key for me. Just get over the ball and swing and accept the outcome. At first it was 100% of my old swing, then over time, as I practiced the movements over and over, the new movements started to show up in my swing. It’s hard not to have a swing thought so what I did was to limit myself to only one and try to make that thought something generic like ‘feel athletic’ or ‘swing to the finish.” On those mentally weak days we all get I allowed myself to just think of movement thought and it is/was always surf-to-level. 3. Movements – need to do the movements over and over multiple times per week. It doesn’t take long (30 to 45 mins) — the more you do it the faster it shows up in your swing and the more you want to do it — it’s a great virtuous cycle. Note, the more and more I practice the movements at my house, the less I need (and want) to go to the range. Setup a mini-routine of the core movements and plan/commit to practicing them over and over for the rest of this golf season and beyond.

I hope this overly long post helps!

[David]

Michael – Oh, the memories! It wasn’t long ago that I was in your shoes searching the forums for answers because I, too, was lost, feeling overwhelmed, and experiencing frustration. As corny as it sounds, I smile each time I read one of these post because I know that you CAN break through if you are open to pushing through this rough spot and continue to seek out the answers once and for all.

Some who come to Tathata experience immediate improvement and sometimes it is even dramatic. Others, like me, struggle. A couple of possibilities are:

1) In certain instances the actual movements differ materially from what they think they are doing. A good starting point to resolve this is to video your swing down the line and face on so that you can examine your swing to see if it is precisely as described in the program. This process helps tremendously. I have included information below about how to film your swing properly, which is essential for accurate diagnosis.

2) Based on my observations at driving ranges and golf courses around the county, I suspect that a good number of folks who are playing fairly well but wish to take their game to the next level do not have an appreciation for the current state of affairs with respect to their swing. Through hard work, determination, grit, and years of adaptation, they have cobbled together a number of swing compensations that deliver a decent game of golf. However, mess with one of these compensations and the wall comes crumbling down.

In these cases, understanding the starting point is helpful to developing the patience necessary to build a world-class golf swing. Filming the swing and viewing it is slow motion will be an essential component to identifying and correcting deficiencies. The advantage of Tathata is that golf becomes fun and effortless once the body and mind are trained.

In closing, feel free to post a video on the form if you want public feedback. Alternatively, you can submit a swing to Team Tathata for expert advice.
Good luck!! Keep us posted on your progress.

Camera Placement for Filming Online Golf Lessons

Camera placement should be on a tripod or some other stationary mount to avoid shaking. Accurate video analysis of golf swings really needs a steady camera especially for the graphics and line-drawing features of the video software. In addition, camera angles and distance from the subject are very important. The camera height ideally will be about waist-high. For a face view shot, the camera should be perpendicular to the player’s belt buckle – basically dead center of the golfer’s body. Down-the-line shots need a camera mount pointed on a line inline with the players hands at setup or roughly half way between the player and the golf ball. If the camera is mounted inline with the players feet, this is acceptable, but inline with the golf ball does not work well for accurate assessment of swing plane.

An additional detail to be aware of with camera placement is the distance from the subject. Most often we see video from clients that is shot from too great a distance or with a wide angle lens and the detail we would like is missing. This is especially true for video shot with mobile phones. Test your shot beforehand to make sure you have the tightest view possible which still gets the entire arc of the golf club in the shot. Mobile phones should be turned on their side in a horizontal landscape format. Historically for standard camcorders, we have found this distance to be about 21 feet. But wide angle lenses which are typical on smart phones and some of the newer pocket cameras require shooting the video at closer distances. Be sure to test your system before sending us video of a golfer who looks like an ant in the distance.

Source: http://www.hermanwilliamsgolf.com/how-to-film-golf-swing-video-online-golf-lessons/

[Darryl]

No longer know who I am or where I\’m going. LOL.

I just finished day 5 and my swing is much more consistent; thanks in large part to the first 11 movements. It all came together quickly when I was at the driving range and could see my reflection in a window. I saw that I wasn’t correctly doing the body movements (too upright in backswing, coming over the top on the downswing and not holding my spine angle). I adjusted my swing to mimic the movements and I started hitting most of my shots with a slight draw. So, try using a mirror and see if you’re making the correct movements.

[Dan]

I wish he would stop doing the Macarena all through the lesson. It’s really distracting, and interfering with me building my authentic greatness.

[Peter]

Hi Michael

I am 8 days in and experienced similar confusion and problem shots, especially topped shots and slices, and especially during the fist few days. It is clearer to me now that on those miss hits I am not executing the moves correctly. Three things have helped in the last few days:

– Some range time, starting with wedges and moving up
– Leaving my driver in the bag until I get more experienced with the moves
– This is subtle, but I think it has really helped. I stopped trying to execute the moves. I have been doing the routines, so I am beginning to absorb the moves. So, instead of making it my objective to execute the correct sequence of moves on a swing, I make it my objective to be fully aware as I swing and be able to feel whether the swing I just completed was consistent with the moves.

Sounds like double-talk, I know. But it really works. I quickly realized that my worst swings did not come close to the snap to level or the various aspects of thrust to finish. I was reverting the hips leading. Just pausing to realize this has made a big difference. I am still regressing, but less often. And my head is not filled with swing thoughts. Because even Tathata swing thoughts seems like a bad idea.