The QATSPY Golf Swing Coach Sports Page
By: Charles W. Boatright
1-888-514-1228
Classic baseball-style golf swing coaching philosophy
Of the 2017 golf majors, three were won by crossover golfers using a baseball-style golf swing taken from the batter’s box to tee box. These three golfers were Brooks Koepka at the U.S. Open, Jordan Spieth at the British Open, and Justin Thomas at the PGA Championship and the FedEx Cup. Each of these golfers were involved in baseball. Matter of fact, Brooks Koepka prefers playing baseball as compared to golf.
During an interview with Golf Channel, just after the 2017 PGA Championship, Justin’s dad, Mike Thomas, explained how he provided Justin with golfing fundamentals. Then he allowed Justin to figure out and work on his own golf swing. Most of these golfing fundamentals have already been developed by golfers from their baseball-style golf swing.
Brooks Koepka the winner at the 2017 U.S. Open.
Brooks Koepka’s performance at the 2017 U.S. Open demonstrated how a coaching technique called Apperception can be used to improve the golfer’s game. Apperception is like crossover training that allows an athlete to use their baseball-style swing to enhance their golf game, without having to learn all new muscle memory and techniques. The key component in the Apperception coaching technique is using the baseball swing technique of presetting the wrist action in the golf swing. This is the basis of the ESPY Apperception, or ESPY APP.
The golfer can use the ESPY APP coaching technique to take their baseball-style golf swing from the batter’s box to the tee box. This is like developing a homegrown golf swing, like the batter uses in the batter’s box. The golfer depends on their wrist action and forearms from their baseball-style swing to generate the power, speed, and control in their golf swing. The ESPY APP develops a baseball-style golf swing naturally by presetting the wrist action in the golf swing. This was demonstrated in both Ken Duke’s and David Duval’s golf swing on Golf Channel. These were two of the best demonstrations of the importance of the wrist action in the golf swing.
Both Ken Duke and David Duval offer a great golf swing technique that can benefit any golfer, especially the golfer just picking up the game. If the golfer properly sets the wrist action in the golf swing, like the baseball batter does, then 80 percent of the golf swing is completed. No thinking required!
NOTE: This wrist action in the golf swing and in the baseball swing are very similar to each other as indicated in time-elapse photo above that compares these two swings side-by-side. This Apperception technique can provide the golfer with a significant self-coaching ability and a tremendous amount of confidence on the golf course.
An great example of the ASPEN Self-coaching technique was from an interview that I had with a Vietnam P.O.W., Colonel George Robert Hall. He used his love of golf to survive seven-and-a-half years at the Hanoi Hilton. After Col. Hall’s release from the North Vietnam prison, he shot his handicap of four (4) at the 1973 PGA Greater New Orleans P.O.W. Pro-Am.
Presetting the wrist action in the golf swing allows the golfer to sync and lock their predominant elbow, or the right elbow for the right-handed golfer, with their shoulders. This provides a tremendous mechanical advantage for the golfer who is trying to produce both power and speed.
Syncing and locking the predominant elbow with the shoulders is the basis of the ESPY APP in my book, The ESPY Golf Swing Coach. Syncing and locking the elbow with the shoulders was a golf swing technique that Arnold Palmer gave President Eisenhower before a Pro-Am. This naturally develops the Sprocket-type golf swing that most golfers find difficult to learn and execute.
Developing the Golfer’s Baseball-style golf swing
The ESPY APP (Apperception) is a self-coaching technique the golfer can use to take their golf swing from the concept of lessons to application on the golf course. Yogi Berra had one of the best quotes about the difference between concept and application- “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.” The baseball-style golf swing is based on the ASPEN Self-coaching Pyramid technique, developed by my grandfather. This pyramid is shown below. The ASPEN Self-coaching Pyramid is probably one of the best methods to learn how to apply the golf swing fundamentals directly to the golfer’s style of game.
The ASPEN Self-coaching Pyramid forms the basis of my book, The ESPY Golf Swing Coach. Each term of ASPEN is described below:
A– Apperception, or ESPY APP, a self-coaching technique allowing the golfer to take a concepts and skill from baseball and develop a baseball-style golf swing. Apperception is like developing your golf swing from a highly-developed skill in baseball, learned at a young age, that requires little thinking and allows the golfer to focus. The golfer’s conscious mind is specialized in two functions- thinking and focusing. Focusing is based on the Apperception coaching technique that allows the athlete, or golfer in this case, to function In-the-Zone.
S– Sequence: The most effective learning process is based on a sequential process of step 1, step 2, and step 3 …. learning process. The subconscious mind learns to adapt easier to skills at a higher rate and more permanently if a sequential process is used. This is exactly why the U.S. military is so effective in training their personnel by a step-by-step process.
In The ESPY Golf Swing Coach, the term ESPY APP stands for Ergonomic process of Sync, Preset, and Yaw golf swing sequence, based on Apperception. SPY consists of using three very simple and natural, or ergonomic, coaching techniques that develop the golfer’s subconscious ability to develop muscle memory for feel. This allows the golfer to focus on the “Be the golf ball quote,” and not think about their golf swing.
P– Performance: Some golf lessons can only address the golfer’s conscious mind with the concept of thinking. During a typical golf lesson, the golfer, trying to retain concepts within a 30-minute period, ends up retaining only about 10 percent of the lesson, at best. The golf student can’t sync these new concepts with the subconscious learning process in one 30-minute session. The golfer, retaining only about a 10 percent rate from a typical golf lesson, doesn’t develop muscle memory and can’t focus on their objectives on the golf course.
Remember there’s a difference between theory (concepts from golf lesson) and practice (the golf course, developing the subconscious process). Without developing a repetitive golf swing sequence under actual conditions, the golfer can’t depend on ability and skill from their subconscious mind.
The TERM “Actual Condition” is key, and the reason why I developed the ESPY APP 405- Training Drill in Section 7.0 of my book. Remember Yogi Berra’s quote about Theory and Practice- “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.” The ESPY APP 405- Training Drill is like applying a football scrimmage practice to the golf practice session.
E– ExtraSensory Performance (ESP): Is a condition that can occur to drivers on a familiar stretch of roadway or scenic highway, called Driving Hypnosis. The driver’s skills are so refined and highly developed in the subconscious mind that the conscious mind is allowed to focus on something other than driving. The subconscious mind takes over so much of the control of driving that the driver doesn’t remember driving passed certain landmarks or stretches of the highway during the trip. This Driving Hypnosis condition is key for the golfer to develop in their ESPY APP 405- Training Drill.
ESP develops the N– Neuromuscular, or muscle memory, skill where concepts are formed into a subconscious sequence where the golfer can automatically execute the golf swing without thinking. The golfer is able to direct the conscious mind from thinking to just focusing, like what Ty Webb said to Danny Noonan in the movie Caddyshack:
There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball.
Remember, there are two things that the conscious mind does well, thinking or focusing. The key in Driving Hypnosis and the golf swing is to get the conscious mind to focus, instead of thinking about the golf swing. The driver’s conscious mind is so confident in the subconscious mind’s specialized skills that it can focus on an objective and just relax. Being confident and relaxing are key self-coaching components that will be noted later.
Judy Rankin quoted an LPGA golfer during the 2017 Evian Championship. Judy stated, The more mechanical and technical that player became in her golf swing, the more feel she had to execute her golf swing. The feel of muscle memory, or neuromuscular technique, is stored in the subconscious mind. This is what Ty Webb in the “Be the Ball Quote” in Caddyshack was referring to as the Force in the universe, the golfer’s subconscious mind.
WARNING! While Driving Hypnosis is unsafe for driving a vehicle down the highway, it works great for driving a golf ball down the fairway. The golfer using ExtraSensory Performance, or ESP (or the ESPY APP 405- Training Drill), during their practice sessions can directly engage their subconscious mind, both on and off the golf course. The reason for this is that the subconscious mind recognizes the similar conditions in the ESPY APP 405- Training Drill and the golf course.
Three Key Conditions formed in the ESP
There are three key conditions that must be in place for the golfer to develop the Driving Hypnosis experience, or the ExtraSensory Performance, ESP:
- Normal and routine tasks and conditions must exist.
- Rely on a high degree of relaxation, confidence, and muscle memory.
- The conscious and subconscious minds are focused on two different situations.
The ESPY Golf Swing Coach is based on the ASPEN Self-Coaching Pyramid based on the objectives below.
ONE– Develops a normal, routine task during a scrimmage-type practice for normal playing conditions.
TWO– Develops adrenaline during scrimmage-type practice and allows the golfer to be relaxed and confident on the golf course. This allows the golfer to rely on a well-developed muscle memory, instead of relying on the thinking process. Adrenaline can do one of two things for the golfer, either speed things up or slow things down in the mind.
THREE– Allows the golfer’s conscious mind to focus on an objective, instead of thinking about the golf swing. I don’t know too many baseball players standing in the batter’s box who think about their baseball swing while looking at a 95-mph high-and-inside fastball. The same technique applies to developing the baseball-style golf swing. The golfer wants to focus on the ball, instead of thinking about their golf swing.
The best way the golfer can improve this golf swing technique is to develop and practice by following a well-defined golf swing sequence under similar conditions, as what will be played. You can’t practice one way, and then play another way on the course. This is why the ESPY APP 405- Training Drill is important to the golfer.
To develop an effective baseball-style golf swing coaching technique and a scrimmage-type golf practice like an ESPY APP 405- Training Drill, purchase your copy of The ESPY Golf Swing Coach from the links below, or visit your local bookstore:
My book can also be purchased at Edwin Watts Golf Store in Jackson, Mississippi. Phone No. 601-956-8784
820 East County Line Road, Ridgeland, MS 39157
My book can also be purchased on-line at:
Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
This book is based on a self-coaching forum that provides the beginner and advance single-digit handicap golfer with safe ergonomic classic golf swing for more power and control without debilitating injuries. As part of the ESPY Golf Swing Coach is a workout program designed especially for golfers and a effective diet program detailed below:
Please take advantage of my SR-925 Diet Program, where I lost 6 inches in my waist in 3- months (FREE of CHARGE) with the CASPER Workout Program, detailed in Section 20 of my book:
Please include an exercise routine in your weekly schedule.
Golfer’s Rhythm w/o having the Blues on the golf course.
Also, learning The ESPY Golf Swing Coach process is an excellent way to develop Rhythm without experiencing the Blues in your golf game for confidence; learn how to take your baseball-style swing from the batter’s box to the tee box.
Golfer’s Locker Room for Golf Swing Tips
Please visit “The Locker Room” for an Index of all my golf articles to improve your golf game and life. Discover how you can take your baseball swing from the batter’s box to the tee box.
For Comments or questions please contact me at 1-888-514-1228 Mon – Fri from 9 am to 4 pm CT Zone.
A Recommendation for your Golf Game:
I would like to recommend an interesting radio program that I regularly listen to from my home state Arkansas on my I-Heart Radio app on KARN 102.9 FM station, out of Little Rock, AR. They air a golf show called Arkansas Fairways and Greens, at 7:00 AM CT each Saturday morning, hosted by Bob Steel, and co-hosted by Jay Fox and Charles Crowson. Bob occasionally as has his guess Alex Myers with Golf Digest and Ron Sirak with Golf Channel. I was interviewed on his show about my book, The ESPY Golf Swing Coach. This show is worth tuning into for golf news and information.
Jay Fox is an Administrator with Arkansas State Golf Association that discuss amateur golf and rules of the game.
Check out my full library of BLOGS @ www.espygolfapp.com/blog or purchase your copy of “The ESPY Golf Swing Coach” @ www.espygolfapp.com/store.
Facebook – The QATSPY Golf Approach
Twitter – @cwboatright
Google+ – ESPY Golf Swing Coach
YouTube – ESPY Golf Swing Coach
Once you learn WHY, you don’t forget HOW!
YouTube Videos:
https://youtu.be/ZGVNrIw_wlo (Cam & Cam-over elements)
https://youtu.be/K2FDHZ3AX9w (Figuring your proper swing plane)
https://youtu.be/TO82PMO6G8M (Developing muscle memory)
Two decisions that you can make for yourself and your kids are to get a copy of my book and place the book and a golf club into their hands. You will never look back, but only forward. You will not miss with this for yourself and/or your kids.