Position #7

IMPACT

There are two swing centers, the upper, about half way down the sternum - the lower in the middle of the pelvis, just behind the navel.  At the top of the swing the two swing centers are stacked, one on top of the other at impact.  At impact the lower swing center has fired out from under the upper.  Keeping the upper swing center on top of the ball while the lower moves out from under is called “covering the ball”.  If the upper swing center is allowed to stack with the lower thru impact, the error is called a “slide”. 

The shoulders are closed to the hips with the lead arm fully extended and the trail elbow slightly bent.  The left wrist is in line with the forearm and slightly bowed towards the target, the right wrist is partially cupped. At impact the lead hip is higher than your trail hip and your pelvis faces just to the right of the target

Through impact the spine undergoes a rebound effect away from the target and as the pelvis releases its angle towards the target; the firing of this pelvic pistol occurs when the tailbone moves up and under the spine.

From this view you can see the weight distribution; predominately on the left foot while the rear foot is on its inside rim allowing the full release of his right thigh bone. Make sure to pose in this position using the mirror until you get it right.

 

PGA Tour star Johnny Vegas demonstrates perfect impact with his lead arm and shaft straight and the back of his lead hand pointing at the target—basically the hands “are” the clubface [see arrows]. Note how his right elbow points at his right hip so that his clubface remains square to the target line. Some of the shaft bend is camera artifact but not all of it – at these speeds the shaft actually flexes toward the target due to the transfer of energy through impact

Number 6

Position 6:

 This is the sixth in a series of key swing positions that allow you to match your swing to a pro swing model to see how it stacks up. The model assumes a right handed golfer who is hitting a straight shot.

The sequence that controls the transference of power is at the halfway point when the lead arm is parallel with the ground. Here the pelvis reaches its maximum rotational velocity by passing its energy to the thorax, then as the thorax (shoulders) picks up the core’s energy; the thorax reaches its own maximum velocity and in turn passes the energy along to the lead arm as shown below. In world class golfers, at the beginning of the downswing the pelvis tips forward toward the ground as the golfer “squats down” and arches the back slightly. This leg posture reminds of horseback riding without the horse.

When you are in a good position in # 6 [lead arm parallel] it is very difficult to screw up impact, so pose in the mirror until you have #6 perfect. Note that Matteson is on the inside rim of his right foot with the heel off the ground indicating that most of his weight has been shifted to his left foot. Both knees are flexed and the clubshaft is below his back shoulder and pointing at the target line, an indication that his swing is on the plane angle it’s supposed to be. 

 

Our model has his pelvis cocked and ready to fire toward the target. His weight is left and his left knee is over the ball of his foot. At impact his left leg will snap straight as will his pelvis-- and that spells power.

Position Number 5

  

The Transition Zone  

The transition occurs at the top of your swing when the club changes directions – where it was moving away from the ball it now stops and begins to arc back toward the ball. It is here that golf’s smallest but most important movement takes place, i.e. the hip switch where pressure is transferred from the back hip to the front hip without actually rotating the hips – basically you simply step to the front leg. If there is one move that distinguishes a good player from a bad one it is this change of pressure applied to the front hip without any premature hip turn.

 2:1

Your goal here is to increase body coil by a lateral bump or shuttle of the hips. Studies of the transition show that to create coil you should rotate your shoulders twice as much as your hips, a ratio known as the X Factor. However the most powerful hitters take advantage of a technique that ratchets up their power factor even more called the Stretch Factor.

The Stretch Factor

Most low handicaps start the bump as the clubhead reaches the end of the backswing arc, but to take advantage of the Stretch Factor like the pros do, you must start your hips moving before you complete your backswing i.e. while the club is still moving up on the backswing arc. It’s just physics not magic but you will think its magic when you see how far the ball goes using the Stretch Factor. It’s the technique used by those tiny bombers on the LPGA Tour – there is one, 4’ 11” (although she claims to be 5’1”) Japanese player, Ai Miyazato that hits it 260 using a driver that looks bigger than she is – such is the power of the stretch factor.

Power is one half of the game [the other is direction] and the transition zone is where the sequencing of power begins. Here is the key concept that escapes the less fortunate observer over-blessed with common sense. You would think that hitting a ball hard is simply a matter of speeding up the club by speeding up your body, but that is only half the story– and you can’t play good golf with only half a story. Not only do you speed up your hips but then they slow down to pass the power on to the shoulders which speed up then slow and so on until at impact the power is dumped into the ball. But we are getting too far ahead of ourselves by talking about impact, a topic that will be reviewed subsequently.  

                                        The X Factor: twice as much shoulder coil as hip coil

                    The Stretch Factor: the coil is now more than 2:1 by virtue of the hip bump.