Erik J. Barzeski

AI golfer image generation is probably worse than the golfers atop golf trophies. 🤣 Anyway, give this episode a listen!

The date on Analyzr's "New Lesson" toolbar button is the mid-point of the co-founder's two birthdays. Happy birthday Dave!

It’s interesting in this newsletter that @LouStagner talks about a study where golfers who were being recorded did better under pressure. I wonder if the same holds for golfers who regularly record their golf swings. newsletter.loustagnergolf.com/p/one-reason-y…

@RobertTyreMarks @RichardZokol @ArronOberholser @RandA No need to try it again. We can know the results before we "try" it. A lighter ball would increase randomness, decreasing the role of skill in determining the outcome of a putt. The gap between good and bad putters would shrink. Unintended consequences.

@iacas @RichardZokol @ArronOberholser @RandA I can’t believe that weekend golfers noticed such dramatic effects with a 4.3% reduction in weight and suggest it was more likely to have been mental rather than physical. Given balls are now nothing like they were in 1929…time to try it again. 🙂

Seeing lots of modern golf equipment complaining on my feed. Ok, cool. I’m all for taking equipment tech back to 1999. The ball spun a lot more, smaller driver heads. Go for it. It will be fun.

@laz_versalles Fortunately that number is getting smaller. Slowly. Very slowly. Might already be lower than 90%, but it depends on what you're counting as "golf instruction."

90% of golf instruction

@LukeKerrDineen @jamierkennedy If you've ever charted a player's shots, we agree you'll find that they're not evenly distributed. The black-and-white image below is 200 8-irons from @LowScoreWins 12 years ago. Dispersion is not evenly distributed. Everyone should watch the video (and buy our book, too)!

Heroic effort by @jamierkennedy on the back end of this youtu.be/-h8FFmMgQK4?si…

On paper, when the pin is tucked right on the 10th hole at Sawgrass it makes no sense to aim for it. Except that’s exactly what you should do. Here’s why

@bubbascaddie More specifically, the shorter swing is still shorter, but his right arm still goes really far around his rib cage. That's gonna introduce a world of pain as he gets bigger, stronger, faster. Get that arm up and working away from the shirt seam: x.com/iacas/status/2…

@bubbascaddie Talk with his instructor (assuming he has one). Kids can get away with more. We could all get away with a lot more if our arms and our clubs were all several inches shorter! Now is as good a time as any to start working on some very simple stuff that will pay off long term.

For every golfer, a longer swing (bending your trail elbow, turning back farther, etc.) leads to a *WORSE* golf swing, after which it falls off FAST. The point at which "a little bit longer" is beyond this point comes much earlier than many think. x.com/iacas/status/2…

I probably could have named the left axis differently, but even "shot quality" doesn't quite capture it. I'm relying on y'all to get what I'm trying to say here, I supposed. 😀

@GearsSports @A_M_Golf What you're seeing here is that players have to get their hands and/or the club "high enough." If they don't lift, they have to bend their elbow more. Or vice versa (bit of a chicken/egg situation). Lifting more/bending less tends to create a wider hand path.

@GearsSports @A_M_Golf Here's a chart showing 50 Tour players (irons). I had to specifically seek out players in the top left quadrant as they're not plentiful, and most of them are on the Champions Tour or something right now. Modern players fill out the bottom right quadrant. More in next tweet…

“Keep your trail arm connected.” Sounds good. Taught everywhere. It’s also the opposite of what Major Champions, Tour winners, and World Number 1s actually do. Watch closely. If you care about real mechanics, not pithy outdated advice, this may change how you see the swing. Watch here: youtube.com/watch?v=y96xel…

@LukeKerrDineen @procaddiecoach I threaded a headphone cord up my sleeve and would listen to afternoon Pirates games in school. :P Looking forward to watching this one. Has a "Decision Maps" sorta vibe…

@procaddiecoach I love that. I used to get in trouble for reading golf stuff during school 🤣

New video! Pros are getting smarter about attacking pins. They're using Shotlink data to spot what I call "pretend penalties." Then, they're using that info to go on offense. Look closely and you'll see it at the Players this week...

@passionfingerz So you have eight reasons, eh? 😀 What three am I missing? Heh heh heh.

@iacas brother my backswing is so long my downswing trigger is when the club head taps my lead shoulder

Do you have an overly long backswing that ruins sequencing and leads to poor shots? In nearly 20 years of teaching, I've found 5 common faults. You don't have to swing like Jon Rahm, but a shorter swing will probably help you #PlayBetter golf. Which is your fatal flaw? 1/🧵

@RobertTyreMarks @RichardZokol @ArronOberholser @RandA It's not a study but a decent article from a USGA guy is available here: golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/… Two things determine an outcome: skill and luck. Randomness. A lighter ball would increase the randomness of putting. Unintended, but a consequence all the same.

@iacas @RichardZokol @ArronOberholser @RandA Oh yeah? Please show me the results or research if you have them handy. Thanks.

@BentFlags A good golf swing is a lot simpler, a lot shorter, and requires a lot less "work" than a lot of golfers think (and do).

@iacas I struggle with it. Lower body and shoulder stops turning, but the arms keep going. Creates sequencing problems. Something I’m alway working on.

@barrybrightinsc They can, yes. Plus they have less distance to go to be fully hinged.

@iacas Lower hands at address helps promote good wrist hinge.

@ThinkAndDeliver @skillestapp @GearsSports @Smart2MoveAG It is. Word of caution: as you get older the compensations you may be making will become tougher and tougher to make.

@iacas @skillestapp @GearsSports @Smart2MoveAG Great thread and explanation of faults!I have overly long backswing and have number 1 and 4 going. On the other hand my timing is pretty good, I can play to scratch and have club speed with driver max around 120mph at 50yo.Its difficult to change when you are used to long swing.

@KeithMorganGolf @skillestapp @GearsSports @Smart2MoveAG With 14 cameras, it’s really good and the value of seeing “video” instead of an avatar is helpful for some.

@iacas @skillestapp @GearsSports @Smart2MoveAG Do you find the hybrid system to be as accurate as the full suit?

@timmmess @brianmanzella “If your wrists work properly in the backswing, do you have to worry about your wrists in the backswing”? 😜 Unfortunately for a lot of golfers they goof things up between a good set up and grip and the top.

@brianmanzella @iacas If you have a good grip and get to a pretty standard Gene Littler top of your back swing, do you really need to worry about your wrists? Don’t they just kind of get to the right place?

You don't need a flat lead wrist at the top of the backswing, especially with a neutral/strong grip. If you're cupped at setup you can be slightly cupped at the top and be just fine. Golfers trying to get flat lead wrists often create more problems for themselves than they solve.