James Wiltshire Youtube video - Ft Liam Robinson

[jaffabell]

For anyone who enjoys watching a good coaching session, I recommend jumping on to James' channel and watching this video from a couple of days ago.

 

Its long but its absolutely quality, and resonated with me big time. Simple yet detailed. I discovered Monte's no turn cast stuff recently and its really helped me understand where I was going wrong - and this lesson goes in to detail on some movement stuff that compliments Monte's theories, along with some easy simple drills. 1st time I have watched a 50 min Youtube video without pausing!

 

Interested to hear what others think who may have watched it - I know I am very right side dominant which leads to my issues of leading with right shoulder, right knee kicking out, EE etc etc... Liam goes over some great stuff around how to get lead (left side for me being a righty) to take over through the ball and how the timing of everything makes a difference.

[GungHoGolf]

A link to the video is helpful when sharing a video. The instruction starts at 12:30:

 

Edited September 10, 2024 by GungHoGolf

[jaffabell]

16 minutes ago, GungHoGolf said:

A link to the video is helpful when sharing a video. The instruction starts at 12:30:

 

Cheers bud. I can't get on Youtube at work - I was assuming most folk could use the search function on Youtube though (even i'm not that lazy haha).

[Jeselnik]

2 hours ago, jaffabell said:

For anyone who enjoys watching a good coaching session, I recommend jumping on to James' channel and watching this video from a couple of days ago.

 

Its long but its absolutely quality, and resonated with me big time. Simple yet detailed. I discovered Monte's no turn cast stuff recently and its really helped me understand where I was going wrong - and this lesson goes in to detail on some movement stuff that compliments Monte's theories, along with some easy simple drills. 1st time I have watched a 50 min Youtube video without pausing!

 

Interested to hear what others think who may have watched it - I know I am very right side dominant which leads to my issues of leading with right shoulder, right knee kicking out, EE etc etc... Liam goes over some great stuff around how to get lead (left side for me being a righty) to take over through the ball and how the timing of everything makes a difference.

Not being a smartalec about the cast, was the problem that you didn’t know where you were going or that you weren’t throwing it away fast enough.  Promise this is not a smartalec question.

 

JNIK

Edited September 10, 2024 by Jeselnik

[GungHoGolf]

19 minutes ago, jaffabell said:

Cheers bud. I can't get on Youtube at work - I was assuming most folk could use the search function on Youtube though (even i'm not that lazy haha).

Never underestimate the laziness of the average forum user 😂 

 

That said, thank you for sharing it! I hadn’t seen this instructor before, and the drills he prescribed are ones I haven’t seen before. Step to the trail side in order to force a proper shift back to the lead. Very interesting stuff, and both these guys were mashing the ball. He has a new subscriber for sure 👍 

[jaffabell]

41 minutes ago, GungHoGolf said:

Never underestimate the laziness of the average forum user 😂 

 

That said, thank you for sharing it! I hadn’t seen this instructor before, and the drills he prescribed are ones I haven’t seen before. Step to the trail side in order to force a proper shift back to the lead. Very interesting stuff, and both these guys were mashing the ball. He has a new subscriber for sure 👍 

Yeah I have watched James for a few years now - he used to do long drive (lowish level) and then set up a channel to do vlogs and matches etc. Some of his videos are really funny - especially with one of his pals called flower. Like laugh out loud stuff but not in an obnoxious way like you would find with the good good stuff.

 

But beyond the funny stuff the channel is a documentation of James' journey to try and make it on tour, and he is currently stuck at the lower level stuff in the south of England. He hits it miles, and has a nice swing but has always struggled with short game and can hit some off the map which mess up his scores. 

 

Yeah the drills on this video are really good, I don't get my body moving correctly and i'm keen to try these drills out too

[jaffabell]

1 hour ago, Jeselnik said:

Not being a smartalec about the cast, was the problem that you didn’t know where you were going or that you weren’t throwing it away fast enough.  Promise this is not a smartalec question.

 

JNIK

My main fault is that from the top I tend to pull down on the handle and use my right side to much, getting steep and then having to EE etc. I found the monte cast thread and tried it a few times, I hit some great shots with it but like anything it needs time to drill in.

[TheDeanAbides]

6 hours ago, jaffabell said:

Yeah I have watched James for a few years now - he used to do long drive (lowish level) and then set up a channel to do vlogs and matches etc. Some of his videos are really funny - especially with one of his pals called flower. Like laugh out loud stuff but not in an obnoxious way like you would find with the good good stuff.

 

But beyond the funny stuff the channel is a documentation of James' journey to try and make it on tour, and he is currently stuck at the lower level stuff in the south of England. He hits it miles, and has a nice swing but has always struggled with short game and can hit some off the map which mess up his scores. 

 

Yeah the drills on this video are really good, I don't get my body moving correctly and i'm keen to try these drills out too

The matches with Flower are incredible. I've rarely seen anything as off the planet as some of the shots he hits!

Edited September 10, 2024 by TheDeanAbides

[jaffabell]

4 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

The matches with Flower are incredible. I've rarely seen such anything as off the planet as some of the shots he hits!

The best bit is that Flower has a really nice swing, and when he nails one it is nice to watch! 

[Jeselnik]

25 minutes ago, jaffabell said:

My main fault is that from the top I tend to pull down on the handle and use my right side to much, getting steep and then having to EE etc. I found the monte cast thread and tried it a few times, I hit some great shots with it but like anything it needs time to drill in.

If by pull you mean harpoon with the butt, don’t do that, just lower.  To where depends on you.  This Rory drill is good.  The clockface is a useful abstraction to get started.

 

 

 

JNIK

Edited September 10, 2024 by Jeselnik

[TheDeanAbides]

57 minutes ago, jaffabell said:

The best bit is that Flower has a really nice swing, and when he nails one it is nice to watch! 

It might look like a nice swing, but it's horribly out of sync, which is why he has that terrible two way miss. What it has is speed.

[joemcsorleypreswickGC]

The technique for flighting wedges Liam shows James was interesting, i took it to my practice ground and straight away noticed a difference.

 

letting go of the club with the right hand and keeping the left tricep connected really helped strike and flattened the flight.

 

I have demons with flighting wedge shots (I have about 2000 posts of my wedge swing on here and i still cant get the ball coming out low) and this seems to have helped.

[Valtiel]

On 9/10/2024 at 4:25 AM, jaffabell said:

For anyone who enjoys watching a good coaching session, I recommend jumping on to James' channel and watching this video from a couple of days ago.

 

Its long but its absolutely quality, and resonated with me big time. Simple yet detailed.

 

On 9/10/2024 at 7:29 AM, jaffabell said:

Yeah I have watched James for a few years now - he used to do long drive (lowish level) and then set up a channel to do vlogs and matches etc. Some of his videos are really funny - especially with one of his pals called flower.

 

On 9/10/2024 at 7:38 AM, TheDeanAbides said:

The matches with Flower are incredible. I've rarely seen anything as off the planet as some of the shots he hits!

I've been following both James and Flower for almost 10 years now (which is...insane now that I think about it lol). James' progression has been really interesting to watch as Flower was originally the one who was really taking a serious go at competitive golf and James seemed more like the occasional novelty guest, which we now know has completely flipped. He did vlogs the way James does them now with lessons, improvement plans, commitments about the future etc etc. Now it's completely reversed as Flower had a kid, got divorced, and is apparently a competitive snooker player? The dude is an absolute enigma and i've never seen someone both with that much raw speed with so little.....anything else lol. Highest swing speed/lowest golf IQ ever recorded 😂 , and the ability to predict how far left he'd hook the ball based on his attitude/mood was always a fun game. I can't decide whether i'd have a blast playing with him or want to bash his head in. 😂

Back to James, that video with Liam that @jaffabell referenced is absolutely fantastic. You can tell Liam "gets it" in the sense that he has both a solid understanding of swing fundamentals, doesn't seem to have any inklings of trying to push a personal ideology/philosophy, and communicates things very well. He's the kind of guy i'd love to work with, and his previous features on James' channel and the group around them are super fun (Liam, Konig, Steve Surry, the Fricker bothers etc). If I was independently wealthy i'd fly all those dudes out for a week of golf content and shenanigans up and down the west coast. 

Edited September 12, 2024 by Valtiel

[TheDeanAbides]

3 minutes ago, Valtiel said:

 

 

I've been following both James and Flower for almost 10 years now (which is...insane now that I think about it lol). James' progression has been really interesting to watch as Flower was originally the one who was really taking a serious go at competitive golf and James seemed more like the occasional novelty guest, which we now know has completely flipped. He did vlogs the way James does them now with lessons, improvement plans, commitments about the future etc etc. Now it's completely reversed as Flower had a kid, got divorced, and is apparently a competitive snooker player? The dude is an absolute enigma and i've never seen someone both with that much raw speed with so little.....anything else lol. Highest swing speed/lowest golf IQ ever recorded 😂 , and the ability to predict how far left he'd hook the ball based on his attitude/mood was always a fun game. I can't decide whether i'd have a blast playing with him or want to bash his head in. 😂

Back to James, that video with Liam that @jaffabell referenced is absolutely fantastic. You can tell Liam "gets it" in the sense that he has both a solid understanding of swing fundamentals, doesn't seem to have any inklings of trying to push a personal ideology/philosophy, and communicates things very well. He's the kind of guy i'd love to work with, and his previous features on James' channel and the group around them is super fun (Liam, Konig, Steve Surry, the Fricker bothers etc). If I was independently wealthy i'd fly all those dudes out for a week of golf content and shenanigans up and down the west coast. 

Absolutely agree on all counts! I first saw James on Crossfield's channel when he was doing long drive and had the "Gorilla James" nickname. Yes, the complete switch between Flower and James has been extraordinary to watch. 

 

What boggles my mind with Flower is the same as you - golfing IQ. How can you go from being a decent competitive golfer to just constantly picking the wrong shot for a situation?? It's really great content though. 

 

Have you looked at his swing? He exhibits some of the classic issues we talk about here. I seem to recall that he had the same issues when he was decent, but dealt with it by hitting lots of balls. 

 

This was a great lesson. The way Liam identified and then fixed James was great to watch. 

[Valtiel]

1 hour ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Absolutely agree on all counts! I first saw James on Crossfield's channel when he was doing long drive and had the "Gorilla James" nickname. Yes, the complete switch between Flower and James has been extraordinary to watch. 

 

What boggles my mind with Flower is the same as you - golfing IQ. How can you go from being a decent competitive golfer to just constantly picking the wrong shot for a situation?? It's really great content though. 

 

Have you looked at his swing? He exhibits some of the classic issues we talk about here. I seem to recall that he had the same issues when he was decent, but dealt with it by hitting lots of balls. 

 

This was a great lesson. The way Liam identified and then fixed James was great to watch. 

Yup agreed re: Liam and Flower, hah.

I think he knows what he's capable of on paper given his speed and high risk/high reward shot ability (you'll notice he can pull off insane recovery/flop shots quite often), he just never seemed to make the jump to making "good" choices over "fun" choices. That and his overall swing was fascinatingly stuck in the same box over that entire period no matter how many things he attempted to change. I would be lying if I said he wasn't one of the initial inspirations to get into studying the golf swing back in the early 2010's because it drove me crazy that someone swinging 125mph+ plus being capable of miracle recoveries would also regularly struggle to break 80.

IMO both Flower and The Artist Formerly Known As Gorilla James had the same basic problem that we've heard about for ages. Tiger, Rahm, Homa, Scheffler....they've all talked about it and suffered from it, and i'm sure countless others have as well. At some point as a junior golfer there is a period of time where you get strong enough to start controlling the club, leading you to begin overpowering it. From here many kids find the power to stop slicing the ball but also begin to be lured into the forbidden garden of swinging really hard and hitting those addicting high hard hooks for maximum distance. Get strong enough to pull off enough of those in competition and suddenly without strong guidance you're ingraining a really inside swing pattern just trying to hook everything as it feels so much better than the weak slices you were capped at producing before. Ask me how I know, lol. Both Flower and James had their versions of this, and Flower's was always having a strong left hand grip and a flat wrist at the top, leading to a shut clubface. This just never matched up with the rest of his mechanics and he chased his tail for years changing literally everything *around* that to no avail. He was also someone that had very poor tempo via never really developing any sense of timing with his lower body sequencing. He tended to just spin his hips as fast as he could without really any lateral sequencing and would basically have to time a flip with his shut face. He then flipped between periods of blocking it right while trying to play the draw, aiming left trying to force a cut and often double crossing, and then the worst currently which is aiming pretty neutrally and deluding himself into thinking his delivery is going to produce a neutral flight. OB left was basically 75%.

There were several periods that had flashes of quite good swings, but these never stuck. In this same video you can see the things he's drilling and that is really a microcosm of Flower's whole swing. He'd go down rabbit holes that weren't good for him, drill them a bunch, get a complete mixed bag of a results, and that's what would show up on the course. 33% chance of a straight ball, 33% chance of an over draw, 33% chance of an absolute wipe shank. IMO he needed to be taught one part Liam's general advice to James in the recent video, one part neutralizing his club face via weakening his left hand, and two parts "stop making high tariff choices every single chance you get on the course and play boring golf".

Edited September 12, 2024 by Valtiel

[TheDeanAbides]

4 minutes ago, Valtiel said:

Yup agreed re: Liam and Flower, hah.

I think he knows what he's capable of on paper given his speed and high risk/high reward shot ability (you'll notice he can pull off insane recovery/flop shots quite often), he just never seemed to make the jump to making "good" choices over "fun" choices. That and his overall swing was fascinatingly stuck in the same box over that entire period no matter how many things he attempted to change. I would be lying if I said he wasn't one of the initial inspirations to get into studying the golf swing back in the early 2010's because it drove me crazy that someone swinging 125mph+ plus being capable of miracle recoveries would also regularly struggle to break 80.

IMO both Flower and The Artist Formerly Known As Gorilla James had the same basic problem that we've heard about for ages. Tiger, Rahm, Homa, Scheffler....they've all talked about it and suffered from it, and i'm sure countless others have as well. At some point as a junior golfer there is a period of time where you get strong enough to start controlling the club, leading you to begin overpowering it. From here many kids find the power to stop slicing the ball but also begin to be lured into the forbidden garden of swinging really hard and hitting those addicting high hard hooks for maximum distance. Get strong enough to pull off enough of those in competition and suddenly without strong guidance you're ingraining a really inside swing pattern just trying to hook everything as it feels so much better than the weak slices you were capped at producing before. Ask me how I know, lol. Both Flower and James had their versions of this, and Flower's was always having a strong left hand grip and a flat wrist at the top, leading to a shut clubface. This just never matched up with the rest of his mechanics and he chased his tail for years changing literally everything *around* that to no avail. He was also someone that had very poor tempo via never really developing any sense of timing with his lower body sequencing. He tended to just spin his hips as fast as he could without really any lateral sequencing and would basically have to time a flip with his shut face. He then flipped between periods of blocking it right while trying to play the draw, aiming left trying to force a cut and often double crossing, and then the worst currently which is aiming pretty neutrally and deluding himself into thinking his delivery is going to produce a neutral flight. OB left was basically 75%.

There were several periods that had flashes of quite good swings, but these never stuck. In this same video you can see the things he's drilling and that is really a microcosm of Flower's whole swing. He'd go down rabbit holes that weren't good for him, drill them a bunch, get a complete mixed bag of a results, and that's what would show up on the course. 33% chance of a straight ball, 33% chance of an over draw, 33% chance of an absolute wipe shank. IMO he needed to be taught one part Liam's general advice to James in the recent video, one part neutralizing his club face via weakening his left hand, and two parts "stop making high tariff choices every single chance you get on the course and play boring golf".

Yes, 100% all of this. I always laugh when James makes comments like "Are you sure you should be hitting driver here?" and then Flower just aims straight down the middle... we all know where that drive is going, Harry! Why don't you?? 

 

When I watch his insanely aggressive hip turn it makes my back wince. It's also telling that whenever anyone asks him why he doesn't just, y'know, not swing as hard, he says that it doesn't feel hard to him. Seriously though, there are some great lessons for us all watching him play. Especially alongside James who's largely dealt with that huge inside path/save it with the hands issue. 

[joemcsorleypreswickGC]

The boys provide unbelievable content and havent went down the usual click baity over the top production like a lot of youtube golfers have. raw uncut and hilarious

 

Need boys like the MAP, Flower and Harry Konig more often!

[Valtiel]

22 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Yes, 100% all of this. I always laugh when James makes comments like "Are you sure you should be hitting driver here?" and then Flower just aims straight down the middle... we all know where that drive is going, Harry! Why don't you?? 

 

When I watch his insanely aggressive hip turn it makes my back wince. It's also telling that whenever anyone asks him why he doesn't just, y'know, not swing as hard, he says that it doesn't feel hard to him. Seriously though, there are some great lessons for us all watching him play. Especially alongside James who's largely dealt with that huge inside path/save it with the hands issue. 

Yup, Flower is one of the better examples of what @MonteScheinblum has mentioned a few times re: whatever patterns you have early on are likely the ones you'll always have, with one of your lifelong golf battles being managing those tendencies. The last thing Flower should have been doing in those clips I linked was that misinterpreted Gankas style flat inside thing + squat + rotate through with no hands kind of thing with the club coming from like 15* inside as it was a terrible matchup for what his swing pattern naturally was. If anything he needed something that encouraged him to get the club more up, open, and across coming down almost like what Tiger was doing in the Foley era as Flower always defaulted to being inside and shut, or often neutral and shut, both of which resulting in fore left. IMO he would sometimes spin his hips so hard and fast that he'd get so stuck that his shut clubface actually came through square enough and he'd think "ah ok, got it now". 😅

James thankfully has always had better tempo and an overall more balanced swing with a strong physical build and better golf instincts, but he too struggled with just every other shot missing long left. He kinda of intuited his way out of a lot of it, but he needs that permanently neutralized + some semblance of a functional short game to start winning on the mini tours, of which he's actually gotten quite close a few times so I think it's in there. 

Edited September 12, 2024 by Valtiel

[TheDeanAbides]

9 minutes ago, Valtiel said:

Yup, Flower is one of the better examples of what @MonteScheinblum has mentioned a few times re: whatever patterns you have early on are likely the ones you'll always have, with one of your lifelong golf battles being managing those tendencies. The last thing Flower should have been doing in those clips I linked was that misinterpreted Gankas style flat inside thing + squat + rotate through with no hands kind of thing with the club coming from like 15* inside as it was a terrible matchup for what his swing pattern naturally was. If anything he needed something that encouraged him to get the club more up, open, and across coming down almost like what Tiger was doing in the Foley era as Flower always defaulted to being inside and shut, or often neutral and shut, both of which resulting in fore left. IMO he would sometimes spin his hips so hard and fast that he'd get so stuck that his shut clubface actually came through square enough and he'd think "ah ok, got it now". 😅

James thankfully has always had better tempo and an overall more balanced swing with a strong physical build and better golf instincts, but he too struggled with just every other shot missing long left. He kinda of intuited his way out of a lot of it, but he needs that permanently neutralized + some semblance of a functional short game to start winning on the mini tours, of which he's actually gotten quite close a few times so I think it's in there. 

Absolutely on the money as always. I think we saw a real lightbulb moment for James in this lesson with Liam. I watched his latest vlog post lesson this morning, and you can see he's realising that neutralising and creating the space to release the club more effectively is going to lead to more distance and accuracy. I think he's got a decent chance of winning at that level now. 

 

RE the short game, it was painful watching him last year, but he seems to have found something that works there, and the tweaks Liam made have helped him shallow out a bit more. 

[Ty_Webb]

6 hours ago, Valtiel said:

Yup, Flower is one of the better examples of what @MonteScheinblum has mentioned a few times re: whatever patterns you have early on are likely the ones you'll always have, with one of your lifelong golf battles being managing those tendencies. The last thing Flower should have been doing in those clips I linked was that misinterpreted Gankas style flat inside thing + squat + rotate through with no hands kind of thing with the club coming from like 15* inside as it was a terrible matchup for what his swing pattern naturally was. If anything he needed something that encouraged him to get the club more up, open, and across coming down almost like what Tiger was doing in the Foley era as Flower always defaulted to being inside and shut, or often neutral and shut, both of which resulting in fore left. IMO he would sometimes spin his hips so hard and fast that he'd get so stuck that his shut clubface actually came through square enough and he'd think "ah ok, got it now". 😅

James thankfully has always had better tempo and an overall more balanced swing with a strong physical build and better golf instincts, but he too struggled with just every other shot missing long left. He kinda of intuited his way out of a lot of it, but he needs that permanently neutralized + some semblance of a functional short game to start winning on the mini tours, of which he's actually gotten quite close a few times so I think it's in there. 

 

It's quite fun watching James play now compared with how he was playing with Mark Crossfield on a few of Crossfield's videos. He hit it so hard, but there was one video where I think he missed something like three fairways over. Like normal mortal human beings couldn't hit it that far left as he did. It's really cool that he's getting it in play more often than not now. Flower is just hilariously bad sometimes. He can hit it left that even makes James react like "what the? how?" Impressive in its own way.

[LeicaRedDot]

A few more Liam Robinson videos on youtube, I like the approach. Anyone else having any success with this?

[BabyCarrot]

I like his content. His videos convinced me to switch to the towel drill; sold my impact bag.

[CasualLie]

Love the towel drills...

 

After watching several videos with Liam, what I'm curious about is who is/was his mentor? He talks about bouncing around coaches but I don't think he's mentioned which coach helped him breakthrough.

[jaffabell]

6 hours ago, CasualLie said:

Love the towel drills...

 

After watching several videos with Liam, what I'm curious about is who is/was his mentor? He talks about bouncing around coaches but I don't think he's mentioned which coach helped him breakthrough.

His mentor was an Australian coach called Gary Barter