2. Table of Contents
Preface.......................................................................................................................................5
Introduction...............................................................................................................................6
Learning to Swing.....................................................................................................................9
A Primer for Newbies – Grip, Stance, and Posture..................................................................11
The Requisite Strength.............................................................................................................16
TAKING THE CLUB BACK: Pronation, Supination and Plane............................................19
Playing with Moe.....................................................................................................................22
Moe’s Grip...............................................................................................................................27
Learning to Learn……………………………………………………………………….……29
Hoganalysis……………………………………………………………………………….….35
The Secret In the Dirt...............................................................................................................38
The Most Abundant Woe - The Reverse Pivot........................................................................40
George Knudson.......................................................................................................................42
HITTING IT FAR!!..................................................................................................................44
Ringing The Bell......................................................................................................................46
Mike Austin and the Centers....................................................................................................49
Moe Norman and the Move......................................................................................................53
The Hogan Pivot.......................................................................................................................55
What You Need To Know About Plane – Hogan’s Sheets of Glass........................................58
Lag and the Grand Illusion……………………………………………………………….......60
Thoughts on Equipment...........................................................................................................63
Footwork..................................................................................................................................65
Finding “The Move”…............................................................................................................66
REPEATING THE MOVE – THE PRETORQUE..................................................................69
Landing Left………….............................................................................................................70
The Sixth Lesson - Understanding Five Lessons and Hogan’s Secret.....................................78
Some More Thoughts on Moe………………………………………......................................87
Sneaky Long- Finding the Most Powerful Position.................................................................90
Finger Pressures……………….……………………………………......................................92
Visualization and Final Thoughts………………………………..…......................................97
Video Index……………………..………………………………..…......................................99
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3. Sneaky Long
Sneaky Long- Finding The Most Powerful Position
A lot of people have asked me to give them some advice on how far to take
the club back or similarly they may ask “How do I know when my back
swing is done?”
Have you ever wondered why when you watch a tour pro they rarely look
like they are making a really big swing and yet the ball just rockets off? One
of the reasons that the swing doesn’t look that big is because it is executed
with such control and balance, but in reality most Tour Pros (John Daly and
a few others excepted) and top amateurs don’t actually make that big of a
swing. The reason is basically economics. There is a point on the back
swing beyond which there is nothing left to gain.
Have you noticed that sometimes when you try a ¾ swing say to lay-up short
of a water hazard you often hit the ball substantially further than you would
expect and often further than your normal full swing? I wondered about this
years ago when I was trying to create the most economical and efficient golf
move I could. After looking at this I came to realize that when you take the
club back there is a point that you just can’t go past without losing some or
often most what you’re trying to build up on the back swing.
The point not to pass I call The Most Powerful Position. In a nutshell
through trial and error I came to the conclusion that the back swing is
complete when the right shoulder has moved to or nearly to an inline
position with the chin and the ball and the hands and arms have risen
naturally so that the hands have been moved as far away from the ball as
possible and no further. At this point they are also about as far from the
target as they can be moved while in balance. Now, since you are swinging
on an arc there is a point beyond which you are actually going to be moving
your hands closer to the ball if you keep going on the back swing and closer
to the target as well. You will have to flow back through this Most Powerful
Position in order to get everything out of the shot. This means that the
swing has too many directions or at least you have introduced an
unnecessary added direction.
The direction that concerns me the most in the golf swing is the direction of
the target. On the back swing I am thinking of winding everything up
simply so that I can send it back through the ball in the direction of the target
Copyright © 2010 Secret In The Dirt LLC 90

4. Sneaky Long
To illustrate imagine a string attached to a tee under the ball. As you swing
back and find the point where you are in balance with the right shoulder
turned to the chin you will find that the hands have moved as far away from
the balls a geometry will allow. Now imagine the straight-line distance from
the hands to the ball with a string stretched tight. Turn further and you will
have slack move into the string. You will then have to move the hands back
to the right before you can send the whole package down and through the
ball. Some players can do it, but my contention is that they are wasting
energy and wasting motion and that they could get more consistent results
with a more abbreviated action.
I discussed this at length with Steve Elkington this past summer. Since that
time he and I had a chance to get together and film a little bit about it on the
range at Champions in Houston. Hopefully our little chat will illustrate a
little better what I am trying to talk about here. In the upcoming versions of
this book I will also see if I can have a couple of illustrative drawings
created to make this point still more clear.
In conclusion, on the back swing we want to move efficiently into our most
powerful position and no further and then we want to just send it all back
through the ball from there. Work on this for a bit and you may find that
what you think of as your ¾ swing might actually be the whole enchilada.
You may soon find your playing partners asking you “Where did that come
from?” Just tell them that you have studied the art of “Sneaky Long”.
Sneaky Long
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