Left knee in weight shift

[jman100]

Hey everyone, I've been reading this site now for a few months and have found a lot of the threads v interesting. I've only really been trying to get a good golf swing for about 6months and have been happy with my progress. Am now looking forward to taking it out on the course for a spin, however that will work out

Well, to my question, I've found recently from looking at the golf swings of inform golfers, just before they drop their hands from the top of the back swing, there seems to be a hip slide to their front foot and this seems to be begun by a slight kicking forward (widening of the distance between the knees basically) of the front knee. This has been most noticeable in Paul McGinleys revamped swing last year and I think has helped him to become a much better golfer. I've tried this at the driving range with various degrees of success. When I try it and concentrate on keeping the my wrist cock as long as possible before contact the shot can be very good and completely effortless but sometimes I do make fat contact. So, I don't know if I should keep trying to keep this feeling or if I should stop because I am going down the wrong road! Hope ye all have some comments on this and sorry for being so long winded!

[msklar92]

Re: Left knee in weight shift

there is a slight lateral movement of the hips before they rotate. In a recent article (I forget golf or golfdigest) it is the same feeling as closing a car door wtih your hips when you have packages in your arms. This will create some separation of the knees on the downswing. the knees should remain the same distance apart on the backsing.

[jman100]

Re: Left knee in weight shift

Hey msklar92, that image of shutting the car door is a good one. I think the fat shots I am hitting may be the result of me kicking the knee out independantly of bumping my hip or vice a versa. I have been told by my pro that the movement should always start from the feet up. Also, I know you say the knees do not get closer in the back swing but I definitley have a move back with my outside knee, it points inwards a little and when it does this I feel I load up more and get more effortless power.

[shootin4par]

Re: Left knee in weight shift

I work with a guy who has been teaching 20 years, and also studied biomechanics. He has taught me a lot and one thing is that we dont need to think of what happens below the waste, no need for knees, feet, blah blah blah. Only need to think from the hips up. what is done and what is felt is two TOTALLY different things. Load up on the backswing correctly and just think of firing the hips on the downswing. The shift "bump" will happen. You cannot think bump, then turn, that is too much thought in a too short of period. Proper set up and backswing make the downswing much easier. If you dont set up right then no point in even trying to make swing changes, just a bunch of wasted effort. Doing things over the net is difficult, cannot see your swing. But there is basic fundamentals that you must do and no one needs to see your swing to tell you that. How tall are you, where do your V's point, is your backswing flat or upright, and where is the weight on your feet at address, heels or balls. Answer those questions, I will give you my suggestions, and you do with it what you choose.

[jman100]

Re: Left knee in weight shift

Suggestions and comments are all I am looking for shootin4par. I know it is difficult over the net alright. I will try and video myself in next wk and post it to see what you think. I think my set up is pretty good, guy I'm getting lessons from seems to be happy with it anyway. I'm 6', athletic build as I used to play football, v in my left hand points at my right shoulder and v in my right hand points between my head and my right shoulder but nearly parallel, I'm right handed, weight at set up is 60%on balls of my feet, goes to inside ball of my left foot and inside of my right foot on backswing, goes to inside ball of my right foot and outside of my left on swing, I wouldn't consider my back swing either upright or flat. I normally bring my arms up and my shoulder turn does the rest, don't concentrate on anything else in back swing really. Only reason I was asking about the kick out of the left knee is when I concentrate on doing that and swing at a very slow pace, I make very good connection and drive the ball as far as a full fast swing normally goes. 8 iron about 150yds.

[shootin4par]

Re: Left knee in weight shift

set up sounds good except I would put more weight on the heels, that is something he cant SEE. about 2/3 of your weight on your heels, otherwise you wont get proper leg motion. At address you should be able to lift the balls of your feet off the ground without rocking back. besides that everything else sounds good, keep working with your instructor. if your weight is not right then you would have to consciously do things that should have happened naturally. I am 5,9 155 and a smooth 8 for me is 160, driver carry distance is not under 270 on a decent swing. If you looked at my swing you woulld see the bump of the hips, but all I try to do is fire them, like I said, the bump should happen naturally.

[gord962]

Re: Left knee in weight shift

Sounds good as long as you don't start swaying. Remember to start your backswing with your weight a bit on your back foot. On the backswing, the outside of your right hip should be vertically aligned with the outside of your right knee. To shift your weight to your left side, bump your hips towards the target. You will now see the outside of your left hip is vertically aligned with the outside of your left knee.

What you want to do is practice this movement frequently. You don't need to be at the course, range or even with a club to practice. Work all the key movements in slow motion teaching your muscles what order they need to fire in. The key movement that most people have problems is the transition from backswing to downswing. Work on bumping your hips and dropping your elbow. Stop and go back to the top of your backswing, the bump/drop then back to the top and repeat ver and over again. Practice in front of a mirror when you have a chance to ensure that everything is moving as it should. Also, run through this exercise mentally. Just visualizing the movements works a small trigger in your muscles helping to build muscle memory.

[jman100]

Re: Left knee in weight shift

Thanks shootin4par, the weight on the heels I was just starting to find out alright. I found that at the finish of a swing where I put more than 80% into it I was falling forward a little, took a bit to realise that it was at set up was causing this and not the effort of swinging! Good to be told by someone else. I understand what you are saying about things happening naturally but so far the way my swing has developed is as follow; I notice things from other players that I should be doing, straight left elbow, wrist cock (at the very begining etc), just as an example, and when I try to do these things and I can't, I ask myself why, this normally leads to finding a fault either at set up or swing plane etc, which once corrected allows me to do what I couldn't before. Then I move on to the next piece of the puzzle. I think it has worked so far. Like the firing of the hips and finding out that my weight should be further back on my feet.

Thanks for comments Gord, I will try the weight on back foot and knee over the foot. I know what you mean about not having to be at the range. I think 80% of my swing so far has been learned without a ball and majority of that has been without a club too. Instructor told me if you can't do it without a club, you've no chance with it!!

Another question for ye guys, does the way I'm learning above, while working with my pro sound normal (or is there a normal?? lol) and secondly, when learning the swing should you learn to maintain wrist cock for as long as possible in the downswing to gain more power?

Thanks for the help so far.

[gord962]

Re: Left knee in weight shift

I wouldn't worry about trying to holding the wrist cock longer than what comes normal. The single most important part of the golf swing is being square at impact. Ensure that is being done. Once you have mastered everything else, bring it up with your instructor and see what you guys can work on together to increase your lag.