Twatting or Mechanics.

[BrianW]

Thread after thread on this site get into deep discussions on swing philosophy. It would be simplistic to suggest there are only two camps but for the hell of it I will suggest that there are the twatters and the mechanics.

Twatters suggest that you should learn by putting the ball down and twatting it up the fairway, with little other consideration than say, good setup, breathing and bringing the clubface back square.

Mechanics believe that a good golfer has to learn the setup basics but also needs to understand where the club and body should be at any position through the swing, they believe in a set of swing fundamentals that within reason every good golfer adheres to.

So! Are you of the Twatting or mechanic school of golf? Or! as well may be likely, I am talking a load of Bol***ks.

[slater170]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

Thread after thread on this site get into deep discussions on swing philosophy. It would be simplistic to suggest there are only two camps but for the hell of it I will suggest that there are the twatters and the mechanics.

Twatters suggest that you should learn by putting the ball down and twatting it up the fairway, with little other consideration than say, good setup, breathing and bringing the clubface back square.

Mechanics believe that a good golfer has to learn the setup basics but also needs to understand where the club and body should be at any position through the swing, they believe in a set of swing fundamentals that within reason every good golfer adheres to.

So! Are you of the Twatting or mechanic school of golf? Or! as well may be likely, I am talking a load of Bol***ks.

hi brian
love the thread title
down manchester way the vernacular for pitch and putt is twat n tap so you may have something there.

[GolfJunkieSr]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

Based on you discriptions, I guess I am a twatter. If I had to think about all that mechanic mumbo jumbo stuff before I hit the ball, the confusion would cast grave doubts about my on course sanity. Now I am wondering where you ever came up with the term twatter. I am afraid to ask my wife since she is a retired OB/GYN doc, and would probably slap me. GJS

[slater170]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

Based on you discriptions, I guess I am a twatter. If I had to think about all that mechanic mumbo jumbo stuff before I hit the ball, the confusion would cast grave doubts about my on course sanity. Now I am wondering where you ever came up with the term twatter. I am afraid to ask my wife since she is a retired OB/GYN doc, and would probably slap me. GJS

the mumbo jumbo stuff appeals to some people but the last time i tried to take all this stuff in i ended up with a 20 second freeze before i could hit my shot!
i concentrate on having a good preshot routine and solid fundamentals then i twat it!

[Matt10]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

Does being a feel player go under "twatter" or "mechanics"?

[89imf]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

I'm from the Jim Furyk school of golf. Ugly swing, good results.

[LowPost42]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

I'm somewhere in between.

I'm a basketball coach at the high school level.
I've played baseball, american football, and basketball at a competitive or semi-competitive level.

Sound fundamentals are the building blocks to any efficient athletic movement. I learned this the hard way as an athlete - there's a reason why there's a 'textbook' way to perform most actions. It's the most effective way most times.

I've had players come through the basketball program with some funky looking shots that worked for them... in grade 9. I would break them down to fundamentals and have them move mechanically while feeling these new movements. They would practice shooting at walls mechanically to feel and groove these new movements. Those that practiced and ingrained the new movements became better shooters. Those that stuck with their awkward looking shots did alright due to athletic ability, but would often find themselves stuck when facing a decent shot challenge, as their unique shooting style didn't allow for many options when defended.

I've heard the following quote and am working to apply the latter to my own swing:

There are some players that are good despite their swing and there are some players that are good because of it.

I just started a complete rebuild of my swing. On the range, when working mechanically, I do not have a target. I simply setup with the ball in position, and work on my mechanics. I'll check my ball flight for trajectory and lateral movement, but since I'm working on mechanics (and feeling the new mechanic), trying to hit to a target would be counterproductive. The last thing I want to do is override the right thing by trying to manipulate the club to hit a target. Once I'm comfortable with the feeling, then I select a target, and work through my preshot routine. Then I swing without a mechanical thought in my head. I'll often video this to see if the new part of the swing has been ingrained, if it's partially there, or if I have to go back to mechanics.

I've learned it's really hard to hit a ball when you're thinking about positions and mechanics. It's even harder to hit the ball well.

So, when working on a change, I'd say mech. When trying to play, I'd say twat.

[Started2k3]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

Kind of hard to place myself. I think the "Twatting" camp that you describe is a little bit thin on some key mechanics, but the "mechanics' camp is probably taking the multiple swing positions to the extreme (the transition between swing positions should be effortless and subconscious).

I think there are only a few key things that are actually important (fundamental) to a consistent, powerful golf swing. If you have these (and the time to practice them) then it makes it easy to twat.

The zillions of tips, gimicks and quick fixes that are thrown out into the web/books, probably cause more problems than they correct. It is not that I think ALL of them are useless, but a lot of them are trying to teach an aspect of the fundamental but if the user does not or cannot learn the fundamental that it is trying to teach, then the "fix" will probably never become permanent. .... dear Lord .... I am boring myself ... I'll stop now.

Charles

[GolfJunkieSr]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

I like what S2K3, and LP42 have to say regarding this topic. To arrive at being a twatter, at some point the mechanics were practiced to the point where they became a subconcious movement.

S2K3 touched on a facet of on golf instruction that many make a big mistake with when trying to learn the game of golf. The zillions of of golf tips, and gimmicks available do nothing more than create confusion for the aspiring golfer, and his/her physical abilities, when trying to fine tune their game. Once an aspiring golfer starts trying to incorporated different types of teaching into their games they will not graduate to being a better golfer. Way too many conflicting instructions are out there. Once a golfer settles in comfortably with a chosen path of instruction from one individual instructor, they will learn the game faster. Once the game is learned, with a repeatable ball flight, they can declare themselves a twatter.

"Twatter"? is that a Euro term? GJS

[LowPost42]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

I like what S2K3, and LP42 have to say regarding this topic. To arrive at being a twatter, at some point the mechanics were practiced to the point where they became a subconcious movement.

S2K3 touched on a facet of on golf instruction that many make a big mistake with when trying to learn the game of golf. The zillions of of golf tips, and gimmicks available do nothing more than create confusion for the aspiring golfer, and his/her physical abilities, when trying to fine tune their game. Once an aspiring golfer starts trying to incorporated different types of teaching into their games they will not graduate to being a better golfer. Way too many conflicting instructions are out there. Once a golfer settles in comfortably with a chosen path of instruction from one individual instructor, they will learn the game faster. Once the game is learned, with a repeatable ball flight, they can declare themselves a twatter.

"Twatter"? is that a Euro term? GJS

This is why my swing is tiny right now. I still struggle with having a proper wrist set (my tendency is still to fan the face open). Sure, on the range I'll try to expand my swing, but when things go haywire, it's back to setting my wrists and taking a tiny swing. Working mechanics until they become the twat result. (FWIW, I'm enjoying liberal use of the word twat in a non-gendered meaning.)

[GregJWillis]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

I repeat the ideas of Started2k3 and LowPost42,

Everyone starts out as a feel player...you have to...if you don't, then all you are doing is making robotic movements. Your body gets into a good repeatable sequence that produces a good move at the ball.

Then, the inevitable happens: they hear something on TV, watch a pro tourney or loose a big match, so then.........take a lesson.

These will 99% of the time turn the swing into the Mechanic. Very seldom will a lesson emphasize the feel aspects in order to talk about a detailed aspect of something that you need to "fix".

Now, you are at a crossroads. How long do you stay fixing? What causes you to return back to the feel again? Do you fix this item, and then get another item to fix? At what point is the fixing over and you allow yourself to return back to a feel?

So, the answers are very different for the type of person you are...it's pretty simple. Those that "enjoy" the pursuit of perfection, obviously will never return to the first feel stage. Unless you get so good as to run out of items to fix (but as we all know, even the greatest have to improve in some way). The person that reaches the realization that to improve another item will require a long "fix-recovery" process has to make the logical choice...what ever they are able to stand.

So in my answer to the question...Twatting is a goal that everyone should be looking to finally allow their swing to fall into, and those in the Mechanical stage are there, hopefully, only temporarily.

[Scragger63]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

Happily am a Twatter now.....

(Checks the keyboard and the s and the t keys are seemingly too far apart for Twatters to be a typo...)

Agree that on course during a round is no place to be thinking "mechanically"....

Trusting what you've got on the day is the key it seems, and I know I am guilty of not doing so more often than not...

Do we (self confessed ) twatters have a club rooms somewhere...???

Cheers

[BrianW]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

Well, I started this so I guess I should come out the closet. I am a twatanic.

I am a mechanic on the range where I strive to improve every part of my game and groove it into my subconscious, when playing the course I have to twat, I cannot fill my head with swing thoughts when playing. I do hold images in my mind when playing a shot though, sometimes the image is the target, sometimes it is an image of me swinging smoothly or aggressively depending on the shot to play.

GJS, to Twat is a slang term in some parts of the UK to strike something hard, it is also a term for a part of the female anatomy that we won't go into
I love the reference from Slats relating to Pitch and Putt as "Twatt and Tap" I first heard the term in golf from an old colleague who was a particularly long driver of the ball and when asked by anyone how he did it he would reply " I just put it on the tee and twat it up the fairway"

[shootin4par]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

well the twatters club are a bunch of.......

[slater170]

Re: Twatting or Mechanics.

"Well, I started this so I guess I should come out the closet. I am a twatanic."

the same for me brian!
was at the range last night worrking on the mechanics
and im due to go out shortly for 18 holes of twatt n tap