What is the main cause of so much inconsistency, week after week? A special report by Kiran Kanwar

AT & T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am heading to the final round: Phil Mickelson  68 65 66 (leads by two)

#ElectricEight:

Patrick Reed 72 65 73 (T32nd)

Justin Rose 66 68 72  (T11th)

Jordan Spieth 71 69 74   (T50th)

Bill Haas 69 68 69  (T11th)

What did Mickelson get “right” while the #ElectricEight not as “right”? Just the usual, lots of birdies with very few bogeys over three rounds. Mickelson’s  “full scorecard” revealed his rank to be: T4 birdies, T2 bogeys, driving distance 15, driving accuracy T62, Greens in regulation (GIR) T47 (13/18, 12/18, 9/18), and putts per GIR 2nd.

Conversely, Bill Haas, who had the best scores of the #ElectricEight had the following ranks: T29 birdies, T2 bogeys, driving distance 38, driving accuracy T22, GIR T8, Putts per GIR T38.

Four of our #ElectricEight will be competing in the final round of this year’s AT & T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

So, Bill, despite a few bogeys as Phil, and far more greens hit for regulation, simply did not convert. “Conversion” means many things to many people, typically that a golfer did not putt as well as he might have. However, how much “loading” can one place on the result of a putt? For instance, with an average rest-of-his-game, Jordan Spieth must rely on slotting in long putts to do well at any event.

Why not get a more precision rest-of-the-game? Of course everyone would like to, but no one (else) is able to teach it. It requires that the club arrive from the inside and at maximum speed. While elite golfers are able to ramp-up club-head speed to suit the situation, that by itself will never be enough. The main requirement for repeating precision is for the golfer’s arms and shaft to arrive at the ball well enough from the inside to connect the ball’s inside-right quadrant (for a right-handed golfer), not merely the center of the back of the ball.

This in turn requires a proximal-to-distal sequencing of body parts, with the lower body firing before the upper body, which in turn forces before the arms and club. Many elite golfers “get” that too. However, they are unable to exaggerate the movement sufficiently, as they have to reposition several joints to achieve this, and there is no time to do so during the downswing.

Basically, unless a golfer’s hips rotate on a purely horizontal plane with no lateral flexion of the lead side (ie. left shoulder, hip or knee not being lower than right side shoulder, hip and knee at the top of backswing) and the golfer’s trail shoulder is in maximal external rotation, the golfer will always be struggling to reroute or reposition some vital joints of the golf swing. He will not be able to do so as easily under pressure when muscles are known to fire faster and more forcefully, and basically not be as much in one’s control.

The solution? A swing change which is different enough to always trigger the new movement, and at the same time, physically positions the body to prevent incorrect downswing sequencing.

Kiran Kanwar, 

•   Developer of The Minimalist Golf Swing System -100% scientific, simple and specific
•   BS (physics, math); MS (sports science, nutrition); PhD (biomechanics – student)
•   Class A Member: the LPGA, The PGA (GB&I), The NGA of India, The PGA of India