The Magic Move

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

On Saturday evening, I bought Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, and took some time reading through it. The one blurb that stuck out most prominently to me when I read it was "the magic move," described by Penick as to start your downswing, let your weight shift to your left foot while bringing your right elbow back down to your body.

Okay, so I was complaining about magic in an earlier thread, but this isn't about that kind of magic where people just want to buy a swing. But when I read that, it made great sense. In a flash, I could replay swings in my head where I had successfully made that move, and the good results. I could also remember where I had failed in some part, either shifting my weight, or dropping my right elbow into my body, and the poor results from that.

On the golf course yesterday, I did that magic move successfully on 12 of 14 drives with the driver. The results for me on those were nice soft cuts, a bunch of fairways, and a couple that leaked a bit far right over into the rough.

If I can keep that going, that'll be good. Now I just need to work on doing it more consistently with the irons, and working on my short game.

[DaveE]

Harvey always managed to keep things simple and understandable. There are plenty of golf gurus out there who could take that sentence and turn into two chapters.

[VtDivot]

I love the Magic Move. Simple and effective

[Farquod]

I always felt that promoted a draw tho, no? It makes you come from the inside....

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

Originally Posted by Farquod

I always felt that promoted a draw tho, no? It makes you come from the inside....

Not necessarily, although if you read the book you can see that Penick liked to teach players how to draw the ball, and you definitely need to come from the inside. But you can still get a cut, as in my case, because with the trouble I have internally rotating my right shoulder, even when I drop my elbow in correctly, I stay more outside than most players do.

I just tallied it up for yesterday, I hit 10 of 14 fairways with that cut.

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by Farquod

I always felt that promoted a draw tho, no? It makes you come from the inside....

Yes, I feel this too. I remember reading this in the book and thinking the very same thing.

However, I promote a draw, so it still looks right in my brain. Know what I mean?

Ah, Penick. The guy's a genius on so many levels. And a nut on just as many.

R35

[Dave Ireland]

RBB ..... you seem to have lost 2 fairways hit since yer 1st post ... mightn't be working as welll as you 1st thought !!

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

Originally Posted by Dave Ireland

RBB ..... you seem to have lost 2 fairways hit since yer 1st post ... mightn't be working as welll as you 1st thought !!

Bah. If you read more carefully, you'd see I was successful with the move 12 of 14 times, but also I mentioned how a couple had leaked a bit far to the right.

[Farquod]

Yah, boys. For me, when my fade begins to really get pronounced, I use that swing thought to straighten my ball flight out.

Harvey has some great sayings in that LRB, somewhere between Hogan and Parent (Zen Golf). I think that's why I like those 3 books as a triad.

Still, his insistance that you need to "stay behind the ball" has caused me my fair share of fats. But it feels like I'm finally working through it.

Be the ball, Danny.

[Dave Ireland]

Originally Posted by Ravenous Bugblatter Beast

Bah. If you read more carefully, you'd see I was successful with the move 12 of 14 times, but also I mentioned how a couple had leaked a bit far to the right.

LOL .... Apologies Monsieur ... too quick to play the smart ass on my part ..

Interestingly, we're currently playing Winter rules here, which allows lift and placing everywhere - within 6inches on f/way on 12 inches in rough. So no matter how wild a day you have with the big dog you can tee it up nicely for your approach shot - scoring likewise has improved immensely. That in itself shows the importance of being down the pipe when the real golf starts again in March... again I'd glady sacrifice 20 yards on a drive to find consistency

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

Originally Posted by Dave Ireland

LOL .... Apologies Monsieur ... too quick to play the smart ass on my part ..

Interestingly, we're currently playing Winter rules here, which allows lift and placing everywhere - within 6inches on f/way on 12 inches in rough. So no matter how wild a day you have with the big dog you can tee it up nicely for your approach shot - scoring likewise has improved immensely. That in itself shows the importance of being down the pipe when the real golf starts again in March... again I'd glady sacrifice 20 yards on a drive to find consistency

It was no problem. It was pretty funny, and it could definitely be seen that way. I still have my Monday morning haze hanging on me, but was feeling pretty good when I realized just how well I had been driving the ball yesterday. Man, if I can do like that for the rest of the year, it'll make some things a lot easier out on the course. At one point, I hit 9 straight fairways with my drives, and the two guys I was playing with were watching with some amazement.

"No need to look up on that one, again!"

[Dave Ireland]

9/9 fairways ... oooh the things that dreams are made of ....I'd say off the top of my head I've been penalised more shots from the driver - OB's and watery graves, than 3 putts and duff chips.

I'm holding out that the secret to me going into single figures h/c wise is increased fairways hit - my greens in reg at the moment with the lift/place rules is around 80 %, fairways is still down at 40% ... here's hoping!

[dave.]

That is also one of Hogans fundamentals.