fundamentals

Tossing Can Help you play more
Fundamentally sound golf by EA Tischler
This material is copyrighted by EA Tischler and these paragraphs are excerpts from his book,
The Way Of The Golfer - Searching for New Horizons. Copyright 1996 by EA Tischler All rights reserved.

(Above) As I practice my one-handed tosses, I simply focus on the feeling of tossing.
As I follow-through with the one-handed toss, notice that the ball flies in the direction I
am pointing the club.

(Below) As I practice my two-handed tosses, my right hand is still dominant. My left
arm and hand are relaxed. They go along for the ride. The ball once again flies where I
am pointing the club in my follow-through. If you compare the sequences above to the
ones below, you will notice how closely the one-handed and two-handed action mimic
each other.

New Horizons Golf Approach
I n n o v a t i v e C o a c h i n g F o r G o l f e r s

If you have any questions regarding New Horizons Golf Approach please contact
EA Tischler at (408)203-7599, or email your questions to EA Tischler newhorizonsgolfer@yahoo.com.

Below are some books that can help
you develop your fundamental Skills!!!!

Above is the newest Edition of The Way Of The Golfer. It
can be purchased on-line at a variety of on-line book
sellers. However authorhouse.com regularly offers the
lowest prices.

Golf - The Timeless Game is a great book for developing your
fundamental skills. It covers all skills from putting to wedge play
to the long game. If you want to purchase this book you need
to buy it directly from E.A. Tischler. Send a purchase request
by email to E.A. Tischler at newhorizonsgolfer@yahoo.com

Buy it Now On-line!

New Horizons Golf Approach is also a great book for
developing your fundamental skills. It covers the basic long
game fundamentals, athleticism and some inner game issues
you need to address to play your best golf. If you want to
purchase this book you need to buy it directly from EA
Tischler. Send a purchase request by email to EA Tischler at
newhorizonsgolfer@yahoo.com

Basic Fundamentals

This webpage is dedicated to discovering the games true fundamentals. Golf professionals often
talk about what is fundamental to a sound golf swing. Unfortunately, these concepts become
confusing because what seems to be fundamental to one professional is not fundamental to
another. For example, one professional might say it is fundamental to keep the right knee angle
constant during the backswing, and another might say it is fundamental for the right leg to
straighten slightly in the backswing. Well, which is it?

I've also heard professionals say there are simply more than one set of fundamentals. For
example Jim Hardy believes there are two sets of fundamentals. One set for what he calls a one
plane swing and another set for what he calls a two plane swing. So, what is it, one set, two sets,
or multiple sets of fundamentals?

It is my contention that what is fundamental to playing golf is fundamental for all golfers. Thus it
is my contention that there is only one true set of fundamentals for GOLF. I believe this because
what is fundamental is necessary because it is an essential, or elemental, part of the process.

Now there may be multiple systems that express the fundamentals. In other words there are many
viable swing models available to golfers. For example, their are three basic categories of actions
used by golfers to play golf. These categories are Swinging, Throwing, and Hitting. No matter
which category you use, your golfing action with involves the games true fundamentals. At least it
will if your action is sound.

Furthermore, each category has many viable models available for use, and this is where I find
truth in a statement like Jim Hardy's. Though he says there are two sets of fundamentals in golf I
believe it would be more correct to say that there are two basic systems for "swinging on-plane."
And what he calls fundamentals are simply elements pertinent to the assembly of a system that will
work efficiently. Therefore, he has defined two valid styles of "Swinging" on-plane, and he has
described which elements are pertinent to both styles of play. However, within each method I
believe we will discover essential elements, elements of sameness that are fundamental to both
styles of swinging on-plane. Indeed I believe that there are fundamental elements that
exist within all sound golf actions, and we will discuss them further on this page.

Some may describe what I am talking about as what is imperative as compared to what
fundamental. This is a choice of words based on your definition of each term. I also agree that
what I am describing as the Basic Fundamentals are imperative to playing sound repeatable golf.
However, I have chosen to define a fundamental as something that is essential and necessary to
the act of playing golf in general. Thus I am talking about fundamentals of the game as compared
to what might be called the fundamentals of a style, method, or system.

Lastly, the things I consider to be imperative are issues such as holding the club for example.
You must hold the club to play golf, therefore it is imperative you develop a way to hold the club
that let's you control the use of the golf club. With this in mind, what is imperative seems obvious
in nature, and seem to be covered in general in most instructional methods. My only concern
hear is that one might profess their type of grip as being imperative. This simple truth is that a
sound grip is imperative and there are many viable types of grips.

by EA Tischler

The Golfer's Story

As we discuss the fundamentals further, what is fundamental is essential in part because of
what each golfer is trying to accomplish while playing the game. Over the past 17 years I have
asked golfers in lessons and seminars what they would like to improve most in their games.
While listening to the answers it has become quite apparent that all golfers want the same things.

Chapter One: Consistency
All golfer's would like to play more consistently.

One thing golfer's notice is that they need to reproduce a consistent action. Actually they need a variety
of consistent actions to play golf. Their putting strokes, short game strokes, and long game strokes all
need to be repeatable.   Of course, golfers that say they need to be more consistent often produce
wonderfully consistent slices. Sometimes they produce wonderfully consistent hooks, or even wonderfully
consistent top shots. So, it is generally the case that golfers are unable to reproduce a shot that works
consistently well on the course.

Therefore, golfers want to develop a set of shots that consistently work
well for the task of playing enjoyable golf.

Chapter Two: Accuracy
All golfer's would like to play more accurate, or very accurate shots.

One thing golfer's notice very quickly when they begin playing golf is that they need to play their shots with a
reasonable amount of accuracy. Golfers are unable to repeat a line of flight that is predictable and consist,
therefore it is difficult to play their shots in a more target-oriented manner.

Therefore golfers strive to play more accurate golf shots.

Chapter Three: Power
All golfers want their shots to have adequate power.

Most golfers I talk to express the desire to develop a little more power in their golf game. Of course I meet
a lot of golfers that begin with the premise that they just want accuracy and consistency. However, after I
help them develop accuracy while maintaining it consistently, they return to the lesson tee to let me know
they are ready for more power. Each golfer has a feeling of being able to consistently produce a certain
amount of power based on their unique physical make, and they believe there is no reason why they can't
express it in their swings. You can look at it this way, everyone has an idea of how far they want their 8 iron
to be played on average. One golfer may be happy with an average 8 iron shot flying 100 yards, another
may not be happy unless it flies 160 yards. Whatever the case each golfer decides how much power is
adequate, and as soon as their average shots are falling short of the desired yardage they are unhappy.
One last note in relations to power is that golfers want to control their power output. Whether putting,
playing a partial wedge shot, playing a full iron shot, or a more powerful drive, each golfer wants the distance
each shot flies to be repeatable, and that is a matter of reproducing power output.

Therefore golfers strive to develop reproducible power.

Chapter Four: Good Feel
All golfers want their swings and shots to feel good.

If a golfer has produced a swing that consistently reproduces both power and accuracy, but does not feel
good, they are not happy. They say things like, "Yeah, it was a nice shot, but it did not feel as effortless as
it should be!" Golfers want their swings to feel relaxed, effortless, smooth, and fluid. They want contact
to feel solid and clean. If their swings are tense, jerky, or fast they are not happy. If contact is thin, heavy,
chopping, slapping, or scooping they are not happy. Of course I have not listed all the options, I just know
that golfers always complain if their swings do not feel natural and effortless.

Therefore golfers strive to play shots in a natural and effortless manner.

Chapter Five: The Big Picture:
Consistency, Accuracy, Power, & Good Feel.

Ask yourself a few questions. First, if your shots were accurate & powerful but did not feel good, would you
be happy? If your shots consistently reached the intended target, but felt tense, thin, or jerky for example,
would you be happy? Next, if your shots are consistently accurate & feel good, however you had to give up
30 yards of distance because your swing does not produce enough power, would your be happy? Thirdly, if
your shots display consistent power with good feel, yet they are flying in the trees, ponds, bunkers, or even
just the thick rough, would you be happy? However, if your shots are consistently accurate, powerful, and
feel good, aren't you happy? Lastly, can you think of any other physical needs that do not relate to
accuracy, power, and good feel?   For example, you may need better management skills, however these are
more mental in nature instead of physical. So they are not part of the Basic Fundamentals.

Therefore, I believe all golfers want their shots to be consistently accurate, powerful, and display good feel.
Additionally they have a hard time finding anything else they need in the physical arena. With all this in mind
I thought to ask, what is fundamentally needed to play shots accurately, powerfully, and with good feel.
BECAUSE, if I could answer this question then I would understand exactly what is needed to develop a
fundamentally sound swing.

Now consistency is a matter of being organized and committed to a plan that will satisfy the conditions
needed for accuracy, power, and good feel. If you organize such a plan, focus on the plan, and stay
committed to the plan day after day, week after week, month after month, then you will develop consistency.

The Game's Basic Fundamentals

There are five basic fundamentals of GOLF. These fundamentals are true of any golf action, and they differ
from Ben Hogan's five fundamentals. I am only stating this because his book has had such a great influence
on golfers over the past 5 decades. These fundamentals instead relate to the game's inherent need to
produce both accurate & powerful shots with the golfer's desire to have the whole process feel good.

Fundamental # One:
Following Through to the target.

No Matter what action you use to play golf the action must have an interval of action that is directed down
the line and through to the target. This does not mean the club must travel on-line and down the line to the
target. It simply means the action must be directed toward the target, and this is generally accomplished by
directing the action on-plane in a target oriented manner. Think of any ball sport that projects the ball
toward a target. Throwing a ball, kicking a ball, shooting a basketball, playing ping-pong all require that
the athlete make an action that follows through toward the target. How else will the ball get to the target.
Additionally, how directly the ball flies toward the target is determined by how directly the action follows
through to the target. The more curvature there is in the ball's flight the more cornering there is with the
follow-through action. So, it is fundamental to follow-through to your target.

Fundamental # Two:
Delivering a square clubface.

As your swing is delivered through the ball location toward the target, it is essential that the clubface be
square to the path, or arc, of the swing. If the clubface is not square to the arc of the swing, there will be
energy lost, and it will be very difficult to predict how much curvature will occur in the ball flight. So, although
the ball is only on the clubface for short period of time, it is essential the clubface is being delivered as
square to the arc of the swing as possible during this interval of the stroke. Now, the more square to the arc
of the swing the clubface remains throughout the whole swing the easier it is to deliver the clubface squarely
through the impact interval. Conversely, the more the clubface rolls back and forth throughout the swing the
less likely the clubface will be square throughout the impact interval. Each golfer must find for themselves
the best way of delivering the clubface squarely.

Fundamental # Three:
Pivoting & Finishing Each Action.

Every action must be complete, otherwise you will not get the job done. Because of the structure of the
human body every action must involve a pivot action to produce power.   In general, the more power you
want to release, the more of a pivot action you need. Furthermore, to guarantee you transfer the intend
amount of power, you need to finish the action properly. If you quit on the action there will be power loss.
Thus you must finish it off.

In the short game, finishing simply requires that you follow-thru to your target as discussed in fundamental #
one. In the long game finishing requires that you finish off your pivot action properly. Therefore pivoting to
the finish is the third fundamental.

Fundamental # Four:
Producing Good Timing.

Timing is a matter of synchronizing everything together. The more synchronized the activity the more
efficient it is and the more effortless it feels. Golfers often complain that their timing is off, however they do
not work on producing good timing while training.   However, It is a fundamental issue, and I recommend
you train your feel for timing regularly.

Fundamental # Five:
Maintaining Your Rhythm.

The last fundamental is maintaining your rhythm. We all have an internal rhythm and that rhythm is
organized to help us maintain our eye-hand coordination. If you are swinging in your natural rhythm, your
eye-hand coordination will be on and your coordination will precisely deliver the clubface through the ball
location with solid contact. Golfers often complain that their rhythm is off, however they rarely focus on the
quality of their rhythm during training. Everyone loves Fred Couples' swing. Everyone loves Ernie Els'
swing. Golfers love the way they swing in such perfect rhythm. Sam Snead was admired for the same
reason. However, Ben Hogan, Tom Watson, and Nick Price also have great rhythm.

Their rhythm may be faster, yet it is still repeatable. This is because they each found a way to swing with
their own natural rhythm. I encourage you to start paying attention to your swing's rhythm. The more you
swing in your natural rhythm, the more solid your shots will be. If you swing slower than your natural rhythm
you will tend to play drop-kicks, or fat shots. The faster your rhythm the more you will play thin or topped
shots. If your rhythm decelerates the swing will droop in its arc causing a drop-kick.   If your rhythm speeds
up you will tense up causing a thin shot.   So learn to find your rhythm and learn to swing with your natural
rhythm.

by EA Tischler

As you watch touring professionals, you'll see many of them mimic tossing the ball as they try to acquire a feel
their short game shots. Sometimes professionals practice this motion with their hand, and sometimes they
practice with the club. In either case, they're trying to acquire a feel for the proper motion. It's not just a
coincidence that this is the same procedure professionals use to program all their short game shots.

Before you learn to toss the ball, I suggest you first acquire a feel for the club and the correct tossing motion.
Start by taking hold of the club with only your dominant hand. Hold the club firmly with the palm of your hand
and clubface facing in the same direction. Then imagine a ball stuck to the clubface. Next, you imagine
swinging the club back and forth in such a way that the ball will remain stuck to the clubface. Then on one of
your forward swings, imagine tossing the ball off the clubface. More specifically, as you swing the club
rearward, imagine the ball remaining stuck to the clubface. Then as you accelerate the clubhead out toward
your target, imagine tossing the ball outward. This is the feel you need to become a good tosser of the ball.

Let’s do it. Tee up a few balls, and make a couple of rehearsal swings imagining the ball being stuck to the
clubface. Then imagine tossing the ball outward. Once you have the feel, step up to the first teed up ball, and
toss. As you practiced tossing, what was your focus on? Did you stay with the image of tossing? Did you
focus on hitting the ball? Did you try to scoop the ball in the air? Remember, as you practice, your job is to
pay attention to what is happening. Part of what is happening is your focus, and the other part is the physical
action.

So, you need to draw your attention to what you are focusing on, and what the physical action feels like. The
easiest thing to identify is how the motion felt. Simply ask yourself, was it hitting, slapping, scooping, tossing or
some other type of feel. What ever it felt like, it was. You must trust your feel to tell you what happened. As
you identify the feel, tell yourself how you liked the feel. Did it feel good, or did it feel unnatural. I’m sure you
will find that your tosses feel better than any other option.

Continue training your one-handed tosses until you have acquired a clear image of tossing the ball with the
clubface. If your arm gets tired practicing with only one hand holding the club, then go ahead and switch to
two-handed tossing. However, try to stick with the one-handed tosses long enough to understand how your
dominant hand controls the tossing motion.

As you toss with both hands, you follow the same procedure you did with only
one hand. The goal is to make the two-handed motion feel as close as
possible to the one-handed motion. However, you will immediately notice
a difference. The presence of the non-dominant hand will cause you to draw
attention to its involvement. As your attention moves toward the addition of
the non-dominant hand, your imagery may become more downward than
outward. As soon as you lose your outward image, you'll notice you cannot
toss the ball. Instead of tossing, you begin hitting, slapping, flipping, or pulling
at the ball. The result of these ball-bound activities is a loss of control.

The role of the non-dominant hand is to provide additional support to the grip.
The non-dominant hand should not hit or pull through the ball. It merely adds
stability to the stroke. If the influence of the second hand is overly distracting,
you will be unable to create the proper outward image. When this happens,
resume practicing with only one hand until your dominant hand motion
becomes completely internalized.

Your dominant hand action must be internalized enough to fend off the
distractions of the second hand's involvement. Ironically, many students feel
more comfortable tossing with only one hand, even after they have acquired
the skill of tossing with both hands. Once you notice no apparent difference
between your one-handed tossing and your two-handed tossing, you are
ready to apply these skills around the green.

If you continue to feel difficulty making the transition from one-handed tossing
to two-handed tossing, you can use the following drill. Start by teeing up with
two balls side by side. With the first ball, you toss using the one-handed
method. As you follow-through, hold the end of your follow-through. After
your follow-through has come to a full stop, proceed to take hold of the club
with your non-dominant hand as well. In this way, your non-dominant arm and
hand can learn to be positioned to work with the natural follow-through of your
dominant arm and hand. Notice exactly how your non-dominant arm and hand
feel in this position. Then return to the address position while holding the club
with both hands.

Finally, toss the second ball while focusing on reaching the same
follow-through position you developed after making the one-handed toss.
After tossing both balls, repeat the process until your two-handed
follow-through feels like your one-handed follow-through.

Once you are confidently tossing balls off the tee, you can practice tossing
them off the ground. When you first try tossing the ball from the ground, you
may become a little distracted with the look of the ball sitting on the ground.
You may not believe that your swing will catch the ball if you simply focus on
the image of tossing. You may once again become distracted and focus on
scooping the ball into the air, or you may simply hit at the ball. Keep paying
attention to the image of tossing, and notice how the clubface tosses the ball
when you trust the image. You will eventually be as confident tossing the ball
from the ground as you are from the tee. However, if you continue to struggle
with tossing the ball from the ground, re-tee some balls until you have your
confidence back. Then start lowering the tees until you can confidently lower
them all the way to the ground.

At some point you will become confident tossing the balls off the ground. At
that point start to notice that some of your tosses are small toss, some are
medium tosses, and some are large tosses. You may notice your small tosses
travelling 10 yards, your medium ones 20 yards, and your large ones 30 yards
for example. Recognize your pattern. The total pattern may cover a 15 yard
range, a 20 yard range, a 25 yard range, a 30 yard range, a 35 yard range, or
a 40 yard range. Whatever the range of your tosses, notice the pattern.
Then when playing on the golf course you will recognize how small or big a
toss you need to play once you are inside that range.

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"I was introduced to E.A. Tischler while he was on a coaching tour in Asia. A
mutual friend arrange for me and some friends to take lessons with him over
two weekends. We spent one weekend at the President Golf Club in Thailand,
and the other at Agile Country Club in China. We were very impressed with his
ability to communicate the game's fundamentals in a very natural and
comfortable manner.

After the lessons, I bought a few of E.A's books, The Way Of The Golfer, and
Focus On Golf, his books have allowed me to continue improving even though
I have not been able to see him in person. I find the books as easy to follow as
the lessons we had in person."

Yeh, Kuantai
Hong Kong

As golfers begin to learn the basic skills there is often a question
about how to get started. Golfers want to develop the skills naturally
and athletically, and they want the skills to be repeatable. Being able
to repeat the fundamentals naturally and athletically involves
internalizing the skills.

Internalization is a matter of training and to achieve internalization
the athlete needs to train the given skills approximately 6000 times.
Given 5 fundamentals, you would need to execute 30,000 proper
repetitions before the fundamentals are internalized. If you
performed 50 repetitions a day 5 it would take 120 week to internalize
the skills. With this in mind it will take the average golfer about two
and 1/3 years internalize the fundamentals. Although training the
fundamentals in this manner is not the fastest way to establish the
basic skills, it promotes sustainable results. So I do recommend you
organize a long term plan that will help you both internalize and
maintain your fundamental skills. If you can commit to just one drill
for each fundamental and perform it on a daily basis, it will have a
long last effect on your skills.

Now there is a way to put the fundamentals into action without
spending considerable time to internalize each skill individually. If
you can find an action that inherently uses the fundamentals and
applies it to your golf game, then your golf actions will automatically
be fundamentally sound. Of course, you will still need to perform the
action 6000 times to internalize the skill. However, 6000 repetitions
will only take 120 days of training if you perform 50 repetitions a day.
Now that sounds like a more efficient plan. Below I give an example
of a fundamentally sound athletic action. I also show you how to apply
it to your golf game.