Ask The Professor Archives Part 8

From Brooks H:

I have bought and read your publications on the golf swing in the past and am currently pouring over your web page with great interest. I intend to sign up for your e-magazine , but have a question for you. How would I go about learning more about custom clubmaking and assembling (especially the optimum scientific approach you discuss)? Any books, etc.?

JK: Purchase Jorgensen's "Physics of Golf." He has the formulas in his book. I also take you through an exact calculation on how to balance a club on my web site.

Bear in mind I have some understanding of science, but am not an engineer. It seems to be totally disregarded by all the conventional entities in golf except you.

JK: It takes several hours to make one club. Every component must be correct within one gram. The top manufacturers are selling clubs at top prices with outdated technology and marketing hype. Why should they change? It is easier to pay Tiger a few million and make you believe the clubs or balls actually has something to do with his winning. For the golfing community, marketing hype is king. It rules! Big advertising dollars and paying pros to use the equipment is the name of the game for large sales. I am not interested in becoming the next big golf company. I am only after the few golfers who become so frustrated with marketing hype that they are willing to look at science and make real improvement.

Your recommendations would be appreciated.

Even knowing the formulas, it took three years of trial and error testing on every level of player to come up with the correct formulas for real golfers. If the grip, shaft, head or shaft weight is off by even a few grams, real golfers will have a problem making the change. The formulas that work are the only thing I keep proprietary.

From Kevin F:

I'm a Natural Golfer, soon to be a former NG golfer. They are caving in and becoming just like everyone else, no wonder you and Scott got out of there. I have a set of G2 Natural Golf irons with stiff shafts and I virtually gave up on my 3 and 4 irons, at times I can't hit the 5 and 6 except for line drives. Would re-shafting to regular flex help get those clubs more airborne? What do you think about the G2 NG irons?

I'm not a hacker, the last 4 rounds I've played two have been under par but my home course is relatively short. I need the longer irons at times and would like you to give a comparison between the SciGolf irons and the G2's. Thanks for your help!

Moe Forever!!

I am not familar with the G2. If it has the patent number 5,903,827 on the hosel, you can ask for your money back due to false marking. The grips do not conform to USGA rules and the shaft is too short and too stiff. There is no way to effectively modify Natural Golf equipment.

From Michael S:

You recently answered a question about the drivers from Next Technology Golf. When I read your response, I had to laugh at your unfounded answer. I happen to know that the club was researched at UCLA for two years before it hit the market. That club has more scientific back up than any product you can think of. If the club is such a scam, then how come so many tour pros want to use it? I also wonder if you can admit when your wrong, because if not, then you are the scam.

They claim that a small magnetic field can relieve stress and strain from bent metal. I will write an apology if you can show me a scientifically published article that verifies this. They make ridiculous statement about golfers hitting balls farther than with their current drivers. I will offer you a challenge. Have them send me a driver and I will test it with witnesses (you can be one if you would like) and show that a scientifically assembled club (my current MaxImpact driver) will hit between 20 and 50 yards past a Magnetic Next Technology.

From Randy R:

I use LPG with good and sometimes great success. My short game in the last 3 weeks has been horrible. 50 yards and in I take the club head sharply inside and hit the dreaded shank. I think the club head is getting "caught" behind me. Should I, on the short shots, keep the club head outside the shaft instead of my LPG inside takeaway.

The right elbow only comes back even with the seam in your shirt. There is only about 30 degrees of hip and right shoulder rotation. The hands can never get behind you. If you do not have the Short game video, you should think about purchasing it.

From Tim:

Sponge trainer question:

I am doing well with the irons in that I don't hit either sponge and the balls go straight down the target line.

My 3 wood and driver I constantly clobber the sponges.

Place the front sponge 4 inches forward and 6 inches inside the line. Place the back sponge 6 inches outside a straight inside takeaway.

On your site one person recommended only using the 4 foot spacing for wedge and making it longer for the longer clubs. Is that correct? Or should I just keep the sponges 4 feet apart for all irons and woods?

The 4 foot spacing is strictly for a lob wedge.

From Jeff R:

I tried your Lever Power Golf training device a while back but gave up on it after developing wrist pain and sent it back to SciGolf. At the time I thought that the problem was that the trainer didn't fit someone of my size and with my lack of wrist flexibility, but now that I've experimented more with the swing I'm pretty sure it was my technique that was at fault. I still have the LPG video and training manual (dated 1997), as well as your video "The Short Game Using the Kuykendall Toss".

So my question is, is there anything new in the current LPG kit that would make it worthwhile to buy the whole thing from you (i.e. updated manual or video), or would I be as well off just buying the trainer and grip from Scigolf?

JK: There are no new videos. Purchase the LPG Trainer and Grip from Scigolf. However, if you really want to understand LPG and traditional swing, you should become a memeber of my web site. It is the most complete scientific information ever assembled on the golf stroke.

It also appears that the LPG kit on the Scigolf web site contains one video and the ball placement stroke trainer, while the kit on your web site contains two videos and no ball placement stroke trainer. Which is the latest and greatest, and are the two videos in your LPG kit any different from the ones that I already have?

JK: Several years ago, I sold the LPG as a short game only or a full swing only kit and then customers could add the other video. Over 90% ordered the other video. This cost the customer more money due to shipping and handling. I now only sell them together. Scigolf has not made the change to their site. They will soon.

As long as I'm at it I'll ask a question that you might want to use in your Ask Jack column (feel free to paraphrase or edit it in any way you see fit). During the U.S. Open the TV commentators (mainly Johnny Miller) kept saying how Tiger Woods can get out the rough better than anybody else because of his strength, implying that he is somehow using brute force to keep the club head from twisting or getting caught up in the grass. Isn't his real secret swing speed and the momentum of the club head? I think he gets out of the rough better than anybody else because he swings the club so fast that the momentum of the clubhead overcomes the resistance of the grass. Does that make sense?

You are both correct. It is club head speed that allows the club to get through the grass, but it is also the strength of the support muscles that allows the club head to continue through the ball rather than twist and recoil.

From Michael:

Found this address - www.1irongolf.com. Thought you might like to read it. The Q & A section is interesting. Would like to hear your comments on this page.

Sorry, I have no interest in outdated failed technology. This was a miserable failure by Tommy Armour Equals. All physics goes against it for optimized clubs.

From Walter:

What is the correct position for the trailing forearm at the top of the backswing in the LPG swing? At the top of my backswing, when my trailing forearm is more horizontal than vertical and my trailing elbow is pointing more behind me than pointing downwards, I seem to have a better bent trailing wrist and a more piston-like action on the downswing. The angle between my forearms is about 90 degrees and the position of my forearms is the same as when my club is in the horizontal position in the backswing. My top of swing position looks a lot like a baseball player ready to hit a pitch?

Answering your question will do more harm than good. It is very important to be in the correct position at the top. However, If your first move in the downstroke is incorrect, nothing can make it an effective swing. It is important that you know where you need to be at every part of the swing. This requires membership in my web site and reading of the Only Necessary Motion and the Kinesiology section.

Every golf magazine bases it articles on TIP teaching. This is why they have failed to help golfers. It will always sell magazines, but it can never help a golf stroke. The brain does not work on TIPS.

From Julio G:

I recently read the post from the "engineer" that seemed very sceptical of your methods; as a student of your system, I'd like to provide some feedback for those interested in LPG or sceptical of the system:

The most important point I can make is that the right arm is NOT CASTED! In fact, the LPG motion is very similar to throwing a baseball sidearm; baseball pitchers do not throw as hard as they do by "casting" their arms;

The lower body is only good for supporting the motion of the right arm (or the arm that holds the club). A properly done LPG swing initially feels odd because the ONLY effort required is a swift movement of the right arm. Lower body movement only impedes the swing. It's surprising how little else is required to generate power;

When an LPG swing is done correctly, the left arm is surprisingly passive. If placed properly at address, the left hand will square the club face AUTOMATICALLY. Conscious control of the left arm is totally unnecessary and only impedes the swing;

The swing path goes inside-out, NOT down the target line. This seems to violate everything ever taught by most golf "experts" but is confirmed by the VisionTrack device. In fact, a correct motion feels very similar to an underhanded whipping motion, taking the clubhead on a slightly diagonal flight path;

Follow through is totally unnecessary. In fact a properly done LPG swing seems to end pretty abruptly.

Those are just a few of my observations. Does LPG work? For me, yes. I'm 31 yrs old, in so-so shape, medium height and can easily hit 250 yrds with my driver using primarily the power of my right arm; with more practice and exercise, 280 seems reachable. When done properly, LPG is easily the simplest, most powerful golf technique ever created. Period.

Thanks for the e-mail. You are right-on with your comments and sensations.

From Travis;

How do you put spin on your golf so when it hits the green it stops instead of bouncing off the green?

The steeper (up-down) the angle of attack, the greater the backspin. Stopping the ball on the green depends on the softness of the green. Tour players play on highly watered and soft greens. This is why they stop the ball and back them up. You do not see them backing balls up at the British Open. You will hardly ever see a golf ball back up on a public course.

From Robert V:

How do you keep from hitting behind the ball when you use the sit down move?

Hitting fat is mainly caused by flipping the wrist during the downstroke.

Keep your right shoulder and head back and rotate your forearms through impact. Look at the photographs of Sam Snead compared with LPG in section 9E of the Kinesiology section of my web site. His motion and the LPG motion are the same.

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