James Sieckmann Short Game Seminar. PGA Tour Short Game Coach, James Sieckmann visited the Core Golf Academy on Thursday, January 23rd and did a presentation for the coaches and then worked with the students on their short games. James said he watched Seve Ballesteros and Raymond Floyd, two of the best short game players of all time, and came up with his short game program based on these two Hall of Famers.
To me it was a breathe of fresh air to hear a short game coach talking about the club head swinging and passing the body on these shots. James said the club head moves first and fastest from the top of the swing with the finesse wedges inside of 30 yards. He explained the sequence from the top with 3D graphs, and the 3D graphs showed the finesse wedge shot is not the same kinematic sequence as the power golf swing. Different mechanics.
Here are some highlights.
Set-up
1. Weak trail hand grip.
2. Where chest is at set-up determines the bottom of the arch which you want in front of the ball.
Swing
1. Swing plane. Handle and club head on plane. Right elbow has to fold or external rotation on the back swing. Yips in chipping is caused by under the plane with a shut or closed club face.
2. Shaft lean at address will match shaft lean three inches past impact.
3. Energy always flows to the pin.
4. Tension ruins motion.
5. Wanted students to hit four trajectories to the same pin.
6. Said lob wedge should be 2 degrees flatter than 6-I and SW one degree flatter than 6-I.
7. Want to expose the bounce with the club head is passing the body.
James also talked about bunker play,distance wedges, and how to practice with block, random, and tests or playing games. It was a great seminar and it was nice to hear someone who coaches the mechanics of the short game very similar to the way I do.