- Geoff Jones (aka SliceFixer) - 19 votes
- Brian Manzella - 13 votes
- Mike Maves (aka Sevam1) - 13 votes
- Dave Orr - 13 votes
- Shawn Clement - 8 votes
- Mike Bennett/Andy Plummer - 5 votes
- Lynn Blake - 5 votes
- Ben Doyle - 5 votes
- David Leadbetter - 2 votes
- Dave Pelz - 1 vote
- Geoff Mangum - 0 votes
First off, a big BOO goes out to the pollsters who didn't even give Geoff Mangum one vote. IMO, he's about as good as it gets when it comes to understanding and teaching putting which accounts for about 40-50% of the strokes in a normal golf round. He dispels myths and fallacies while going into areas that have never been even scratched upon by other instructors. I'm not saying he deserved to win, but ZERO votes? You guys are better than that.
Anyway, I know SliceFixer and Sevam1 have a lot of fans that read this silly blog, so it's not a surprise they did so well, and they deserve it. Can't wait for Slice's book to come out. I really like Slice's 9-3 drill, but I am sick and tired of golfers who never got a lesson from Slice using the drill and posting it up on YouTube and being way off in their interpretation of the drill.
Brian Manzella's 'game' has been really strong the last month or so in particular. His Trackman research and D-Plane knowledge has been extremely helpful. He also has live chats. I attended one of them and it was really great. He goes above and beyond the call of duty as an instructor. Just wait in another month or two when his Web site gets a bit of an overhaul and provides a ton of great services for golfers.
Dave Orr has gone above and beyond the call of duty as well with his constant info on putting which alone can help anybody's game of rolling the rock if they apply it correctly. Best piece of advice? Stroke path is overrated because D-Plane is alive and well in rolling the rock. That and most golfer's putting expectations are way too high. Plus, his videos on the swing, particularly the Stack N Tilt stuff are excellent. Hopefully if everything goes pretty well this year I'll try to make a trip to Buies Creek to get some help along with getting fitted for an Edel Putter and then take the trek back down to Myrtle.
Really nice to see Shawn Clement get some recognition. Good to see since I'm convinced one particular instructor on TV is lifting a lot of Shawn's great drills...but, he won't say anything because he's an incredibly nice guy. I've also been told that Shawn is helping people out using the Sevam1 method...not as a form of lifting Maves' work, but accepting it as a solid way to swing the club and helping those who want to learn from it.
Lynn Blake has some really great videos and teaches Brian Gay, whom I find the most fascinating player to watch on the Tour right now. I've never gotten a lesson from Yoda, but I just got one from his protege, Ted Fort, and after taking about an hour to get in the groove on the range today, it's scary and exciting how much a simple 45 minute lesson can help. Ted was taught very well.
I think the problem Ben Doyle ran into is that you just don't hear a lot about him on the internet. Plus, it probably didn't help that Elkington has been flirting with the Stack and Tilt method lately. Although I have no idea why he would since accuracy and consistency are not on top of the list of Elk's problems.
As many know, I'm not a huge fan of the stack and tilt. I believe it's a method that can certainly work for golfers. Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett are the co-founders of it and Bennett can truly stripe the ball. One of the swings I really like to watch on YouTube is Mike McNary who employs some of the S&T method.
Dave Pelz and David Leadbetter didn't fare too well which was expected. I like Pelz much more than Leadbetter. However, neither do themselves any favors by never admitting their flaws in their teaching or their philosophies. Most of the instructors that did better than them in the poll have been upfront about their flaws in the past. Particularly Manzella who often goes into specific examples of where he screwed up with a student or had a flawed philosophy. I think it just makes instructors better when they can admit their past mistakes because they are not in the mindset of being stubborn about their theories.
Anyway, here's a video of one of SliceFixer's students and comparing his swing to Hogan's. As you can see, the similarities are pretty stunning.
Anyway, I'll have a new poll question coming up and please vote, I love seeing how these poll questions play out.
3JACK
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