Mark Immelman, golf broadcaster, interviews renowned golf instructor — Kip Puterbaugh
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ABOUT THE EPISODE: Kip Puterbaugh is one of the all-time instructors in golf. He was worked with Major Champions and PGA TOUR and LPGA players alike and has coached winners like Scott Simpson, Larry Mize, Loren Roberts and Dennis Paulson.
Kip was schooled at the University of Houston under legendary coach, Dave Williams, and then played as a professional under the guidance of PGA TOUR legend, Gene Littler. After a brief competitive stint he turned his attention to golf instruction and quickly became one of the most sought-after minds in the game.
A published author, Kip joins #OntheMark to discuss golf and his book “What You Know (about Golf) Can Hurt You.”
Kip highlights and elaborates on his Top 10 Golf Instruction Myths, including “Swinging to Fast” and “Coming Over the Top.”
He then dives into the concept of Hand-Path and how the Handle of the Club moves in the downswing and through impact. As he does so he also details concepts like: Shaft Lean, Casting and Club-lag, Proper Wrist Alignments, Arm Action and Movement and Grip Pressure.
He then shares a cool story about Lee Trevino and how Ben Hogan described the “Flat Spot” of the golf-swing. He also shows his “Whirlybird” practice drill to help golfers find the proper wrist alignments in the downswing and at impact.
STREAMING: On the Mark is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts.
ABOUT ON THE MARK: Mark’s knowledge, insight and experience have made him a sought-after mind on the PGA and European tours. Through his career, he has taught and/or consulted to various Major Champions, PGA Tour winners and global Tour professionals such as: Larry Mize, Loren Roberts, Louis Oosthuizen, Patton Kizzire, Trevor Immelman, Charl Schwartzel, Scott Brown, Andrew Georgiou and Rourke can der Spuy. His golf teaching experience and anecdotal storytelling broadcasting style makes him a popular host for golf outings.
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Ladies and gentlemen guests of this podcast the man in your screen if you’re watching this on YouTube I have aspired to be like him for many a year in my golf instruction career I’ve known him from afar thanks to a dear friend in Larry Meers and now I finally get to
Talk to him on the show Kip petar how are you doing Welcome to our show so good to see you thank you very much markk I’ve always looked forward to talking to you I’ve known a lot about you from Larry so we both learn from Larry which is a
Great source well knowing Larry there there wouldn’t have been much uh bad news because he’s the eternal optimist to me yeah he’s one of the great guys out there that’s for sure well speaking of great guys you are one of those in golf instruction certainly if nothing
Else a legend in Southern Cal California proper um but for our Global audience because we have a Global tribe tell folks a little bit about Kip you know how you came to where you are just kind of the Whistle Stop tour through your career please well I was very fortunate
To grow up in La Hoya and Paul ran was the head pro at La Hoya Country Club at that time and that was a time of booming golf there was Jean ller was at La Hoya Chuck Courtney John schroer um it was just a golf Mecca Legend and ran was a huge inspirational
Type character he was so enthusiast fastic about Golf and uh starting from the time I was about 8 years old I started hitting golf balls with my brothers I have three older brothers and I just got hooked more and more and more and uh by the time I was 13 that’s all I
Could do I mean I I just wanted to play golf and uh ran was the teacher and I just smashed balls until I turned blue in the face and and end up going to college at University of Houston which at that time was the PowerHouse of the
Country U there was 40 freshmen on our team that was 1966 wow by the time 1970 came it was 13 people on the team scholarships came around right around 6970 and so everything changed uh the audio listeners and the YouTube folks can see me I’m pointing at an award there behind my
Head that is the Dave Williams award who was the lead he was your coach I guess then for a little while wasn’t he yeah he was a coach all the time yeah quite a character but it was a wonderful experience I just play golf all the time
And there were some times where I was frustrated with the team because of just way teams go but it was great I spent four years graduated and then missed the tour in 70 and 71 and then decided Well I uh watched Tom Watson Putt in the PG at the stage
Two or finals and I said I’ve never putted like that in my entire life and I decided from that point maybe I better get a job and then I applied for jobs and end up getting a job in Chicago of all places I didn’t even dreamed of it
But I went to Northshore Country Club for Bill Ogden and uh then I went to Palm Springs with him as a resident professional and the more I was in the business the more I taught um I always been fascinated by the golf swing I had stacks of magazines around my desk when
I was supposed to be studying that I look at swings and I didn’t know what I was looking at I just looked and I think I just learned from osmosis just looking at so many different swings trying to figure out what ones work and um what commonalities they all shared and I just
Started teaching and when I moved back out to California I already was teaching quite a bit and then through a change of circumstances the golf course I was at uh they got a new ownership in and they fired everybody s and scene and so I’m so I started teaching individually with
A friend of mine down at a driving range and going up to Orange County and then sooner or later open a golf school in 1987 and uh we started RR Golf Academy in 1991 and 32 later 3 years later we’re still there and it’s been a quite a run
I’m very very fortunate folks listening to Kip I’m holding the book here we’re going to talk about in a minute I love the title what you know can hurt you I um ke’s forgotten stuff about golf that a lot of folks listening to and watching this are still learning
And so ke I just one more question before we get to the material um the connection eventually with the touring professional and you’ve worked with countless I mean Dennis polson’s a friend you worked with him he’s wrote written one of the forward for this book Scott Simpson Larry Myers goly the list
Is endless you’ve you’ve gone from giving lessons to giving lessons at the highest level uh just like your sort of 36,000 foot view of the whole thing there because in my experiences I feel like the the common Club golfer thinks that the pros do different stuff from
Them help us with the truth please it isn’t the is anything different uh one of my f you know we talk about the importance of the fundamentals you know grip stance posture alignment right that’s the Cornerstone of professional golf and golf instruction yeah so I started coaching Scott and um we’re
About eight months into our coaching and he was really struggling when we started and he wins The Bu okay takes the next week off and he’s playing the next week in Westchester and he calls me he said Kip I think you need to come out and see me at the open next
Week I’ve lost it so I fly out the red eyee on Sunday night get on the dry range and see him hitting a golf ball balls raw ball I think it was and uh he hits two balls he says Scott are you aiming at that red flag out in the
Distance yeah I said why don’t you put a club down across your feet okay so he puts a club down across the street the feet and steps back he said I flew you all the way out here for that is that true one of my greatest
Stories ever I flew all the way out here for that yeah I guess you did if you didn’t have the sense to put a club down across your feet you know and so that’s kind of you’re always working fundamentals uh you’re not trying to make drastic changes uh if they’ve
Gotten to that level you try to figure out what the best they’re capable of doing and what they’re when they’re playing their best and and when they go offline it’s generally speaking it’s somewhere in the setup linan grip ball position uh little things that they can
Get off in the Rhythm or they get off in their turning Cycles or whatever it is or their sequences get out yeah but they wrote motions are pretty well established A wise man once told me he said something to the effect of most golf swings are ruined before the clubs
Even swung back just that’s pretty good way of saying it yeah Johnny Miller said if there’s a tour player probably 85% of the time that things go wrong it’s in the setup yeah okay that’s pretty close for the folks waiting for the Ben Hogan insights you got to wait because this
Book is now been republished if I get it correctly right Kip yeah this is um this is the new cover all right got different is it’s got golf in front all right and the reason for that is that I wrote that book before the internet so there was no
Search engines so that book never showed up in the search engines because it didn’t say golf anywhere so really a blunderhead move on my part but I didn’t know so we redid it now we have golf in there so people can see it well it’s become one of my new favorites and
Before we get to Hogan and the handle movement in the swing chapter one here is the myths and again the book is titled what you know can hurt you and I want to just quickly read through these to you and have you just give your commentary okay these are top 10 golf
Instruction myths keep your head still keep your eyes on the ball keep your left arm straight keep your right elbow in close in the back swing keep your left side in control of the swing and don’t use too much right hand keep your left heel on the ground to solidify your
Back swing turn you need to focus in the back swing cocking your wrist to build up angles for the downswing you start the down swing by pulling your right arm and elbow into your side you want to delay the uncocking of the wrist on the answer swing until the last possible
Moment John Jacobs is rolling over in his grave you want your eyes to watch the club head strike the ball and you want to have a follow through with your hands and arms in a nice high position and then there’s an honorable mention list you’re swinging too hard or too fast and
You’re coming over the top I call this stuff Advil for the golf swing because everyone has it and everyone just dos it out when someone’s hitting the ball poorly so give us your com it’s just what you hear here so much you know the the left arm straight I
Think is probably the one of the worst enemies and keeping your head still now I’m not allowing saying people move their head Helter Skelter but it’s got to have freedom of motion uh I love George newson’s Line he said the head so shows no useful purpose in the golf
Swing other than to sit on top of your shoulders that’s a simplified version but your body is rotating your head’s got to rotate your eyes got to rotate some if you look at any player’s head at the top of their back swing their eyes are rotated somewhere around 30 deges
Off to the right some more Dustin Johnson’s probably 45 degrees rotated off to his right yeah and Nicholas even started with his head off to the right you know so you know there’s the head motion is is a tough one trying to keep your head down probably ruins more
Golfers than anything I can think of car accidents I know that’s terrible that one because it’s stops motion you know so if it stops motion you just smash the club into the ball what the heck are you doing this this is a swing yeah and so I
Like to clarify what a swing is it’s something moving in a free and unrestricted Arc around the center of motion yep it’s swinging around the center’s always moving the club’s got to be moving you keep your head down the center stops do anything else so have nothing
Left but your arms to pull up into your body so and then then someone goes ah you chicken winging something to that effect because you’re trying to get to the follow through that right yeah it’s a why place you can go I mean if your head’s down your
Arms they go they go chicken wing I find it comical because you’ve worked with Elite golfers you know I have two now work alongside them in the fairways on the PGA tour and then you come back to your home club and someone M hits a ball
And the rider on the White Horse comes in with the like oh you’re swinging too fast and I’m like let me tell you something on the PG T those that golf swing is like a blur it’s going so quickly yet they’re hitting it straight right well Hogan said Harvey pennick in
His book asked Ben Hogan what part of the golf ball do you look at and Ben Hogan said I have no clue it’s a total blur to me well you think of a downswing from the top of your back swing to impact is 0. 22 seconds exactly so you
Got less than a quarter of a second how are you going to watch something especially when your body moving at the speed they’re moving there’s just no way you can see it it’s a blur so you’re your time here’s a personal question um before we get out to how the handle
Moves through contact and you know a lot of folks would say that you know impact is the most important time in the golf swing but I ask you this Kip I want your take impact obviously we message the golf ball but all the Legends I’ve spoken with and you mentioned Watson
Earlier Tom Watson that is he was like you know the change of Direction between back and downswing that to me was where the magic happened that set up contact so where do you on the subject it that is the moment of truth I mean uh if you’ve got an adequate you know you’re
All set up and good and you make a good turn the change of direction is where most players when they’re playing on the tour or any level of high level the misses usually are coming from the change of sequence and this motion change of the time
They get quicker they get shorter in the back swing they get nervous they get Jumpy the wind gust shut comes up whatever it is and it gets them out of their Rhythm and out of their sink and so that to me the change of direction is
The moment of truth and then from that point on is just fly yeah okay I’m I’m GNA make the cardinal sin here but I’m going to do it anyway because you shouldn’t take another man’s medicine and golf instruction is very personal even though they are fundamentals to respect right I
Want you to say I want you just for everyone listening and watching to this to say look if you were if they were with you and you were going to say to them one key to changing direction properly could you share something like that even though it’s generic
Please most of the time it’s arm pressure for the amateur golfer all right arm arm too much grip pressure too much tension too much anticipation of making a hit so they get to the top and they see that ball and they want to hit it and everything get get rushed gotta
And the last thing you want to do is Rush the hands down because then you just lost all your power yes similar to a baseball throw you know your body goes back and your body has to go forward and your arm just kind of Waits there for a
Little bit you don’t go and throw your arm right so it’s a it’s a sequence and the same thing in the golf swing it’s just got a weight and uh that’s where the average golfer doesn’t have the patience for because their main object is to hit the stupid ball instead of
Swing the golf club so I do make a big focus on learning what a swing is and making the club move well folks go and get this book it you can search golf now and find it because it basically takes you through the golf swing from aess to the follow-through under Kip’s Direction
Okay now we’ve transitioned well and I asked you okay what do you want to talk about and you send me two pictures of Ben Hogan and I started salivating and then you were talking about how the handle moves and WS at its lowest and etc etc etc and I was like
Let’s do this uh so so give us the theme of it describe where you want to go with the handle movement and then we’ll just we’ll kind of go from there please well it’s it’s come from a long time of me when I I very fortunate to watch Ben
Hogan hit golf balls and L trino and um they played together in 1967 in Houston and uh I was really tempted to take my clubs and throw them in the bayou I mean those guys hit the ball so well it was frightening and I was at the
End of the round reporter comes up to Ben Hogan at this time Travino was absolutely unknown he had finished sixth in the US Open before and no one have heard of him but now he’s playing with Ben Hogan and so they say what do you think of that funny looking swing of Lee
Travinos and Hogan looked at him with a look of almost disdain saying that is no funny golf swing he’s got the longest flat spot of anybody I’ve seen on the tour since I tired really I’m going I’m I just take kind of taking back I’m
Going long flat spot what the heck is he talking about and I started thinking about it and you start realizing that the only way you can achieve a stable Club face through the ball is you have to be coming in from a shallow position with your hands okay so I start looking
At all the players and the handle of the golf club reaches its lowest position usually right by the right thigh and the shafts pair to the ground stop there say that again because I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions in golf because you know
Gol down on it I got to hit down on it exactly so the handle gets they think I got to keep going downward but not the truth that’s exactly where I’m heading that’s the that’s the curve yes you know so they get up there and they pull the
Handle down well you get to the handle when it’s parallel to the ground being the lowest the butt end of the club from that point is going up so the shaft is much like a hockey stick yes it’s it’s moving up while the bottom is moving
Down and that’s how a divot is taken a divot is not taken by a direct blow down it’s this motion and I think you can understand what I mean by that so that is the motion that provides some torque where your body can twist and go and now
You can fire up well now you can use Ground Forces yeah I never thought about Ground Forces when I was learning this but the turn I always had an expression the club has got to come in from low in order for your body to turn to high yes
And if you come down all the way you cannot turn up so that’s when I started really looking at this and now with all the ground force information everything it’s all being verified over the years but I had several arguments with people about this years ago they
Said no you got to hit it down I go that’s not what the good players are doing you know it’s it’s this way the I yeah I saw some 3D information now and and all of 3D is proving your theory correct where Rory mroy who I would
Argue is probably one of the most virtuoso ball Strikers I’ve ever seen it’s like he fell out of Heaven just hitting the ball yeah even when he was 18 years old I was salivating okay so and they measured him and you talk about Way’s hands were the lowest or all good
Strikers which is over the trail thigh right hands were moving at their fastest and remember the remember folks listening the golf swing is circular it’s not linear so they were moving the fastest toward the target when his left arm was basically parallel with the ground so just a foot or so into the
Downswing the rest of the time the the sideways acceleration in the handle was actually slowing down because he’s going up and leftward instead of pulling that handle hard towards the Target and so to do that in the interest of sha leaning are the folks who can’t Square the face
Up in time so I’d love your commentary right well I’ve seen I’m sure you have two many demonstrations of shaing yes and I’ll show them at a dress and all they do is just Jam their hands down and I’m going well that if if you went there and actually hit a golf ball
The club would be impaled into the Earth and never could get out I mean if they if your hands are three inches lower or two inches lower than they were to dress and the shaft to get your shaft to lean you’re you can’t hit a golf ball that
Way it’s true and then a lot of folks too will they you’re down swing and through swing and a lot of there’s a lot of brewhaha about the downswing the downswing is such a short period of time most of to your observation is the upswing of the handle and I sound like
Eddie Marin now right right yeah it’s um I want to I want to ask this along those lines right now the creating of the up out of the handle because I can imagine folks going all right Kip said so and Mark’s basically Fanboy and they start pulling the handle
Manually and folks watching on YouTube I’m basically lifting and buing where does the up come from please what’s the correct upswinging mechanism well I think you’ve got it established by the time you’re low that club is flying yeah if you’re doing it correctly and that club’s going to go
Away from you and if this goes away from you your left arm is going to go away from you and the left forearm is going to start to rotate over I mean it’s just almost like you can’t stop it because your body’s turning out of the way when
You got the club that low and you start moving you you going that club just goes and that’s when you feel that club go that’s what Bobby Jones called the letg go yes okay he said you any suggestion of he said the suggestion of impact is a
Suggestion of too much finality the club should not be stopped or even impeded after at the ball or after the ball the should be let go totally free and that now allows the club head to pull you to the finish and that let that handle down low and you’re coming through that club
Just will fly that let go that let go folks in golf has got a fancy jargony sort of a name and that’s the release got to release the club release the club that’s just the energy of it letting it go I just think it’s better to let it go
And if you let it go it’s going to release um it takes a certain amount of Faith to let Let It Go um look I want to talk about that in a minute but I I’m going to mine this a little bit more because I asked you okay what creates
The up and you described it would you contend and this is me asking one instructor to another would you contend that most golfers are traveling or swaying laterally towards the Target too long so as a result it’s really hard to get that handle to go upward and
Leftward like it should be going at the right time they will tend to go too far forward with upper body yes but more upper body dominant they get the upper body going because that’s where the ball is so their heads start to move forward now you look at a good player at the
Start a transition their head may move just a bit first and then from that point on it’s never G it’s going to stay or it’s going to go back yeah to impact and that that’s allowed the body to clear so I would say the lateral motion is somewhat arm driven and somewhat
Upper body not necessarily lower body but it can be lower body I mean it just depends on what the person’s know doing but I would say it’s more upper body tendency well I would say and you’ve seen them hit if you think of Hogan and Travino with long flat spots the only
Way you create that long flat spot is if you’re kind of working inside of your feet if if you’re low yes you got all soupy legs underneath you you got no chance then right no exactly I I want to talk about the timing of this movement
Because I’m we all are now we’re like okay we got to do this we got to do this and then there’s this angst about like creating up or or having the handle go from low over the trail thigh to Upward and inward as the club is let go um talk
About the timing of this mechanism because I feel like a lot of folks will be worried about okay I’m at my right thigh now do I go I mean this happens all in a blink of an eye is it hard to time or what would you advise well what
I’ll do with people is I’ll just take my shaft to my golf club and I’ll let’s say the butt end of The Club at the air address position I’ll put my shaft like seven inches to the right of it okay and about the same elevation as the butt end
Of the club and I just hold it there and say get your hands lower than this butt end of the club by this point okay your hands got to get under the shaft all right I say once they get down there I said now where you g to go and they go
Well I gotta go this and they move up just naturally because they can it’s almost instinctive you know if you take a little half back swing people take a little half back swing and take a swing through they can hit it pretty good yeah when because our hands are already low
They’re not up it’s just getting to that spot here where then it becomes almost a natural happen stance I mean they don’t go low go okay now do I do I say well make a swing and they go and their hands go up and the club starts to go in this
Fashion so the main thing is getting the idea of where that club’s got to get to at that point and it’s it’s not again it’s not linear it’s sort of an area it’s just reaction and and and the amazing thing about it in my experience and I’d love your your addition or your
Or whatever your thoughts are it’s amazing how even though you feel like the handle’s going up the physics of this with a head is accelerating to catch up with the hands actually makes the divot after the ball which is just crazy to but it’s all just pure physics right it
Is yeah the divot comes with the handle going up which hard for hard for people here’s the here’s the theory if folks imagine a scar behind a boats and to you know when you ski out to the side if the boat’s traveling forward and it turns around in
A sharp Circle the skier gets slung out everyone understands that you’re right the club’s like the boat and the club heads like the skier but people are so they’re so loathed to try that though they it doesn’t make sense to what they’ve been taught yeah that’s the
Problem everybody hit down hit down and they get so and you try to get them low they say well I’m going to hit the ground back there I say you might the first couple times you know but if you keep doing it you’re going to find out
You can move and you’re going to move totally different um kind of going back to the same subject matter I like to pull up old things that I saw but I went to San Diego open down the old Stardust Country Club and back when I was
Probably 14 years old and gay Brewer is hitting golf balls on the Range and he’s got a piece of a coat hanger that like the bottom piece of the coat hanger turned into a l okay so he’s got his golf ball here he puts it on the outside
Of the of the club he puts it four inches behind the ball and he made a bridge so if he s it down the ground so that hanger is hanging over almost the top of his ball four inches behind the ball so he’s trying to swing under that
Bridge to hit the ball I’m watching this and so this is where a lot of this stuff came from me just learning happen stance as I’m growing up and I’m looking at him I say m because there’s no one else there and he’s talking to me I said you
Know is very friendly I said why is that thing there he said I want to make sure I’m hitting into the ball not down to the ball oh I love that and I thought that’s another one of the things that kind of gets my mind thinking is that
That’s that’s in that’s got more Force than this you know what you’ve just brought some clarity to a tip that I got as a young golfer from our club professional back in South Africa that it was such a great visual that I still
Use it but I guess I sort of now you I understand it better where his tip was he said to me Mark I want you to imagine that there’s like a 9-inch nail right through the middle of the golf ball pointing down the target line because
Goes I want you to drive that nail straight through the ball right to do that you got to get the face appropriated right be Hing flat like you are not downward you Buckle the nail then right that’s it’s the same premise but this this causes a penalty if you
Hit the hanger you know you didn’t do it so of course you don’t you can’t visualize a nail because it not actually happen but it I actually used to make those when I was back at my first head pro job and I got in trouble because the
Green superintendent said you know Kip I I’ve seen you use that drill with your students but don’t leave the hangers out there they ruin the [Laughter] mowers so essentially you’ve you’ve you’ve dispelled a myth of hitting down on the ball which is again and I’m getting back to the book now because I
Just love it so very much um I would think because then I’m a big one of like learning the thing like you’ve taught now and someone’s like right I understand that but now I’m G to go and do it I would think and I want your take
Please that if someone went and hit balls off an UPS slope just a gradual UPS slope they would probably learn what you’re talking about here wouldn’t you say yeah another one is actually a side Hill eyeball on your feet okay you can’t hit down on
Those you never go to hit a shot so it has to become more of a swing around yourself with the ball above you well I would both of those two were the swinging around and The Swinging up the hill they sort of come from a fairly Centric stable sort of a body
Action again there can’t be too much side to side or or lifting fall off the hill if you get too much one way or the other yeah no kidding um okay so so I got ahead of myself back to the book some of these myths I want to dispel
Them a little further like you talk here I was a victim of this you got to meet Ben Hogan I just read his books back and forth back and forth cover to cover all the time and they a Bible to me right and I from the ravelli pictures would
Jam my trail elbow into my side so hard I never really hit the ball with any real Authority right I want you to talk to folks now because we’ve talked about the down sing the handle action sort of where that trail elbow lives because I’ve seen countless folks with a
Towel under themselves and they just got no athleticism whatsoever on that back AR right I I don’t know exactly because if I think some of it’s going be your anatomical build you know he’s actually you know Hogan wasn’t tall and so he could beat Club more in because he made
On a flatter plane you take a Nicholas you know he was not much taller but I think his body was totally different anatomically all right and so he was very upright so his elbow is not going to be jammed in Victor hoban’s elbow wouldn’t be you know there’s a lot of
Players that aren’t jammed in but then you take John Ramen it never gets away from his side yes so you know you you have to kind of say that it’s not an AB absolute the problem is the elbow comes to the side not by pulling your elbow in
Yes it comes from your arms waiting and your body starting to move and the club just Falls gotcha it’s not me it’s not me trying to get it in that be like me trying to throw a ball and going like this I I couldn’t throw it it’ just be
It’s a soft movement it’s not a purposeful hard movement you understand what I mean yeah I do absolutely um along those lines too I’ll never forget you know spending time around Larry you know he’s always so wise and the one thing he was non-negotiable on was something he
Learned from you he actually referen your name and he said Kip always wanted me to feel like the club head was going its fastest after contact and I absolutely Lov that because to your about how the elbow goes because of how your body does if disorganized in
Transition the speed will not be in that area yes right right they did get the drill yeah yeah you want to I think every Tour player that I was around they always feel the club speed you I say when do you feel the most speed it’s
Usually like two feet to three feet past the ball that’s when they feel it yeah that isn’t where the speed is it’s where they feel it it’s like me throwing a ball if I throw a baseball I let go the ball my arm feels like it goes the
Fastest after I let go I feel a snap in my arm right I don’t feel a snap when I’m still holding the ball yeah so that’s the letting go right that’s the letting go and so you know Hogan and Claude Harmon were really good friends
And I heard Butch one time say that Bo both Hogan and Claude agreed that you want to have your speed from the ball to the Finish I thought that was an interesting way and the only way that happens is if that handle is not close to the ground
It’s going upward huh it can’t go fast if you’re going down we just we’ve done a big roundabout to get back to the same thing um one more here before I let you go I appreciate your time um you here we go you need to focus and this is where I
Joked about John Jacobs who’s like a mentor of mine it’s like you want to delay the uncocking of the wrist on the downswing until the last possible moment and here’s the thing you know those swing sequencies I’ve got every single one that was ever available I used to
Cut them out and save them in a file and you see these grates right before the ball how there’s lag and so have undone themselves by trying to lag the club heads so I want your your Parting Shot there please yeah I think again people that have cast are coming steep yeah their
Hands are coming steep I mean I’ve I’ve looked at so many people that anybody that throws a club out their hands Can’t Get Low to me so lag is just a matter of getting the hands down then you because you can’t if you throw it you can’t get your hands down
Got so if you get your hands down it’s going to be a it’s a it’s a fire out um so trying to jam it’s again it’s like the right elbow trying to jam your hands down there and say okay now to me that’s just a impossible thing to try to
Do in you know this much space face you know you got to have a whole sense of the bottom gotcha not a it’s not you can’t time this you it has to go so basically if you let it go free the club will Square so I would think along
Those lines though if people listening to this or watching you just were watching your you were demonstrating with your arms if they just took L trino and Hogan at their words with the longest flat spot they’d probably unload those wrists at the correct time to make
The flat spot longer you can’t make the flats that long with wrist flipping around I can Tello said I like to put the club on the ground four feet behind the ball and just drag it through the ground that’s what he said he just dragged it through
The ground put the club on the ground put it three feet behind the ball and drag it through to your finish make it go along the Earth start feeling like trino did trino said that okay yeah one more follow up got thousands um we the internet you joked about it
Earlier and search engines if someone typs in their golf swing or tips you’ll hear about early extension because everyone’s crowing about it you wrist alignments because everyone’s going on about that now um which no one talked about just a little while ago but now all of a sudden it’s the thing they
Should have been talking a long time ago with all of this long flat spot and stuff I want you to talk to people about the cocking and the uncocking of the wrist because a lot of folks kind of misunderstand that thing you know back in the day folks were a little bit more
CED in the wrist right if you will nowadays folks are tning the opposite way where does Kip sit on this place well a lot of that’s depended on the grip so if I’m couples I better not be I better not be Freddy Couples and have my
Grip like that that club’s G to be about 40 degrees closed at the top of the back swing so I think what what we’ve seen is that there’s the grip has gone more towards the neutral side versus the stronger side with a lot of players and
Then if they’re in the neutral side you can still get that angle fairly easy and that just allows the club to stay stable yeah um I know Claude Harmon said that this position was a square position he he liked to see the face shut that for the folks listening only that’s Kip is
Showing slightly bowed or slightly right ex face the face points more like the club is more up in the air right then if you’re open the face of Point more down and this is still a killer position for people I’ve been I’ve known that for
That’s been around for a long time but I think it’s become very popular to try to get the club here I had a student in the other day that went up the CL top wide open came down to here he’s dead perfect inition again
Yeah so he he kind of took it up here and did this and he did it on his alone so the club had done what it supposed to do and he was in a great position he went through the ball beautifully do I need to get rid of that do I go through
The hassle of trying to do that and get his rhythm out I just left him alone I said okay you’re open but you’re saving it perfectly and he still hit the ball quite far and I didn’t I just left it alone I would so I’m so glad would so
I’m so glad that you would say that because you know instruction nowadays because of the internet is so sort of so absolute and people are just shouting at each other if you sit on the opposite side of the fence um because I remember you know the whole movement to the wrist
Being more flexed or more bowed at the top you know closed right where will zator showed up and he is a flusher and he’d be sort of neutral and the wrist would go into cupping on the way down and then he’d Square it off then he then
He squared it up and people was blowing their minds but he did it consistent so I’m I want you to sign off with that because in the end I guess it’s your swing and you’ve just got to do the right things to square off and get that
Long low flat spot right the yes the there’s a guy I I wish I could remember his name but I was told I heard a video of his he’s talking about the only thing that he had in 3D analysis discovered is that the player he got to the top of the
Club and closed Dustin Johnson they got out the top and squared and closed at transition or they came down no later than chest High and the club went to closed so they all get the Clos somewhere around chest high on the down swing they are whether and so if you
Start looking at that way you realize there’s different ways to get there that can be very functional uh that can be tour level it’s just a matter of is this going to guarantee every player that comes through that they’re going to hit it great but that’s all they think about no
Cuz if you go here and go have the wrong path the wrong sequences is you’re still going to be in trouble D you’re cooked your text to me said um you were talking about how the the flat spot works and then you text here emphatically I might
Add this works all the way through the bag and so I want you to finish with that because most folks like okay well I got to get the handle working up but I’m going to thin my chip shots on my pit shots this is applicable throughout the
Swing this long loaf raising pit shot still going up but ends going up on a pit shot definitely that’s why way you get the flange on the ground you can’t get the club to come down with the flange going I the handle going down all the way and
Hit a pit shot you know what’s funny I’m watching you and again folks you got to get to YouTube so you can see because every time Kip talks he shows us what’s going on um I’m sorry it’s fantastic the there was a movement at a time you know when all the
Great PGA Tour players were talking about exposing the bounce of the lob wedge or The Sand Wedge through contact and you know they releasing the wrists early to build Loft into the face right so a lot of amateur golfers then near this and they’re throwing their wrists
At the golf ball and the club looks like an angry cat’s tail through Conta yeah that yeah what you’re talking about here is if you’re doing the right thing with a handle and it’s going up that club’s releasing and overtaking you without you having to even throw your wrist angles out
Whatsoever you know what’s kind of fun to do for I tell people if you took a club here and you had it straight up and down and you just did a circle when the club gets to there the butt end the club is going upot keep doing that I’m gonna describe
This for the radio folks what Kip is doing club right here which way the but on the club is going up so what Kip’s doing all right is he’s got Club in front of him and he’s basically making what look like um counterclockwise circles he’s basically making a circle
And you’re right when the club starts to go downward it’s sh the is popping love it so that’s what I I call this the whirly bird all right if you could you watch a good player on the golf course they’re standing around they’re doing this all the time they’re
Always swinging the club around they’re always making circles well there is a circle to the bottom of the Swing it’s I I can tell you one thing’s for certain if you you can’t see off my camera right over there I’ve got a bag of golf clubs when I put this coal down
I’m going to go and Fiddle with a whirly bird because that is brilliant I folks need to do that more often I use that for pitching all the time that basically you want to feel like the club is just going like this it’s not that you’re throwing it down
It’s just letting it go down ran used to tell me that the problem with most people pitching is they don’t at their address position leave the club enough room to get to the bottom other words they get over the ball and they stay down so the club is going to hit the
Ground too early he said you want to feel like when you’re setting up for a pitch that you’re almost too high and the club can’t quite get to the ground so when you swing the club get the weight will be able to go down as you’re
Moving yourself up so that’s why you see every good pit in the ball their head is actually going up at impact and Paul renan folks he’s given less little time ago yeah well he’s given to folks like Jack Nicholas and companies so Mr ran knew what was going on yes he
Did yeah he said under reach versus overreach want to under reach on a pitch all right Kip love you thanks for joining me tell folks where they can find the book golf what you know can hurt you please it’s now on Amazon I think it’s pre-ordered it’s going to be
Available maybe sooner than November 30th it may come out sooner there I am not sure yet but I know they have it now you can see it on the web page and there’ll be a Kindle one following up shortly but it’s um that’s where it is
And for the golf schools I know there’s a website share that and also you’re available on social media so what are the handles there please uh ivr Golf Academy is the web uh ivr golf academy.com AV i a r a ivr Golf Academy uh our handle is pball golf on Instagram
But we may be in the middle of changing that so but uh that’s what we’re doing on that and we’re actually just making a little bit of a push we’ve been kind of slow to the market on that for bunch of dinosaurs don’t do a lot of social media
But we’re gonna try to do some more well folks you can just search Kip Kip and then pter bar p p u t r b a u g h Kip thank you for your time this has been so much fun and it’s been a pleasure to
Connect with you thanks for joining us I enjoyed it and good luck with you at CBS I hear you’re to be in the fairways yeah I’ve been doing so for a while um it’s the thrill of a lifetime and I’m somewhat um somewhat amazed that that
They’ve allowed me to do this job I feel like I haven’t gone this far in my dream so so it’s a great thrill thank you yeah well good luck and uh we’ll see you in the broadcast appreciate you how
1 Comment
I didn't realize Kip was still working! What a great treasure of an interview!