Tony:  Welcome to another interview, and this is Tony de Kort from

www.sliceyourgolfhandicap.com.  This week we’re fortunate enough to have an Australian golf icon, Tom Linskey, talking to us.  And, this is a little bit of background on Tom before I introduce him.  Tom is now age 63; and he’s been a club pro since age 21 and has been a pro all his life.  So, we’re fortunate enough that we can tap into some of his knowledge.  And, today, once Tom introduces himself, we’re going to talk about Linskey’s Laws. 

 

So, Tom, I’ll just welcome you to our site.  And, for those of you who want to…after listening to Tom…find out more information, can get in direct contact with Tom himself.  He has a website, which is australiangolfschools.com.au   and, you can go to Tom’s website and find out more about his business. 

 

So, welcome, Tom, and thanks very much for talking to us.  And, if I can just get you to give us a little bit of background on yourself, so the listeners can understand what sort of advice they’re going to be receiving. 

 

Tom:  Well, Tony, I’ve been in love with the game since I was fourteen years old and turned pro the normal route.  Did my apprenticeship at Clara Golf Club with David Mercer, which was wonderful and been doing it ever since.  I’ve been interested in all facets of the industry.  I’ve, as you said, been a club pro.  I’ve owned driving ranges all my life.  I’ve played the tour in Australia and in Europe.  I’ve built golf courses, which I probably liked more than anything else.  I’ve taught beginners, tour players, and had some success with people like Andre Stoltz and Constantino Rocca among others.  And, it’s just been a lifetime of fun. 

 

Tony:  Okay.  Tom, I find that interesting; the building of the golf courses.  How did that come about?

 

Tom:  I think every golfer would like to build a golf course.  Lots of them want to do from time to time.  But, it always interested me, and I found that when I got around to starting to do it, that the holes that made the most impression on me all over the world were the short par 4s…particularly the ones done by Alister Mackenzie.  And, holes don’t need to be long to be clever or difficult.  And so, the architecture’s been interesting.

 

Tony:  So, as you know about our site here…it’s for the average club golfer or social golfer or a member of a club who is strongly trying to improve their game.  And, in particular, we’re talking about the mental side of the game.  So, can you just tell me before we get into the topic we’re going to talk about today; what’s your view on the average golfer or club member’s attitude to the mental side of the game?  Are we not paying enough attention to it?  Are we taking things for granted?  What’s your sort of overview on that?

 

Tom:  I think that the average golfer tries to think their way through what they’re doing which is not possible.  You simply don’t have time from the moment the club head leaves the ball to the moment it hits the ball.  Experts have measured that as giving you time for one complete thought and about half another thought.  So, if you’re standing over the ball trying to work out what you’re going to do or thinking your way through the process; you have to take it back along the ground, take it back straight, turn your hips, and cock your wrists.  It’s all happened before you got past the second thought.  

 

So, the good players aren’t thinking about what they’re doing at the moment; they’re swinging. 

 

Tony:  Well, that is amazing , I mean you’ve just astounded me, because I know that a lot of us are  thinking, watch the ball, move the club up,  do this, get through it, rotate,  and as you say, it  all happens so quickly. 

 

Tom:  If you can think your way through it, you wouldn’t have to practice.  So, you do then do establish a subconscious level to play golf.  You do need to establish some muscle memory.  And, you need to use your subconscious to play.  Timothy Gallway put it very well in a book called “The Inner Game of Golf.”  And, I recommend that to people. 

 

Tony:  Okay.  So, it’s called “The Inner Game of Golf?”

 

Tom:  Yes.

 

  

Tony:  All right.  So, we’re going to talk today about Linskey’s Laws, and those can be found on Tom’s website, which we’re going to repeat later in the interview. 

 

Now, the Linskey’s Laws basically focus on the simplicity of the game.  And, I remember Jimmy Connors, the famous American tennis player who’d won Wimbledon, U.S. Open, was a  world champion, a former number one was interviewed him a couple of years after he retired.  And, he’d been playing golf, and he was about a 15-marker.  And, they said, “Jimmy, you’ve conquered the world in tennis.  What do you think about this golf game?”  He said, “Well” I can sum it up in three words.”  He said, “Analysis is paralysis.”

 

So, Tom, on the simplicity side, you sort of touched on it there a little bit.  We’re going to have to start…by not keeping it simple; this is where we’re going to cause all our problems?  Is that right? 

 

Tom:  Absolutely.  Through my life, I’ve been fortunate enough to play a lot of golf with all the tennis players and cricketers and basketballers and Formula One car-racing car drivers.  I mean all the celebrity sports people.  What are they doing over there?  Play golf.  What’s the largest piece of luggage that the cricketers take?  A lot of them when they’re traveling around the world are their golf clubs. 

 

So, talking to them about the game, they all say golf is more difficult than what they do.  And, the ones who actually think about it give the same reason, which is the fact that the ball is stationary.  It gives you too much time to think.  All the other sports and activities are reactive.  So, this Formula One driver doesn’t have time to think about what he’s doing; he’s just reacting.  And, tennis players and cricketers react to the ball.  In golf, the ball’s sitting there laughing at you; and it gives us too much time to think. 

 

 

 

So, what I’ve learned to do is to tell people to just do it and rely on their natural instincts more. 

 

I’ve put together these little thoughts on this subject.  And, the first law of all ball games is: Watch the ball.  And, again, talking to the good players, the fundamentals of all the ball games are the same.

 

Tony:  Watch the ball.

 

Tom:  So, we need to watch the ball.  Keep your eye on the ball. 

 

The second law of all ball games is that the weight goes with the motion.  If you’re going to throw something, you move your weight back onto your back foot, and you step forward and release the ball.  If you’re playing a tennis shot, your weight…you put your back foot in position and you move forward as you hit the shot.  We’re talking about drives and things along.  So, the weight goes with the motion. 

 

So, in the golf swing, we address the ball.  The movement on the back swing is away from the ball, so the weight moves away from the ball.  At the top of the back swing, you must be in the same position you would be in if you were going to throw it.  You would have your weight on your back foot like a baseball pitcher.  You’d have your arm cocked and your elbow folded.  The position that you would be in to throw the ball is similar to that way you want to be to hit the ball with the driver or whatever club you’re going to use.  Then, as you swing forward, the weight moves with the motion and you finish on your front foot. 

 

People get too tied up with keeping their heads still, which is not the issue.  You want to watch the ball.  People think that they shouldn’t sway.  I would much rather have my pupils move too much than not enough.  The average person doesn’t move enough. 

 

If you think about the golf swing, what is the fastest point in the swing?  When I ask that question, most people say, “At impact or just before.”

 

 

 

The third law of all ball games is that at the moment of impact, the racket, the club, the foot, the hand, whatever it is that is striking the ball, must be accelerating.  So, if it’s accelerating at impact, by definition it is going faster after impact.  In golf, the fastest point in the golf swing is about 18 inches after impact.  If you talk to the good players, they never talk about hitting the ball.  They talk about making a pass or going through or making a swing, they don’t talk about hitting it.  The average player tries to kill the ball; he swings at the ball.

 

Tony:  At the ball?  We all do that. 

 

Tom:  The good players swing through where the ball is.  The ball is irrelevant.  So, the good player lines up to the ball, puts the club in the position he wants to be at the top of the back swing, and swings through to a balanced position in the top of the follow-through.  The ball is totally irrelevant…just gets in the way as the club goes through.  So, that’s the third law. 

 

So, the first law is: Watch the ball.  Keep your eye on the ball.  The second law is: The weight goes with the motion.  The third law is that the club must be accelerating through impact.  And, the fourth law is the most important one of all.  And, the fourth law is: There are no more laws. 

 

So, when you line up to the ball, you watch it, get your weight to go through, accelerate the club head, and that’s it.

 

Tony:  That’s it.  Sounds simple in theory, doesn’t it? 

 

Tom:  Well, it is.  And, if you allow it to be, it works. 

Tony:  It’s an interesting concept, because you’re right.  I mean look…90% of us know 95% of us would be actually aiming to hit the ball rather than thinking that the ball is getting in the way and accelerating on impact.  That’s fine. 

 

What about the fact that you actually still got to align line yourself haven’t you?  I mean that’s pretty important.

 

 

 

Tom:  Well, that’s…yes.  That’s another lesson. That’s a total lesson on its own.  Yes, you have to align it, but what the interesting thing is that your subconscious brain knows where the target is.  So, once you understand it, you’re swinging the club head through the ball.  What we want to do is swing the club to the target.  And, if your weight’s going with the motion, and you’re accelerating the club head, then everything is moving toward the target as opposed to the average golfer; his weight at the top of the back swing is on his front foot, because he’s reversed pivoted, or he’s kept his head still and the weight hasn’t moved back at all.  So then, on the way down, he’s got to get his weight out of the way, so he starts turning away from the ball.  So, he’s got his body moving in one direction and the club going in another direction.  And, all of a sudden, the spray effect on the bad shot is horrendous. 

 

If you’ve got the weight going with the motion and you’re accelerating the club head toward the target, the ball doesn’t go that far off line.  So, it’s an interesting concept. 

 

When, I’m teaching…I want freedom of movement before anything else.  I can’t do anything with your golf swing, until I’ve got freedom of movement.  If you’re tight, well, it’s not working.  So, I want freedom of movement first. 

 

Secondly, I worry about contact.  Once we’ve got the freedom of movement, then I worry about the contact with the ball.  After we’ve got contact, I’ll start to worry about where the ball’s going.  But, the interesting thing is that we’ve got freedom of movement, by definition, the weight is now moving freely.  If we’ve got contact, the club’s accelerating freely.  And, the target…finding the target then is less of an issue and not hard to do. 

 

Tony:  Right.  Okay.  So, that’s great, but what about for us being mortal golfers?  We have just learned something very simple from you.  That’s why it’s called simplicity, isn’t it?  How difficult is it for us to go and change this?  Are we going to work on this slowly?  Or what do you suggest there?

  

 

Tom:  Well, the thing we learn with our golf skills is that you learn, people learn faster without the ball.  So, when we started our golf skills, people were hitting 800 balls a day and improving to some degree.  But then afterwards, we started to control the number of balls they hit and to give them more swing exercises and drills to do. 

 

The best swing exercise I know is you go into the golf shop and buy what they call a warm-up ring.  It’s just a little round donut…plastic-covered metal…that slides down over the top of your grip and it hangs on the head of the shaft…on the head of the golf club at the bottom of the shaft.  On my website, there’s a tips page.  And, among the tips, there’s one tip called “Continuous Swinging.”  So, if you buy one of the donuts and carry out the continuous swinging exercise every day for three or four minutes or five minutes; what you’ve taught yourself to do is make a perfect golf swing without any conscious thought.  And, what I guarantee you is if you do that every night, your golf will improve.  If you had golf balls as well, that’s great.  But, swing the ring.  Swing the ring.

 

Tony:  Do it into the donut.

 

Tom:  Do the continuous swinging exercise with a weighted object, and that is the best way to improve your golf. That I am aware of after all my years. 

 

Tony:  Okay.  So, we do that.  We start swinging the ring with a span of four to five minutes a day.  And, what’s going to happen…we automatically…that’s going to build in some muscle memory?

 

Tom:  That builds in the muscle memory.  There’s a new product…reasonably new product…on the market called “Explanar,” which is a big metal ring that sits there and you’re standing in the middle of it and you swing a roll of it…it rolls around the ring.  And, it’s marketed by the Henry Griffith Company in Australia.  And, it’s fantastic.  And, I’ve got one on the driving range, and I use it with all my pupils. 

 

The swing ring is a similar exercise.  They are all variations of the same.  But, what happened in the guy that invented the Explanar in America or England, wherever it was; the people who get locked in by snow in the wintertime over there and have four months where they don’t play golf…the people who bought an Explanar put it in their basement and swung on it every day for four months…have come out and absolutely smashed their handicaps the following spring.  So, what they did in the wintertime in their basement was they taught their muscles the right coordinated movements, the right sequence of movements, the right rhythm; particularly the rhythm to swing at.  So, when they get out on the first tee, it’s automatic. 

 

Tony:  Okay.  So, are we recommending the donut or the Explanar? 

 

Tom:  They’re different, but they’re the same.  One costs $9.00.  One costs $1,500.00. 

 

Tony:  Well, Tom, that’s been a fantastic insight.  Have you got some examples of people that you’ve taken from a certain level to another level using your Linskey’s Laws?  You’ve got some examples of that for us?

 

 

 

 

Tom:  I’ve got about 4,000 of them.  Yes. when people come to the golf school, they spend five days with me.  That’s what I do.  It’s not half an hour teaching; we want you for a period. 

 

And, the first thing I do is give them one of these rings, and it’s a warm-up exercise.  I use it myself as I’m getting older, and I need to warm the old body up now.  But, I find that because I don’t get time to practice or whatever like everybody else; and I, half the time, don’t have time to warm up before we go out to play.  So, I put the ring in my pocket, and I actually put it on the club and use it as my practice swings.  And then, take it off and put it in my pocket…play the shot. 

 

Tony:  Okay.  Okay.  So, really?  So, you swing in between shots?

 

Tom:  In between shots, yes. 

Tony:  Oh, excellent stuff.  Okay.  So, just to summarize here the three Linskey’s…or the four laws…is: Watch the ball, move your weight with the motion, accelerating at impact, and the fourth law is that there are no more laws. 

 

Tom:  That’s it.

 

Tony:  Have I got that all summed up?

 

Tom: You’ve got it perfect.

 

Tony:  Okay.  Well, Tom, it’s been a fantastic insight.  And, there’s certainly some homework there for people to do.  And, the swing the ring thing sounds great for those who are too busy to get out to the course. I need to ask you, what is the time horizon from somebody now implementing this, and doing this four or five minutes a day, what period of time would they start to see some sort of improvement? 

 

Tom:  I think they’d see some improvement almost from day one.  If you’re swinging the ring…and you need to read the blurb for it…it’s just swinging.  It’s simple stuff.  It’s being able to swing your golf club while you’re not thinking about what you’re doing.  When you can swing from a balance point on your back foot to balance point on your front foot in rhythm and in balance, without falling over and without wobbling…when you can do that, you’ve taught yourself the correct sequence of movements for the golf swing; and you’ve taught yourself a rhythm that you can use to hit the ball.  And, that is…that exact swing is what you should use to hit the ball. 

 

Tony:  Okay.  So, swinging without thinking is what we’ve learned today. 

 

Tom:  I hope so.

 

Tony:  Okay.  Well, thanks, Tom.  And, just to repeat Tom’s website should you like to go on and find some more information or get in contact with Tom it is  www.    And, we’re going to talk to Tom again soon on another subject, but thanks very much, Tom, for your insight into Linskey’s Laws.  australiangolfschools.com.au

 

 

 

 

 

 

To play golf you need good hand-eye coordination, balance, and knowledge of golf swing biomechanics, athletic ability and a good amount of creativity. The average golfer’s gross score is about 107 shots. And no matter what area of your game needs improving, whether it’s balance and alignment or power and speed, there’s a simple solution.

You want to play your game of golf with confidence. Know that you’re improving your swing each time that you play. It’s good to approach the game with a positive attitude and repeat predetermined affirmations like, ‘I play great golf all the time.’ Now if you’ve hit with your golf driver perfectly just one time, then you can do it every time you play. The subconscious mind knows the correct number and sequence of muscle contractions and nerve impulses that are needed, which is called muscle memory and is used in all sports. Be aware that the mental aspect of the game contributes to the difficulty of your golf swing.

When you swing your club, you should use the muscles in your legs and trunk. And sidespin will occur when the clubface is not properly aligned perpendicularly to the plane of the swing. If you have problems with your left knee buckling when you swing, try imagining holding a soccer ball between your knees.

Make sure to try to use the proper golf swing technique, never a shortcut. Ask your golf pro to take a minute to evaluate your posture and biomechanics while you’re swinging. And use the basic ‘hitchhiker’ position when you’re working on your backswing.

As the body matures, the ability to rotate the upper torso can be affected and the hand action can also slow down thus requiring a slightly stronger grip than one would use if they were younger. After you’ve hit the ball, you should follow through with a continued rotation to the left. And make sure to swing slowly and steadily using good rhythm and good biomechanics.

At the end of your swing, the weight should be shifted almost entirely to the left foot, the body fully turned to the left and the hands above the left shoulder with the club hanging down over the back. Putting can become a recurring nightmare and a condition called the ‘yips’ has affected not only amateurs but many golf professionals so you should get expert advice and consider a golf swing trainer if this happens to you.

By using just a few simple tips, techniques and stretches, you can increase the distance of your drives by up to 20 yards – almost overnight. One good exercise is to hold a medicine ball in front of you and turn back and forth, left and right as far as you can go. It must be rotational if you want to improve on your driving distance. And because the proper golf swing is mostly rotational it really makes sense to concentrate on your turning ability as it relates to both range of motion and speed. You never want to underestimate the sheer value of fitness when it comes to your golf swing and your overall golf game.

Regarding golf swing aids and golf swing trainers – golf magazines often cover reviews by golfers, making it much easier to choose the right one for you. Before buying any aid or trainer for your swing however, check with an expert to get an idea of what problem you need to work on first, for example, the backlift of your golf swing or the momentum of the downward thrust or stance. Keep in mind that with some of the golf swing trainers, you may still need help from a pro.

And if you’re looking for an aid to improve your stance they’re fairly easy to find. If you’re a golfing novice just starting out, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with all there is to learn.

There are a wide range of golf swing aids and analyzers on the market today to help the both the beginner and advanced golfer improve swing techniques. Most of all you don’t want to waste your money on an aid or trainer you don’t need or will never use so make sure to look for reviews and ratings online or offline for any golf swing trainer that you’re considering.

It’s most important to try to relax and try to really enjoy your game. Consider a golf vacation package as a good way to get in more practice. And if you can’t take your golf clubs and golf accessories with you when you go, you should be able to easily rent golf clubs, golf accessories, golf bags, golf carts or golf cart covers at any golf resort.

So when you play a round of golf, concentrate on your putting, improving your golf swing or something specific for that day; have a firm plan in mind. It makes sense to invest in a few of the newest golf videos or DVDs, golf books, golf software and golf ebooks; older golf books may be outdated – there are hundreds of free and simple golf tips to seek out in consumer and sports magazines also, in books, ebooks, software and DVDs both, online and offline.

Biomechanics and Golf

There is information available widely through the web, PGA courses and magazine articles that brings you up to date with the latest thinking in golf. They teach you the latest on how to swing each club correctly, how to putt, how to analyse your swing, how to get mentally ‘tough’, how to improve flexibility and how to fitter and stronger for golf.

Today there is a plethora of information being offered about golf. Some of it correct, all of it interesting, but how much of it is relevant to you? And how do you know which of these generic exercise tips is going to help you? Even if you trained using each one for 6 weeks and then took the results onto the course and tried them how do you then know whether your performance is ‘that exercise’ or that you just had a good day?

Even video/digital analysis, although interesting from all points of view measure the movement discrepancies in a golfer’s swing, it doesn’t tell us why you are performing these movement aberrations. Knowing what you’re doing wrong, but not knowing why you’re doing it is sometimes worse than not knowing what you’re doing wrong!

Golfers and Coaches need a simple system of analysis that they can use in conjunction with their coaching techniques to find out why golfers perform their particular swing. Although there are fundamental similarities to all good swings, each swing is like a finger-print and unique to that individual. Why is it unique? It’s because we are all biomechanically different and unless you understand what those differences are, how can you identify whether your swing is due to poor technique or something that has to done to compensate for a mechanical problem? You can’t. The variety of golf swings that exists represents the many ways that the human body can compensate for its biomechanical problems.

For example, let’s take a typical handicapper’s slice. You know the typical causes of a slice and the things you would normally work on, bearing in mind the individual and what you see. At the same time we also know that these ways don’t always work. There may be a number of reasons for this, the you may not be practicing, it may take some time to work out which is the best method for you or quite simply it may be that the person doesn’t have it in him to do what you want. Alternatively, it is likely that he can’t do it. If that pupil has a longer right leg (assuming he’s a right handed golfer), then he will have a tendency towards a more upright back swing. We know this because of the way spine and pelvis work biomechanically. A longer right leg compresses the joints in the spine on that side and so they can’t rotate easily. They therefore have to side bend to gap the joints and initiate movement, which causes an upright backswing. We also know that this then leads to a more out-to-in downswing and therefore a slice (depending upon grip and ball position of course). So you could work all day on preventing this upright backswing, which you know is leading to a slice, but it will not change until you’ve addressed the leg length discrepancy.

Invariably these leg length discrepancies are cause by a rotated pelvis and often they don’t cause symptoms, you won’t even know it exists. If this is the case then doing some simple exercises can help re-align the pelvis, reduce the leg length discrepancy and allow you to flatten that back swing.

There are many more of these examples. As well as leg length discrepancies, other biomechanical issues can include, poor motor programming strategy (the way the muscles link together in movement patterns), poor control between the pelvis and shoulders, nerve adhesions or stiffness, faulty core muscle control, immobility around the hips, pelvis and spine as well as simple lack of flexibility. Some of these issues sound quite technical and complex, but they’re actually very simple to test and eradicate.

Biomechanics works ‘hand in glove’ with your teaching, it is crucial Pro’s understand and embrace this as its going to be the next big thing in golf.

There is a system that exits that can help you and pros to learn about and address these issues. It comes 3 forms. Firstly there is a software package that takes you through some simple biomechanical tests and the expert system takes you through as series of exercises to eradicate their biomechanical problems. Secondly there are courses, which are endorsed by the PGA, which teach PGA professionals how to assess their own pupils and administer the exercises themselves. Or, thirdly experts can come to your club and assess your pupils individually and make bespoke recommendations based upon a detailed assessment of their biomechanics and following a discussion with their PGA professional, a decision can be made as to the best programme for them to follow.

For further information contact: Andy Loughray 020 8543 5288 email: Andy@humanlabsports.com or visit our website www.humanlabsports.com