Mike Bender - Build the Swing of a Lifetime: The Four-Step Approach to a More Efficient Swing

Contents

Build the Swing of a Lifetime

Copyright 2012 by Mike Bender. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada

Design and composition by Forty-five Degree Design, LLC

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Bender, Mike, date.
Build the swing of a lifetime / Mike Bender.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-118-00761-7 (hardback)
1. Swing (Golf) 2. GolfPhysiological aspects. I. Title.
GV979.SB9B42 2012
796.3523dc23
2011042290

To my wife, Mary Anne, and children, Jason, Emily, and Hannah, for their unconditional support and sacrifices in order for me to achieve my goals.

FOREWORD

by Zach Johnson

Sometimes you feel as if youre being led down a certain path, and thats how it was initially with my long-time swing coach, Mike Bender. When I moved to Lake Mary, Florida in 2000, I knew it was time to bring in a teacher who could look at my swing on a more regular basis. I just had no idea it would be a fellow Iowan and a man of deep faith like myself. Whats more, he just happened to work at the facility (Timacuan Golf Club) where I practiced daily.

At the time, I was playing on the mini-tours. I had won a few events on the Prairie Tour, but my play wasnt as consistent as I wouldve likedI could post some really low scores, but I could dial up a few high numbers as well. My fundamentals were average, and I played athletic golf, meaning I got by on my talent and figured out things as I went along. If I wanted to realize my dream of playing on the PGA Tour, I needed someone to break me down and build me back up again and provide me with a solid foundation to work from, moving forward. Mike, having played a few seasons on the Tour and knowing what it takes to get there, was the logical choice.

Things started very slowly with Mike. We first addressed my backswing, which was very loose and handsy and required a lot of timing. Once we tightened that up and improved my hand plane, we moved on to impact and then the follow-through. We took on one thing at a time, instead of overhauling my entire swing all at once. Too many amateurs want to fix everything right now, but Mike explained to me the direction we were headed in and what I needed to do to get there, and we started to put the pieces of the puzzle together, one by one.

The improvement in my swing and my consistency was almost immediate. I made four of the final five cuts on the Nationwide Tour that season and, in 2001, won Player of the Year honors on the Hooters Tour. In 2003, I captured Nationwide Tour Player of the Year honors, making my final seventeen cuts and earning a then record $494,882 in prize money. It took fewer than four years for Mike to transform me into a more consistent, efficient player and a PGA Tour rookie.

Mike had this saying, that what you feel isnt always whats real, and it didnt take me long to realize what he meant. Just because you feel as if youre taking the club inside, it doesnt mean you are. Thats why you need swing aids, feedback stations, and video cameras, because if you see it with your own eyes, or you bump into something you shouldnt, then you know whether your swing is where it needs to be.

As soon as I started working with Mike, he put me on a plane board, then showed me how to build my own portable plane board, sticking two shafts together. He gave me a lot drills, some of which my caddie and I can use today on the range when my swing gets a little off, whether its my hands moving too much off the ball on the takeaway or coming down on a poor plane. I have an apparatus called the Swingyde I can attach to my grip that allows me to move my hands to a nice, stable point at the top of the backswing, which helps my tempo and rhythm. Even now, as Im writing this, Mike has me working on a drill where I swing the club back to the top and touch my right wrist to a shaft before I start my downswing. What this does is force me to slow down my backswing and help me make a full turn behind the ball so that I can fire my hands down at the ball in the correct sequence. If I get too quick with my backswing, my wrist wont hit the shaft.

The point is, every drill I work on uses feedback, because thats what builds muscle memory and allows you to make changes to your swing. There are freakish golfers and athletes out there who can do it by the naked eye, but theyre few and far between, and Im not one of them. I dont understand how you can tell a person to do this and feel that and then go out and do it. This book is chock full of drills that will train you to swing your hands and club on the proper path and in the correct sequence. Ive probably practiced all of these drills at one time or another, and I wouldnt be the player I am today without them. Theres no better coach out there at teaching the how to than Mike, and its why hes one of the most sought-after swing coaches in golf today.

Whats amazing to me about Mike is hell give me a drill, explain why were doing it, and then go out and do it. Its not like, Hocus pocus, this is whats going to happen. Hell demonstrate how to perform the drill properly and hit crisp, perfect shots while hes doing it. I dont know of many swing coaches who can do that.

Its just one of many reasons why hes such a phenomenal coach and teacher. Hes incredibly knowledgeable about the swing, but hes also very passionate about what he does. He loves helping people play the game of golf, and hes always trying to improve his ability to help others play it better. It doesnt matter if his client is a beginning golfer, a 35-handicapper, a mini-tour player whos trying to make it, or a major champion, hes going to do everything he can to make that player succeed. His foundation of teaching and his system can work for anybody. Its putting a club in someones hands and teaching him or her how to swing it most effectively, and then showing the person how to do it.