Patrick Damore Golf Instruction
At this site you'll find golf instruction, video analysis, online video lessons, a member's corner (join the mailing list), tour golf swing analysis, and one of my favorite things... discussions of cause/effect relationships with the golf swing. Most importantly though, you'll find in it's entirety the 'On Plane Golf Swing', by Patrick Damore, PGA Professional.
I don't like to use the words theory and system when refering to any teaching philosophy. These 2 words give a first impression of confinement. Every golf swing is unique and different but the best golfers in the world have one thing very much in common, the impact position. The ONLY thing of importance in the golf swing is 'impact'. If a golfer has certain attributes at impact, the ball will go where it should with the correct trajectory, velocity, spin, and curvature. You'll be hard pressed to find another golf instructor to argue otherwise the importance of the impact position. What happens before impact and what happens after impact is almost irrelevant. That is why we see so many different golf swings on TV, nowadays. My old standby favorite of ... 'what the hell was that swing'... Jim Furyk, has been replaced by Tommy 2 Gloves Gainey. Again... 2 VERY unorthodox golf swings and 2 VERY successful tour professionals with 2 VERY good impact positions. I've collected and organized what I strongly believe is the most efficient way to strike a golf ball. I've categorized the swing into 3 thoughts/images... arcs, shoulders, and shift. Understanding these 3 terms and applying what you learn will make your impact position more consistent and efficient.
I try to keep up to date with many of the current swing theories and techniques. One person who gets lost in the shuffle of the best teachers debate is Jimmy Ballard, in my opinion. Remember him? Do you remember Curtis Strange? They both revolutionized the way instructors think about the golf swing and how golfers swing the club. Very simply, they both changed the game. I haven't done a lot of research on Jimmy Ballard but he was a proponent for huge weight shift during the golf swing (if my memory serves me proudly). Curtis Strange listened, changed, and reaped many rewards because of Jimmy Ballard. My late grandfather was a golf addict and a pretty good teacher. Like many grandfathers, his only students were his children, grandchildren, and friends. But.. that didn't stop my grandfather and I from bouncing swing ideas off each other. Now, my father has replaced my grandfather for golf discussions and I'm finding out what very experienced instructors and grandfathers already understand... it's difficult to teach your family. My grandfather worked his retired job (he was a content, starter/ranger) at the Palm Beach Polo & Golf Club in Wellington, FL where Jimmy Ballard had one of his golf schools (back in the 1980's). After watching Mr. Ballard endlessly teaching on the range, my grandfather would preach to me about weight shift and more weight shift during the golf swing. Unforunately for my Italian grandfather, his son married an German/Irish woman which aided 'greatly' with my stubborness...almost to a fault. I had memorized Ben Hogan's Book 'Five Lessons' by age 14. So... the conversations between my grandfather and I on the topic of Jimmy Ballard would inevitably end in...... 'Ballard is wrong...you don't move that much during the golf swing'..was my whole take on Jimmy Ballard during the 1980s and 1990s.
Anyhow... Jimmy Ballard believed strongly moving off the ball during the backswing and moving forward past the ball during the forward swing (and I still think he promotes this). Now looking back on it... Jimmy Ballard was just... ahead of his time, in my opinion. I will admit after many years of practicing, changing, observing, learning cause/effect relationships, and regretfully arguing with my grandfather (I STILL blame that on my mother) that there is a definitive advantage with a physical 'lateral' body move to the target from the waist up during the forward swing. My mentor, Ed Morgante, PGA Professional, was instrurmental with me changing my perception about weight transfer. The lateral dynamic transfer of weight is one of my 3 principles of the On Plane Golf Swing. Quite frankly, I think the industry of golf instruction may owe Mr. Ballard a nod.
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