Instruction

Review: Butch Harmon About Golf instructional DVD

Published

12 years ago

Aug 5, 2012

If I could have dinner with one golfing great, I’m not sure who I’d pick.

I’ve wavered between Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan, Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson. At the 2012 PGA Merchandise show, I took part in a dinner with legendary instructor Butch Harmon, who has been a teacher or personal friend to every one of them, and many other of the game’s top names. It wasn’t the same as having dinner plans with each of my golfing heroes. It was almost better.

At the event, Harmon talked about his new instructional DVD, “Butch Harmon About Golf presented by Titleist,” and shared stories about some of the most memorable moments of his life — one which has been enmeshed with golf’s most legendary names since his childhood.

Golf writers like to debate how the players of each generation compare to one another, and who would win in a head-to-head matchup in each player’s prime. I doubt that there is anyone in the world as qualified as Harmon to weigh in on the discussion.

It was Harmon’s opinion that the players from the past — Hogan, Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Seve Ballesteros, to name a few, had more ability to work the ball and vary shot trajectories than today’s players, and would most likely rise to the top in today’s game because of those skills and the advantages of modern equipment. But he also said that had these players grown up in today’s instruction climate, where teachers are sometimes apt to change a player’s natural tendencies in favor of their teaching methodology, we might have never heard of some of golf’s founding fathers.

Harmon echoes his beliefs in his new DVD, saying up front that he does not believe there is just one correct way to swing a golf club. He talks at length about the importance of the fundamentals throughout the DVD’s four hours and 57 chapters — things like grip, posture, stance and alignment, but also dives much deeper than these introductory lessons.

One of my favorite moments in the DVD came early, in Harmon’s discussion of the back swing. He said that a player’s weight has to move in the same direction as the clubhead throughout the swing. I’ve heard so many explanations of how the club and body work together, but none as simple as Harmon’s tip.

Harmon breaks down each part of the swing, and also covers specific trouble shots that golfers face such as when the the ball is above a player’s feet, below a player’s feet, the uphill lie, the down hill lie, fairway bunker shots, etc. For more advanced players, Harmon also covers specialty shots like Tiger’s famous stinger (a must watch lesson that seems almost too simple, but works), flop shots and buried bunker shots. He also shares remedies for two of golf’s scariest shots, the shank and the yip. Whether the segment is for the elementary or advanced, however, there is still something for players of all levels to learn from Harmon, including a segment about golf-specific fitness from Dr. Greg Rose of the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) and chapters on proper club fitting.

The knowledge and drills Harmon has absorbed from the large stable of Tour pros he’s coached throughout his 40 years as an instructor are no doubt the most valuable part of the DVD, but its most impressive aspect may be that unlike many other instructional videos, it is not a swing-centric production. There are several segments on the proper mindset, practice routine, and short game and putting. After most segments, Harmon highlights the tips he shared in the previous footage with the help of a star-studded cast — Adam Scott, Nick Watney, Dustin Johnson, Natalie Gulbis and Phil Mickelson. There’s also interviews with these players about the impact Harmon had on their games, which features Harmon’s most famous student, Tiger Woods.

It was clear to me at Harmon’s dinner that he is a master communicator. This trait is obvious throughout in the DVD, which at many times feels more like a conversation than an influx of information. In the instructional segments on juniors, seniors and women, Harmon showcases his ability to put golfers at ease in the sometimes uncomfortable setting of a golf lesson, and instructs with a grace that PGA Professionals will be sure to notice.

The DVD will be available March 1, 2012, for $79.95 on-line at www.butchharmondvd.com.

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Instruction

Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?

Published

1 week ago

Apr 24, 2024

Shawn Clement

Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

Published

1 month ago

Mar 29, 2024

Terry Koehler

My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Published

2 months ago

Mar 4, 2024

Shawn Clement

Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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