Category: Tour Players

Rory Mcilroy: Golfs Next Star wins first major: How did he do it?

June 20, 2011

iron swing

I first heard of Rory when he was 16 and was playing in European tour events and making cuts. A curly haired, freckled face kid. Looking more like Howdy Doody than an athletic icon, McIlroy has grown and matured into a world beater. I followed Rory around the back nine at Quail Hollow as he shot 62 to win the Wachovia Championship going away. As he faced a 40 footer on 18 with a couple of shot lead, he took no time and knocked it in like it was a five footer in a practice round. I saw the same look in his eyes this week as he destroyed the best of what the golf world has to offer by eight shots….and he left a few out there which is scary. As we watch these twenty something golfers come up through the ranks, Rory is by far the most talented and seems to be able to handle the pressure of Championship golf. As a coach, it is interesting to see how everyone marvels at the swing or technique of the hottest players going. Just like in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, we all wanted to swing like Tiger and I guarantee we loved to compare our students to Mr. Woods swing because he was playing better than anyone in the world for a unbelieveable extended time. (now he has changed it 3 times?) Would you have taught your students to swing like Jim Furyk if he would have been so dominant? hmmm? Well? So now we all want Rorys swing and what is not to like? He has great basics, athleticism, hits all the right positions, flow and power. But this is the same guy that missed several cuts in the past at big events and collapsed at this past April’s Masters, right. So I think aside from his wonderful golfing motion, first class short game and putting…It is the mental maturity and attitude that allowed him to stay out of his own way throughout the U.S. Open and win going away. I love the press conferences and learn so much about a player by listening close to what they say and how they say it. Rory mentioned (and was asked many times so he had no choice) about Tiger Woods. He said he thought a lot about what Tiger would do (2000 Open) which helped him keep his fire even when he had a big lead. This was very apparent when he got so upset after making a bogey on the 17th even though he had a huge lead but that is how you have to play in that situation. Tiger’s goal in the 2000 Open was to go bogey free even though he had a huge lead. He played a tournament against himself, set mini 3 hole goals which is what Rory did and it helped keep him in the moment up till the last putt. So we will see how this plays out as one major is just a start a legendary career. A lot of great players have won only a single major.   So lets not start comparing this young phenom to Tiger or Jack until we see some consistency over a long period of time as golf is a very fickle game and can come and go as you all know. Let Rory enjoy his unbelievable performance and be a young man who I already admire so much, not as much by his golf game but they way he has handled failure and now how he will handle success. His dad should be very proud of the man that he has become. Wise beyond his years for sure.

I am sure that I was not alone as I stood in my man room and chanted,”Let’s Go Rory” as he simply was spectacular for 4 rounds in our major championship. The U.S. players need to take notice. Who is going to step up and stop him? Only time will tell. I am so fortunate to have been able to watch Jack Nicklaus at the end of his run, Tiger Woods in his prime and now Rory McIlroy starting his.

Check out our website @www.danarader.com and follow me on twitter @www.twitter.com/golfgurutv or friend me up on facebook.com/jasonsuttongolf

See you on the lesson tee,

Jason

Who Is Charl Schwartzel? Masters Champion

April 15, 2011

One year ago, I posted a Masters blog with my picks to win. As I got back from Augusta last year, one players caught my eye……..Charl. So I am just one year late with my pick, sorry. As the tournament unfolded last Sunday, twitter was blowing up with predictions and observations. Someone tweeted me and asked who I thought would make a move and I said (If Rory stumbles….which I didn’t think he would) Keep an eye on Charl Schwartzel. Who is this guy you might ask? He has won 6 times on the European tour and has contended in a few PGA tournaments but is a relatively unknown. Just like King Louis (his best friend) from the same country. So what can we learn from Mr. Schwartzel game. One after having lunch with a few past champions like Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus (we know that he is very smart)…..he prepared differently by finding the fastest putts and working backwards. (veteran move). The Masters Champion is usually at the top of the putting stats which he was. He was also was the second player to play the final four holes at 4 under par (since Nicklaus in 86′)

His swing is a picture of efficiency. There is no wasted motion for sure. His posture is one of the straightest on tour (it helps that he is only 140 pounds) but he maintains his spine angle throughout beautifully. I like the fact that he pivots around a fixed center with not a lot of plane shift from backswing to downswing. Which with superior club face control allows him to control his golf ball. With an expert short game that included a nifty bump and run hole out on the 1st which got him going. This is a definite swing for you to copy and I don’t think you have heard the last of Mr. Schwartzel. What do you like about his game? Special thanks to my friend John Dochety for this wonderful shot of his swing. Leave your comments below or share with a friend.

See you on the lesson tee 704-542-7635 ,

Jason

Poulter and McDowell get banned from Augusta: Twittergate 1

April 1, 2011

  • In a bold move to cut down on the use of cell phones and Tweeting of video from club premises, Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne announced that Masters contestants Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell have lost their spots in this year’s tournament following unapproved digital transmissions sent from the club earlier this week.

    • “To be consistent with the strict no-cell phone policies adhered to by our members and guests, we felt this was the only course of action,” Payne said in a prepared statement. “The line was crossed when images of our member locker room were Tweeted and of course, subsequently re-Tweeted by their followers. However, we look forward to welcoming back Ian and Graeme next year, assuming Ian qualifies.”

    The duo, playing with former Players Champion Henrik Stenson on Tuesday, posted a variety of videos depicting the drive up Magnolia Lane, the member locker area and the view from an upstairs porch where Sub-Air units could be heard running in the background. While the course did appear to be extremely green, the sky a bright blue and the bunkers a vibrant white, Payne received calls from members whose grandchildren saw the unwarranted Tweets, wondered if a violation had taken place, and subsequently flooded the Augusta National switchboard.

    “If not for the swift action of our members’ grandchildren, it could have been a lot worse,” said Payne. “When we confiscated Poulter’s iPhone we found images of the golf course. I said to him, “you know, the course has rights too.” But apparently this was unbeknownst to Mr. Poulter and the committee felt it had no other choice but to rescind his invitation.”

    McDowell was also cited by the Augusta sheriff for driving while using a cellular device, a $200 fine on city streets, but a $5000 fine when committed on Magnolia Lane.

    Payne ended his statement by wishing all players, patrons and media a happy April Fool’s Day.

    Classic way to start  April 2011. I am so excited to make my annual trip to Augusta on Monday. I will have my flip cam and casio in hand just in case a Guru TV show breaks out, you never know! I will share my experience and videos with my peeps as usual. Who is everyone’s pick for this years Masters? Leave your comment below

    See you on the lesson tee,

    Jason

    Sean Foley Article: Is He right for Tiger?

    September 5, 2010

    I apologize for the last post. I hooked up the link and it didn’t work. Here is a little insight on Sean Foley and his potential work with Tiger. Let me know what you think. I look forward to your feedback on world number 1. Have a great Labor Day weekend and I will be back soon, hopefully with my golf channel video.

    http://msn.foxsports.com/golf/story/Sean-Foley-enjoying-challenge-of-coaching-Tiger-Woods-090210

    See you on the lesson tee,

    Guru

    Matt “The Kuch” Kuchar wins first FedEx playoff: What can we learn from his one plane/reverse slot swing?

    August 30, 2010

    Matt Kuchar wins the Barclays Championship in a playoff over Scotland’s Martin Laird. Kuchar makes birdie on the first playoff hole to win and continue outstanding play as he enjoys his best season on tour. Matt has one of the P.G.A. tours most unusual swings and once again I have cued up a slow motion video of Matt’s move in order to educate Guru Nation on how these unusual golf swings work and further highlighting the fact that there is a lot of ways to get it done out there and play great golf. Matt has what we would call a Reverse Slot/One Plane Swing. Let me clarify what I mean by both of these labels and see if I can help you understand some of the terminology behind the two.

    One Plane Swing – Top teacher Jim Hardy coined this phrase as a certain style of swing. First off, one-plane has nothing to do with the golf club swinging on a particular plane throughout the swing as a lot of golfers (and some teachers) think. The golf swing has many planes. Shaft, hands, arms, shoulders etc. One plane is a reference between the shoulder plane and the left arm plane. When the left arm and the shoulder plane match at the top of the swing it is considered One-Plane, that’s it. When the arm plane is higher than the shoulder plane it is considered Two-Plane (see past post on Carl Pettersen). So as you can easily see, Kuch is a big time one-planer. When the left arm is below the shoulders, I call that a ZERO PLANE (I made that up). Other pros that use this style are former president of one-plane nation, Chad Campbell, and current president : Zack Johnson (because he has won a major). I think this is a great way to swing if you are a chronic over the topper. But I still have one criteria. I don’t like the shaft of the club to get below the right forearm or behind the hands in the takeaway. This can and usually makes the downswing too steep. But there is always the exception to any rule……which leads me to my second point.

    THE REVERSE SLOT SWING PATTERN

    “The slot is an area of the downswing about half way down where the club shaft is parallel and slightly on top of the original shaft plane”. (depending what camera view you use……post for another time. Every golfer wants to find the slot and the majority of touring pros are there in the downswing. The largest portion of PGA players have a swing pattern where the backswing is outside of the downswing. In Kuchars case, it is reversed…..We call this the REVERSE SLOT SWING PATTERN. He breaks the guru rule and lets his club shaft get lower than his right forearm and couples that with a very low arm plane. So how does he make this work? ALL OF YOU OVER THE TOPPERS (EARMUFFS). Key Move: In order to get the club back in front of him and back into the slot, he must rotate his entire torso (shoulders, chest and hips), very aggressively to the left. If he was too slow with his body, the club would come in too shallow or swing too much inside/out. Kuchar makes this work beautifully as you wouldn’t think this style would work out of the deep rough as he demonstrated in the playoff. Other players that use this style are, J.B. Holmes, Joe Oglvie, Bobby Jones, Sam Snead (going old school on you).  As this post is getting a bit lengthy, I will cut it off and accept any comments. So the moral of the story  is………If you are consistently finding the slot on your downswing, don’t let anyone change your backswing!!!!!

    See you on the lesson tee,

    Guru

    King Louis Dominates The Open: His Classic Swing and The Red Dot

    July 20, 2010

    Louis Oosthuizen, the young South African, dominates the 2010 British Open with some steady driving and unbelievable ball striking. How about the live pro tracer that they used on the 17th, now that was cool technology. I have had some questions about the red dot on Louis’ glove and what I thought he used it for and what he was thinking….I will get to that in a minute. Let’s see what we can learn from his very simple looking golf swing as I have cued up a slow motion video of Louis hitting a driver.in driving. 1) He has a very solid set-up with excellent posture and balance to start from. 2)Copy his one-piece takeaway with the arms, shoulders and chest move at the same speed into the waist-high position. Notice how the club head stays outside of his hands and in between his forearms. This creates plenty of width for his backswing. The club is right online at the top of his swing which makes it easy to transition into his forward swing. 3)He has a very smooth transition in which he separates his lower body and his upper body which allows the club to drop into the slot and stay right on plane. 4. He delivers the club from the inside which allows a free release of the forearms, hands and clubhead. He made great swing after swing the entire tournament which is why he led the field

    Full Release

    What Was The Deal With The Red Dot Guru?

    It’s no secret that the greatest players have a pre-shot routine that doesn’t vary too much from shot to shot. The initial part of every routine is what is called a “trigger” or “a call to action”. Some players use the hitching of their pants like Palmer, Couples, Furyk. Some use a club raised over head like Mediate or the velcro on their glove like Els. A raise of the left shirt sleeve like Tiger Woods. You can’t expect to focus for the entire round and you shouldn’t try. You must be able to turn it on and off when it is your time to play, maybe 30 seconds at a time. Louis used a red dot on his glove that he and his mental coach, Karl Morris came up with to bring him back to the present when his mind wandered. It helped him enter “the zone” when it was time to play each shot. I have often used a word or a phrase for my players like “no fear” or “focus” but anything will work if you will stick to it. Try something like this the next time you play that will allow you to get into every shot as it was the only one that you will hit, afterwards……Accept and let your mind wander until the next shot. This was how King Louis kept so calm and was able to not picture himself holding the trophy too early as many of us do when we are having a career round. Here is a short article that I found that explains it further…..The Red Dot.

    I hope this explains the red dot and thanks for your question Steve. Feel free to comment on the Open championship as I have heard mixed views on how the fans liked. I think it was great and we just may have seen a star born.

    See you on the lesson tee,

    Guru

    The Open Championship Preview and Predictions

    July 14, 2010

    Oh, the old course at St. Andrews. It is in the top 5 of my bucket list of places to play for sure. Not because of its lavish beauty or scenic views but because of its history. As a student of the game, you must have aspirations of playing here someday and I am very disappointed that I haven’t been able to make it over the pond yet. I have seen it so many times on television that I feel like I know it so well. How I yearn to walk out of the historic club house and down to the first tee and stripe a fairway metal down the fairway, narrowly avoiding the burn in front of the green. I want to take an aggressive route off the tee and just miss the principals nose. I want to stand on the “road hole #17” and take it over the “O” and find the fairway. And lastly, try to drive the green and hopefully not get stuck in the valley of sin just short of the green. If I do, I would use the putter and play the low shot as Constantina Rocca did some years ago. Someday I will do this. So as we approach the championship, I thought I would give you a few things to look for and my predictions on who I think will play well. There is nothing better than waking up to championship golf, am I right? So here goes………………….

    1. The weather looks bad for the week, so we will see a lot of wind and rain which will make the scoring very difficult. I expect to see a lot of knock downs and punch shots that will be played low to the ground. Here are the keys to a knock down and I will shoot a video for you later in the week.

    1. Take at least 2 clubs more than the yardage to ensure that you won’t swing too hard.

    2. Place 60 percent of your weight on your forward foot as you would a pitch shot.

    3. Even though this is a shorter swing, make sure you complete your shoulder turn to the top.

    4. As you rotate through impact, bow your left wrist toward the target to take loft off of the club.

    5.  Finish low and abbreviated to keep the flight down

    ########KEY: Swing 80%……The biggest error that amateurs make is to swing too hard which imparts more spin and makes the ball go too high.

    Here are my picks for the 2010 Open Championship

    1. Tiger Woods: Let’s face it, he is bound to win soon and he always plays great winning the last 2 held at St. Andrews.

    2. Rory McIlroy: He is used to bad weather and has never shot over 69 in a tournament round at the old course

    3. Justin Rose: How can you not put him on the list. Maybe the hottest golfer on the planet…..enough said

    4. Lee Westwood: It could be his time and he has been so close.

    5. Franscesco Molinari: His brother won last week, could be his turn this week

    Euro dark horse: Shane Lowry

    US dark horse: Steve Stricker…….anyone who can make that many birdies you have to put on the list

    It will be a grind fest for sure and I look forward to seeing the replays as I will be on the lesson tee for most of it…….

    See you on the lesson tee and don’t forget to breathe,

    Guru

    Your Golf I.Q. Part 2: How To Raise It

    July 4, 2010

    As my previous post on how to raise your golf I.Q. got a tremendous amount of feedback from my peeps from Guru Nation and Twitter, I know that you have been patiently awaiting the follow-up post. You may have found yourself in a one or a few of the categories that were included in the former post and you are thinking,”Hey Guru, I want to change. How do I raise my Golf I.Q.? I have bought into the “As If” philosophy and am ready to start thinking above my current level of play. Help me help you! How many of you googled Boiler Room? Organized your clubs or Burned your iron head covers? That’s what I am talking about, so who’s coming with me? As I write this post, I am watching Justin Rose trying to hang on to win his second P.G.A. Tour event and just shows you how hard it is to win at the highest level. Did he lose his swing or did he just lose his mind last week. We will see how he does coming in. Back to this post. Here is my list to help raise your golf I.Q. and get  you in the mindset that “You are the Best Player in the World” (thank you Alan for that wonderful comment)

    1.  Learn to dress like a player: Don’t be afraid to wear a white belt and/or white pants. If we are emulating the best players in the world this is important. If you dress like a player, you just might play like one. I have not seen anyone on the tour that has a belt with a sailfish or your club logo on it…..I’m just sayin. Dress as If and no high socks either. I don’t care if they have a swoosh on it….save that for the basketball court. You know who you are! Get a white belt.

    2.  Put a hybrid in your bag: Don’t be afraid of technology. Next to the golf ball, the hybrid is the biggest jump in technology in the last 5 years. Take the 2 and 3 iron out of your bag and insert hybrid. You will thank me later.

    3.  Read up on your golf history. How many majors has Jack Nicklaus won? 18 people. To have a passion for the game, you must know some history. I suggest you learn about the greats of Hagen, Hogan, Trevino, Ouimet, Old Tom Morris etc.

    4. Take at least 4 lessons per year. I don’t care is Tiger thinks he can get better without a coach. Golf is a sport where feel isn’t real and even the best players need another set of eyes and some motivation to get better. Do your research, find a coach and stick with him/her. If you don’t you can’t complain that your game is  getting worse.

    5.  Get fit for a new driver on a launch monitor. It is amazing what the correct fit will do to maximize your driving. The numbers don’t lie and an expert fitter can get you twenty yards in a heartbeat. Is your driver holding you back, go find out. I recommend Stan Roach at www.danarader.com.

    6.  How are your wedges and putter? In the year of the last year of non-conforming grooves, buy a new wedge of at least 58 degrees. If you don’t own or can’t use a lob wedge you may as well add 5 shots to your score before you tee off. Aside from putting, pitching is the most important part of the short game………learn to pitch it and you can’t with your pitching wedge….just saying. recommend the Callaway X/Jaws or Cleveland with zip grooves. This is the last year that they will make them with non conforming grooves.

    7.   Be a stat keeper: If you are not aware of your basic stats, how do you really know your strengths and weaknesses. Take inventory of your game so you know what to work on. The educated golfer works on the things that they do well so get out of your comfort zone and start to work on your weak areas like putting. I recommend www.shotbyshot.com. Let’s be smart about our golf games and where to practice.

    8. Understand the physical basics of the golf club. An educated student understands that you must do two things with the golf club. 1) swing the club on or parallel to the plane that is created at address. 2)strike the ball with the shaft leaning toward the target…..Impact people. Any other philosophy is not golf!

    9.  Do Not Fall Victim To Golf’s Misconceptions: Head down, left arm straight, tuck the right elbow…..NO! Here is are thoughts of an educated student: swing the club on plane (see #8), hit the inside quadrant of the ball, release the head with the body, the low point of my swing is even with my front shoulder, flat lead wrist/bent rear wrist, swing to right field, stay connected, find the slot, hit the lowest shot possible around the greens, I practice my putting because it IS important.

    10. Be your own best friend: I can’t believe what you just said to yourself! In an recent excercise that I did with one of my elite juniors, I said,”Imagine that you are on playing lessons with the pros and you are the pro.” “Describe what you are going to do with this shot.” I heard him say that he was going to kinda hit it over there and sorta let it land at this spot and hope it trickles down to the hole……No, No, NO. You have to be committed and exact with what you are telling your brain and body to do. Let’s be committed to every shot. If you talk like this to yourself, stop. Justin Rose did and he just won for the second time this year. I suggest reading the 30 second golf swing by T.J. Tomassi.

    Good Luck and don’t forget to breathe. The fact that you are reading this blog, raises your I.Q. already…..thanks so much.

    See you on the lesson tee and I hope you had a happy 4th,

    Guru……………..704-542-7635

    Europe gets it’s first U.S. Open Champion in 40 years as top American players crumble

    June 22, 2010

    Wow! Was this the most frustrating U.S. Open Championship to watch (unless you were from Northern Ireland). Poor Dustin Johnson succumbing to the Open pressure, let the entire field back into the tournament with his horrific start. I saw the funniest tweet from one of my golf pro friends (as he was hitting the ball left-handed and shanking another pitch shot in the matter of 30 seconds that read): Somebody tackle that guy! That is when the caddie has to step in and get him to regroup and take some time in between shots that was spiralling out of control. If ever Tiger was going to get a lay up to win his 15th major or Ernie his 3rd Open, this was the time. Continuous mental errors, missed putts and just plain sloppy play allowed Graham McDowell to gut it out and hang in there for his 1st major championship. What a blood bath! If Tiger shoots 72 he is in a playoff. The 3 self-proclaimed mental errors on (#6: wrong club off the tee and a hole that most players were making birdies on with McKeel making an albatross, Tiger makes bogey) and missing the green from 120 yards on #10 on the short side). These are things that the old Tiger never did. So Irishman Graham McDowell plays solid in the early going, as he has to witness the demise of Johnson and holes some key putts to hang on for the one shot lead. As always, I like to see what we can learn from the winners golf swing. This time we have a swing that is not what many call ideal and includes some unusual moves that we can take a look at. As you know I enjoy these types of swings because it shows us golfers that there are many different ways to play great golf. Here is my analysis of our U.S. Open winners, major championship swing

    1. His setup is solid

    2. As he takes the club away, he doesn’t let the shaft get below his right forearm and sets the club on a little steeper angle which is common for good players

    3. Unusual Move: at the top of the backswing, his left wrist bows and he lays the club off (points the shaft to the left of he target). This allows him to get a head start into a solid impact position. As long as he doesn’t let the right hand take over, he can rotate his body as fast as he wants to square up the face.

    4 Notice his great lower body movement in the downswing that allows him to keep the face square through impact. This move coupled with the bowed left wrist reminds me of a young Lee Trevino (maybe the best ball striker ever).

    Graham mentioned that he worked hard on his short game and it paid off with a win for the ages. Tony Jacklin was very proud as he sent McDowell a text message in congratulations. What a class act to follow

    See you on the lesson tee,

    Guru

    GURU TV – Federico Celano: The Tour Player Chronicles

    May 31, 2010

    Welcome to another addition of “So you want to be a tour player” This week I am highlighting one of my new students that is playing the “e-golf tour“. Federico Celano is a very talented young player from Italy that is destined to be a great player. As we started working together and evaluating his stats, it was apparent that his putting was his weakness. He was averaging around 13 to 14 greens in regulation and about 33 putts per/round. In order to compete at the highest level we must get his putting average to about 28 to 29 with the occasional 24–25 putt round if he is going to contend. I won’t go into what we are working on is the putting as I will hook up some video of his stroke at a later date. Today, I want you to enjoy a very sound golf swing and pay attention to some of the things that we are working on together as they may be similar to what you are working on in your game. You can follow Federico’s progress on the e-golf tour by clicking on the link provided above. Enjoy the show and any comments would be appreciated.

    See you on the lesson tee,

    Guru

    www.danarader.com

    704-542-7635 To work with the Guru