As you probably know, teacher Jim Flick died Monday from pancreatic cancer at the age of 82. USA Today did a nice article about him that you can read by clicking this link. Many pros sought his help -- not the least of which was Jack Nicklaus, and their work eventually resulted in the Nicklaus-Flick Golf Schools.
I never met him, but I've known who he was since I first started learning to play golf. It was through a large book he did with Bob Toski for Golf Digest called How to Be a Complete Golfer. I sometimes mention things Flick said because he believed in keeping it simple. Rather than write some long history of what he did, I'd rather just post a couple of short videos that show some of the simple things he taught. You'll learn a lot from these two short videos if you take the time to watch them.
The first one focuses on grip pressure and how it affects all aspects of your game, from club fitting to how you hit the ball. It reflects one of his basic thoughts that I always keep in mind when I write instructional material -- the club is a tool. (Flick likes to call it an "instrument.") The idea behind using a tool is that the tool does most of the work, something that most golfers just don't understand:
And this second one focuses on a classic approach that some of the finest gamers have used. It's the concept which you swing with your fingers, not your shoulders. Initially this sounds just like the opposite of what Hogan taught, but once more he's speaking about anxiety. Your shoulders have to show to your arms to swing freely, and that is one of the reasons I strain being capable of see your trailing shoulder among your forearms on the top of your backswing -- if you had been looking down the goal line, that is -- due to the fact that enables maintain your fingers where they can swing freely:
Like I stated, Jim Flick kept it simple. Not simplest will his buddies leave out him, however so will the sector of golfing instruction.
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