I had a great week at the US Open- a truly special place. I hope you enjoy these images.
8th Hole- my favorite pic
6th Hole from 4 Fairway
7th Hole of course
8th Hole looking back
Zach teeing off on 6
Notice how level Zach's hips are- ideal
On my tiptoes so I am taller
With ZJ and John Rollins
Zach's Pre Shot Routine and Swing
Panoramic View of 18th Hole
Below is a great story from James Achenbach, writer for GolfWeek. Enjoy!
In winning the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas on May 30, Zach Johnson sank more than 100 feet of putts during the final nine holes of the tournament. He made 24 birdies in 72 holes.
Here’s what Johnson’s putting instructor, Pat O’Brien, said about his pupil’s putting stroke:
“He’s kind of old school. He holds the putter in the palm of his left hand. I advocate holding it in the fingers, but there is no way I would try to change somebody like Zach.
“The accommodation we make for his grip is to cup the left wrist a little bit at setup. This locks him in, so nothing breaks down.
“I learned this from Payne Stewart. He was always a streaky putter until the last year of his life. He started cupping that wrist. He got a foundation and a system, and he became one of the best putters in the world.”
O’Brien’s simple philosophy: “The whole idea in putting is to return to square at impact without thinking about it. That’s true for everybody, not just Zach Johnson.
“Zach came to me with that grip. We met in 2000 at a Buy.com event in Richland, Washington. We started working together in 2001. Right away I asked him to cup that left wrist.”
Johnson has became a poster boy for addressing the ball with the putter shaft angled slightly backwards.
“Sometimes I have to get him more (straight) up and down (with the shaft),” O’Brien said, “but he does so many things so well. Success in putting is all about setup, about flow and proper fundamentals, about allowing the putter to go where it is supposed to go.
“With Zach and many good putters, the mechanics are there. Nothing is going to get away. It (making putts) happens because of the flow of things, the timing and the rhythm.”
O’Brien stresses a putting stroke without swing thoughts: “I teach golfers (mostly amateurs) all the time who focus endlessly on mechanics and positions and swing thoughts – all that garbage. You can’t play golf that way. Good putting is all about physically calming yourself down and allowing that freedom of motion.”
Johnson’s SeeMore FGP putter is 34 inches long with 2.5 degrees of loft. Johnson is so smooth and technically sound, according to O’Brien, the putter head is never manipulated during the stroke.
“The stroke just happens,” said O’Brien, who teaches at Lakewood Country Club in Dallas, Texas. “Zach allows it to happen. The putter is designed to swing (perfectly) on a plane.”
Besides O’Brien, the Johnson support team includes swing instructor Mike Bender, named 2009 National Teacher of the Year by the PGA of America, and sports psychologist Morris Pickens.
Speaking candidly, O’Brien said, “When it comes to putting, sports psychology will only work if you have an inherent belief that the putter will get back to square. This will happen only if you have the proper setup and fundamentals.”
Johnson has it, and O’Brien says you can, too.
“People can learn to putt,” O’Brien said. “I believe this with all my heart and soul. On my website (www.patobriengolf.com), I practically give all my information away. I am passionate about helping all golfers improve.
“Maybe most golfers can’t hit the ball as straight and far as Zach, but they can learn to putt like he does. I believe this. I really believe it.”
Congratulations to my long time friend Zach for his victory at historic Colonial. It is so cool to have his name up on that Wall of Champions, and also cool that he is only one of eleven people to ever win both the Masters and Colonial. It is a pretty impressive list to join!
(I apologize for the quality of the picture)
It was obviously great to be there and witness Zach in action. When I spoke to him before the round on the putting green, I could tell he was calm and ready to go. When he hit a nerveless flop shot from 30 yards out of the rough on the first hole to about 6 feet, I knew that he would be in the mix.
All week, we talked about being calm and to start allowing things to happen, especially on the greens. He has been guilty all year of trying to make putts. There has been nothing wrong with his technique; he just wants to make the Ryder Cup team so much and he also knows that he is hitting well enough to contend often. So, even at that level, guys get too results oriented and don't let the game come to them.
He has received the same message from everyone on his team- Mike Bender, his swing coach, and Morris Pickens, his mental coach. As I have said before, I feel very blessed to be part of such a great team, with Damon Green, his caddy, and Chris Noss, his strength coach. We are all on the same page with our message, and no one is more important than the other. It is very refreshing.
Remember, there is no try in golf. Try equals tension. There is only allow. The calmest guy is the one who usually wins on Sunday. You could see that in Zach. That man has no fear, and he absolutely wants the ball at the end of the game, so to speak. When you get under pressure, be aware of the tension and anxiety that you are carrying and let it go. Don't think about being calm, FEEL it. The flag says it best-
I recently spent a few days in and around Tokyo. I was there on behalf of SeeMore and I gave a few clinics for their distributor over there. I found the Japanese people to be very receptive and gracious. I hope to return one day soon.
Tokyo is a sprawling city of around 13 million people, yet it never felt crowded. It was very clean and well run. Here are some pictures and a Flip video of the view from Tokyo Tower. I will spare you the 2 minute 18 second video of me eating a mollusk. I definitely took one for the team there!
A clinic at Mitsukoshi Department Store
The Imperial Palace
With My Hosts
At a Beautiful Japanese Garden
This drill is one of Zach's favorites. Place a shaft 18 inches behind the hole and start with 3 balls 5 feet away from the hole. The goal is obviously to make the putt; however your secondary objective is to get the ball to the hole but not touch the shaft. When you achieve this with all three balls, move out to 10 feet.
If you come up short on any of the three, or hit the shaft, you have to go back to the previous distance. After you are successful at 10 feet, move out to 15. You can go in any increments you want. When Dr. Mo and I want to really challenge Zach, we go 10, 20 and 30 feet. Mo has found that this really sharpens Zach's focus and makes his practice productive. He really dials in his speed while tapping into his competitive nature. Try it!
Pat O'Brien - January '09 article in www.texaslinksmagazine.com
As 2010 begins, undoubtedly there will be quite a few of us thinking about things we want to accomplish in the coming year. If that list includes getting in better shape and improving your golf game, I have some great news for you. You can kill two birds with one stone. If you will commit to improving your range of motion and strengthening your body in the correct ways, your golf game cannot help but improve.
I guarantee it.
I have been blessed to be associated with some of the best trainers in golf who happen to live in Dallas, TX. Two of them, Laci Weeks (pictured) and Damon Goddard of Synergy Golf Fitness, helped me put together this article. These pictures illustrates three simple tests you can perform to see if you possess adequate balance, mobility and stability.
Mind you, we are not breaking new ground here, as the outstanding Titleist Performance Institute deserves a great deal of the credit. It has been one of the key pioneers in training people for rotational sports that require dynamic movements.
The first one is the Single Leg Balance Test. This tests your proprioceptive ability. Proprioceptors are nerve endings that are found in muscles, tendons, joints and the inner ear. They let us know where our bodies are in space and time. Because the golf swing is a dynamic movement, balance is crucial in order for the proper weight shift and sequence to occur to produce a powerful swing. To improve this requires neuromuscular training, which in turn allows us to make changes more efficiently.
To perform this test, stand with your feet hip-width apart, allow your arms to hang at your side. Lift one leg off the ground, balance and then close your eyes. You will soon appreciate that 25 seconds is aver for PGA Tour players to hold their balance.
To Continue with Story and Learn More About Golf Fitness Download OBrien_Jan2010[1]
by Sean Weir - PutterZone.com
Much is made these days about the concept of putter fitting, in which the length, loft, lie and weight of a putter are carefully matched to your personal physique and mechanics.
But before you get fit for a putter, you may want to consider the putting philosophy of the person doing the fitting. For example, some putting instructors advocate that you get your eyes directly over the ball, while others suggest that your eyes should be inside the target line.
So what one person considers a good “fit” for a more upright setup will be different from a good “fit” according to someone who advocates a more bent-over, eyes-over-the-ball setup. Indeed, the former requires a longer putter, while the latter requires a shorter putter.
So the putting theory changes the fit—an interesting topic, and one that’s not discussed enough.
On that note, we reached out to leading putting instructor Pat O’Brien to talk about his own approach to putting, and specifically some of the old putting “rules” that may be on their way to becoming exceptions.
We’ll start with the notion that your eyes should be directly “over the ball” and thus right over the target line, a bedrock of traditional putting instruction. Here’s what Pat has to say on the subject:
“There’s been a paradigm shift in the last 20 years or so. Greens are now more manicured and faster. Back in the day, greens were slower and more grainy, so the style was more of a wrist stroke, or pop stroke. Go back and look at old footage from the ‘60s and even ‘70s, and guys were more bent over, and they popped it, and the ball wouldn’t go too far past the hole because the greens were slower.
Well, the easiest way to get yourself in a position to make that stroke is to get your eyes over the ball, because then your hands and arms are trapped underneath your chest, so you can’t swing your shoulders very freely, and it’s more of a small-muscle stroke.
But if you look at the best putters of the past 20 years, and the guys that come to mind would be Greg Norman, Brad Faxon, Tiger Woods, Zach Johnson, these are guys that stand up to the ball. They have good posture, they are very athletic. And I would venture to say that their eyes are anywhere from the heel of the putter to an inch or two inside of that.
Allow me to brag a little on one of my students who has had a remarkable year. Skip Berkmeyer of St. Louis, MO, won the Missouri State Amateur and the prestigious Crump Cup at Pine Valley this summer. In the State Am, Skip made an 8 foot birdie putt on the 36th hole to extend the match, and then birdied the two playoff holes to finally win. In the Crump Cup, Skip birdied the 18th hole in front of about 500 people to win 1up. He is obviously not afraid of pressure!
Skip also won The William McMahon Award at this year's Porter Cup, another prestigious amateur event. This award goes to an individual who shows a true passion and commitment to amateur golf. Well deserved, Skip!
Skip and I do not get to see each other very often, but when a problem arises with his putting, he will send me pictures or post videos for me to look at on YouTube. We talk about a few things and he gets back on track. When the fixes are confined to the setup, it is pretty easy to solve problems. We don't have to waste time (chasing our tails) fixing the stroke. I am proud of keeping things simple, even if my contribution is but a small part of his success.
Most importantly, Skip is a great family man and a great person. I am proud to be associated with you, Skip, and thank you for your trust. Keep up the stellar play!
photo courtesy of Missouri Golf Association
GolfBetter host Tom Brassell and Edwin Watts Golf technical specialist, Kenny Nicholson talked with me at the Edwin Watts, Southlake store. Had a great time and thanks again Tom and Kenny. Let me know your thoughts..
