Post by imperfectgolfer on Oct 25, 2023 12:40:23 GMT -5
Watch this latest BBG video.
In this video, where Brendon is hitting golf balls under the golf instructional guidance of Milo Lines, Brendon's driver golf swing was totally out-of-control during this entire golf instructional lesson and he was hitting balls all over the place. In his first swing, he hit a duck-hook shot where his clubhead path was 10 degrees to the right while his clubface was closed 3 degrees - and that works out to a >10 degree discrepancy between his clubhead path and clubface angle at impact.
During further driver golf swing attempts, Brendon could get better control of his clubhead path, but his clubface was often repeatedly very closed by 5 - 9 degrees at impact.
To my astonishment, Brendon even admitted during the BGG video that he does not know how to control his clubface. Brendon has been coached by a large number of golf instructors (eg. Tony Luczak, Mike Malaska, Milo Lines, Lee Dietrick, AJ Bonar) over the past 5+ years and he still clearly admits that he does not know how to control his clubface to ensure that he can consistently get a square clubface by impact.
Brendon uses a neutral lead hand grip, which means that he has to use a PA#3 release action (which is biomechanically due to lead forearm supination) in his later downswing between P6.5 => P7 in order to square his clubface relative to his clubhead path by impact. However, Brendon admits that he does not know how to consistently accomplish that goal in an efficient manner.
Milo has a strong tendency to teach his golf students to perform a golf swing in the same manner that Milo uses for his personal golf swing action. So, for example, Milo uses a very strong lead hand grip where the clubface at address is ~50 degrees closed relative to the back of his lead hand. That means that when Milo gets to the P6 position where the back of his lead hand is parallel to his swingplane, his clubface is going to be automatically/naturally tilted forward to a small degree and roughly parallel to his thoracic spine bend inclination angle. From that P6 position, where the clubface is already partially closed relative to the clubhead path, Milo simply thinks of rotating his body into impact and he has no need to "feel"any lead forearm supinatory motion happening between P6.5 => P7 because the amount that is practically needed is very small. However, if a golfer uses a weak-or-neutral lead hand grip, then a significant amount of lead forearm supination must happen between P6.5 => P7 in order to efficiently complete the release of PA#3, and Milo seemingly has no experience with the "feel" of how that is best accomplished based on personal experience.
Milo is obviously mentally aware that pro golfers vary in the amount of lead forearm supination needed during the later downswing's PA#3 release action - as evidenced in the following video.
However, note that Milo provides no golf instructional advice on how to efficiently complete the release of PA#3 in that video and he only vaguely states that it will naturally happen if the arms are relaxed.
There is another major factor that mentally handicaps Milo when teaching a golfer (who uses a weak-or-neutral lead hand grip) how to efficiently perform a PA#3 release action between P6 => P7 - and that is his "belief" that the trail arm/hand can play a major role in getting the clubface square by impact.
Watch this Milo Lines video on the topic of the "release".
In this video, Milo talks a lot about the motion of the right wrist during the "release". Note that he wants the right wrist to go from being extended at P6 to becoming flexed after impact in a slap hinge manner. To his credit, Milo is not advocating an active slap hinge action, and he states that it should happen passively due to an optimised (but unspecified) body/arm motion. Also, note that Milo wants the right palm to be facing the target at impact, which is why he strongly recommends a neutral trail hand grip.
However, I don't believe that pro golfers (who use a weak lead hand grip) are using their trail arm/hand to control the release of PA#3.
Consider Justin Thomas's driver golf swing PA#3 release action.
In this video, where Brendon is hitting golf balls under the golf instructional guidance of Milo Lines, Brendon's driver golf swing was totally out-of-control during this entire golf instructional lesson and he was hitting balls all over the place. In his first swing, he hit a duck-hook shot where his clubhead path was 10 degrees to the right while his clubface was closed 3 degrees - and that works out to a >10 degree discrepancy between his clubhead path and clubface angle at impact.
During further driver golf swing attempts, Brendon could get better control of his clubhead path, but his clubface was often repeatedly very closed by 5 - 9 degrees at impact.
To my astonishment, Brendon even admitted during the BGG video that he does not know how to control his clubface. Brendon has been coached by a large number of golf instructors (eg. Tony Luczak, Mike Malaska, Milo Lines, Lee Dietrick, AJ Bonar) over the past 5+ years and he still clearly admits that he does not know how to control his clubface to ensure that he can consistently get a square clubface by impact.
Brendon uses a neutral lead hand grip, which means that he has to use a PA#3 release action (which is biomechanically due to lead forearm supination) in his later downswing between P6.5 => P7 in order to square his clubface relative to his clubhead path by impact. However, Brendon admits that he does not know how to consistently accomplish that goal in an efficient manner.
Milo Lines, as his golf instructor in this BBG video, also does not know to teach a golfer (who uses a weak-or-neutral lead hand grip) how to efficiently perform a PA#3 release action in the late downswing action.
Let's consider a number of reasons why I believe that Milo does not know how to teach a golfer (who uses weak-or-neutral lead hand grip) how to perform an efficient PA#3 release action.
Milo has a strong tendency to teach his golf students to perform a golf swing in the same manner that Milo uses for his personal golf swing action. So, for example, Milo uses a very strong lead hand grip where the clubface at address is ~50 degrees closed relative to the back of his lead hand. That means that when Milo gets to the P6 position where the back of his lead hand is parallel to his swingplane, his clubface is going to be automatically/naturally tilted forward to a small degree and roughly parallel to his thoracic spine bend inclination angle. From that P6 position, where the clubface is already partially closed relative to the clubhead path, Milo simply thinks of rotating his body into impact and he has no need to "feel"any lead forearm supinatory motion happening between P6.5 => P7 because the amount that is practically needed is very small. However, if a golfer uses a weak-or-neutral lead hand grip, then a significant amount of lead forearm supination must happen between P6.5 => P7 in order to efficiently complete the release of PA#3, and Milo seemingly has no experience with the "feel" of how that is best accomplished based on personal experience.
Milo is obviously mentally aware that pro golfers vary in the amount of lead forearm supination needed during the later downswing's PA#3 release action - as evidenced in the following video.
However, note that Milo provides no golf instructional advice on how to efficiently complete the release of PA#3 in that video and he only vaguely states that it will naturally happen if the arms are relaxed.
There is another major factor that mentally handicaps Milo when teaching a golfer (who uses a weak-or-neutral lead hand grip) how to efficiently perform a PA#3 release action between P6 => P7 - and that is his "belief" that the trail arm/hand can play a major role in getting the clubface square by impact.
Watch this Milo Lines video on the topic of the "release".
In this video, Milo talks a lot about the motion of the right wrist during the "release". Note that he wants the right wrist to go from being extended at P6 to becoming flexed after impact in a slap hinge manner. To his credit, Milo is not advocating an active slap hinge action, and he states that it should happen passively due to an optimised (but unspecified) body/arm motion. Also, note that Milo wants the right palm to be facing the target at impact, which is why he strongly recommends a neutral trail hand grip.
However, I don't believe that pro golfers (who use a weak lead hand grip) are using their trail arm/hand to control the release of PA#3.
Consider Justin Thomas's driver golf swing PA#3 release action.
JT is completing his release of PA#3 between P6.5 (image 2) and impact (image 3) - and note that he needs to use a lot of lead forearm supination to accomplish that goal.
What is happening with respect to his trail forearm and trail wrist between P6.5 (image 2) => P7 (image 3)?
Note that his trail forearm becomes slightly less supinated and his trail wrist becomes slightly less extended - and that his trail palm remains mainly under the club handle during his PA#3 release action and that his trail palm does not face the target at impact. I personally believe that JT does not actively use the small change in his degree of trail forearm supination, and the small change in his degree of trail wrist extension, to successfully complete his PA#3 release action by impact. Also, note that JT's trail wrist extension does not change much in magnitude between P7 (image 3) and P7.4 (image 4) and it does not straighten during his DH-hand release action happening between P7 => P7.4.
I believe that JT is using a TGM swinging action (pivot-induced lead arm swinging action) and that he uses the intact LFFW/GFLW swing technique. If you look carefully at those capture images above, you will note that JT maintains an intact LFFW/GFLW alignment all the way between P6 (image 1) and P7.4 (image 4), and he squares his clubface by impact by controlling the rate of counterclockwise roll of his entire LFFW during his late downswing action.
Brendon is also capable of efficiently using the intact LFFW/GFLW swing technique (like Justin Thomas) as evidenced in the following BBG video.
Brendon's driver golf swing action in that video was superb and he could repeatedly generate a straight ball flight pattern with minimal curvature. I believe that what made it possible was his use of the GEM device during that time period - which gave him the "feel" of how to naturally perform the intact LFFW/GFLW swing technique. However, Brendon never mentally/cognitively understood what it means to swing using a TGM swinging action that utilises the intact LFFW/GFLW technique and he he has lost any "feel" of performing a PA#3 release action using a controlled counterclockwise rotation of the entire LFFW unit (lead arm-clusbhaft that are continuously straight-lined aligned from an angular rotational perspective).
So, let's consider how Brendon was releasing the club in this latest BBG video.
Unfortunately, the frame rate of this latest BBG video is far too low to get good quality capture images showing his PA#3 release action and it is also did not contain any slow motion face-on video, which is needed to evaluate the quality of a golfer's PA#3 release action.
However, the following capture images from the latest BBG video show what Brendon was likely doing from a biomechanical perspective in his driver swing's late downswing/followthrough action.
In image 1, Brendon adopted a slightly open stance with the intention of hitting a pull-fade shot (like Dustin Johnson).
Note that he is not continuing to rotate his pelvis/upper torso through impact and he is simply throwing his arms/clubshaft outwards in an exaggerated CF-arm release manner. Note that he is obviously "running-out-of-right arm" and that his trail forearm is pronating through impact causing his clubface to be very closed relative to his clubhead path at P7.4.
Image 2 shows the same "out-of-control" golf swing pattern - where he is not rotating his pelvis/upper torso through impact - and where he is performing an uncontrolled CF-arm release action that is associated with a clubface that is rolling closed relative to his clubhead path (presumably due to an uncontrolled "running-out-of-trail arm" phenomenon).
Whether his "running-out-of-right arm" phenomenon is happening pre-impact, at impact, or only post-impact is unknown because Brendon did not include any slow motion video segments of his driver golf swing action. I strongly suspect that it was happening pre-impact - as seen in the following animated gif of Phil Mickelson's roller hand release action.
Note how PM is "running-out-of-trail arm" pre-impact and that causes his trail forearm to pronate through impact thereby closing his clubface relative to his clubhead path.
I strongly suspect that Brendon was also performing an uncontrolled roller hand release action in his latest BBG video where his clubface was closed by 5 - 9 degrees at impact even when his clubhead path was square at impact. What else could cause his clubface to be so very closed at impact? Another potential cause is a pre-impact clubshaft flipping phenomenon where the lead wrist becomes overtly extended through impact while the lead wrist simultaneously undergoes a counterclockwise wrist circumductory roll motion during the lead wrist flipping motion.
What amazes me is that Milo recorded many examples of Brendon's driver swings where Brendon had a very closed clubface scenario at impact (as evidenced by using a Trackman device), but he made no attempt to explain why it was happening!!! I believe that it requires a slow motion video (both face-on and DTL) to study a golfer's PA#3 release action in order to determine its degree of efficiency, and Milo made no attempt to study the efficiency of Brendon's PA#3 release action or his hand release action through impact. How can a golf instructor watch a student golfer reach impact with a very closed clubface and not make an attempt to diagnose the biomechanical cause of problem?
Milo has worked with Brendon a lot during the past few months (or maybe even longer) to perform a better quality rotational pivot motion that is associated with a DH-hand release action through impact - as described in the following thread at newtongolfinstitute.proboards.com/thread/1046/milo-lines-teaching-brendon-video
If you read my posts in that thread, you will note that Brendon is physically/biomechanically capable of performing a great quality driver golf swing action when performing an "air-swing", but not when hitting a golf ball.
Here is a comparison swing - in image 1 Brendon is performing a practice "air-swing" and in image 2 he is driving a golf ball a few seconds later.
Note that Brendon is performing a superb CP-arm release action in his practice swing. His trail shoulder is moving very well downplane and he can therefore come into impact with a slightly bent trail arm and a slightly extended trail wrist. Note that he also has a lot of right lateral bend. Note how open his pelvis/upper torso is at impact.
In his ball-hitting swing, he stops actively rotating his pelvis/upper torso in his later downswing and he is basically throwing the clubshaft passed his stalled torso using an uncontrolled CF-arm release action with a "running-out-of-right arm" scenario secondary to the fact that his trail shoulder is too far back.
As I previously stated, this comparison video demonstrates to me that Brendon has an extraordinary good ability to efficiently perform a CP-arm release action when swinging a driver at full speed - but only when performing a practice swing.
In his ball-hitting swing, he stops actively rotating his pelvis/upper torso in his later downswing and he is basically throwing the clubshaft passed his stalled torso using an uncontrolled CF-arm release action with a "running-out-of-right arm" scenario secondary to the fact that his trail shoulder is too far back.
As I previously stated, this comparison video demonstrates to me that Brendon has an extraordinary good ability to efficiently perform a CP-arm release action when swinging a driver at full speed - but only when performing a practice swing.
Why can Brendon not perform that same high-quality driver golf swing action when hitting a golf ball? In his latest BBG video, Brendon did not even once perform a high quality golf swing action (as seen in image 1). Why can Milo not correct this problem? Milo may claim that he has successfully taught Brendon how to perform the correct biomechanical motions (as evidenced in image 1), but that he is not responsible for the fact that Brendon cannot perform his recommended driver golf swing action when actually hitting a golf ball? I cannot understand that type of excuse - because I believe that golf instructional advice is only useful if a golfer can take it to the golf course and perform it repeatedly in a consistent manner. Milo did not even bother to record Brendon's biomechanical body/arm motions in the latest BBG video to determine if Brendon was performing it correctly. Why not? Milo only looked at the Trackman data and Milo even complimented Brendon when he hit a mini-fade (like Dustin Johnson) - see the 9:00 - 9:40 minute time point of the video. Milo stated "why would you hit anything else". However, the reality is that there is zero evidence that Brendon actually performed the golf swing action in that particular driver golf swing action in the manner as seen in image 1 and Brendon actually performed it as seen in image 2 - and it was just a chance event that he hit a mini-fade in that particular driver golf swing action.
Then, watch Brendon try to repeat the same driver golf swing action between the 10:00 - 10:21 minute time point of the video. He apparently hit another mini-fade and Milo stated "I like fades". I can understand why Milo prefers a mini-fade ball flight pattern, but I cannot understand why Milo did not carefully examine Brendon's body/arm motions in that driver golf swing action to determine whether he was swinging in the manner depicted in image 1 versus image 2. When I examined this latest BBG video using a Swing Analyser program, it looks like Brendon was using the image 2 pattern in every driver golf swing action performed in that BBG video and he never once performed the image 1 pattern when actually hitting a golf ball.
Jeff.