Golf Swing Posture
The Postural Release
Golf swing posture is created by bending backwards from the knees and forwards from the hips same time and same amount thus lowering down to the ball at setup. This lowering down puts the body in a balanced athletic position and makes room for arm swing. Ideally it puts the club shaft at a right angle to the spine and since the shoulders are always at a right angle to the spine they will now help deliver the arm swing back to the ball.
But all too often I hear the advice that one should stay in your posture when clearly such is not the case! If we look closely at any golfer at the finish of their swing they have all lost this forward bend from the hips. This means that it must be very important to actually come out of your posture when hitting a ball. Technically this is referred to as the second axis tilt. Maybe it is time to say something else like, “release the club” or finish in balance but let’s not say things that sound golfy but don’t make sense.
Not only does one come out of posture but it is advisable to not try to stay in ones spine tilt. The reasoning here is that one needs to allow the body to respond to the release that way ground forces can be developed. Here the club is released down and forward with equal and opposite forces from the body seen as back and up. It is these equal and opposite forces that give the appearance of one staying in ones spine tilt but if fact the golfer is not trying to do this for if they do it is done at the expense of ground forces. This is why so many golfers are seen to be standing straight up and down at the finish of there swing like Annika Sorenstam and Bubba Watson.
And to complete the picture one does not need to keep the head down. The only thing this accomplishes is to kill the body rotation through the shot. Throw a ball underhanded, keep your head down and watch how it stops the body rotation; however, by allowing the head to come up naturally one is free to rotate to a finish.
These three elements of posture, spine tilt and head constitute what is called the postural release found in all good ball strikers.
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Welcome! I have been accused of ranting sometimes when giving a golf lesson. Great, then let me take this opportunity to do some ranting right now. I am a golf instructor but, very seldom do I actually get to give a lesson. Instead I spend the majority of my time telling people all the things that they don’t need to be doing to their golf swing. It’s more like the Betty Ford golf detox center. So many people have made this game way more difficult than it truly is. I know I have…. in the past. I’ll give you some examples: But before I do this lets agree that the majority of golfers are rotary with a few exceptions like Colin Montgomery or Davis Love 111. Ok, so here’s one, turn your shoulders and then get the club down the toe line toe up. This is a complete biomechanical contradiction! …
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Junior Golf Swing Requirements Junior golf swing requirements are quite similar to any adult swing in that they both gain momentum from the ground up by using the chain reaction of legs, hips, shoulders and arms through strength, flexibility and balance. Both adult and juniors create coil by getting the upper body wound against the resistance of the lower body through arm swing. But since juniors can be very flexible the focus for them should shift from achieving some degree turn to capturing some degree of coil . This does not mean that they don’t get turned but rather what they need to prioritize in their swing is coil. This is achieved but first squaring the feet and then having the youngster do nothing as they swing the club back. They will still get turned but now they have the ability to create coil. In all golf swings it is all about achieving a balance, that is why one either …
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Golf Swings Downswing Path Golf swings downswing path from the inside can be just as bad as from over the top. What needs to happen is for the path to be determined by each unique golfer’s downswing plane. Any single plane automatically produces an inside out downswing path to impact, where both the face and path are at the target and then an outside in path with the through swing to a finish. This happens even though the base of the incline remains unchanged as it stays aimed at the target. However the clubhead path is always changing on the incline plane. If one takes an incline and then flattens it the base line will remain pointing at the target. But now the path that the club travels on becomes more from the inside coming down and then more left in the through swing. And if one moves the incline …
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Every Club is Toe Weighted Clubhead weighting facilitates fades and draws as all clubs from driver to wedge are toe heavy allowing any club to be released or to held off as dictated by the path. The following picture, with Brian Yamamoto, shows how the toe of the club naturally hangs down when held out in front. A toe weighted club when swung in to out releases quiet easily as it is trying to fly off on a tangent. The only reason it doesn’t do this is from the inward pull of the body turn. This is how one can arrive at hitting a draw, a shot that goes from right to left. With this the ball will go further but at the sacrifice of some amount of control. With the next picture we see Brian demonstrating a perfect draw release. Opposite to this is a shot that is swung more out to in relative to the clubface. This …
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Seeing Vs Reading Putts
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Keep The Club Front And Center Keep the golf club in front of you: a statement of extreme importance in every golf swing. Having the club front and center means that everything is happening between the lines of the right and left shoulders from address to finish. Here the arms are swinging on the line of the shoulders, the elbows are pointing down throughout the motion, the clubshaft is staying between the left and right forearms and the upper body is staying on top of the lower body. The arms swing very nicely on the line of the shoulders as they are attached to the shoulders. Doing this allows the club to swing on plane and since the arms are swinging the legs automatically coordinate. Having the elbows point down throughout the motion keeps the clubface square and on plane, opening to a neutral position as the right arm folds in the backswing and closing to a …
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The World of Long Driving The long drive championship was hosted by eight incredibly athletic finalists, each one capable of hitting drives upwards of four hundred yards or more. Looking at these swings one can see some rather obvious similarities. The first is that most of them are truly beasts or at least slightly different. Not only are they large and or powerful individuals but all used drivers measuring 48 inches, the maximum allowed creating a wide swing base and prodigiously long drives. All had very strong grips especially with the left hand. This makes since as it gives one more clubface control and allows for use of the legs and hips. However Joe Miller, the linebacker of a golfer, had very much an upper body dominated motion and with slow hips was seen to jump as he delivered his release to the ball. Here is a golfer who uses vertical forces when …
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For Every Effect There is a Cause Golf swing cause and effects are born out a most cherished principle in physics that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, called conservation of energy. This fundamental law can be seen in all aspects or our lives from the heat one uses to make a pot of coffee, the gas put in our cars to make them run, the food one eats to keep oneself moving, the orbit that the earth takes around the sun and when one makes a golf swing. The principal of conservation of energy has been validated many time over by scientist, however it was put on very firm ground some 100 years ago from a German mathematician by the name of Emmy Noether, who observed that all conservation laws are based on symmetries of nature. Physical laws can be perfectly symmetrical. Example: the passage of time does not change the laws of nature for if one were to …
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The Benefits of loft and Bounce in the Sand wedge The Sand Wedge has great flexibility as it possesses the two advantages of loft and bounce. Looking at a typical sand wedge it usually possesses 56 degrees of loft but this loft can easily be decreased or increased making the ball run, walk or stop when hitting shots around the green. When hitting these shots the bounce gives this club a resistance to digging while also giving it an ability to glide and slide through the sand with green side bunkers. Turning the club upside down reveals how the back part is higher than the front. This angle from back to front is the bounce and can range, hopefully, from no less than 12 degrees to 22 degrees or more. Several tour grinds can go even higher. When sitting on the ground the club is resting on the back part as it is lower and so when one is …
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A comment was made this week in response to a golfers shot going left of his intended target. It was said that, in his downswing, his body stopped turning, resulting in over active arms, wrapping, closing the face. This implies that the arms are doing more than they are supposed to and that they are at fault here in the shot going left, evil and in need of disciple. Such is NOT the case. The role of the arms in the golf swing is to swing the club and when they do this they close the face in the downswing. Closing the face in the downswing IS their job. It is not their fault if the body stops turning. The body’s job, (lower), is to bring the club forward and to OPEN the face in the downswing. This now becomes a match as the arms close the leg and hips …
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What Starts the Downswing in a Golf Swing
Posted on April 1, 2014 by Warren Raatz in About Golf, Golf Instruction, Newsletter | Comments Off on What Starts the Downswing in a Golf SwingWhat Starts the Downswing in a Golf Swing What starts the downswing in a golf swing is from the golfer doing nothing at all. Nothing starts the downswing. What starts the downswing in a golf swing is a reaction to coil or to a reaction from falls and counter falls from a wide upright backswing, like Bubba Watson. The important thing here is these golfers are not trying to do anything to start their downswing nor or they trying to achieve a look or meet some obligation or requirement. However, with golf shows and golf tips found within magazines, it seems to be trending to start the downswing by deliberately working the left knee towards the target. Many are including an importance of having the weight on the left side at impact demanding a shift so to achieve this all in the name of power. Let’s take a closer look …
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Swing Simulators
Posted on January 26, 2014 by Warren Raatz in About Golf, Golf Instruction, Newsletter, Swing Analysis | No CommentsWinter Practice with Swing Simulators This artical is to bring to light the value of using the indoor swing simulators to effect a rapid change with one's golf swing. We have all witnessed the golfer who takes a perfect practice swing but then for some unseen reason when stepping to the ball displays some parody of what was once a perfect golf swing. How it is that such a small round object is capable of invoking such havoc?! The difference is that without the ball there are no consequences and so one is free to swing the club in a manner that is the most natural way one’s mind and body is meant to swing. Here the motion is relaxed, efficient and with perfect tempo. But when that same golfer is attempting impact they are now hitting a ball that demands results and with results a survival mechanism kicks in, which …
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What it means to release the club Releasing the club in the golf swing is no different than it is in any other sport. Looking at the basketball player the athlete first hinges the right wrist back while cocking and loading the right arm putting everything in position to release to the target. Once the arm has loaded it simply straightens to the target with the wrist going to flat or past. When the pitcher throws the ball the arm is loaded and then straightens from the word go. Both of these players are releasing to the target with neither trying to delay the release. But with the pitcher there is a rotation from the body and because of this there is an appearance of a delay due to an inward pulling from the legs and hips. Now the harder the ball is thrown the faster the body rotates …
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Indoor Simulators and Wedge Play Indoor simulators with wedge play gives all golfers an environment to calibrate distance control by how much one grips down, narrows and opens the stance. Lets begin with a review on wedge play to see how how one can both guarantee success and give versatility by using the four absolutes of pitching. The first is to aim the face at the target as this determines where the ball goes. Next, make sure to point the clubshaft at a center line formed by the belly button and sternum as this maintains the clubface and bounce. (Remember bounce gives this club a resistance to digging.) The arms swing very nicely on the line of the shoulders and finally distance is controlled by how much one grips down narrows and drops either the right or left foot back. Here is how this works: Gripping down on the lever shortens the shot and gives one more control over the club …
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I was listening to a golf instructor on TV the other night talking about what you should do if you are “over the top in your downswing.” He described and then demonstrated this as a condition where one is out and over the plan and therefore swinging left. A solution was then given by sliding the lower body toward the target thus keeping the club from inside and no longer over the top. What about looking at why this golfer is over the top and then fixing that instead. Otherwise aren’t we just replacing one error with another error – sliding. And aren’t we now dealing with the effect rather than the cause. Its important to understand that many golfers go back on one plane and then down on a totally different plane. Some come down below their backswing plane, some come over their backswing plane and some go back …
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Golf Swing Connection
Posted on February 16, 2014 by Warren Raatz in About Golf, Golf Instruction, Newsletter | No CommentsGolf Swing Connection Leads to Power and Direction Connection in the golf swing is a very important ingredient for both power and direction. When connection is looked at in terms of power it is the three connections of grip to club, arms to body and feet to ground and with these any golfer can utilize their individual ground forces of either, linear, rotary or vertical. When looked at in terms of direction it is the ability to keep the club in what is referred to as front and center. Here the golfer has the arms in front of the body, the elbows are down throughout the motion and the clubshaft between the forearms. With this relationship the face is square the club cam be easily swung on plane and the need to catch the arms up to the body or the body up to the arms to impact is eliminated. …
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Things are not always what they appear to be The language of golf needs to change from trying to capture a look, a position or a favorite golfer to describing what is actually happening in the motion. Things happen for a reason in a golf swing and mostly if one gets overly involved in trying to make them happen the motion ceases to be functional. Here are some notable examples: Keep the left arm straight: well it sure seems that way but in reality the left arm is stretched, not straight. The need for this is that at impact the left shoulder is higher than it is at address and so if the left arms is not stretched one is apt to hit the shot thin. The swinging motion of the club itself will keep the left arm straight just as a weight and string does when swung in a circle. Adding to …
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Purpose of the backswing is two fold, to put the club at right angles to the line of the shoulders and to create momentum so that the arms and legs will coordinate. Momentum results from arm swing and as long as the arms swing the arms and legs will automatically coordinate. This means that one can swing slow to slow, medium to medium or fast to fast. Doing this satifys a time IQ that all golfers posses. Because every swing takes a set amount of time, if one swings slow to slow the swing will naturally shorten and if one swings faster back, or more medium to medium the swing will lengthen so as to satisfy one’s time IQ. This is how arm swing controls the legs and reflects how the golf swing is a hard wired program just like walking. The next purpose of the backswing is to keep the club in front …
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X Factor can be viewed 4 ways Golf swing and the X Factor is a term used to describe the difference in turn angle between the shoulders (upper body) and the hips (pelvis), in the backswing. Added to this is the X Factor Stretch which is an increase in the X Factor at the beginning of the downswing produced by the hips starting down before the shoulders. This new revved up version, referred to as downswing loading, intensifies the coil created in the backswing. OK everything here is completely correct and horrible wrong at the same time. From this definition it is saying that good golf is directly proportional to how much differential one can achieve between the upper and lower body. And also from this, every golfer is obligated to start the downswing from the hips, that you as a golfer must actively be involved in doing this or one will suffer the consequence …
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Jordan Spieth’s Practice Swing Jordan Spieth’s practice swing from waist high to waist high captures the golf swing’s core principals of plane, path, clubface and sequence. With little or no effort, he has these four elements in complete control. Here’s why. His practice swing starts with the right arm folding in the backswing and then the left arm folding in the through swing. As he does this back and forth several times the arms are traveling the wrists are hinging. This is arm swing and it is also perfect path. Path is the direction the club travels specifically the sweet spot of the clubface. Referenced to the target line at any one time this can be down the line, in to out, out to in, up or down. In motion the swing goes through all of these directions. As the arms swing back and forth the shoulders are controlling the …
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Source of Forward Shaft Lean Forward shaft lean in golf swing is made possible from the three power connections of grip to club, arms to body and feet to ground, resulting in body turn, and it is this body turn that creates the shaft lead. You don’t do it. This means that the focus in any golf swing should be to capture and maintain these three power connection rather than trying to lean the shaft at impact. If instead if ones focus is on trying to lean the shaft with the arms, it is done at the expense of these all important connections. Here’s why. The first power connection is grip to club and here one grips the club for impact. The faster the hips are the more the clubface and shoulders are opened at impact. This means that a stronger grip is required to maintain a square clubface for impact. This becomes an important power …
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Every Golfer has a Postural Release Ground reaction forces in golf swing, vertical and rotary are seen as coming out of posture, one’s spine tilt and allowing the head to come up to a finish. But all too often advice is given to the contrary on all three accounts and anytime one does try to stay in posture or spine tilt or keep the head down these forces are immediately reduced or completely eliminated. Lets look at each one of these separately so one can see what is really going on starting with the posture. At address posture is created by bending backwards from the knees and forwards from the hips at the same time and same amount. By doing this one lowers down ideally placing the clubshaft at a right angle to the spine and into a balanced athletic position. From this starting position every golfer losses this forward tilt from the torso so as …
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How to get better without trying Instant improvement with the golf swing is easily achieved from a correct set up and swing concept. Set up is the starting position of stance, posture, grip, ball position and aim & alignment. These elements determine how one swings the club and should facilitate and or offset what the body can or cannot do to hit the ball. Swing concepts happen between the two positions of address and finish and are what you do when swinging the club so as to hit the ball flush and square with power and direction. But nearly all of what happens between these two positions is naturally occurring and doesn’t require much involvement on the part of the golfer to make them happen. In fact most of the time if the golfer gets involved in trying to make certain things happen it is usually done at the expense …