Why the legends of the game almost never talk about the body but modern coaches obsess over it? Or How we need to teach impact over everything else.

Hola Amigos (spanish version of Nantz's "Hello Friends"),

I love starting or ending my posts with that. Not because I'm some announcer or whatever but after having started this journey these posts and write-ups have become somewhat of a brain-dump on what the "feels" / experiments that have either failed or succeeded in getting my body doing something that closely emulates the closest to my own body type.

As you know this all started due to not understanding how the swing was properly made whereby injury and longevity is on a manageable curve.....Decreasing injury and increasing the length I can play this game enjoyably.

You may be wondering when the full length book is coming....well it was on hold because even thought the concepts haven't changed in terms of explaining Trevino's swing thoughts have been cemented for a long time, I didn't feel any of it was truly believable to a mass golf audience because I couldn't even hit the positions myself!

I had a few of you ask do you have any writings or books out there. Its still up there but I may actually have to pull the quick-guide down because it simply doesn't align with where I am now. The following is the most current and best in my opinion route to go to end up where most of the older timers got to.

After I cover the failed ideas, foundations, and what worked....maybe we will start to realize why Jack, Jackie, Lee, Sam, Moe etc. discussed their hands way more than their bodies.

I think technology in a way has helped us de-mystify alot(for the scientists) but it may have not helped our golf swings like we want.

Take this honest look, and read and use at your own discretion. My best advice is to see a PGA professional, preferrably one who can actually demonstrate how to actually do what you want to see, feel, hear out of your shots.

*Everyone is built differently, not just proportions but also neurologically....this may not apply to you. But if you do and it works for you please let me know and share in your success!

See below: 2021 vs 2024.

So let quickly go over the concepts that failed(*why they failed), the concepts that need to be in place to succeed(to allow the final components to work) and finally the concepts that are now in use(that need foundations to work; sorry I'm an Architect so those words slip in there).

On the failed list:

1. Holding the club tightly with the last three fingers and steer the club into a fade condition. Club feels too heavy to achieve the acoustics that Trevino had....doing this was taking Trevino's writings and videos too literally. He only discussed how the left hand helped his overactive right hand but never truly discussed what his right hand was doing when it was working well.....maybe the writer didnt think it was something worth writing about. **This was the worst of the sins.

2. Rotating hard to ensure the hips are wide open by impact. *The more I rotated open from the top the more the shoulders steepened the shaft, if I kept good "connection".

3. Posting up earlier or later. *The timing was ridiculously difficult to control and devising drills for this using balancing boards was even more funny. I would post early to get that impressive straight leg and it hurt! Then trying to rear post was just the opposite and caused a hang back....think fat shots...because I read that strong grips need "face openers" by rear posting.

4. Separation, starting the transition sooner. *This was/is very en-vogue with the golf instruction. Using the concept of GRF (ground reaction forces) anticipating an intent. Another painful exercise. Lower back issues didnt result in a more shallowed club and caused for me a very deliberate attempt to add side bend from the upper body while the hips were trying to race past the ball!

5. Float slotting the club to ensure we shallow the club by tucking the trail elbow in. *Occasionally it would look good but the acoustics/impact required so much micro-corrections it was near impossible to justify continuing doing to....this replane-move where the club reroutes in a figure 8 to get down the intended target line vs your footline was incredibly damaging to my consistency.

6. Trying to pull the club on a low left path forcefully to ensure the clubface stays on-line longer a la many of the Trevino photos out there. *This worked but then we lost the proper exit of the shaft/clubhead on the thru side were the club tended to get even steeper on the release! Really difficult to monitor this day to day.

7. Chasing the right shoulder down the line or even down and left. * Because the levers that actually control the face were further away from me focusing on the shoulder I ended up losing the face on the way thru....lots of wonderful straight shots that started 40 yards left!

On the Foundations list: This list is far less exhaustive and much more positive.

1. Feel is the head needs to stay centered but doesnt need to stay level. Centered on the backswing and can should on the way through....but this isnt an absolute.

2. Shoulder needs to turn back to ensure the torso remain connected to the weight of the club on the way through. Throwing your arms isnt any good without your shoulders.

3. Preserving wrist angles by having wrists turn back away from the target and keeping it....to a point....the after the ball is gone and the shaft is flexed you're wrist mainly the trail one will be your 2nd clubface pointing in the direction of your line of intent.

Here's my suggestion to getting to the incredible positions the pros do....its not by forcing your body into the positions but allowing the increase in force thru the club to put you into these positions:

1. I'm giving you permission to be ball focused....but imagine hitting an impact bag with your trail arm still bent.... Steve Elkington called it having "alot of right arm left" not left as in direction but your bicep is still engaged until about 2 feet past the ball.

2. The first part of the move past impact should be as if we are shaking hands with someone standing diagonally left directly in front of us.

3. The hips clearing weight shift and extension of the back should be in response to the amount of hit you give the space after the ball....if you are thinking positions this is easy to do....the less camera the better, listen for the strike/ball flight.

Tips to practice this: Kettlebell workouts. Impact bags place well in front of you. You arent trying to throw this club down the fairway with whippy hands or wrists....you are firmly going to beat a carpet and the shaft will have to catch up with you. The pivot doesnt drive the hit. The pivot on the thru is a reaction for the club forcefully gathering what feels like an increase in weight.

This is the real reason the ole-timers don't talk about the body....because its reacting to the club....you throw one way they let their body's do what it needed to get out of the way. If they threw it another way they ended up with a different looking action....they reverse engineered it after finding the strike Flush.....then worked backwards. Its how Lee figured he needed to be open.

Whew! If you made it this far I'll leave you with this:

Probably the easiest analogy from my professional world that makes the contrast between old and new applies to virtually subject (golf included):

Sometimes technology makes the simple more complex for the sake of complexity.

A.I. vs Human Hand:

A.I Generated Architecture - Cool Shape; but hardly buildable/livable....tons of intelligence involved without any resolution in terms of building codes, structure or life safety.

Architectural Masterwork - German Architect Mie Van der Rohe

(he invented the term "Less is more". Structure + material = minimalism.

Barcelona Pavillion 1929. Same year Bobby Jones won his 3rd US Open.