SevenBall's Unified Theory of Golf Haha

You all want to hear my theory on co-ordination for Golf? You'll probably think its bull-****, and I don't have supporting evidence besides what I think it did for me - but have a read anyway. It's something that no-one has ever looked into.

First lets think about what happens when you go and practice Golf.. You get say 100 balls and start hitting. Each shot lasts for about a second. So in reality, you are actually practicing for less than 2 minutes even though you might be there an hour and a half.

The first time I saw Tiger bouncing a golf ball on a club, to me, it was so obvious - he has hit 5 million Golf balls that allowed him to have this skill and others, so why not try and learn the skill in reverse order. Spend 3 hours a day with tricks and see if my Golf co-ordination improves. It was a gamble because it could have turned out to be a big waste of time but soon I was bouncing a ball, then flicking it up to my head and catching it on the club head (my best for that is 168 in a row ), then flicking 20 out of 20 up and hitting them straight down the fairway. I went from hitting balls along the ground to a 3 handicap in 16 months.

Now you may say that these tricks are easy and yes I agree - they are not hard but a classical pianist will tell you a piece is not hard too but they still practice it over and over. The only assertion I am making here is developing co-ordination by these means is much faster than doing it by hitting golf balls. Don't get me wrong you still need a good swing but the amazing thing is this gives you the ability to compensate during it and still make a nice solid shot.

Don't say I have some magic talent, the only thing I had was determination. I couldn't even bounce a ball twice when I first tried it but I didn't stop until I could.

As I said, this is something that is never talked about when it comes to Golf but I think it is a very important factor.

Although I was not part of the thread, I have read something simular to what you are speaking on a medical forum. It had to do with genetics, and a person being able to develope certain physical skills base on their own genetic make up. As an example you through your own determination, were able develope the coordination your boddy alrady had to bounce the ball off the clubface. However, someone else might not have the genetic make up to develope that same skill. That same person might be able to swim 10 miles non stop, where as you might not be able to swim 1 mile. In other words a person can only develope a particular physical trait only so much based on their own respective genetic make up. Some university professor made a strong argument that genetics determined the amount of coordination, and the way that coordination could be used by an individual.

Like I said I did not participate in that topic's thread, but it was interesting. The funny thing was that several posters agreed in theory with the topic, while one poster was trying to baffle the rest with his own reasonings against it. GJS

Yes that is also demonstrated in fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibres. It's impossible for someone to train with slow twitch muscles and be as good as sprinter as someone with fast twitch muscles.

Lets look at me standing along side Tiger with regards to co-ordination. With all my practice anything I could do 100 times in a row he could do 50,000 times. The difference has to biological but don't sell yourself short, we might not be world class but damn, a good enjoyable game of golf where we can say, "Hey, I'm pretty good" I think is in anybodies reach.

sevenball,
I aplaude you for looking into something different. Most of the info you read on golf is all regurgitated, you have went out on a limb and explored a different area, good job man. I believe what you say has some validity. I will work on bouncing my balls more

"we might not be world class but damn, a good enjoyable game of golf where we can say, "Hey, I'm pretty good"

hi sevenball
i love the statement mate
its refreshing to read a different approach to our beloved game!
thats some progress you made in such a short space of time
i never thought i had the abilty to break 100 when i 1st started now i know i will break 90 virtually everytime i go out and there's plenty left in the tank yet
nice one and good on yer

Nature vs. Nurture

Was Tiger "born" a good golfer? Or did he become one because his father "made" him play golf day-in day-out from the time he could first walk?

Was Mozart "born" a great pianist? Or was it because his father was a great pianist and made his son play the piano from a very early age?

Of course the answer is a bit of both.

Back to Sevenball's argument: I've tried a couple of times to bounce the ball off my clubface, but always seem to spend more time chasing balls all over the place than actually bouncing the balls! So at least it's good exercise! I'll have to give it another try. Maybe if I get good at it it'll a way to win back my bets from the the game!

While I am for improving hand eye coordination, I prefer visualisation. Watching a great swing, then closing your eyes and watching you make that great swing. Over and over.

Then, when you step to your ball, you close your eyes and see that great swing, and leave the rest up to your body to make that great swing.

Al Geiberger came up with that same idea 30 years ago, sorry Lowpost. It was called Sybervision, got the tape on my bookshelf. The idea being Neuro-Muscular Programming, watching the best swing of that time, Geiberger Mr perfect swing shot 59 in a tour event, swing over and over from every angle with soothing music playing in background, was suppose to put you in a zen like state and change your swing. I used it back then, nice to watch, but didn't do much for swing.

Looks like old Al's thing is still around, on DVD now, Al is down towards the bottom:
http://www.sybervision.com/Golf/golfmain.htm

Below is an article on genetics, and atheletes. It kind of borders both sides of the fence. GJS

http://www.onlinesports.com/sportstrust/creative10.html

Ok, case in point. Now think about this..

At a 100Mph who is going to be able to slide the club in under the ball better - you chasing balls or me being able juggle and do other tricks? What you are working on is exactly that, fine motor skills. The only thing I am saying is working on fine motor skills with tricks gives a lot faster results than hitting golf balls.

I told a pro about this theory and Tiger and he just started bouncing a ball and said, "Oh, all pro's can do that." Even though he dismissed me he backed up my point - "All pro's can do that." Which says to me, there is a relationship between bouncing tricks and ball striking.

Yeah I had to chase balls too when I started, I thought I would never do it. It took me about 20 hours of practice just to be able to do 5 bounces and catch it but after that it was suprisingly easy.

I watch a single dimple towards the back of the ball. I don't think about swing, I just watch that dimple and swing the power I need. I establish my shot in my pre-shot routine (ie going to take a deepish divot, let it fade 5 yards) - take a few practice swings to get the feel but over the ball I am only thinking of one dimple. Everyone is different though this works for me.