Some fun news from the tour: JB's caddie Brandon

[Jeff Martin]

Brandon Parsons is JB Holmes' caddie, is a friend of Kelvin's and has taken a few lessons from Kelvin in person. Last night he emailed this report from Phoenix that is fascinating on several levels. Enjoy!

Jeff

Hey Kelvin,

JB just played his first event of the season last week in San Diego. He missed the cut, but the second day was much better. His speeds are quite a bit slower but are climbing fast!!! Last week at the Callaway Facility he was setting at 114 mph clubhead speed and could only get it up to 117 mph when he swung as hard as he could. Today however he was easily able to achieve 119 mph. I think by next week he will be back in the 120's.

I just read your article dealing with parametric acceleration. I think JB has quite a bit of this at high speeds. He does it by pulling the left side of the body back and out of the way. He doesn't know he is doing it, but it's there. Today on the range he was talking with his coach Matt about a swing thought he had. He made a motion I understood from using the lag trainer you sent me. I spoke up and said "Do THAT" "Do that more on all your full shots". I could tell Matt didn't know exactly what we were talking about, but the motion JB made was a more extreme lag hold and pulling the left side. Hard to explain in words but I could show you easily, I think you know what I mean. He focused on that today and hit the ball FANTASTIC. He also explained to me what he felt HE was doing in the move. He said he focuses on putting his neck in a certain position rather than a different more comfortable position. Interesting that his focus was on the NECK and my focus when I swing had always been on my HIPS. Yet his hips move very efficiently and I had all the stall problems.

The great part is that after using the lag device I finally see "the move" in player's swings. It's funny because they don't even know what they are doing. The things they and their coaches are focusing on might work one day, but don't work every day!!!!!! Everyone so far this year has talked talked talked about Track Man numbers. It's terrible because you can tell someone they need to swing up more on the ball and swing from inside out more, but who cares if you have to manipulate the club like Padraig Harrington to do it. They are acting like the correct numbers on Track Man will give you a good swing, when it is really knowing how to use the "spine" as you describe to get the numbers on Track Man that everyone wants. You may be the only person in the Universe that understands how to move the body!!!!!

All the best,

Brandon

[surfcity]

I wonder if JB is focused on neck tilt that matches lateral bend at address or he gets it into that position in the downswing. Happy to hear confirmation of pulling the left side as far back away from the target as possible--less lateral, more rotation.

[gatorgolf]

Great post Jeff. I would love to see that motion JB was demonstrating, maybe Brandon or Kelvin could film it and post it. I completely agree with Brandon about trackman, because you can flip and roll your way to great Trackman numbers, but when you get out on the course underpressure those perfect numbers dont mean anything, you need to develop a swing that will hold up underpressure, and trackman seems useless when it comes to that.

[golfdad]

Kelvin's micro moves make sense to me and imo can help many golfers currently trying hard to fix singular motion or components when in fact the body needs an overhaul. I look at my kid's change of late not as a patch or fix, but a total rebuild. By focusing on mid and lower sections of the body, wrists and hands become less sensitized to timing. There is really no other explanation for my kid's increased accuracy and distance, considering that she relied on concepts and videos and no hands on demo or instruction. Would Trackman have played any role in helping her with building the new swing? NO. I will not buy her a GPS when she first learns to drive. Would you dare to go onto a plane if you know the pilot can only fly on autopilot because autopilot has very precise measurement? Trackman lovers have acknowledged that they need to use Trackman in conjunction with very good teachers to reap the max benefit, except more often than not, they knowingly neglect the very good teachers part.

Having said that, I think Trackman has a role to play for some folks under some circumstances. It serves in a similar way as slo mo camera. Additional data to those who know how to interpret them can be meaningful. However, people with structurally deficient swings must first correct the structural deficiencies. Of the extreme minority who can achieve that level, aka PGA level or high level amateurs, I think Trackman can offer ideas for tweaking to gain competitive edge.

Now some folks have a swing that they believe cannot be changed anymore and they want to use Trackman to groove a swing that is more dependable, can Trackman help? sure, why not! How helpful it will be I am not sure. How reliable is swinging to a number and applying on the real course I don't know. There is really a need to clinically test this hypothesis.