Harvey Penick is one of the great golf teachers ever. His students include Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw, one a tremendous grinder and practicer, theother a natural feel player. Penick could coach everybody. His "Little Red Book" is (I believe) the best selling instruction book in the history of golf. In it he talked about a drill he liked, one that was very slo-mo. He had his players swing the club to the top of the back swing then drop, in the slowest motion possible, the swing until the right elbow was sitting at the right hip or in the right pants pocket. Then the player went back to his top position and did it again. Ditto.
You get the idea. Slow motion teaching. The move slows down and the experience slows down, as well.
I've done it. It has great value.
I'm hoping something similar works with Smoak. Hoping being the key word.
I'm not betting much on it. Pena is a nice mention...but not the best template. He OPS +'ed 121 at age 23 (72 PA's), 106 at 24, 108 at 25, 114 at 26, 113 at 27, 96 at 28 (in only 37 PA's), then 172-129-133.
At 23 Smoak OPS+'ed 82, then was at 106 at age 24 and down to 87 at 25.
The two guys were simillar players at 24, but Smoak crashed at 25 while Pena improved.
Could be an aberation for Smoak. Might not be.
Might not be is a 2-1 favorite. Maybe 3-1.
Smoak whacks a lot of impressive outs. They still be outs.
We're all in on him. I hope it was a good wager.
Slow motion movement is pretty well established as having performance and focal benefit. Tai Chi, as it is practiced in the west, follows this philosophy, to a degree. It is purported that focusing the mind solely on the movements of the form helps to bring about a state of mental calm and clarity.
Form and clarity can certainly not hurt Smoak.
If his issue is AAAA talent, I'm not sure they can overcome that problem.
moe
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