JJ VALLELY, who coaches at Matfen Hall, has become one of only eight Plane Truth certified instructors in the UK, which gives him proven mastery of a coaching concept that seems to be working for Matt Kuchar.
A disciple of the Plane Truth, Kuchar won the £965,000 first prize in the Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona at the weekend.
The instructional system involves an updated video being emailed to the player after each lesson and emanates from the US.
It is based on the premise that all golfers either swing around the body, like Lee Westwood, or with a more upright style, such as Ian Poulter.
The Plane Truth is the brainchild of American coach Jim Hardy, and Vallely, who coaches 17-year-old Northumberland ladies champion Nicola Haynes, an England Schools cap, says “a light bulb was switched on” when he first analysed Hardy’s methods five years ago.
The 35-year-old Vallely, from Gateshead, does not impress easily. He’s the lead coach in the North for the Under-18 England AASE programme and works with Cumbria Under-18s, Newcastle University, Gateshead College and the Northumberland County Golf Partnership.
He recently visited the Bad Waldsee club, near Munich, for a three-day Plane Truth ”coaching the coaches” programme where his own instructors were Hardy and Kuchar’s coach, Chris O’Connell.
As Hardy puts it: “All mistakes result in a golf swing where the bottom of the arc produces an impact that is either too wide and too shallow or too narrow and too steep.” Vallely said: “I have been a golf coach for 13 years and when I discovered the Jim Hardy method it opened my eyes. I haven’t looked back since meeting him.
“All golfers fall into one of these two categories in terms of their swing path.
“For instance, Lee Westwood turns his left arm on somewhere around the same plane as his shoulder turn. Ian Poulter stands taller and swings his arms on a somewhat different plane (more upright) than his shoulders. Yet they are both world top-10 golfers. Unfortunately, many coaches do not allow for a golfer’s natural movements and try to teach everybody in much the same way.
“Yet the way that is right for you affects every movement from the address through the backswing and downswing and into the follow-through and finish.
“The Plane Truth is that every golfer needs to find out which one he or she is and only then can they be given the correct advice.
“There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all set of golf swing tips. Until you figure out which path your swing is on, the mountain of coaching advice out there won’t help you one little bit.
“It has to be split into two piles of information, only one of which you will need.”
TO contact JJ Vallely, phone 07899 090777 or email jjvallely@yahoo.co.uk
For more information, visit www.planetruthgolf.com
