myself have never given SA golf a try. However, based on his experiences
and the way his swing appeared to be so effortful using SA,
I never will try it. I was a 6 handicap two weeks ago struggling with consistency
in certain areas of my game. My first two scores out after starting to incorporate
some of George's ideas from his book were 68 and 73. I had not broken 74 more
than 3 or 4 times in the
past year and a half (let alone on back to back days) before George's book.
After spending all week up until last night doing nothing but hitting chest
high to chest high pitching wedges and making sure I was hitting the center
of the clubface, I decided to move to longer clubs and give them a try. Honestly,
last night on the range was the first time in my life I can ever recall my
swing feeling effortless!. I have always muscled the club with my arm and
shoulder muscles in the past. George's book is, in all honesty, the first
instructional material I have ever bought that I truly feel has helped my
game. A lot of the things in the book address things that most people have
probably heard before(though there are quite a few things in the book I personally
have not seen in intructional materials elsewhere). However, he covers the
why's of doing certain things where most instructors just tell you to do this
or that.
I simply cannot say enough good things about George's instruction. It has,
quite simply, clicked for me. As always Your Mileage May Vary, but with the
money back offer he makes, there's nothing to lose. I am making adjustments
to my vacation plans in October so I can go to Palm Coast and attend one of
his 3 day schools.
-Kitch
---------------
Forum:
the Golf Aficionados Forum
Subject: Perfect impact question
From: Near Perfect Impact (E.) (ECBARBOU)
DateTime: 5/18/01 8:10:15 AM
Just wanted to chime in here. I first ordered the video and used it for about
two weeks with amazing results. I say amazing because, for me it helped me
make sense of the grip and the core motion I needed to make in order to hit
the ball on the center of the club. In the past, I had been prone to hitting
the ball all over the club face. Once I was able to concentrate my shots on
the impact zone, I achieved a ridiculous increase in distance and my greens
in regulation increased dramatically because I could actually hit them!
I then ordered the book which I highly recommend. It made the video make a
lot more sense and the drills of how to swing the club like a pendulum
and let it get into the right swing-plane as opposed to trying to direct it
there is explained in very, very clear detail.
I have posted this before, but reading and understanding the PerfectImpact
materials has made the game of golf very enjoyable for me in a very short
period of time. I highly recommend George's method of achieving Perfect Impact
with progressively longer clubs rather than immediately
jumping to the longer clubs. I made this mistake at first, then simply starting
going to the range with the lob wedge. The next day, I would take the lob
and pitching wedge and so forth.
The money back guarantee made the purchase of the materials a no-brainer for
me. If you are still skeptical, I let my brother take a look at the
stuff when he was visiting this weekend and it immediately made perfect sense
to him. He shoots in the high 90's, has never taken a lesson, and
is pretty determined not to take one. We played an executive course this weekend,
and from a sheer improvement standpoint, I think he did excellent. He shot
a 75 on a par 61 course. This is a tough executive course in my opinion and
if I were to equate his score to a regular course, he would have played a
little better than bogey golf. That is
pretty good in my opinion considering he has never played that well in his
life.
E.
_____________
Forum:
the Golf Aficionados Forum
Subject: Natural Golf Opinions
From: pi_golfer (SA_GOLFER)
DateTime: 5/18/01 11:16:21 AM
you won't be sorry! George is the man as far as i am concerned!! never has
my ball striking 'clicked' as it has these past couple of weeks. short swings,
chips, drives...you name it. its all extremely mindless and joyful now. words
of advice on his material: don't take anything he says for granted, and don't
try to improvise on your own. pay attention to what he says and give it an
honest try and you'll do great. i am constantly re-reading the book and the
light bulb goes off every time with a bit of new information that i didn't
pay much attention to before.
----------------------
George,
Your 5
min video has really helped my swing! I've gained 10 - 15 yards on my shots
and my accuracy has greatly improved. I shot 39 yesterday for 9 holes and
only missed one green, which hit the fringe and bounced to the right. My scores
before were generally around the mid 40's. Now there's a great "solid
contact" sound whenever I strike the ball. On my short iron shots into
the green the ball takes one hop and stops, before I had to try and land the
ball at the very front of the green so it would stop rolling near the center.
During that round I made solid contact on ALL my shots, never hitting fat,
thin or topping a single one! The thought of having my left thumb bisect my
right shoulder on the back-swing has really helped me groove a proper and
repeatable swing path. It's nice stepping up to the ball and knowing you’re
going to hit it solid! The added confidence feels great!
Thanks,
SoD
P.S. I'll
be sure to tell you when I shoot that magical number of 36!
_________________
George
Great
service!!
I want
to tell you I gleaned as much information as I could from the GEA forum and
went out with my shag bag this morning.
Hit about
200 balls, and using the grip, hip turn and letting the club open up on the
takeaway. got great results! Towards the end of the hitting session I was
hitting solid 6 irons straight or with a nice draw. I have never had this
kind of consistency before.
I am a
15 handicap, 54 years old, about a 95 mph driver swing. I have always fought
the high rights when I am swinging bad.
With the
info I used today, I seem to be hitting on an in-out path more consistently.
Looking
forward to the video and book arriving.
Thanks,
Larry
_______________
Forum:
the Golf Aficionados Forum
Subject: Welcome New Sponsor: Perfect Impact
DateTime: 5/21/2001 2:43:35 PM
So far George has my vote for "GEA Rookie of the Year". Since he's
now gone "pro", does this affect his chances?
Honestly, I find George's posts - and his instructional materials - to be
about the most useful golf reading I have done in years. I'm glad he is a
member and now a sponsor.
______________________
Forum:
the Golf Aficionados Forum
Subject: Perfect impact question
From: Near Perfect Impact (E.) (ECBARBOU)
DateTime: 5/21/01 12:45:47 PM
DPCHANCE,
I really recommend you focus on working on your short clubs before you start
playing a full 18. Being a knucklehead, I jumped to playing rounds before
fully ingraining the Perfect Impact understandings and some of my wicked old
habits started creeping into my swing which only led to frustration. Once
you get the hang of your shorter clubs, move up to the
next longer club like George says and you will be pleased with your results.
The book explains this in detail (which I highly recommend) and strongly encourages
this.
I understand what you mean by the increased distances though. I played 18
yesterday and forgot my 3 and 4 iron at home because I was cleaning all my
clubs up for a trip with the boys this coming weekend to Miami. I was faced
with a 195 yd par three and I could either choke up on my 18*
Quickstrike or use a 5 iron. I am much better at hitting full shots than I
am at judging how much to back off of a club so feeling confident, I chose
my 5 iron and hit it about 195 yds to the edge of the putting surface. I was
on the green and had two putts for par from about 15 feet. Never before could
I hit shots like this.
As stated earlier, I am headed to Miami this weekend for the annual fellas
weekend with some old Business School chums and various tag along buddies
and I can't wait to play. We are betting big money on this year's event (a
whole buck per hole!), but I plan on cleaning up this year!
Good luck with Perfect Impact!
E.
______________
Forum:
the Golf Aficionados Forum
Subject: Perfect Impact Pre-Testimonial
DateTime: 5/21/01 11:24:46 AM
I ordered the 5 Minutes to a Perfect Golf Swing tape from George Friday evening
on the website. I was eager to view the tape so I paid the extra $5 to have
it shipped 2nd day air. George sent me email back later that night saying
that if I shipped UPS 2nd day that it wouldn't go out until Monday, but USPS
priority would go out the next day (Saturday). After telling him to mail it
USPS, I expected to get the tape Tuesday or Wednesday. Well it was waiting
in my mail box this morning (Monday). I opened the package and inside was
the tape, a booklet
and a $5 bill. I don't think that I've ever received service this good!
Thank you George and I can't wait to watch the tape tonight.
Donnie
_______________
I also
had a very good experience with it. Today I looked at the setup part for driving
and that was a great help. Took the chipping grip and boy was it a great help.
If only with the right setup so many things can be cured. Have a lot of fun.
I sure am
----------------------------
George,
I am a freelance golf writer and golf talk how host. I would love to have
you on my show as a call-in guest some time soon. My show runs every
Tuesday evening from 6:30 - 7:00 pm Eastern time. It runs on a local AM radio
station here in Port St. Lucie, FL. Fortunately we have a radio link
on the station's website and anyone anywhere around the world can listen in
on their computer through Yahoo Broadcast.
Does this sound like something that you would be interested in?
Best Regards,
James Stammer
(561) 335-1440
__________________
Forum:
the Golf Aficionados Forum
Subject: Perfect impact question
From: (DPCHANCE)
DateTime: 5/21/01 8:48:45 AM
Well I played 18 yesterday at Olde Homestead in the Allentown PA area yesterday,
This place is the best deal in the whole Philadelphia Area.
I love the course, now on to PI!
I adopted the grip and switched from a 10 finger to an Vardon. I started to
stand as upright as I could.
I kept my feet closer together as George suggests.
think I am getting the swing but I have a hard time using the visual swing
thoughts that I received from the video. Let you left hand naturally turn
over 180 degrees, straight right foot, and especially
pull down the left hand on the forward swing;
If I even think about pulling the left hand through I am totally screwed.
The results.
Right off the bat the grip brought my Drives back to where they were last
year which is 250+ (like every GEA'er I have hit a couple of 300...)
I gained distance on the short irons...unfortunately I flied 3 greens. My
57.5 degree Ping eye 2 sand wedge was going about 120-125 up from an easy
95.
If I had not started out double and quad bogey (4 to get on + 4 putts) I would
have shot my best score, which is a 93, instead I shot a 95. Not bad for me
but I intend on breaking 90 soon!
I'm not really shore what to focus on with my PI learning, I thing I'll stick
to the PW and just try to focus on hitting it straight.
PS with my driver I put my thumb slightly right of center with a stronger
right hand.
Thanks George! You were right about the left Thumb! Darren Chance
__________________
From:
\l "" 10:20 am To: \l "" I have had the
PI "5 minutes" tape for a few months now. I have had very good results
and plan on purchasing the book soon. I had some of the same questions in
the beginnng that you are having. I found out that most of my "problems"
were worked out after I became comfortable with the grip. The forearm fatigue
went away and I picked up a tremendous amount of distance. Last year at this
time I was hitting a 6 iron 150. Now I'm hitting an 8 iron 155. That is total
carry not including roll. I haven't changed any part of my swing except for
the grip. My set up has changed a little because of the different grip but
I still have my same basic swing. I hit the ball dead straight now but can
fade the ball if I need to. I haven't even attempted a draw yet.
Like any
swing change it is something that you need to stick with. The results have
exceeded my expectations.
Good luck.
____________________
From:
\l "" 10:32 am To: \l ""
So you
had the forearm fatigue too?
I'm thinking
it could be "release related." I've never had any kind of effective
"release" move. I cast the club big time with a very very early
release at the top.
The PI
swing shows me how to release at the bottom. That is maybe why my "swish"
with the club is louder? Also maybe what is making my forearms tired?
Please
advise.
-D
_____________________
George
Sorry we have to go through the Delphi E-mail. I'm Gary from
Mundelein, Illinois The Bear (GTB50)
Received the package yesterday, Invoice number 1658 dated May 18.
Wow. All I can say, just reviewed the 5 Minute tape yesterday and started
the book last night. Can't wait to get to the range. I know, be patient.
Playing armchair golfer... An observation. Perfect impact, ah yes. Can equate
to the many times in the trees and just want to hit out to the fairway with
a little hook for direction (have to get around the trees).
Take an easy swing. Roll the wrists for the hook and wouldn't you know it...
the ball takes off like a rocket with an easy swing . Past the green and then
some. What is this telling me? Well I realized that I had some of the pieces
of your concept, for all the wrong reasons.
But, one of the things I do remember is the sweet feel of rolling through
the ball. Now, since I know what it feels like I think it will be easy to
adapt to the program.
Thanks for your posts .... excellent communication and customer service.
I'll be sure to post the results on the forum and I may elaborate on my "tree
story" if appropriate.
Thanks again
Gary B
Mundelein, Illinois 60060
____________________
Hi George,
Just a
follow up your instruction. I played my first round of golf at our local muni
using your method and I think it's the first instruction that really works
for me. I'm sure it will work for anyone with two arms and two legs. Before
the round, I went through about 80 range balls with nothing longer than a
five iron and before I got done, I realized that I could "almost"
self diagnose my shots that were not pure hits; i.e. not enough shoulder turn
or not being 100 per cent in the position I need to be in at the top. I found
that I was flying the green on some of my shots just because I was making
better contact. At first I thought it was a matter of poor yardage control
but I was actually a club longer. The only problem I had was with my driver
and fairway woods. Everything was hit on the fat side and it may be caused
by my enthusiasm and excitement over a new found swing. Also, not doing the
drills with the woods enough, but with the irons, I can swing as hard as I
want due to the pulling action of going down the line. I generally swing at
about 85% of full power (in my own estimation) and I'm getting excellent direction
control. Thanks again George. I've emailed several golfing buddies about your
video and hopefully, they will also become enlightened. I'll write back when
I figure out my situation with the woods. I'm hoping that I don't have to
buy a weight set to strengthen my wrists so I can deliver strong swing with
the woods. In any event, thanks again.
Robert
L.
______________________
Be careful
about the grip thing and the thumb straight down the middle of the shaft.
In the book, George explains in very clear detail how no one grip is appropriate
for everyone. There are basic principles that apply (thumb dissecting shoulder,
club parallel as possible to fingers, etc.), but you develop your grip with
the understanding of how your hands hang on the end of your arms. If I form
a grip with my thumb straight down the shaft, I will leave the club slightly
open which causes me to block shots straight to the right of my target. I
need to take a slightly stronger grip, but my thumb tip is still pointing
towards the center of the club head and George clearly explains in the book
how to do this as part of building a swing that works for me individually.
I can't state this point enough. George continually reiterates how you will
build a golf swing individualized for yourself.
I have
used the Perfect Impact explanations for about a month now and I can attest
that for me, this is no honeymoon phase. I routinely practice hitting shots
with my lob and pitching wedge to develop the natural pendulum action of the
club and this has carried over to every other club in my bag. Somedays, these
are the only clubs I will take to the driving range. I have no fear of attacking
pins because I know I can hit shots straight as an arrow or I can alter my
grip a bit and hit a draw if necessary. I have been playing the Strata Tour
Pro and I am now stopping 5 iron shots on the green and the only club that
doesn't stop on the green is my 18* quickstrike, but common sense dictates
that I don't try too many 220 to 230 yd approach shots anyway. Power is effortless
and once I "throw" the club up into the backswing position, all
I have to do is rotate my body for power.
My problem
now is that I am going to have to revisit my shaft selections because I am
generating a severe increase in clubhead speed. I go to Golfsmith all the
time and the other day, my swing speed was 88-90 mph in their simulator and
I was smacking 195 yard shots with a 37.75" 5 iron. I normally use TFR
5.5 shafts @ 38" in my XPC Tour Steels and lately I have been hitting
5 irons that distance on the course with my Strata Tour Pros. The shafts are
beginning to feel a bit whippy to me, but I am a little reluctant to change
because I am getting good scoring results.
If you
have a high speed connection, go check out golf.com and look at Johnny Miller's
analysis of Tiger's swing. Miller compares his old swing with the new swing
Tiger developed before he went on his rampage last year. First, Tiger mentions
how his swing is more upright and from the top at the end of the backswing,
all he has to do is rotate his body. Tiger mentioned this has helped him a
great deal because as he puts it, he used to get his arms "stuck"
behind his body. Miller analyzes Tiger's swing in side by side video snippets
and Tiger's right elbow is much closer to his body than it was before and
you can clearly see the difference in how vertical the club gets. The club
is 90 degrees to the left arm and from everything stated, it looks just like
George's Perfect Impact teachings to me.
E.
___________________
I would
agree with Pingboy. The reason the Perfect Impact stuff has been a hit is
because George is a master at explaining the golf swing in a simple fashion.
Get the book and the "5 minute" video. It is pretty cheap and everyone,
including myself, seems to be pretty satisfied.
E.
_______________________
I didn't
mean to play golf today.... I did it on accident!
It started
when I stopped by my local golf store to buy some balls. They have a hitting
net in there so I decided to take a few swats at the ball with the PI grip
and as much as I knew about the PI swing.
After
about 7 swings that ranged from a bit thin to a bit heavy, I really got it
dialed in. It started to feel very natural and it seemed like I was really
pounding the ball. I was using a TA-3 6 iron.... the higest lofted club they
had to demo.
It was
my opinion that I was hitting the ball a mile. This matched my impression
from taking a few swings last night where the PI swing "swished"
the air louder than my "normal" swing.
Duely
encouraged I went to the range at my club. There was about a 25 MPH wind and
I was hitting dead into it....
Before
I get any further, let me tell you what I expected.... I expected added distance
(significant) with a slight loss of control due to the later "release"
than I am used to.
My results
were not at all what I expected.... but still VERY positive.
Anyway....
hitting balls on the range into a 25 MPH wind. As you know hitting into a
head wind amplifies any sidespin you have. Fades turn into slices and draws
turn into hooks.
Much to
my surprise, it did not take much practice before the ball was going straight.
I don't mean "kinda" straight, I mean DEAD straight. The ball went
a little higher than I am used to and all the irons shots settled very quickly
on the usually unholdable target greens.
Even adjusting
for the wind I didn't notice any real distance increase as expected, but the
accuracy increase was stunning. Ask anyone who has every played a round of
golf with me. I have never been a good iron player. Approach shots are my
#1 weakness with a bullet.
After
about 30 minutes on the range I decide to play a few holes. There was nobody
on the back 9 of the Championship course that I could see so I teed off #10.
I ended up playing 5 holes, (10-13 +18.)
Remember
I'm playing in some pretty significant winds, so the climate for hitting greens
is far from ideal.
On the
5 holes, I shoot 1 over par, which is EXCELLENT for me. The approach shots
went as follows.
#10: 4
iron from 175 yards, into wind: Missed the Green short. (I was still banking
on getting more distance than I was getting. The shot played about 195 due
to wind and the 4 iron while pretty much on line was not enough stick.)
#11: 8
iron 135 yards + 40feet up hill, cross wind: Stuck it to 6 feet! (Now I'm
getting excited.)
#12: 7
iron: 155 yards -33 feet down hill, cross wind: Hit to 12 feet. (Still very
happy.)
#13: I
was about 180 out.... wind was mostly cross, but also pretty well sheilded
by trees on both sides. About 20 feet up hill. I was itching to hit the 4
iron, but decided that were I in a match that a 7 wood would be my best bet.
I hit a smooth 7 wood pin high to about 25 feet. Then just for grins I dropped
another ball and hit the 4 iron. It was flying dead at the pin and finished
about 18 feet short of the pin. (About 3 feet from it's pitchmark.)
#18: This
was the most amazing shot. Again, as mentioned earlier.... my history with
approach shots is not great, but I am REALLY feeling confident. I'm standing
over this shot from about 95 yards. I have my "U" wedge in my hand.
The breeze has died a bit but is mostly cross (left to right.) As I stand
over the ball I start thinking. "Man.... you could hole this for eagle!"
Never in my life have I holed an iron shot, and never in my life has that
kind of thought entered my mind. The ball was flying so darn straight though,
I felt I actually had a good chance.
I hit
the ball and it felt great. It started just on the intended line (about 7
feet left of the pin) and the wind started to push it back towards the flag.
Flying directly at the flag it hits 4 feet short, hops towards the hole then
spins back.
A landscaper
was there maintaining the bunkers and he made and excited gesture. When I
went up there I said, "So you liked that approach shot?"
He said,
"Sir, do you know how close that was to going in?)
I replied,
"No, but it looked pretty close from where I was standing."
He held
up his fingers and indicated that I'd come up about 5 inches short and said,
"If it didn't have all that backspin, it was in the hole."
How close
it really was I don't know, but my pitch mark was at about 4 feet, and the
ball ended up about a foot behind the pitch mark.
Darndest
thing I've ever experienced, just KNOWING I could hit a shot dead straight
at like that.
Needless
to say I am VERY enthused. If I had putted a lick, I could have been under
par, but didn't convert any of my 4 birdie trys (not even the 5 footer.)
So my
current impressions are: PI helps me hit my iron shots MUCH straighter, higher
(which I needed), with more backspin, and with maybe a touch more distance.
I will be sticking with this for a while and hope that the marked improvement
continues.
Even though
I've a newbie to this, I'd be glad to anwser any non-swing related questions
about it (i.e. if there is something experiential that I may have left out
that you want to know.)
-D
__________________
I just read in one of the major golf magazines an article with Davis Love
the III showing the same grip Perfect Impact teaches.
George
explains it much clearer in his video but Davis was talking about the grip
his famous father always taught. This is not taught as much today, but it
is a very normal standard grip. IMO the problem is that SO many teachers focus
on the V's pointing to your shoulder or ear, which doesn't explain the why,
and what you are trying to accomplish with your grip.
I wanted
to point this out to anyone who doesn't have the tape and isn't really sure
what all of us nuts are talking about :) It is not really a "different"
grip, my teacher tried to get me to do it 2 months ago, but it wasn't comfortable,
and he just didn't explain it as well as George does in his tape.
Here is
how unsure I was about George's material. I talked to George LAST YEAR! I
saw Gravity Golf on Golf Academy Live, searched for in on the internet, found
Georges site, talked to him, was very interested but was scared away by the
prices.
When he
lowered his prices, I jumped on it. If only I had done it last year ;)
Darren
__________________
The good
news is that I'm not sure how you could "over-do" this advice. It
is not a matter of "grip stronger/grip weaker" or "swing more
upright/swing flatter." There is a specific way he shows you to grip
the club. It feels a little funny at first, but soon it feels good. But the
way you grip the club is utterly repeatable. No way you could "overdo"
it. Same with the way to move the hands through the swing. There are not relative
terms. Simply "do it this way."
By pointing
your left thumb to your shoulder and swinging on that plane, you are on plane.
Simple and again, repeatable.
I can't
figure out what is making the ball flight so darn straight though. Everything
just flows.
While
the PI swing isn't "conventional" it is not a "quirky"
swing like some other systems I've seen taught. Nobody watching you swing
would think you were doing anything out of the ordinary.
I'll ditto
what another poster said. I'm a visual learner and couldn't picture what was
being said on the forum about the swing at all. However in the 45 minute video
it was crystal clear, and simple almost to the point of "is that it?"
You "get it" almost immediately. The "5 minutes (10 if you're
a slow learner)" claim on the cover of the video is pretty close to reality.
Then again....
I'm WAY early in this thing, but the initial results were astonishing. Out
of the 6 approach shots I hit today, I'd say that the 8 iron on 11, and the
U wedge on 18 were my two best shots this year.
-D
___________________
in reply
to "message.asp?webtag=..." I've had the 5 minute tape for
2 weeks now, and tonight was the first time I actually hit practice balls,
however my ball striking is the best I can remember. The reason for this is
PI contains all the elements I know work for me, in a neutral swing, but fill
my head with way too many thoughts to maintain any consistency.
The difference with PI is the simple instruction that allows me to focus on
one thought (action) which makes all the things I'm trying to do happen naturally.
With no practice at all, I began hitting everything better, in fact I've put
a 2 iron in the bag and have found an incredible weapon for tight tees and
long approaches into the wind.
Want to
catch your playing partners attention, bust a 2 iron past their drivers in
the center of the fairway.
By the way, my practice tonight was the best I can ever remember, I hit over
120 balls and only a couple were poor, the rest were excellent.
Greg
__________________
in reply
to \l "a11" I just got done watching the tape and have skimmed
through the book. It's really weird because the two things I've been working
on this last week were my left hand grip and to try and keep the club from
getting stuck behind me. So I whipped the camcorder out and I'll be darned
if I'm not swinging on plane almost every single time. I have a tendency to
get real flat (think Sergio) which allows me to hit the ball a LONG way when
I'm on, and a long way OB when I'm off. I'm about to start the 4 hour tape
series and see what I might want to work on in that. Overall this stuff isn't
quirky at all, it's very interesting so far. IMHO.
Lb
