Discover World's #1 Coach's Swing Pattern: Explained & Simplified

[@davidstevens2555]

I just went out and hit some balls in 40* Michigan. I can’t believe the way the ball was jumping off the club face. Thanks for explaining this move. I finally feel like I’m compressing the ball. It’s not difficult.

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Wow. Fantastic That’s a lovely moment isn’t it.

[@AviationSceptic]

Really appreciate the two videos you did. Been studying Pete Cowen's methods for some time, and it's a bit like a high school physics student talking theory with Albert Einstein. However, my two cents: His discussion of "coil" from the ground up truly engages the feet, legs, torso and arms in a sequential manner to the top that is very powerful (utilizes ground forces). That fractional movement of the arms ahead of the body starting to move now is supported by a body that is in a very powerful position. (Think Henrik Stenson, a student of Pete's). The drive up / back / away from the ball in the downswing is able to offset the momentum of the club with great stability. Maintaining the swing posture allows a powerful pivot (almost like a hockey slapshot), allowing the handle to slow down and the clubhead pass the hands. Having a good deal of success with this with irons and hybrids, not so much so far with the fairway woods and driver. Pete Cowen is a big proponent of practicing the pivot motion without a ball; see the "cack" handed and split handed drills. Have to admit both those drills gave me "feels" that were totally new.

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Many thanks. With Cowen, there are certainly some fabulous concepts if you can hang on in there.

[@greghill5183]

Fantastic video! Thanks! I was trying too much to rotate my body in the downswing and I would stand up and leave the club behind! This works!

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Thats great to hear! Glad it helped.

[@steveperry1344]

i played a lot of hockey in my day and that's how we did a slap shot, the right hand driving down into the shot while we dug our skates into the ice.

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Interesting. Thanks for the analogy. That seems to fit Cowen's model?

[@steveperry1344]

he shoots he...scores?@@kingofalldashcams7380

[@markcollins8881]

And... Wait for it... On more than one occasion, I've heard TV commentators mention that hockey players seem to have a natural advantage at learning the game of golf. They never went into the specifics of why, but everyone's mind obviously turns to the slapshot motion. Now, it makes sense.

[@anthonyviola9400]

Thank you for these two videos, happy to subscribe, will try this system! 🇨🇦

[@olleedsbacker3015]

Nice to see you again. Bought your nice app years ago. A very interesting video here. I have now a similar swing pattern which my coach calls an “on-top golfer” swing. The idea is to keep my right arm on top of the left in the backswing and drive the right palm down (facing the ground). Much of the low point issues are solved and the body rotates automatically as a reaction to the arm-swing. Best Regards Olle

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Hi Olle. Good to hear from you. Glad you remember my app. Your pattern sounds a lot like Cowen’s move. From the comments on this thread it would appear that this is not exclusively his pattern.

[@jack-hq7gr]

Louis Oosthuizen, I believe is still a Pete Cowan student. He appears on 2 D photos to be quite an extendor at and thru impact. His pelvis motion seems to bring hands a bit higher or his preference or intent over the years. So interesting how Pete Cowan teaches but not all or even only few of his students actually do this move to his preference. It also seems the extenders have more visually appealing swings vs the more rotational players. Since most golfers over 50 were influenced by Watson, Nicklaus, and others of the era, our intent and perception seems to favor extending and higher hands… Change the visual and perception, change our swings? Truly appreciate your insight and unique views on the many complex “golf swing” methods.

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Many thanks. Interesting point. I wonder how many of Cowen's students swing as per his model. I can't imagine he would have many tour clients if he stuck to one pattern and enforced it doggedly.

[@jack-hq7gr]

@@GolfCoachDrNoel interesting but curious why Pete would adjust to high level tour players but almost insisted that Danny Maude or other club/ teachers featuring him get this “pressure down” motion. Seems entry level and weekend golfers would benefit from more basic concepts. He has a great resume and truly accomplished but rarely do weekend warriors see results as myself and several local players can attest. Certainly not an ideal move for senior or less mobile players? You did mention L to L not in the cards for Pete.. Guess he believes that that motion over time and practice creates proper motion for intent. He often mention practice of motion and movement daily vs wacking ball after ball.

[@lawrenceshin7170]

I have taken this to the ridiculous extreme of practicing one arm - right arm only swings using this technique, and it has resulted in amazingly accurate approach shots. However, I can’t get this to work for me when using the driver. Is “L to L” better for the driver? I am hoping that you might help us with a follow up video

[@randomcosmos3600]

@@lawrenceshin7170 I found your comment very interesting as I found the same thing with my iron shots and problems with the driver. What I noted was that the body cleared with the irons automatically but not with the driver. What worked for me with the driver was to consciously rotate my mid-lower body more and make sure my hands went left as in the iron swing. I thought that the downward right arm spinning forces the body to react more with irons but with a more shallow approach and more forward ball position with the driver the body did not move in the same way. Some older teachers (eg Bob Toski) taught people to hit balls only with the right arm to demonstrate that the usual L to L gets too much early right forearm rotation. Milo Lines teaches using a different back swing but very similar right arm/hand movement and rotation resulting in a stable club face pattern similar to the Cowen method. However I found the Cowen method much easier to incorporate into my swing.

[@grahamjones7371]

Great video, the problem i have with the PC/DM video is no mention of loading the left shoulder ( most golfers are all right side hitting at the ball from the top with the clubhead) i know he says in this video the left side works in response to right side intention but in another video with a YT coach.maybe james robinson,he stresses loading the left shoulder!

[@flemingtonmartinsvet]

Some of this is what I would call old school. Toski teaches a motion where the body responds to the hands in at least How To Feel A Real Golf Swing. Just doesn’t stress the right wrist position.

[@georgebuergel6525]

Would this be the same as the hitting motion vs the swinging motion of Homer Kelly's Golfing Machine?

[@PC-pd7hl]

To describe correctly the movements involved in the term 'spin the arm down', they are 1. spin the FOREARM about its longitudinal axis to close the club face - with minimal rotation of the upper arm, and 2. extend the ELBOW to get the 'down' part. All 3 of you coaches avoided explaining the phrase by breaking the movements down to their simplest forms as above. It makes it more difficult to understand than is necessary.

[@antap]

What compliments this is Mike Malaska on the "release" - neutral v rolling. (On KZbin).

[@julescoleman5438]

If you play long enough, everything will come around again. This is nothing very new in terms of overall pattern differentiation. It is very much the underlying difference expressed originally in the Golfing Machine between 'swinging' and 'hitting'. The standard form of 'hitting' is: 1. trail arm driven; 2. with extension in the trail wrist; 3. a driving motion into the ball; and 4. an angled release where the toe of the club never turns over the heel. IN addition the hit is driven by ultimately straightening the right (trail) arm through impact. To be fair, I would say the element that Cowen adds is pronation of the trail forearm (I don't find referring to it as 'spinning' particularly helpful, but that is simply a matter of choice). It was also a part of the original TGM hitting model that one kept the trail wrist somewhat extended as Cowen suggests, though as anyone from the TGM world will tell you this feature is of questionable overall value. The current thinking is that this reduction in closure rate is desirable for face stability but if carried to far and not supplemented by lead wrist extension after both arms are straight at 'finish' will reduce overall distance. The trail wrist is losing extension up to and through impact on any swing with speed. A somewhat better version of what Cowen is talking about is discussed by Tyler Ferrel of Golf Smart Academy (transparency requires I indicate that I am a coach at GSA) in which one desirable form of release involves the intention to maintain trail wrist extension but to add in release some degree of ulner deviation which will collaterally reduce the extent of the extension. I say this is better because were one to maintain full trail wrist extension one would have reduced dramatically the radius of the swing (in comparison with address position in which there is little if any trail wrist extension at set up). This would mean that in order to actually hit the ball while maintaining the full loaded extension, one would have to lower one's upper body significantly. I mean, really a LOT. More likely than not, one would simply throw away that angle in the trail wrist and not get the benefit of the move. Or, one can introduce ulner deviation (which in fact Cowen does as one can see by slowing down the videos) and indeed as everyone who wants to keep some extension in the trail wrist has to do to make contact with the ball and the ground and keep posture. There's lots more to say here, but this is enough, and it is important to remind some and indicate to others that all this is familiar to anyone who has studied TGM (whatever its shortcomings are) -- not to mention how 'not new' the difference between a motion that involves pulling (swinging) and pushing (hitting)!! Credit where credit is due. No criticism of Cowen, but at the very heart of the hitting v swinging distinction in TGM machine is the very distinction between the body being the engine of the swing and the arms reacting to it (swinging) and the trail arm driving the motion and the body responding to it. There are some differences between TGM hitting and Cowen's approach now, but they are small in comparison to what the two share.

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Thanks for the insight. Very interesting and I wouldn't disagree with any of that. I just wanted to try and convey to the golf public the basic differences in the Cowen model and what they may be more familiar with. In my experience, a lot of TGM instructors lose the art of meeting the student where they are. The language (and often the community) is 'exclusive' and the coaches can become entirely mechanistic and lose the humanistic aspects of motor learning. TGM is all great knowledge of course but in my coaching model, it needs to fit into the bigger picture.

[@julescoleman5438]

@Dr.Noel. I don't disagree at all. The best way to look at TGM is not as some sort of Bible to be quoted chapter and verse -- as some apparently do (Lynn Blake, e.g. who is an extremely effective teacher, good golfer, and as far as I can tell, a fine person as well --- but to view it as basically absorbed into the culture of golf instruction as a set of insights (in some cases) and guidelines in others. I was an early adopter in my amateur career, but as an academic with some knowledge of the relationship between physics and geometry, I was something of a skeptic of the overarching theoretical framework given that the entirety of the approach is 'geometry' driven, when, in fact geometry is always subservient to the underlying physics and is designed to support it. YOu've got to get the physics of the situation right and then construct a geometry that supports it. Most obvious example of this is that once we realized the universe is curved, standard geometry, one of whose axioms is that parallel lines never meet or intersect, has to be abandoned in favor of a different geometry. Enough on that. One thing I left out in my comments, again worth noting, is how much Kelly in TGM (through all the drafts of it aided by input from Mac O'Grady) insisted on what he called the magic of the right (trail) forearm. It's instructive to see the emphasis Cowen is likewise placing on it as well. One additional difference: TGM emphasized a distinction between two positions of the trail forearm -- one for swinging (tucked in front of the hip and rib cage) and one to the side of the hip for hitting (what Kelly referred to as the 'punch' position of the elbow). Cowen's pattern appears to resist this distinction because it insists on having the elbow point down and in front of the hip even with what is otherwise a hitting motion in Golfing Machine terms. For what it's worth, I agree with Cowen on this. And indeed, Mac, who reinvented his swing around the GM guidelines always had the elbow in the tucked position -- even during the stage of the MORAD period when he focused on 'straightening the right elbow' as an independent driving force of the swing, as well as during versions of MORAD that focused more on rotation of hips (pelvis) as driver of the motion.

[@grahamjones7371]

What would you say Speith is then,for me he is a a lead/left arm hitter! Ive always thought TGM is just a bunch of engineers/scientists trying to analyse /describe an athletic motion, im sure TGM can give an accurate description of Iron Byron

[@realtorsatwork]

So how exactly does this Pete Cowen's arm / forearm / wrist move differ from Mike Benders arm action when he is throwing the ball? See video at 1.50 seconds into the video. - kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKHSlpKwoMZ2pNE

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

It seems to me that the Cowen model is encouraging the player to drive the handle through the ball more where as this video is describing a full on throw down of the club head.

[@tomb4060]

What was the purpose of this video? To show what we saw already? I don't get it

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Just putting it in context with the more familiar L-L pattern. I know my students missed a lot of the coaching points from the original video.

[@afs-drew9644]

This method has a major negative: it forces you to have 2 swings .. 1 for irons (pressuring down) which is fine but then abandoning when hitting up with woods. Maybe this is why Rory said thanks but no thanks to Pete.

[@mostman]

Maybe. I just tested this motion out at the range. The driver does feel foreign, yes. But remember the bottom of the arc is behind the ball with the driver, so you should still be able to use this to get into the right position for driver at impact. It’s just the way down is different. What really nailed it for me was the fairway woods, where you are trying to hit level. This motion worked absolutely fine there with little adjustment. The driver took some getting used to, but worked.

[@AndrewDCDrummond]

All these feels that these golf coaches are teaching are 1) just feels that are only appropriate if the rest of your swing mechanics are the same, 2) feels that only someone who basically swings the club everyday can apply. Amateurs aren't in this position at all so it's bad advice, and it only normally seems to work as it is now just one swing thought to think about, instead of several confusing ones - same thing with most tips. I've done it at the range - the guy next to me has a fantastic swing but it's a bt erratic as his right elbow 'flies' - I point it out and he then thinks he is making an adjustment and all the balls go straight and he says thankyou as he thinks I've fixed his swing, but in reality his right elbow is still flying. Go watch George Knudsons instructional video for better advice that is also more applicable to amateurs that generally have crap weight shift.

[@MrBarrynicholas]

Cowan the most overrated golf coach ever.

[@harold4506]

He also said that "90℅ of tour players are golf club manipulators". Meaning they use the rotate and lag method, which also means it's a pretty successful method.

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Yes, agreed 👍

[@mariospsyllides7368]

Only insofar that those guys have hit 2,000 balls a week since they were 14, are naturally gifted to hit those manipulations and are physically fit/flexible?

[@jasonbourne488]

Another terrific explanation. Have your done a similar set of videos to deconstruct the Sean Foley method?

[@Robert-ts2ef]

One question for you: for the sake of not causing injury to the back of an old bugger like me, which is the best type of swing to use - I tend to use a hybrid of the two swings at present, that is to say that I have the leading edge of the club facing down (parallel with my spine) on the back swing and downswing but finish with a rollover release and my back is always sore after a game. So which swing method would you advise so as not to cause injury to my back? Thanks.

[@thatwilldonicely1314]

many thanks for your explanation, Pete Cowen can sometimes be very tricky to work out! I would imagine in a full swing you would tend to look like the Tommy Fleetwood finish position, he always seems to be doing the punchy 'pressured' type of shot? Perhaps you remember that training aid called 'the secret' fronted by Greg Norman, which deliberately put the right hand in that extended position, and you were supposed to retain that position at impact !! hence not 'flipping' for what its worth i personally think Pete;s method will work very well but it needs a lot of practice and dedication, thanks again and cheers

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Thanks for your kind words. I don’t see Cowen demonstrating a Fleetwood type finish. He seems to keep the face from rolling over but fold the arms too. Similar intention though.

[@Luke-mx4zx]

I’ve been practicing this swing style for a while now and found myself hooking badly. I learned to apply the opening torque thru impact as a way to counter the hook. Thought I must be doing something wrong - turns out that’s actually how it works! Thanks for the concise explanation 👍

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Yes, that feels like breaking the rules doesn't it. Turns out that is what advanced players do. What a game.

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

We’ll done for persevering, glad it is showing good signs. Thanks also for the video suggestion. I’ll have a look at that.

[@joecalvacca3195]

Totally confused

[@lageronimo8012]

Huh?

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

👍I’d love have a beer and discuss more one day.

[@tomsettles6873]

This video is long overdue and much appreciated. The L to L swing is great if you're hitting from a flat lie, maintain inside path and you've practiced within last 48-72 hours. But in sloped terrain, or different conditions than a driving range, and if you haven't practiced recently, the Pete Cowan model is way better. This is pretty much what Malaska, Milo Lines, etc. teach nowadays. I've been playing this swing for last 3 months and I'm in the fairway more often and lose way less balls. Just played on Sunday and finished the round with same ball I started with. Pre-2000 everybody was taught L to L.

[@NonStoppp3332]

Good teacher right here

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Many thanks

[@DavidSkok1]

Great job explaining this. I was very confused when I first watched the Danny Maude video.

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

👍 Me too. It took a couple watches

[@jaejae3133]

I slice or shank when i try this model

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

You are not alone and maybe it is not the pattern for you. It might be worth working with a coach to adapt to the pattern or maybe it is not for you. Tough call that only you can answer. Did you give it more than a few balls as a fair chance?

[@jaejae3133]

​@GolfCoachDrNoel I tried this again over the weekend and my shots felt compressed with a straight to baby fade...there was still the occasional shank and fat shot in between the good shots. Would love to see you post more on using this type of swing with a focus on what to be concious of with respect to fat shots /shanks. Many thanks!

[@MrKillahippo]

in simple me terms. I think of one think at the start of my swing, Compress the ball.

[@thilog5874]

All variants work. Shawn Clement strong grip and let it swing works. Stack and Tilt works, Cowen works. Mike Austin works. I play for 35 years and I have tried them all. There are differences between swing speeds and accuracy. For me I do get the highest club speeds with Shawn Clement and the best accuracy with Cowen. So try them out for yourself. It is a fun ride...

[@Lubo-qd2zs]

Out of curiosity, have you tried this style of swing on the course?

[@hosoiarchives4858]

Yes most golf instruction is wrong

[@dagsperling3791]

Great video. Thanks!

[@lenardtan7169]

Great Video lesson tips

[@TEKXS00D6]

I am so glad you posted these videos. I have been puzzled over just what Pete Cowen meant by "spinning the arm down". I don't see anyone else mentioning it but I figure it's related to the uncoiling of his "spiral staircase". I'm still having trouble implementing the concept but after watching your videos I've got a better idea of what's involved than I did before. Thanks.

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Thanks Gerald. I found it very confusing at first watch and it took a little‘unpacking’. Glad it helped

[@BuffEverett]

this was so perfect.

[@NineEyeRon]

The first reason everything we know is wrong is because making feel real is VERY hard. The second and the biggest is that 99% of golf instruction is misunderstood, this combined with the first is then amplified by the third reason. As time goes by we compound our misinterpretation as we get used to a feeling, feel it less and then try to feel it again. There is only one way to swing a golf club but there are 100s of ways to explain it and 1000s of ways to interpret those explanations.

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Brilliant! What a game.

[@DistantGreensGolf]

I’m screwed. I’m cross dominant. I’m left side dominant in everything but swing right handed. I feel my lead side during downswing but trail side during back swing

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

I wouldn’t worry. You will find your way. This is just one way of doing things and definitely not to be taken too rigidity. There are many amazing players that have a similar situation to you.

[@marcf.4787]

Great video

[@danielmosias6280]

What about with driver, you don't hit down on that, or do you?

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

No, we wouldn't hit down but the mere change of ball position and spine angle in the set up should take car of that.

[@Dkrin28]

I think? This is a throw release which I am experimenting with and may work on over the winter. Thanks!

[@GolfCoachDrNoel]

Hi. The 'throw' release is the L to L pattern that has the big swoosh. Like the swoosh of a cane. The Cowen pattern, as far as I can see, is more of a drive of the handle through impact or in his words, 'spinning the right arm down' and maintaining the extension in the trail wrist.

[@mntlblok]

@@GolfCoachDrNoel So, no right wrist extension, no Cowen technique. L to L then is the tennis forehand release.