Approach to studying TGM.
 

I've been reading the book for a while now. I'm learning a good deal about the golf swing. And I feel my game is improving. My bad days are getting less bad, and my good days are getting better... from a golfing perspective. :)

To my question though.
I've been reading, but I'm not sure I can say I've been studying.
I'm not really sure how to go at it. I've been reading List #1, #2... and re-reading again, and again...and again.

This forum especially has been a gold mine for me...(along with the Alignment Golf Dvd) There are not many questions that I couldn't find the answer to using the search function. And not forgetting a bunch of very helpful members that answered my newbie questions in my Swing problems thread. Just awesome.

But what I would like to know is, how do YOU study the book? How do you Approach it?

I know there isn't a "the WAY". I know it's individual, but, maybe my question could help me find my way.

My approach right now, is trying to memorize key parts, and where I can find them in the book, and briefly what these parts are trying to say. This isn't studying as in understanding them. But, my hopes are that with this memo'ing, it will be easier for me to connect the dots... so to speak.


Chris.

Hi Christian,

A workable approach for learning the book is to participate here with the book by your side, and read the book in parallel. There's a lot to learn and a long journey. Enjoy.

The best approach for learning the motions is to seek a TGM or Alignment Golf instructor.

First thing I would suggest is . . . DEFINE YOUR MISSION . . .

Is your intent to "learn the dang book"?

Is your intent to "be a better golfer"?

Or both?

I'd say the DVD's are probably the best approach. You need to understand the CORE concepts. Once you understand the core concepts then you will really start to see how things work . . . you'll appreciate how brilliant Homer was. But some of the things in the book I'd have hard time thinking anybody could get without some handholding. For example the Flying Wedges. Defined in Chapter 6 . . . but without someone/video SHOWING you . . . I don't see how many people could just flesh it out on his description.

If I had to say how to approach it . . . wear those dvd's out . . . read the book in small bursts while you're on the can or whatever . . . I read it from cover to cover generally. The critical stuff to understand first is . . .

Plane and Circle Geometry . . . there are some great pics out here of Lynn's ground school papers on yellow legal pad paper . . amazing stuff. Absolutely KEY concepts. Learn about the importance of the clubFACE and the path's relation to the clubface . . . and how the ball flies . . .what causes the axis that the ball spins on to tilt and thus curve.


Learn about the Flail . . . the Flail is HUGE . . . Rhythm . . . surface speed via EXTENSION of the primary lever . . . ON PLANE HAMMERING . . . no garbage about "holding angles" . . . hinge at the left wrist or strap hinge . . . no rusty hinges . . . freakin' well oiled hinges that let the club FLY OUT . . Sling OUT down out and forward on plane . . . SLUNG out by the pivot (massive rotor) . . . DRIVEN OUT by the right arm . . . EXTEND THAT RADIUS IN RHYTHM!!! All the speed of the extension of the lever transferred into the ball via the #3 accumulator.

Understand the hand motions and wrist motions . . . feed your mind what your hands have to do . . . to make the club move on plane . . . down out and forward . . . slowly . . . define this in your mind . . . but don't make the mistake of making it your "procedure" . . . a sequenced release is a DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCEDURE . . . not the procedure itself . . not your procedure. Learn how it works . . but learning HOW is different from applying. You can't be playing golf thinking "now I'm uncocking . . . now I'm rolling" . . . too fast. But it will help your mind to know it.

Apply these concepts to the associated planes . . . hold the club on a horizontal plane . . .what do your hands have to do to hold the shaft on that horizontal plane . . . get the feel slow . . . swing it fast . . . two hands . . right hand only . . . left hand only. hammer on a vertical plane . . . lever extension is a vertical motion . . . #2 uncocked via cf/pivot or right triceps extending the right elbow . . . but it still works like a flail regardless of the mechanism that extends it. The loading is entirely different. Learn about how your flail has to work with your particular grip type (vertical left hand or turned left hand) . . .

The Endless Belt . . the physics of the hand path and delivery path . . . great stuff . . .

The entire length of the clubshaft lays on the inclined plane . . . where does the club "enter" your body on the way down . . .where does it "exit" your body on the way thru? Are you matching "on plane" . . have you shifted? . . . this is what it means to have a simple and efficient golf swing . . this is how you look at a whacko motion furyk/trevino/hoch/freddy and appreciate what is going on.

You have a guide book and a catalog . . . it's not easy . . . really understand the dvd stuff and the book will come to life . . .

A solid and worthy No. 4000. Congratulations.

Now that I have some motions to work on, I'm taking it easy with the book. I feel I don't have to read it. I might read some more if I want to, but I'm not pressing myself any more.

I use the book as a reference. I see my teacher from time to time. I practice with the Tour Striker. I do a lot of basic motion with and without golf balls. I also use tennis balls.
I have a Pure Ball Striker, a TALY and a Tour Striker. I have Alignment Golf videos that I get something from every time I look at them and it is often.
I hang out here way too much and I try to play as much golf as I can to put my learning into practice.
The book, though, is a reference--a very important reference.

I saved 12 Piece Bucket's post, wonderful stuff. That will be the focus of my study for the winter.

Kevin

I guess this is some kind of affectionate buddy talk that has gone on for a long time. But for an outsider it looks more like harassment, but if that's the way you entertain each other, who am I to comment on it? But it seems very strange...

There is a "Way". The Golfing Machine Way. Using Alignments rather than Positions. Using Hinge Action rather than a Swivel. Power Accumulators and Pressure to meter out distance, etc., etc.

You're in a learning phase. Flying Wedges. Power Accumulation, Loading, Storage, Delivery and Release. Hinge Action: So hard to understand, so easy/simple to use. That was a life altering experience for me. :) It took more than 25 years. I know. I'm not the smartest pencil in the box. But WoW. Now 10-2-B makes total sense. The Bent Right Wrist makes total sense.

I study the Book with a Golf Club in hand. Standing with a Dowel, 2 Dowels, Rackets, Ping Pong paddles, Look, Look, Look. "I don't care what you're doing as long as you know why". Plane Boards, Mirrors.

Turn to 7-19. Try everything your reading. Drive it, drag it, Float Load it.

Magic of the Right Forearm....Why does the Left Wrist Cock without cocking your right wrist when your right arm is raised? Try to figure it out.

I think that 50% of your Practice is like this. The other 50% is done at the practice facility.

With this Website and the Book, you should learn everything you want to know in a few months. (ok, maybe 4). You should be scoring in the mid 70's by next Spring.

Uhmmm Chris? Daryl has a very dry sense of humor!
 

Give yourself short term and long term goals. Perhaps a goal could be to consistently shoot in the low 90's (just suggesting), from April to June 1st. Let's say you usually shoot 100, so your goal is to drop 10 strokes off your average score. Then you'd look up Basic Motion and discover that it is a simple little chip shot. If you made 10 great chip shots a round, and left the ball within 3 feet of the hole, you'd save yourself 10 - 12 strokes maybe more! (TGM book, Alignment I DVD, LBG.com search) (score 90)

Longer pitches and wedges are Acquired motion shots. Did you know that some pros just use acquired motion to manage their game? AM might help you shave another 8 shots off your game in June. (Same resources) (score 82)

What about when your on the green? Maybe you are like me and throw away 8 strokes a round by simply trying to make birdie putts from too far away and missing the comeback putt. Use those same sources in July to shave off 8 more strokes. (Same resources)(score 74) and so on.

A TGM session with Yoda is essential if you want to advance. I'm frugal, independent, stubborn and cynical about most things claiming to be great so I held off on visiting Yoda because I didn't want to be screwed by another set of false promises. So, I wasted the cost to see him on 30 bad rounds of golf trying to do it myself. (I was bright enough to go see some TGM fellas in MN and I have an official TGM instructor which helps too.)

So, I don't know your situation but if your budget for golf in a season is about $3000 you could also approach this in another way. I don't know where you're living or flying from, but maybe:
1/3 Personal training in Cuscowilla
1/3 TGM/DVD / training-aids/video recording/ -work on the range
1/3 playing this great game trying to shoot par or better

Anyway....you have some decisions to make bout your level of interest/time/resources etc. We will be here to answer your questions. I would recommend reading through the book three times just to get an idea of some of the basics of TGM without a club and to see what you understand and what is foreign.

I say Daryl has a dry sense of humor because making a lot of changes in 6 months has caused me to hit the wall 3 or 4 times. Intellectually, I get most things but the bio-mechanical changes for mastery of new skills takes time. So, in 7 months I went down 10 strokes on my hcp. index. It'd been faster if I saw Yoda, I believe.

ICT

Michael . . . . I got your voicemail . . . AND NO . . . you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT mail your underwear with the giant doodee stains in them back because they are defective . . . . remember you tried to do that with the turkey baster you got at the after Thanksgiving sale . . . now just settle down and watch your Gary Coleman videos . . . the nurse will be in with your Flinstones soon.

That was post # 4002 Ladies and Gentlemen and you were there. Might wanta save that to your external hard drive for safe keeping.

Lmao!
 

Very, very funny!

Great stuff Daryl. I'm going to add your ideas to my winter curriculum as well. :salut:

Thanks,
Kevin

Wow, great replies, I didn't expect this many great suggestions and ideas :).

BerntR I wish I could... Participate I mean. I'm trying, but right now it's mostly me asking questions. I guess that is participating in a way though... :)

12PB, awesome reply. Exactly what I was looking for.
What can I say... just wicked!

Those questions, even though they're probably there for "rhetorical" purposes, I think it's important for me to write the answers down. I might as well do it in this post.

My mission... my mission is, to understand the golf swing. How it works and why.. And in the future be able to explain that to someone else. And that I can't do, before I truly understand, in my humblest opinion.

In the end, I guess this boils down to being a better golfer. I can't do one, without the doing the other. Not saying others can't.. but I can't. I need to understand what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it.

I know I've only played for 1½ season. But, my goal is "simple". Get my HCP down to a low single digit, and be able to play at that HCP consistently. I want to improve, be as good as its possible for me to be. I think that would cover my long term goals.




JerryG I've been considering the Pure ball striker. Since you mention it, I guess you would recommend it? :)

Daryl another great post. As with buckets post, this is one I will go back to and read many times, I'm sure.

I want to take the opportunity to say this. I love your illustrations seen around on the forum. They've helped me tremendously.


Innercityteacher more great ideas! Saving this one as well for future reading.

I'd love to visit Yoda, however. It's not so much the budget, as it is the lack of time that prevents me from doing this. I can't even find the time to go see an AI here in Sweden any time soon, because of work.. work, work and work!

Oh on a side note, me being me, I left my 7th edition on an air plane yesterday.. and have given my 6th away to my father in-law. Will have to order a new copy. It's a pain though. Nothing to read on the Sunday, nor Thursday flight! :crybaby: Hopefully, the person that got Seat 2C on flight SK015 after me yesterday, is right now becoming addicted to TGM...:p

Anyway, thanks ALL of you guys for helping out!
Wonderful! :)

Airair,
You're not understanding something - HE IS POSTING FROM A MENTAL INSTITUTION! You may hear different rumors - but trust me. I stand by my post - as completely solid advice and fact based.

Whatever works for you guys, is fine by me.

Yes Christian, I advise the purchase of a PBS. I also suggest a TALY and a Tour Striker. I have been a sucker over the years for some different golf aids, but those are three I would not be without.

guys whats the big deal with the tour striker.....i always find that practicing with blades improve my overall striking due to the fact that if you strike a blade wrong youl know straight away by 1-feeling and 2-ball direction flight etc

Tried to order the PBS. Unfortunatley, they only seem to ship to c
Canada, and US.

I'm going to check out some reviews on the Taly, and how to use it in practice.

Has anyone that lives outside US and Canada bought the PBS? In that case, how did you manage to get it shipped there?

Christian,

I think you can get them through our friend Simon Williams in England.

http://www.simonwilliamsgolf.co.uk/

If that doesn't work, please let me know and I'll get more ideas from Jeff Evans.

Kevin

Nope. Unfortunatley... I tried googling it a bit more, but I can't seem to find anyone that keeps em in stock. :(.

I'd love to get my hands on one or two PBS though, any more advice would be appriciated.

- Ps. Looked at the TALY. Will buy one. Looks wicked!

Chris.

Christian,

Contact Jeff directly and he will send them to Sweden.

pureballstriker@yahoo.com

I have done that.

Notice I wrote them.... My students seem to forget to return them to me, so I have more than one...:confused1 :laughing9

Alignment Golf 11
 

I am new to the forum and interested in learning more. I would like the DVD "Alignment Golf" but see there will be a new release sometime soon (?) - "Alignment Golf 11". I can't find a release date so don't know whether to just order "Alignment Golf". Any suggestions?

Get the first Alignment Golf. You'll be glad you did. I have no idea what will be in the new glitzy HD treatmeant, but I am sure it will complement and add to the first one.
Kind of like how I probably wouldn't spend a lot of time in the New Testament without putting in my time with the Old Testament first.

Alignment Golf
 

Just ordered so that means Alignment 11 will probably be released next week! Anyway, really looking forward to it's arrival.

Christian if I were to start all over again , there is one thing Id do first and foremost.

Id cut the spine off my brand new yellow book, lay down a giant mass of glue and then seal it all up again.

To my mind the books only fault is that while it holds up to todays scientific insight it doesnt hold up in a literal sense, glue wise. I suspect I am not the only person with this problem. Having read a few of Daryls recent posts I suspect he's missing a few pages........whole chapters maybe.

What I'm missing is part of my mind from so many years of all of this. :)

Uh oh, have I been screwing up again? I'm going to blame it on alcohol. I'm going to PM you my password and I'd appreciate you correcting my mistakes before too many members get wise to me.

Yellow book
 

You too!!

I have been up to 21 pieces between repairs- many repairs. I keep it in a Zip-Lok and often use rubber bands.
Went to my local library and asked their best re-binding expert. She laughed and said -"Is it out of print? No hope fixing that."

To many circles, arrows, highlights and notes to replace- How come I still don't know notin?

HB

When I did go my GSEB in late -06, my book falled apart during the first 4 day session. Mr Daniels did not say a word.......

So during our 1 day off before the second 4 day period I did fix it as shown in the clip..... At my own cost of course:eyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEHXbkFRPnI

You know I love you guy. But give me the password just in case, OK?

By the way Buckets digitized the whole 6th. Thats like cheating......like hows he gonna get the pages stuck in the wrong places? Key word search this Bucket....."cheater".

Same with Mike O. "from the best of my recollection , the word .....is mentioned 5. 6 times in the yellow book......." Ya right! On top of the heinous nature of this copyright infringement this is an insult to the good people of LBG, people who glue their own books together with pride, with their own hands.

You can take my yellow book away from me, but it will be.... from my cold , dead, glued together hands.

I've warned the U.S. people before - I suggest first we put up a fence on the border between U.S. and Canada - Canadians are the next immediate threat! They've spent decades building the "low key, laid back, nice FACADE" as a weapon of deception.

How long would it take a small contingent of men riding on moose back to get from the border to Turner Maine? And anybody got any good dough nut shop recommendations whilst we're on route?

I don't know how long it would take to get there but you better hurry. There are a lot of people on this side of the boarder that may get there first.

I've been told to arrive at 9:00am and look for a guy wearing a stocking cap, sleeping on a bench - alone - with a bottle of Jack. That will be Mike.

That's my mom you doofus . . . .

In line with this idea of digitizing the book I've been fantasizing about a TGM/LBG iPad app. This app would contain digitized text from the yellow book, with links to pictures, videos etc. In addition you could have a tab of the application for compiling component parts, which you could then play back in a video sequence which would show you how each of the component parts fit into total motion.

I ordered the DVDs but they got sent back because I had the wrong zip code. :crybaby: I'm hoping they get here this week because I recognize the value of TGM but I'm frankly overwhelmed and discouraged by the yellow book.

HOW TO STUDY TGM

First of all, TGM is NOT a method. It is merely a catalog of the things that happen in a golf swing and the things that should be in a effective golf swing.

The foundations of the book are the primary concepts per 1-L: "the Hinge Action (2-G) of an Angular Motion (2-K) operating on an Inclined Plane (2-F)"

The golf swing has 24 components (from putt to drive) and they each have a varying number of variations. Chapter 7 and 10

The golf swing passes through 12 sections. Chapter 8

The motion that makes up the golf stroke can be divided into 3 zones. Chapter 9

There are 20 points through which every swing must comply with in order to produce a geometrically correct swing. All these 20 points can be represented by a geometric figure. 1-L-1 to 21

The science of the book is laid out in Chapter 2.

Chapter 3 shows you the correct way to build your golf stroke.

Chapter 4 talks about Wrist Positions

Chapter 5 talks about Monitoring

Chapter 6 talks about the Power Package

Chapter 11 is a summary of the variations and outlines what are and are not compatible.

Chapter 12 contains zero compensation beginner stroke patterns for both hitting and swinging. It also contains a curriculum with which to begin learning G.O.L.F.

Chapter 13 speaks about non-interchangeable components

Chapter 14 talks about the role of the human mind in golf.

Should you study TGM with professional help? In the timeless words of Mr. Kelly: "Preferable with. Advisedly with! Imploredly with!!!"

You need to memorize the book if you really want to understand it.

Return of 'The Slinger'
 

Welcome back, Justin. Been missin' ya!

Stick around a while. We enjoy your company and your insights!

:salut:

Nice overview.
Do you also have tips regarding in which order these chapters should be read?