Progressive Nature of RST Drills

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This is a MUST WATCH video if you're serious about improving your golf swing this year. This golf instruction video explains how to practice and do the drills to improve the fastest.


Hey guys, Chuck Quinton here, founder of RotarySwing.com. I want to talk about what I'm ... really, could honestly be considered the most important concept in learning the golf swing, period. And that is, how do you actually take your drills from a drill that you're doing slow-motion, in the house, in front of a mirror, to the golf course?

                And I've talked about this a bunch, but I feel like I haven't quite gotten the point across as much as I need to, because I still have people come to the clinics and ignore this most basic premise, that everything has to be progressive. You can't just go from slow speed, in front of a mirror, to full speed, on the golf course, full distractions, et cetera, and expect everything to work out.

                You've heard me use the analogy before of, when we all learned how to drive back in the day on a manual transmission, we struggled in the parking lot with no distractions just trying to get that perfect blend of gas and letting the clutch out and getting everything to work without lurching or stalling or hitting something.

                And then the next day, we all went out and raced the Indy 500 right? No, of course not, that doesn't make any sense. The same logic has got to be applied to your golf swing. When you practice something slow-motion in the parking lot, and you're just doing it with no club, no ball, it's just you, laser-focused in on what you see in front of the mirror, and then you go out to the range, or go out to the course and play a round of golf, it's completely unrealistic for you to expect that everything you just did with no distractions is going to go perfectly with tons of distractions and speed.

                Speed is our friend, but it can also be our foe when it comes to learning, and that's what I want to talk about today. And I'm going to show you explicitly, exactly how to take your moves from the mirror or even the range to the course to go full speed. Let's take a look.

                So, the most important thing that you've got to do at first is doing the work in front of the mirror. You know that. So I'm going to assume that you've been in the house, you've been working on your drills, everything's going great. You may have even added the club inside, and now you want to go to the range and you want to hit balls. I get it. Everybody wants to hit balls. I love hitting balls. That's the whole point of what we're doing, is to go to hit the ball better.

                However, if you go from in front of a mirror doing it really slow with no ball, and you put the little yellow demon in this case in front of you and go full speed, your expectations should be that you are gonna get one out of 10 decent, not even perfect. The goal is perfect reps. It doesn't do us a darn bit of good to do it incorrectly. You're just ingraining more bad habits that you're already an expert at.

                We're trying to teach you new good habits, and we want to make you an expect at that, and that takes time and progression. That is the key.

                So, as I'm outside, and let's say I'm working on these drills, and let's say I'm just doing my little 9 to 3 drill. I'm checking weight shift to the right, shoulder turn, nothing crazy with my wrist. Then the hard part, shift to the left, post up, let the club release.

                That's one good rep. I did everything. I went through my checkpoints, I'm in neutral joint alignment, my chest didn't rotate out to the target, I didn't look out to the left, et cetera. That's great.

                Now I want to apply that to hitting balls. Obviously, if I'm just doing it with ... let's say I'm up to my right hand, take away, shift, release. That's a rep. Why can't I break it up in pauses like that?

                You should, because your brain probably can't do all of that together at speed in one motion when you add that ball in there. It's a huge distraction. So at first, I like to break it up. Take away, shift, release. Perfect. I'm learning. My brain is able to keep up with that pace.

                Now maybe I'm already at the point where I don't need to break it up into little pauses like that. That's cool. I can go back, make it all one motion, still going through my checkpoints every single time. I couldn't care less where that ball went. I didn't even look up to see it.

                That's a huge pet peeve of mine, 'cause now look what happened. I came out of my posture, I'm looking down the line, my chest is facing the target, my hips are open. I don't know if what I did at impact was correct. The only way I'm going to know is to stop shortly thereafter and look at it and go through my checklist.

                Now this whole sequence, that might take me an hour, it might take me a week, it might take me two months, before I can do that sequence perfectly, hitting balls.

                The timeline that it takes is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that you get that movement down, and then wherever you're at is where you're at and then you slowly start adding more speed and a bigger swing to it. So that whole movement that I just did, which was really the core nine to three, RST drill, weight shift to the right, body turn, shift to the left, post up, release, that's the golf swing. It doesn't get any more complicated than that, it's just making that bigger.

                How do I do that? I'm going to make a bigger turn. So now, let's say I've been doing that for a week and I'm doing it perfect. I know I'm posted up every time, I got the feelings, I can sit here and talk about what I'm doing while I'm doing it and still not mess it up. That's when you really know that you've mastered that movement, is if you can sit here and tell me what you had for breakfast and keep doing the reps and never screw it up once. Then you're ready to add more to it.

                So, now we're going from the parking lot, we're out onto a quiet city street somewhere. There's more distractions, there's cars parked, there's traffic, there's stop signs. I have to think more about slipping the clutch and feeding it the throttle. So now, as I add a little bit more to it, I'm just going to slowly work into that.

                All right. Now, as I start to do this, I'm going through the same checkpoints. I'm looking, am I posted up? Is my right heel down? Did I release my forearms? Is my chest back? Is my head back? Did I make a good backswing movement, et cetera. Yeah, that was pretty good.

                So I'm going to let myself keep doing those reps the exact same way to build up that myelin in on my brain. Same thing. I can keep doing this. If I make a mistake, it's perfectly okay. All I want to do is know what I did wrong. The way I'm going to do that? Stop and hold my finish and go through my checkpoints every single time, the same checkpoints I've been beating into your brain this whole time. Left hip in neutral joint alignment, hips a little bit open, shoulders square, arms and club fully released, head and chest back, right heel down. Keep doing that in your head.

                And then, let's say you do that for a day, a week, a month, two months, whatever it takes, it doesn't matter. The way that you're going to know when you have it is that you can do 50 out of 50 and not make a big mistake. You're gonna hit them off a little bit here and there, that's okay, mistakes are perfectly fine, that's part of the learning process.

                But if I sit here and I do one like this ... well, that's not a good rep. That's not one out of my 50, that's a bad one. I need to make certain that I can do these movements correctly and not fall back on my right foot or whatever it is that you're struggling with that you're working on.

                So, I want to make sure I can do these right every time, and now let's say that that's week two, I hit that ... this is a 8 iron, I hit that about 100 yards with a little baby nine to three swing. That might be where I stop for a week, because let's say I go to full-speed, and I'm going to make a mistake here. Now I'm hanging back on my right leg. So now, as I'm going through my checkpoints, I'm like, "Oh, shoot, my weight's back here, so I look like this in my follow-through. That's no good."

                My brain is telling me I can't go that fast yet. I can't hit my 8 iron 140 yards or whatever it was there. I need to back it down and go back to my 100 rep spot, or 100-yard spot.

                Now that one was good, the ball went straight. I go through my checkpoints, so on and so forth. This is the only way to practice your golf swing and get better, period. You cannot go from the parking lot to the Indy 500. You have to work up slowly, add distance and speed slowly, and then you will get there. I promise you.

                I always tell people in the clinics, it's 100% true in the hundreds of clinics that I've done, without fail, those who go the slowest at the beginning always arrive the furthest and the fastest at the end of the weekend, without fail.

                What I mean by that is, the ones who are really going really slow and being methodical an checking all their checkpoints on every single rep, holding their follow-through, at the end of the weekend at a clinic, are twice as far or 10 times as far ahead as the guy who ignored heeding all that advice and kept just going full speed right away all the time and not holding his follow-through, and just got wrapped up in hitting balls.

                I can sit here and hit balls all day. It's great exercise, I guess, but it's not making me any better. This is what makes me better. So this whole sequence of getting to the point, let's say I'll go maybe 70% here.

                So that was a good rep, ball went where I want, let's say I hit it, 140, 160 yards, somewhere in there, I don't really know, I'm at altitude here, so the ball's going further. But that was a good rep. I went through my checkpoints, I could check my follow-through. I know that I did everything correctly. I'm happy with the result there.

                The ball is not my measuring stick. My finish positions and what I feel, 'cause hopefully I've done enough inside to know when my feel is wrong or right, that's what I'm using to qualify whether or not that was a good rep.

                So, every single drill that you're doing, and you're working up to hitting balls, work through the progression. Like I said, it might take you ... on average, it takes everybody about a month to master a new movement. And that means going slow and taking a little step up, adding 10% speed, adding 20% speed, a little bit more and a little bit more each time, until you work up to your full speed.

                But do not expect to go from the living room in front of a mirror to full speed. That doesn't make any sense. Parking lot to Indy 500, that's what I'm going to tell you every time you say, "Hey, I'm working on my swing, but, man, I just can't translate the difference from doing it inside to doing it outside on the range."

                It's because you've skipped everything in the middle. It doesn't work like that. That's like going and working out today and doing 5000 benchpresses and expecting tomorrow to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Our bodies just don't work like that. Our brains don't work like that either.

                So now, without fail, you know exactly how to practice. You're just doing baby moves. You can break it into chunks, you can break your big swing into chunks. If you want to back a little further, stop, check my points ... oh, I didn't get shifted over far enough, that feels better, shift, release.

                It's perfectly okay to break it into pauses and chunks like that. I highly recommend it, but the big thing, progression. Work through your drills. Add speed slowly, a little bit every day, every week, and I promise, if you follow this progression, that's how you're going to translate from going slow motion to full speed. You just need all the meat in the middle. 

Must be Premium Member to Comment

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Kyle
Hi! Quick random question...how often should I get a swing review? Are they every two weeks or whenever I chose?
March 17, 2021
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Kyle. Whenever you would like. However, I would suggest about every 2 weeks.
March 17, 2021
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Bill
Just joined... Should I call it a season? My take away from this video is to just work on the RST system and not play golf for awhile. Is that correct?
August 31, 2020
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Bill. You can still play, but it will slow down the process initially. Take a look at Should You Play Golf While Learning Your New Swing? Video.
September 1, 2020
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Shawn
This may be so a dumb question. Does where the ball goes matter that much? I have a net I hit into so total flight is about 15 ft. Obviously blade or fat are telling.
July 17, 2020
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Shawn. Feedback is important. But, in the beginning the goal is the movement. However, do take note of the quality of strike. Lots of my students have to use limited space.
July 18, 2020
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Michael K
Do the 100 good reps have to be in a row ?
January 31, 2020
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Michael. No, but same day.
February 1, 2020
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albert
Hey, this is albert. Are you telling us in this video, that we should not play golf as we work on our swing? Or is it just that we should not have expectation of doing everything correct as we progress.
November 21, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Albert. For a faster reboot/rebuild of your swing it would be ideal to shelve the golf. However, you still can play during the changes. It will just take longer and expectations to have the move correct should be lower at first.
November 22, 2019
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Paul
Can you do 9 to 3 drills at home inside with foam golf balls or with no ball as I live in northern Canada and summer will not last very long.
August 24, 2019
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Mikko-Pekka
Hello Paul. I live in Finland and I have similar situation. Totally acceptable to do 9 to 3 drills inside. Of cource in some point drills have to be tested in real life situation. But you can perfect the movements indoors.
August 24, 2019
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Francis Hastings
Whereas I understand the logic of not playing whilst ingraining this new methodology it is quite unrealistic to expect pupils, looking to improve, not to play. This is something that should be addressed in a separate video rather than brief comments. In other words why have I bought this course if I can't play until it is fully complete?
August 9, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Francis. Take a look at Should You Play Golf While Learning Your New Swing? Video. You can play, but you have to know it will take more time and be more challenging to correct older movement patterns. I have lots of students that shelve the course while changing their swing. Short term loss for long term gain. Nevertheless, completely understand where you are coming from and it is very unrealistic when it is summer plus good weather. I recommend to most players wait until the off season for the big work. Incorporate smaller components when playing lots of golf.
August 9, 2019
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Robert
I’m getting ready to submit my first video for review and I want to be sure to send the right images. Should it be one face on and one down the line of me taking and holding my setup position with a club? Or should I take my setup position and proceed with the rest of a full swing?
May 22, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Robert. Both would be fine. Face On and Down the Line. I would suggest however trying to take the proper setup with a club and making a swing. Therefore, the instructor knows what your tendencies, or pre-existing movement patterns tend to be.
May 22, 2019
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Dan
I am finding that doing the drills with a short iron have helped my short iron game, but the improvement there isn't transitioning to my driver and fairway woods. Does it make sense to do the 9 to 3 drill with a driver? It seems like the longer clubs need more speed.
May 14, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Dan. Doing a 9 to 3 with a driver/wood is very tough. You need to film your driver vs iron swing to see what fundamental changes/differences there are between the two. Other than setup the swing should be the same.
May 14, 2019
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Rich
Hi, I've completed step 3, and my query in my swing review was about this progression from the perfect drills to actually hitting shots. Do I still go on to step 4 or spend time doing these progression shots?
March 9, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Richard. I would move on to Step 4 and use this video above with progression as a aid once you can perform Step 4 correctly.
March 9, 2019
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Joseph
I just started the course and love it. I swim a lot and after swimming I sometimes do the drills in the water. It slows me down and really lets me feel weight shift, in particular. Just wondering what your thoughts are on this. Thanks In Advance.
February 13, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Joseph. The only thing I would be concerned with is don't try to force the shoulders to move through the water. You need to make sure they are pulled in the downswing. I could see you trying to force rotation with the weight of water trying to hold you back.
February 13, 2019
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Dean
What an intriguing question and a great answer for AquaSwing! It got me thinking that if done correctly it would be around a 10 second move from start to finish. Could come in handy, just move the clinic over to the pool when ya'll are dropping like flys from the Summer heat at the Ritz.
February 13, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Dean. No pain, no gain in the summer heat.
February 13, 2019
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Jorge
While you are learning the new swing and master each movement, what do you focus on when you go out to play, or do you play until you really have changed all your swing?
January 4, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Jorge. Ideally, play would be limited during a major swing change. However, if you do go and play. The goal is to keep at last one thing in mind while playing. For ex: Weight Shift. If you are working on weight shift. Your plan for the day is not the quality of the strike, but did you shift your weight properly on the swing come hell or high water.
January 5, 2019
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victor
Was not able to watch Video 9. all the way due to video not properly playing to the end
December 25, 2018
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Victor. The video is playing correctly on my end. I typically recommend logging out, clearing history/cache, and then login back in. Usually takes care fo all the glitches. Apologize about your error when playing the video.
December 26, 2018
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Anders
i cannot watch my swing review using google chrome. "You do not have the minimum required flash version to play this video. Please update your flash player to the latest version." It works on internet explorer.
March 26, 2018
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Anders. There is a patch we are working on to fix the issue. I apologize. Chrome is mostly back online for everyone. Try clearing your history/cache first. Then, attempt to replay.
March 26, 2018
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stephen
I like the new golf university format and am trying to progress through it . A technical problem is interfering. Sometimes watching on the pc is convenient and some times watching on my IPad is convenient. On the IPad, I just get a few minutes into this video ,for example and the stream stops ,appears to buffer but never comes back and apparently times out. Is the stream optimized for IPad or Safari or do I have some other local problem? I am using the program on my win 10 pc with EDGE but on the IPad the default is Safari. Help!
March 25, 2018
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Stephen. Typically, we recommend Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox as the preferred browser. IPAD App shouldn't have any issues. Usually clearing your history and cache resolve any playback issues.
March 25, 2018
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Michael
Should I not play golf until I go thru this Training System.....will playing fowl up my training, my progression. The reason I ask is because I belong to a league that will start weekly play in 3 weeks and I am fully aware and accept the fact that developing the RST Swing will take many months (I am actually excited to take my time and get it right). But, will this weekly play mess my training up. Or will my play just get progressively better as work thru the training drills. Hopefully I am communicating my concern properly. Thank you.
March 15, 2018
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Michael. Ideally, you would shelve golf during the rebuild. However, I know that it is tough with better weather starting to come around and wanting to play golf. The process will take longer. If you decide to play you need to make a commitment regardless of the ball flight outcome that you achieve a mini-goal with the swing. For example: If you need better weight transfer. Make sure you shift and forget about the outcome as best as possible.
March 15, 2018
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John
I have an indoor practicing club (about 1/2 length) which I find great for the drills. It also has small weights that can be added, which I find help show me down. Do you advise using a weighted club with the drills? If so, How would that best fit in with progressing to a regular club?
January 14, 2018
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello John. You may use a weighted club. However, make sure you keep the focus on moving the body properly. The tendency would be to start allowing the weight club swing "you." Once, you could get a pretty complete move down. You could add the weighted club.
January 14, 2018
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John
Meant 'slow' me down on the above....
January 14, 2018
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russell
This video has a great point. We sometimes fail to realize how important a disciplined progressive development plan is to improving our golf skills.
January 1, 2018
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Russell. Thanks for the post.
January 2, 2018
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John
Do you have drills for hybrid and fairway wood exaction . My course requires these tools from the tee. I’ve made quality progress with irons but I’m unable to carry it over to hybrids and fairway clubs. John S
December 27, 2017
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello John. I don't have any hybrids. But, take a look at Hit Your Fairway Woods Solid. Typically, hybrid misses come from trying to lift the ball in the air versus letting the club take care of the launch.
December 27, 2017
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Ken
This video states the hard truth. The rarest of rare person you would be if you could just pick up a club for the first time and execute a flushed shot. Even then there would be a tremendous amount of improvements to be made. I live in a part of the country where I don't have a choice: I can't play golf in the winter months. But I can make swings inside my house in front of a mirror and net. I admit, having a patient trait personality helps a lot. If you seek immediate gratification, try video games or air guitar. If you want to build a golf swing/game you can use for the rest of your life, follow Chuck's lesson plan. I went from a mid-teen handicap to low single digit in about 18 months using RST. No regrets, not sorry one bit it took that long, and I'm still improving. Have a goal, make a plan and follow it. Or don't. It's all up to you.
December 23, 2017
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Ken. Appreciate the post. Love hearing the improvement. You a very right about it's up to you. Sounds like you made your decision to be better. Thanks for the support over the 18 months.
December 23, 2017
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Anthony
Chad. I understand fully what you are stating in this video. However, I am 70 years old and have always played 3 to 4 times a week. It will be difficult for me to give up playing for several months while working on the reps, which I am already doing. Clearly my partners would find me suddenly not playing strange and a good deal of my social life would stop. How therefore should I approach a round of golf?
December 15, 2017
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Anthony. It all depends on your goals. Learning is a biological process. There really isn't a way to cheat it. If you continue to play you will continue to reinforce your older motor patterns. That being said, if you must go out and play. Set a simple goal in mind. For ex. Weight Shift. If your sole goal on the course is to make sure you shift into your left side regardless of the outcome you have a chance to start making a change. But, the key is regardless of outcome. The shot doesn't determine the correctness of the move.
December 15, 2017
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Terry
That kind of answers my question. Sounds like we have to give up playing until we can "walk and talk at the same time". My question was along the lines of should we stop for a month or two or is it productive to play short courses (read that as 9 hole par 3's) where we can do 9-3 swings and not go at the swing 100%?
December 23, 2017
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Terry. Ideally, put the course away until you can implement a proper 9 to 3. Then, add the par 3 course back. Short term pain for long term gain.
December 23, 2017
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Anthony
Craig, thanks. I have pulled out of all golf until about March. I shall, however, walk the course with my partners for the exercise. Looking forward to working through the material and of course getting the repetitions in. I wonder if the material I have yet to get to give any idea as to when one should start introducing a ball into the equation. I enjoy practicing but suspect I have been ingraining the wrong things in my swing for many years. Hence I am here!
December 17, 2017
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Anthony. Sounds like a plan. You start reintroducing the ball when your practice swing is proper and pretty thoughtless to repeat.
December 17, 2017
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Robert
When I was going through my second divorce a dear friend shared this with me: "...If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always have what you've always had." and also: "..if nothing changes, then nothing changes." In a marriage/partnership both parties must be willing to adapt as the physics of relationships have a few more variables than golf, not all of which are under your control. Happily, golf physics are immutable and the biomechanics side of the game, as Chuck has cognized it, are learnable just like we have learned everything else from English to bad golf. That is, sequentially, stackably, repetitiously, placing one brick, however flawed, on top of another I always said that if someone would just tell me the truth about golf I would do it! Hallelujah!!
December 30, 2017
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Robert. A lot of truth in the statements above. Thanks for the post.
December 31, 2017

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