Weight Shift

[dant]

I was watching the Dubai desert Golf classic. And what I notice with a couple of the pros (Casey, Rose & Stenson) is a noticable shift to the right leg before they start there back swing. Wouldn't this promote a slice.
Ois this a good thing as long on the weight during the back swing is placed on the inner part of the leg. It almost looked like they were tilted to the right a little. I thought this was a no no. But it seems to work for them as long as they get there weight back to the front foot and stay behind the ball. Shift your weight to your right (backswing) then to front foot (downswing) but staying behind the ball with your head, maintain your spine angle and stay on plane. I really don't know why more of us aren't playing on the tour

[rotator]

Re: Weight Shift

Hi dant,

I don't know if you are talking about the preset tilt of the stance before starting the backswing, or the shifting of the upper body noticeably while taking the backswing.

There are different ways players make their swings.

What I do is very common, which is to preset a backward spine tilt. While taking my stance, I make the forward spine tilt, and also the backward spine tilt. This is shown in the following video.

http://www.thegolfchannel.com/core.a...0&select2=4142

It may not be the best illustration, as I accessed it quickly, but it will show this tilt anyways. BTW, the instructor, Rick Martino, I believe is still the director of the instructional division of the PGA (or whatever the exact title is), the position he held for many years. As he implies, because your bottom hand is lower on the club, the tilt is a natural position. It also allows your rear elbow to bent slightly and rest relaxed in front of the hip, so when you turn your shoulders and arms, the elbow folds and points down. Because the upper body is already positioned on that tilt, as you continue to turn, the weight is shifted to the back leg (as you say braced against the instep of that foot). I really don't have to think about shifting the weight, it happens as I make my turn. I don't know if that classifies me as a rotary golfer, because I have not really studied the premises of that teaching.

There are other players who make a bold move with their upper bodies to get behind the ball. As you mention, I believe Rose does it, but off hand without looking at videos, I can't vouch for the others. Montgomerie really shifts, or slides.

Then, you have the stack and tilters, who do not move their weights off the front.

Regardless of the tilt or shift, as you say, "as long as they get there weight back to the front foot and stay behind the ball. Shift your weight to your right (backswing) then to front foot (downswing) but staying behind the ball with your head, maintain your spine angle and stay on plane.". Regarding keeping your head behind the ball, you can do too much of this. The top golfers have their heads (and upper body) closer to more over the ball (i.e. cover the ball) than recreational golfers. I assume this is their superior abilty to shift the whole body forward.

Ted

[BrianW]

Re: Weight Shift

I like to set my weight or spine tilt different for different clubs or shots. I like my sternum and weight to be tilting back with my driver to promote contact on the upswing, slightly back with longer clubs foe a shallower angle of attack, upright with mid irons and leaning forward with wedges to promote a steeper downswing. I also like to make the first move of my downswing a slight transferring of weight to the lead leg by moving my lead knee over my lead foot. With wedges I preset my weight slightly forward at address.

[rotator]

Re: Weight Shift

golfingguy28,

I don't know if Rick Martino can hit 300 yards, only because of his age now. Maybe he can, he's a bull of a man.

Here's some other videos of his on different subjects, also from The Golf Channel. He's written a lot of articles at the PGA website, as well, but I always find the pictures are always more easier to learn from, as long as the accopanying commentary tells you what to watch out for.

http://www.thegolfchannel.com/core.a...3100&select=12

Ted

[rotator]

Re: Weight Shift

In regard to my comment on the superior ability of elite golfers to shift their weight forward, there was an article a long ways back in which the results of testing done to measure the swings of top golfers and recreational golfers. I think it was Golf Digest. There were pictures and measurements.

I wish I had access to it. Perhaps someone has it and can post it.

One of the tests was how far the weight (sternum??) was behind the ball on the backswing. Whether you preset the tilt or you shifted, the weight will be behind the ball. The point is that a lot of casual golfers did not get the weight back.

Another result was how much the weight and the upper body got forward at impact. The top golfers were able to get forward so their upper body "covered the ball", still the head was "behind". Casual golfers tended to hang back.

Yet another result was the measurement of the loss of angles in the arms and wrists.

There were more results, likely amount of shoulder turn, etc.

It was really interesting.

Oh, I had a picture in my mind when golfingguy28 mentioned how strong Martino's swing looked. Is that swing not exactly what Camillo Villegas's swing is all about. The setting of the front leg into the ground.

Ted

[rotator]

Re: Weight Shift

Better video of Camillo swing.

[BrianW]

Re: Weight Shift

Better video of Camillo swing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKgHrJ3XCIY

Sets his sternum back and keeps it there, lead knee over lead foot in downswing. I like it.

[rotator]

Re: Weight Shift

Brian,

I like his front leg action as well. It's solidly planted and taking the weight, without bending and collapsing ahead of him.

It's a driver swing so ball position is naturally ahead of his sternum, and the swing is more level. If he is hitting an iron, ball will be back in the stance more, and as you said in the previous post, with a more vertical swing his sternum would be closer over the ball.

Ted

[Timothy Slaught]

Re: Weight Shift

Hello Dant:

A lot of pros do have a slight little shift onto the back leg to initiate their backswings. It is a slight lateral shift of the hips by no more than an inch or two at most to get weight moving onto the back leg. The important thing is that the hips do not continue to slide over the back foot which would amount to a sway. Instead, after that intial lateral shift, the back hip begins it's turn. This move basically takes the static adress position and puts some motion into the swing by the large muscle groups particularly in the mid and lower half of the body. It is vital to keep the back leg flexed and close to it's address position. No major movement of that back knee laterally.

There is a very nice instructional book called "Swing Like A Pro" that took composite swing profiles of some fifty proffesional golfers and found the similiar traits that they all share. In the section on the backswing, this description of the slight lateral hip move is described very nicely as well as it's benefits. I believe the authors call it the Initial weight shift.

This move is very hard to see in real time but in slow motion it is descernable but again, a very subtle move. There is a series of clips on youtube that has swing sequences of about ten pros including Tiger Woods, Darren Clark, Davis Love, Paddy Harrington etc... individualy but all off the same tee at the same tournament and all at the same camera angle. In these clips, you can see this shift of weight backward away from the ball using the hips as you described in your initial post. For some of the players it is more noticable than others but it is definitely there. In some cases this action is actually a reaction to a slight foward press of the hips to start the swing. In either case, the purpose is to get those large muscles moving along with the faster hand action.

There is also a clip of the late great Bobby Jones describing his hip action to start the golf swing on youtube that is very good. Old footage but very good. He shares a similar philosophy of the foward press of the hips and then that slight move away into the backswing. you can see he is really starting the swing with the hips and legs and the hands and club move away as a reaction to this. This is a very different move from most high handicaps that start the backswing just with hands and arms while the lower body stays very still. The problem with this is that the feet legs and hips get into action too late and certainly out of sequence.

Thanks and good golfing,
Tim S.