The PGA Tour, the PGA of America, and other golf entities all colluded to steal the WGC – Doral Event from Trump’s Doral property from 2017-on because of the accusations flying from every corner of the liberal world. We now know our President was spied on and harassed in a treasonous attempt to unseat a duly-elected POTUS. Now that Meuller has exonerated our President Trump, my question is, will the PGA apologize to President Trump and reinstitute Doral on the WGC rota?

Doral has been a beloved and venerable site since Dick Wilson designed it in 1962. The PGA Tour held a tournament at Doral every year from 1962 to 2016 under two different PGA tournament regimes. However, in 2016, the PGA Tour announced it was leaving Doral for Mexico under the auspices they could make more money. Tour officials denied it was off-color comments by Trump. The timing was, however, remarkable.

The Doral Invitational benefitted the community of Doral, Miami, the state of Florida, and America. However, now millions in annual revenue has been shipped off to Mexico… all so the PGA Tour can fill the gap created by Tiger’s tail-off. I’m sorry, but I don’t buy the narrative, and I don’t like the reality. In conclusion, it’s time to reinstate the great Blue Monster and Doral back into the PGA Tour rotation.

At the same time, how about the tour offer Trump an olive branch by putting him out ahead of the field on Day 1 every year. This could become The Trump Clambake – East …for patriots and celebrities. Yes… let’s do that. Meanwhile…

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

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https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/open-stance-creates-great-ball-strikers/

Imagine you are not the best musician in the world, and you’re suddenly called on stage to play your electrified instrument along with a great band. Would you want your volume on 1 or 10? Now, as a golfer, imagine you are not the best putter in the world, and you have to perform under similar pressure. Whether the greens are rolling a 1 – Velcro, or a 10 – Master’s Sunday, green speed is golf’s amplifier. In competition, which setting would you choose to showcase your skill?

As someone who has played badly, loudly, I can tell you the lower setting is the way to preserve your dignity. However, the highest setting does reveal your precision. Anyone can putt competently on greens that putt six on the Stimpmeter. Undulating greens like Augusta’s, cut to roll twelve and over, will make even the most steady-kneed golfers shake like he/she is “shittin’ a peach seed”, as my buddy Tim would say.

Ricky Fowler and Tommy Emmanuel are good at any decibel level. Crank it up and skin it back. However, the same level that displays expertise in professionals can destroy morale in un-practiced types. With the amplifier on 10, we should probably just laugh at our own hilarity rather than risk ego damage… at least until we smooth out our chops.

Here is a video on how to smooth out your putting chops in a hurry. Go practice it for an hour a day for a week. Use it to get ready for a round at a new course with fast greens. Hope for lower back aches, initially. All that means is that you are working hard. They go away before you know it.

Now, I want to cover the technical aspects of greater amplification on the greens. First, Kudos to https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/BaazMann, Gurbaaz Mann, for the terminology assist. Baaz has a more accurate green speed measuring device based on ballistics rather than zero friction start. I will post another conversation with Baaz soon. In the meantime….

With the same velocity in our putter head, our ball goes further on faster greens, where the amplifier effect is higher. We know that. Ball speed is directly related to the force applied by our swinging putter mass. We have a ballistic event at impact that launches the ball at the same speed on any surface. However, as we also know, the ball is airborne for a short time when struck. Therefore, how far our ball travels over the same surface differs dramatically – exponentially even – according to factors related to green speed. Whether firm or soft, low or high cutting, rolling, grain, soil and grass moisture, or humidity, firmer, faster greens allow more roll than softer, slower greens.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

Our Mind Moves

“Two monks were arguing about a flag. One said: ‘The flag is moving.’ The other said: ‘The wind is moving.’ The sixth patriarch happened to be passing by. He told them: ‘Not the wind, not the flag; mind is moving.’” The moral of the movement story is that once we focus on movement, we become distracted from the truth. We don’t move. Our mind moves… or does it?

’The wind, the flag, and their minds move.
They each have the same understanding.
However, when their mouths open
All are wrong.’

Each monk focused on movement as if it was the dominant characteristic of their query. Even the Mind-is-moving monk was wrong, because he played their movement ‘game’. He was correct, right up and until the point he spoke. Then, he too, was immediately wrong.

Once subjectivity is spoken, it nullifies the speaker. Which, is why I stopped teaching movement long ago. We do have a consensus. There is an objective ‘first thing’. However, if shared, it becomes invalid. That thing is Adaptation.

Therefore, any discussion of a commonality post-thought is folly, because thought is the commonality. Hence, our only pure, objective expression of the divine, individual, golf swing thought-to-action is silent, subjective adaptation to a common set-up philosophy.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

No Amount of Ambition Can Make Up For a Lack of Knowledge

Instruction Exit Distractions

Steepen Impact/Flatten Swing With an Open Stance

So much good comes from learning something new. For example, upon viewing a documentary of Jeff Beck, I once again realized the importance of learning new things. Mr. Beck is a seeker of new sounds, textures, and colors. As a result, his music evolves, expands, and yet consolidates into an unmistakably unique voice, which is the common thread in all his music.

Only in the last few years have I become a Jeff Beck fan. As a lover of the guitar and virtuosos like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Derek Trucks, I realize Jeff Beck’s genius will endure. Because he is always learning, he can operate with complete freedom from then rules and corners most others obey to remain relevant.

I used to think Eric Clapton was the best. Then I heard SRV. That changed the way I looked at playing. Eric Johnson certainly had all the technical and genre chops to claim virtuosic supremacy. Yngwe Malmsteen, certainly a virtuoso in his own right, was the fastest I ever heard. However, in each of these other greats, I noticed some degree of signature, high-speed riffs. High-speed riffs are okay. However, riffs speak to a rehashing of older ideas in order to obey an underlying discipline.

Blues is the thread that rules the voices of Clapton, SRV, BB King, etc. Jazz rules Metheny, DiMeola, etc. In other words, a voice can dominate a discipline, or a discipline can dominate a voice. Freedom means a relative lack of discipline, which is what only Jeff Beck displays. Moreover, his desire to constantly learn and evolve free of genre-driven rules is the celebration of his voice… his common thread… his freedom.

To be fair, I believe Jimi Hendrix would have evolved in much the same way as Jeff had he lived as long. These two stand out to me because they are sonic geniuses. Even Carlos Santana admitted Jimi was unique in his genius. Hence, the best in any area of life learn the rules, get bored with the rules, and change the rules with their singular voice. RIP, Jimi.

Jeff Beck stands alone. Therefore…

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder The Open Stance Academy

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/couples-therapy/https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/dechambeau-ancer/https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/open-stance-wide-swing/

I was recently considering the connection between String Theory and our golf swing. String Theory has to do with gravity, forces, as well as movement and collisions. Then, I got tired of reading, because we have been discussing the same dynamic in our golf swings. Need, mind, body, motion, swing, and collisions also make up a string of a different kind – a progression.

A progression describes a process rather than a (String Theory) particle. However, pursuing String Theory and perfect impact do involve the same mental processes – although in reverse order. Golfers take a Need, turn it into motion, and then prove it with science. String Theorists take science, assume motion, then try to prove their conclusions. Ha, ha, ha… silly scientists!

For fifty years, golfers have ascribed greater human good from pursuing art than science. Science proves action. Art is more abstract and subjective and, therefore, easier to sell. After all, profits increase when we create maximum combinations and permutations of one idea. Proofs and cures are bo-ring.

Homer Kelley was in position to separate golfers from one another using scientific dogmatism in order to create maximum, artistic commerce. Consequently, we were sold on the idea that we are all different in every way. And, therefore, any old way we wanted to set up and swing was fine, as long as we express our individualism. Once we believed our way was as good as any other, an industry emerged.

Advertising created Need and dissatisfaction by showing us what we didn’t have yet. Our misdirection created more niches, tastes, and subcultures – all with different modes, mores, and proclivities. The issue, in my lifetime, is that we started using science as a paper hammer to eliminate further discussion or consideration of truth.

Before you think this is getting too deep, consider what you do for a living. Ask yourself if basic human Need or the Need of consumerism supports your income. I freely admit that what I do for a living is based on consumerism.

Mr. Kelley started our tailspin. The Golfing Machine is the golfers’ ‘String Theory’. T.G.M. was so complicated that we stopped questioning Kelley’s precepts, or assumptions. Instead, we took his explanation as a given, and beyond our willingness to question. We were essentially intimidated into instruction.  We have witnessed innumerable swing explanations with different images, names, and catch-phrases. You could say, thanks to him, ‘Swing Theory’ was born.

Today, by emphasizing a simple set-up bias, I am teaching our way out of the abyss. My recommended bias develops efficient movement by engendering swing change using our individual, ‘artistic’ differences. Our mind-body relationship determines our adaptive art-form. Therefore, I confidently recommend employing the same, scientifically-explained vehicle to every able-bodied golfer.

My work assumes golfers want to reach the same, precise goal of pure and powerful impact. So….

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright –  Founder                                                                                                 The Open Stance Academy

Why An Open Stance Wins The Set-Up Debate

Why “Hitting Down On The Ball” Is So Important

Concentrating On Set-Up Is Difficult At First, But Pays Off Big Time

The Hippocratic Oath doesn’t just apply to medical doctors or, at least, shouldn’t. Any time healers or helpers act for the health of their patient, they operate under an implicit guideline to “Do No Harm”. However, we’ve all seen the ambitious or conflicted reap rewards from trusting “patients”.

I know this seems combative, but we have an actual problem in the golf instruction industry, too. The majority of instructors could never pass an golf swing MCAT. Anyone with the slightest inkling to make money “Teaching” golf can hang up a shingle, find a soapbox, and begin selling their snake oil to the eager and ill golfer, using empassioned and distracting language.

Their’s is a rocky path lit by self-interest and deception. That is why this site is free. I want to set myself apart by writing about the Open Stance philosophy in hopes of reaching the world with the truth. And the truth is, if your instructor or teacher does not set you up open, or at least on parallel “tracks”, then they are guaranteeing your continued frustration and subscription to the mainstream narratives.

Anyone can teach adaptation. Adaptation’s only requirement is consciousness. The reason adaptation is so easy to teach is because we don’t need the help in the first place. It’s avoidance theory… we choose to distance ourselves from responsibility because doing so has no negative consequences. Therefore, instruction becomes a business negotiation – using empassioned speech and fear to get people to do what they could, just as easily, do for themselves. It’s a WIN-WIN with “The blind leading the blind”.

Foundational knowledge is what teachers provide and, for which, students are responsible. I could easily put together a cirriculum or test and measure golf knowledge – from putting, to chipping and pitching, to full swing. In fact, I already have.

However, adoption, as such, is tricky. Moreover, how would we institute true learning to validate the cirriculum with graduates? After all, the PGA of America currently has the market cornered on teaching “certification”. More on that later.

My entire point is that we can use old wood to build a new house, but it doesn’t make the house old. Likewise, you can freshen-up old language, spin a narrative, and prey on fear. However, snake oil won’t turn into holy water, no matter how unwitting your patient. Hence, instructors may be doing harm, simply by enabling avoidance.

Let’s not be hypocrites as we carry out our charge to heal the golfing world. The Hippocratic method of teaching golf means more than just not making someone’s game worse. “Do no harm” means compelling the student to take responsibility for their own improvement, built on a solid foundation… of set-up.

I understand instructor concerns that there is a financial risk in revealing the cure. However, I can tell you that watching my students’ fast improvement more than compensates for monetary gain. Once the Open Stance becomes synonymous with healing our golf swing, revenue will leave the “salesmen” and find the “Hippocratic” sage. Flip-flopping by the ambitious will be impossible, and will not go unnoticed.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder The Open Stance Academy

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/why-open-stance-controls-trailing-elbow/ https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/putting-wins/ https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/weakness-gives-birth-to-ambition/

The open stance and the stock market have many similarities. Both also have pundits who compile, analyze, and present data as if their assumptions are the only assumptions. For instance, CNBC and the Golf Channel allow anyone who fits into their narrative to present their views for our consumption. And, by the looks of things, both outlets are becoming increasingly desperate for  viewers. It’s truly shocking.

For example, I was watching TGC the other day, and they showed a guy from GolfTec recommend a stronger leading grip to hit a draw. He turned his lead hand until his thumb was on the back of the shaft, and swung. I was in disbelief! Then, the Top Tracer video showed him hitting a pulled, duck hook. I thought it was a comedy spot. But, they were SERIOUS! 

On the other side of crazy, we have CNBC, who seats the most impossibly biased guests to pollute the waters of economic sanity. Liesman, Eisen, Frost, etc. justify any current, equities run-up with speculative, forward P/E ratios and soft/rearward-looking data like consumer sentiment. Meanwhile, they seem baffled when the markets descend on bad hard data like downward revisions to GAAP earnings, sales, revenue, and forward guidance. 

We know, however, that no matter how many phony numbers they roll out, it’s the hard data that matters, because hard data reflects relative Macroeconomic health. National debt, GDP, M3 money supply, U6 unemployment rate, and the price of gold to world fiat currencies are data points that truly zero in on what our symptoms foretell. Even THOSE numbers are dependent on political and fiscal change. But, at least, it’s a better starting point.

The point I’m fumbling with is that if you look at the incidental, you will miss the primary. If you want to trace any problem back to its root cause, you don’t work from the Micro to the Macro. We have to work the other way – from general to specific… from primary to incidental. In current terms, the Macro is our general disease. The Micro is our specific symptoms.

Our GolfTec goofball was fixing an incidental result with a fundamental change. It’s really outrageous, because our fundamentals should NEVER change. Not only is his advice RECKLESS, but it ignores our innate ability to adapt without altering golf fundamentals. But, there he is. TGC gave him a platform to punish people who don’t know enough to mute their TV. When will it stop?

Maybe my point is that watching talking heads on TV is our problem. We do seem to get a lot of bad advice from that group. However, naw… print media does the same thing. I just forgot for a moment. You know, actually, the only real measures we can take against the flood of muddied instructional water is to find higher ground built on a rock-solid foundation. Hence, just as your golf game is built on a foundation called set-up, your firmest footing is in an Open Stance – the Granite of foundations.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder The Open Stance Academy

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/first-five-years-open-stance-academy/

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/testimonials/

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/ricky-fowler-claims-another-title-open-stance/

A decent docent doesn’t deride divergent dynamics of different doers. Deciding to doggedly decry demanding dispositions describes a declination to dream of dissonant demands. Discussing dynamic, divergent demonstrations of dexterity definitely deals “drills” a disarming demise.

Teachers’ tours of topics traditionally takes two trails to test the truth. That tosses tons of testy “Truth”-tellers into tailspins. Two of twenty teachers tell their tutored tailgaters the total truth as told to them. Two in ten thousand take time to test theories tied to tactical truth.

Preeminent people purposefully present pedantic, pompous, pontificating, pretentious, pre-facto positions promoting a predetermined path of professional and personal proclivities. Per promoted proofs, perhaps personal prejudices point to present, problematic partialities that preclude prolonging possible positive pronouncements on power and precision. However, past, posted, position-pieces probably provide plenty of powder to purge preexisting predilections of any poo-pooers.

Meanwhile, many make major moves to mirror most modern motion mouthpieces in man’s media machinery.  Moreover, many more mar the message of men made to mediate marginal “master’s of movement”. More and more, machinations of matching and marrying multiple men/wo-men to maniacal, mechanical motion makes me maudlin.

I imagine idealistic, idiosyncratic individuals insist on innovation involving ideas and instruction. Insofar as I intuit insightfully, indoctrination into impromptu, instructional idealism implies an infantile intellectual imprimateur indecently initiated. In addition, inverting ideas and instruction to infer ingenious, insightful inroads into identifying initial imbalances is, inherently, idiotic.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

Why The Open Stance Controls Your Trailing Elbow

If Putting Wins, Why Worry About Full-Swing Set-Up?

Lead With Your Hands Using Set-Up Alone

Initiating versus accommodating movement is the difference between activity and passivity. Any and all initiating and accommodating movement is valuable to a golf swing. However, we should not be confused about our role. We can both initiate and accommodate movement, but intention only pertains to initiating it, because action has equal and opposite reactions.

Passive movement accommodates active, initiative motion. Passive motion is our counterbalancing mechanism for imbalances initiated by intentional, primary movement. For instance, the hands, arms and shoulders begin moving the clubhead into our backswing. The hips do not begin the swing. They accommodate the initiating parts of our body.

I’m reminded, again, of a conversation with a prominent instructor who suggested our hips are hinges. Of course, our hips are not hinges, because they do not actively do work. Moreover, they are not necessary to strike a golf ball. They are passive, and therefore, accommodative. The arms, hands, and shoulders initiate and substantiate the swinging motion. If our hips move to accommodate the momentum created, so be it. I could just as easily say the further a body part is from the ball, the more passive it’s role in our golf swing.

“What about firing the hips to make (good, powerful, consistent) contact? Isn’t that initiative motion?” No, it isn’t. The fact that some golfers concentrate on moving their hips does not confer initiative movement. Think of what motion your hip movement counters, and you’ll realize pretty quickly that your hips only aid adaptation.

If you “Fire” your hips intentionally, you have made a change in the initiating part of your swing to make it work. You keep your backswing and alter your transition, or you change your backswing and keep your transition. When we make passive, accommodative body parts active, we disturb the initiative parts, and compromise timing to do it. Either way, our hips do not move fast enough or with enough range to add speed. I could even argue that the more our hips turn, the shorter we hit our ball.

Initiation begins the adaptive process. The Open Stance begins the initiative step. Only The Open Stance Academy will give you this information.

Open your stance, and play golf.

John Wright – Founder The Open Stance Academy

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/ricky-fowler-famous-instructors/

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/first-five-years-open-stance-academy/

https://www.openstanceacademy.com/golf/phil-thrill-drill-while-striking-pi