i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

[Ian Hancock]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

Well Guys,

Good to see more of you are converted............................


I am completley un-happy with this three skill malarky, I am now like Brian over clubing due to the extra 20 yards I have gained, I over shot several greens in the club finals Saturday costing me the title.

Seriously it has been fantastic, simply because its not a drill and you can forget about everything in the swing after you are set-up square,

I LOVE IT..........


Ian.

[miffin]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

I must be like a lot of other golfers. I am weighing up whether to buy this book or not. At £18.99 including postage it seems a bit pricey. Not for everyone I suppose. But, I have just retired and only have my pension. Does anyone know how many golfers on the forum are actually using it with success? Or are these figures unknown?
Regards
Brian

[BrianW]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

I must be like a lot of other golfers. I am weighing up whether to buy this book or not. At £18.99 including postage it seems a bit pricey. Not for everyone I suppose. But, I have just retired and only have my pension. Does anyone know how many golfers on the forum are actually using it with success? Or are these figures unknown?
Regards
Brian

Hi Brian,

The way I see it is that it is around the price of a dozen budget golf balls. I can understand that if you are on a tight budget then you may have some concerns.

The book does not offer a complete set of new ideas or unique golden moves that have not been there before, there is nothing new to be learned with hitting a golf ball. What it does is remove all the clutter that confuses us with making good repeatable golf shots and replaces it with three easy skills to learn and practice. These skills are not difficult to understand as the book is nicely illustrated.

[oldwease]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

OK folks, with all this positive feedback, I just had to place my order.

Normally, I hesitate with things like this because I'm playing pretty well and this is obviously a specific system / technique. Anyway, I shall provide my feedback as and when.....

[ubizmo]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

Hmmm.... I went to the range yesterday to practice the three skills. It was a beautiful day and, for some reason, the place was deserted, so there were no distractions. Skill 1 was erratic, which is odd because I had been doing well with it a week or so ago. Skill 2 was okay, at least as far as the drill went. Skill 3 wasn't happening, but since the book says skill 3 can't be mastered until skills 1 and 2 are, that's not surprising. My friend called a little later and I played 18 holes, carding 110. I did make a few good shots, and my short game was pretty good. I holed a chip for birdie on one hole, and my putting was decent. But I hit a lot of weak drives and thin irons that went nowhere, and they add up.

I have to say that perhaps the weakest aspect of the book is that it contains no material to turn to if one doesn't master the skills. The assumptions seems to be that if you do the drills, you'll get the skills. So the "What am I doing wrong?" question doesn't come up. If I'm hitting thin shots, then I'm not applying skill 1; I'm not hitting down into the ball. Why am I not hitting down into the ball anymore? Well...I'm just not.

On the other hand, I don't know if it's entirely fair to classify my faults as a golfer as weaknesses in the book. It is certainly true that if I hit down onto the ball, I won't hit thin shots or toppers. And if the book did include "damage control" suggestions such as "Do X with your (shoulder/foot/hip/knee)" there's no guarantee that I'd do that any better than I do skill1.

[BrianW]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

Hmmm.... I went to the range yesterday to practice the three skills. It was a beautiful day and, for some reason, the place was deserted, so there were no distractions. Skill 1 was erratic, which is odd because I had been doing well with it a week or so ago. Skill 2 was okay, at least as far as the drill went. Skill 3 wasn't happening, but since the book says skill 3 can't be mastered until skills 1 and 2 are, that's not surprising. My friend called a little later and I played 18 holes, carding 110. I did make a few good shots, and my short game was pretty good. I holed a chip for birdie on one hole, and my putting was decent. But I hit a lot of weak drives and thin irons that went nowhere, and they add up.

I have to say that perhaps the weakest aspect of the book is that it contains no material to turn to if one doesn't master the skills. The assumptions seems to be that if you do the drills, you'll get the skills. So the "What am I doing wrong?" question doesn't come up. If I'm hitting thin shots, then I'm not applying skill 1; I'm not hitting down into the ball. Why am I not hitting down into the ball anymore? Well...I'm just not.

On the other hand, I don't know if it's entirely fair to classify my faults as a golfer as weaknesses in the book. It is certainly true that if I hit down onto the ball, I won't hit thin shots or toppers. And if the book did include "damage control" suggestions such as "Do X with your (shoulder/foot/hip/knee)" there's no guarantee that I'd do that any better than I do skill1.

Hi Tod,

I don't have the book with me at the moment but I can remember it tells you that if you hit a thin or topped shot it is because the leading edge of the club is striking the ball at it's equator or higher and nothing else. I would imagine that you are either positioning the ball too far forward or you are lifting up to cause this.

My drives have been so much better but I have to keep the vision of the clubface swinging into the back of the ball on a low arc that drives the nail like a hammer, the message that there are no straight lines in the swing is a good one.

[miffin]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

Many thanks for replies to my post. I have decided to chance it and have ordered the book this morning.
Brian

[slater170]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

Many thanks for replies to my post. I have decided to chance it and have ordered the book this morning.
Brian

Hi miffin
you are not chancing it!
keep an open mind, practice the drills dilligently and dont dilute the 3 skills with other swing concepts.
thats all i have have done and its paying dividends

[ubizmo]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

Hi Tod,

I don't have the book with me at the moment but I can remember it tells you that if you hit a thin or topped shot it is because the leading edge of the club is striking the ball at it's equator or higher and nothing else.

That's right. And clearly there is some reason why I'm striking the ball at the equator or higher, since it's not what I'm setting out to do. Specifically, the bottom of my swing arc is changing either vertically or horizontally, or both.

I would imagine that you are either positioning the ball too far forward or you are lifting up to cause this.

I haven't altered the ball position, so I think it's not that. So it comes down to swing mechanics, i.e., lifting up or swaying or making some other movement of the body that's changing the position of the bottom of the swing arc. Of course, the trouble is, there are any number of things that could result in a change in the bottom of the swing arc. Finding the right one is a kind of swing mechanics scavenger hunt, and it's what keeps us all busy on this forum looking for swing tips. It is helpful to keep in mind that the precise way in which the club face meets the ball is ultimately all that matters. But keeping that in mind doesn't actually tell you what's wrong when you find you can't do it properly.

My drives have been so much better but I have to keep the vision of the clubface swinging into the back of the ball on a low arc that drives the nail like a hammer, the message that there are no straight lines in the swing is a good one.

Yes, I have to agree with this. "No straight lines" is a fundamental.

[BrianW]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

That's right. And clearly there is some reason why I'm striking the ball at the equator or higher, since it's not what I'm setting out to do. Specifically, the bottom of my swing arc is changing either vertically or horizontally, or both.



I haven't altered the ball position, so I think it's not that. So it comes down to swing mechanics, i.e., lifting up or swaying or making some other movement of the body that's changing the position of the bottom of the swing arc. Of course, the trouble is, there are any number of things that could result in a change in the bottom of the swing arc. Finding the right one is a kind of swing mechanics scavenger hunt, and it's what keeps us all busy on this forum looking for swing tips. It is helpful to keep in mind that the precise way in which the club face meets the ball is ultimately all that matters. But keeping that in mind doesn't actually tell you what's wrong when you find you can't do it properly.



Yes, I have to agree with this. "No straight lines" is a fundamental.

Thinking on about this Tod, you may be swatting at the ball with your wrists. Maybe you can check that your hands are ahead of the club face into impact with your irons and level with your driver, to hit down you must not let the clubface get ahead of your hands into impact.

[Ian Hancock]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

I am not 100% sure if this is my opinion but with some deep thought I have come up with this controversal statement.

"It does not matter 1) where you aim, 2) how you swing 3) where you place the ball as long as you apply the 3 skills you should be successfull"

1) where you aim = Freddy Couples and many more

2) how you swing = John Daley, monty and many more

3) ball position = Jack Nicklaus off front toe for all shots and many more

If you say to a child "hit the ball" what does he do??

Hit the ball.

Ian.

[Shankless]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

Your statement is true if you do not care about distance, trajectory or where the ball ends up.

If you tell a young child to hit down on the ball they will hit the top of it. They did what you told them, but not what you wanted.

[Ian Hancock]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

Your statement is true if you do not care about distance, trajectory or where the ball ends up.

If you tell a young child to hit down on the ball they will hit the top of it. They did what you told them, but not what you wanted.

Hi There,

Please explain why the three statements will affect distance, trajectory or aim.

The player I mention all swing, set-up and have ball position that goes against fundimental.....!!!

As long as the three skills are applied the ball will go where the mind of the player wants it.

Ian.

[BrianW]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

My take on this is that the swing path, clubhead speed and contact with the ball are ultimately what decides where the ball will go and how it gets there, everything else is secondary to these prerequisites. Most teachings in videos, books or lessons do not focus on these basic principles, if they did then there would be a whole bunch of less confused and better golfers out there.

[ubizmo]

Re: i used the 3 skills and nailed it!

Thinking on about this Tod, you may be swatting at the ball with your wrists. Maybe you can check that your hands are ahead of the club face into impact with your irons and level with your driver, to hit down you must not let the clubface get ahead of your hands into impact.

Good point; I hadn't considered that. It's not an easy thing to check, except with video. It's also not an easy thing to control. It's interesting that you mention swatting, since eliminating swatting is also the point of Greg's RH drill. Over the past couple of years, I've hit many buckets of balls practicing the RH drill. The trouble has always been that while I can execute the drill well, taking the club only to horizontal or less, it doesn't seem to stick when I go to anything approaching a full swing.

For me, the bottom line is that as much as we may want to avoid having to deal with swing mechanics, if the three skills aren't working there's really no alternative to them. If swing fixes don't fix anything, then the unwelcome but perhaps correct conclusion may be that one is striking the ball as well as one can, given one's basic abilities. It doesn't make the game any less fun.