John Riegger / Rob Noel: Warm-Up Routine -- 5-Part Series

[mb6606]

Thanks John, Rob, Yoda, Doug, 6BMike, and the rest at LBG it is a terrific series. Congratulations to John and Jennie on the birth of their second child.

[alex_chung]

Thanks to everyone involved for these videos, I just downloaded them and can't wait to see them.
Alex

[blehnhard]

Thanks to John & Rob for the selfless contribution and congrats to John on the new addition.

Several comments / ?? after viewing the slow motion 8,6,Driver. These comments are not derogatory in any sense - looks like a great motion to me.

1. LH Grip appears slightly 'strong' and hands are not mid body, more mid left thigh - definite 'shaft lean' with the irons and a touch with the driver. Could some of this be camera angle?

2. Not to get into the tripod center debate, but JR has a nice 'steady / still ' head, but look positioned at address to be slightly right of middle of stance - again, camera angle?

3. Is JR a hitter or swinger? His late 'roll' to lay the club face on the plane suggests a hitter. Definite HH past the follow thru suggests swinger.

4. I detect a modest amount of float loading at top - notice how wide and away from his body is right elbow is on the face on view thru most of the backswing - then how close is elbow is to his side as he reaches "end". Is the loading action driven by the transition of the hips, or by solely the motion of increasing his right elbow bend?

5. I have a slightly strong LH -similar to JR. At the 2/3 point in the backswing, John has the clubface exactly at the same angle as his spine (slightly closed in current instruction terms). From this postion, he gets the clubface nicely laying on the plane and end. Mine is always still 'closed'. Does John make a concious effort to roll the face onto the plane during the last 1/3 of the backswing, or does it happen naturally?

6. The 8 & 6 move perfectly up the plane, the driver slightly inside / under at start up. Looks to me like John getting to the turned shoulder plane as quickly as possible and then using this plane as close as possible in the downswing.

Thanks again to John and Rob - great stuff. Any and all comments and answers to the above welcome - I can even take some heavy criticism of my comments if warrented.

Bruce

[john riegger]

wow lot of questions.i am definitely a swinger.maybe 1% of the people that play golf are hitters.my hands are on the club about as good as you can get.you are right in a sense that i have some float loating.drag the wet mop. i do use the turned shoulder .the loading action is the result of tracing a straight line.

[john riegger]

maybe someone other than myself should answer this post.personally i think it those swings are pretty darn good.can someone help me out here

[blehnhard]

John - as I stated at the beginning of the post, I think these are great swings. Only trying to learn the feels / thought process you go thru to accomplish what you do.

IMHO, I favor a slightly stronger grip over one more 'on top' of the club.

I would like to believe that one could reach a state that the backswing motion is simply the result of getting to a point where you can drive 'down and out' rather that trying to accomplish certain positions.

As a former exempt player on the SR PGA Tour (93 & 98 )and just a casual player now - I am still trying to get better.

Keep up the great work and best wishes for success when you resume playing - enjoy the young ones ( I am on grandchild # 11).

Bruce

[mb6606]

5. I have a slightly strong LH -similar to JR. At the 2/3 point in the backswing, John has the clubface exactly at the same angle as his spine (slightly closed in current instruction terms). From this postion, he gets the clubface nicely laying on the plane and end. Mine is always still 'closed'. Does John make a concious effort to roll the face onto the plane during the last 1/3 of the backswing, or does it happen naturally?

Rob mentions to John about the right arm fanning. It would be a conscious effort I assume John worked hard to achieve this.

[mb6606]

John's PGA stats 2005 vs 2006.
John has gained a huge increase in driving distance (10 yds) and accuracy (plus 10%) in 2006.
Really terrific.

[EdZ]

maybe someone other than myself should answer this post.personally i think it those swings are pretty darn good.can someone help me out here

Thanks to John & Rob for the selfless contribution and congrats to John on the new addition.

Several comments / ?? after viewing the slow motion 8,6,Driver. These comments are not derogatory in any sense - looks like a great motion to me.

1. LH Grip appears slightly 'strong' and hands are not mid body, more mid left thigh - definite 'shaft lean' with the irons and a touch with the driver. Could some of this be camera angle?

A very solid left hand position. One that more people should use IMO. Looks to my eye to be turned approx 45 degrees to the plane line, and where the left hand would hang (and thus return) naturally for most.

2. Not to get into the tripod center debate, but JR has a nice 'steady / still ' head, but look positioned at address to be slightly right of middle of stance - again, camera angle?

Looks pretty solid to me, and quite near impact location.

3. Is JR a hitter or swinger? His late 'roll' to lay the club face on the plane suggests a hitter. Definite HH past the follow thru suggests swinger.

Indeed, an interesting question. Looks more hitter than swinger in some ways yes.

4. I detect a modest amount of float loading at top - notice how wide and away from his body is right elbow is on the face on view thru most of the backswing - then how close is elbow is to his side as he reaches "end". Is the loading action driven by the transition of the hips, or by solely the motion of increasing his right elbow bend?

As long as there is pivot lag, float loading is a sign of good tempo IMO and while there is less obvious hip motion than some, it has to be in the lead to maintain good lag pressure. From the sound of that impact.... definite lag pressure


5. I have a slightly strong LH -similar to JR. At the 2/3 point in the backswing, John has the clubface exactly at the same angle as his spine (slightly closed in current instruction terms). From this postion, he gets the clubface nicely laying on the plane and end. Mine is always still 'closed'. Does John make a concious effort to roll the face onto the plane during the last 1/3 of the backswing, or does it happen naturally?

A big key is to learn to 'allow' rotation. Hard to do because most who 'try' to rotate, over rotate, and most who 'try' not to rotate, keep it too closed. Getting on plane will really help this issue by leaps and bounds. If you are on plane it is significantly simpler to 'allow' rotation.

6. The 8 & 6 move perfectly up the plane, the driver slightly inside / under at start up. Looks to me like John getting to the turned shoulder plane as quickly as possible and then using this plane as close as possible in the downswing.

I'd say quite near a zero shift on a lot of those swings in my view. Love how solidly up/down the plane the hands move. Wonderful to see!


Thanks again to John and Rob - great stuff. Any and all comments and answers to the above welcome - I can even take some heavy criticism of my comments if warrented.

Indeed - great stuff guys! Thank you for putting that together and posting it. Should be a lot of fog lifting and light bulbs going on with those

Bruce

I'll give it a shot.... comments in blue above

[mb6606]

maybe someone other than myself should answer this post.can someone help me out here

John's stance seems a bit narrow for a tall guy. I would think a little wider stance would increase stability for his tripod.