What's inside the parentheses?

Tyler,
I've learned more about the golf swing in the last few months at the golf smart academy than I have in my previous 25 years of playing and studying the game.
My question is about the order in which a player should learn the GSA skills that you teach.

In algebra, a student follows the order of operations: Parentheses, exponents, multiplication, etc... If you perform the functions in the wrong order you get the wrong answer.

As you say, the golf swing is a balancing of steeps and shallows - things that add or subtract to the equation.

If a golfer tries to acquire these skills out of sequence - not in the sense of a swing sequence - but of learning components in order, they very well may struggle and not benefit from all of your instruction???

IF you had to come up with an 'order of operations' what would that look like?

I've heard you say 'motorcycle first' and 'make the brush your homebase'

You have a 'find your best swing quickly' playlist, but at least for me, as a subscriber, there isn't a clearly defined roadmap.

Which skills are to acquired first so that the next may be implemented without trouble?

Hey Scott,

I got a chuckle from the analogy. Thanks. But here's the challenge with the analogy. In Algebra, there is one right answer. In golf, there could be many. Let me explain. There are three main variables - Path (solid contact), Face to Path (curve), Speed (distance). But, unlike math, those variables are interdependent. As you change one variable, it changes the others.

Some of the factors that influence where you start depend on what your goals/priorites are. With my students, I tend to prioritize Solid contact, then straight, then far. The motorcycle tends to help with both solid contact as well as hitting it straighter and further. It also provides the skill of knowing how to close the face. (Most power movements open the face, so it's good to know how to open the face prior to needing that skill). Make brush your home base is great if your priority is solid contact. So those are simple recipies for the average golfer.

While that's a simple recipe, individual psychology comes into play. Which do you like more, hitting it straight? Hitting it solid? Feeling like you're swinging hard? Personally, I hate when I can't control curve, so I usually prioritize hitting it straight over hitting it dead solid. I have some other students who hate if they lose 1 yard for even one day. So they have to prioritize speed. I find more often than not, golfers hate if they don't hit it as solid as they are capable. But it does depend.

Also, different clubs have different priorities. If you're goal is to maximize the driver, then you might lose some low point control with the irons. Or if you are working on iron play, you might lose some of your driving accuracy. So as you see, the equation is more complex than algebra.

The good news, is that the more you work on each skill, the easier it is to work on multiple skills simultaneously. I don't necessarily think there is a "right order", but rather, if you want to maximize your game, you want to work on each skill multiple times and in multiple ways.

One roadmap that I use with my students is to always try and improve your most costly miss. That helps prioritize face or solid contact. If you're reasonably solid and straight, then not hitting it far enough to have enough opportunities could be the "most costly miss".

I hope that gives you some ideas.

PS - I'm working on some reorganization of content, so hopefully that helps decoding your own situation easier.

Hi Tyler,

Thanks for the well thought out response. It does give me some ideas. Like you, I'm not a fan of curve on the ball that I can't control. I can hook it with the best of them. I'm no Cameron Champ but hit it far enough to get around to get around most courses. It's the curvature and and lack of solid contact with my irons that's an issue.
Having said that, to relate this back to my initial post: If a player watches video of themselves they might observe a backswing where they might move off the ball a little too much, have too level of a shoulder turn (either in the back swing or early extend) and / or have a very steep arm swing. Familiar stuff...
That same golfer might watch some videos, do some drills and mirror work. Steepening their torso and shallowing their arms only to head to the range or course and have the club come crashing into the ground 3" behind the ball.
Maybe the root cause is the notion / false belief that they need to hang on the 'lag' and maintain that radial flexion in the lead wrist. Or perhaps they are directing their energy / release at the ball rather than say 5:00?
Seems like a player can run around trying to fix effects. That's why I asked 'what comes first?' It'd be cool to have a little visio flow chart for troubleshooting for those of us attempting to learn on our own at home.

Scott

Well, a simple rule is that solid contact comes from path and curve comes from face-to-path. So if you're not worried about hitting it far, you only have two variables to try and solve.

In your scenario, one simple guideline is that transition reveals how a golfer is creating speed. A sway or flat shoulder plane in the backswing is almost always an indication that a golfer is trying to use their upper body too much for power. If that's the case, then the scenario you described is very possible. But, hitting 3 inches behind the ball could also be a result of a release issue that showed up following a better transition. Reading feedback is the key to making progress.

I almost always use video at least once or twice a practice session to check-in and make sure that what I am doing is reinforcing my swing the way I want. That way, in each practice. I identify one thing I don't like, experiment with solutions (drills from the site) to work on that one thing, and then put in reps with varying degree of a challenge once I've isolated my focus for that practice.

One other mantra I give my students is to "fix your worse miss". The highest predictor of your handicap is the quality of your worst shots, not your best ones. So if you are always improving your worse miss, your scores go down faster. In your scenario, hitting 3 inches behind the ball is a bad miss, so I'd focus on that more so than working on backswing or transition.