Importance of posture

[Robert O' Keeffe]

Been watching a golf programme with the discussion being about the posture. the argument was that approximately 60% of a good swing and ball strike is down to posture. I certainly feel that whenever things go wrong, the answer always lies with this.

[ubizmo]

Re: Importance of posture

Yeah, I ignored posture for a long time. Els really emphasizes it. It's easy to forget posture and then find yourself wondering why you can't hit the ball.

[LowPost42]

Re: Importance of posture

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand enter True Length Technology.

I know, I know. LP, would you please shut up about this new fangled fitting system.

But it just makes too much sense.

What does a proper golf posture do for you? It puts you into your best static athletic position. What does 'best' mean? It means your optimum place to start a dynamic movement from. Biomechanically speaking, there's only one place to do this. Deviate, and you have to 'fight yourself' to stay where you are. It's like being out of balance in your setup. If you set up unbalanced, then you have to spend energy to stay unbalanced (or conversely, spend it to get back into balance - where your body wants to be). This is energy that could otherwise be directed into swinging the club.

So a good golf posture allows you to use more energy for swinging, and less for just trying to keep from falling.

What does TLT have to do with this? Well, TLT contends that in a classic set makeup, long irons are too long, and short irons are too short. It revisits the concept that people hit their 6,7 or 8 irons really well due to loft, and says perhaps people hit them well because they're more the proper length, and they start in their optimum athletic position.

I have now built and played 2 sets of TLT clubs for myself. My scores have not improved, but my ballstriking has. My clubs feel better, I feel more athletic at address (too athletic, maybe? Perhaps it promotes my 'hit' instinct too much?), and I find it easier to swing in all situations. Before, I didn't know better. Now, a 35" wedge just feels way, way too short. I can feel the stress in my lower back, or the extra knee bend needed to play that club. And a 38" 5 iron is almost the same length as my 3 iron. Sadly, I can no longer play rental clubs. I thin short irons (as I stand up to get back to 'athletic'). I'm better with long irons, although I'm a little flat (as I stand up much more).

Once you play TLT, you never go back.

[jamesh]

Re: Importance of posture

Robert it has been a long time, I hope you are well. When I play, and otherwise, my shoulders are rounded. I have been told, that I need to pull them back and have them more square. I don't see how this can be done, since I have to pull them inward inorder to grip the club.


James

[mont86]

Re: Importance of posture

Do they have an answer to develop better posture?

Or are they just stating that posture is 60% of the swing.

[slater170]

Re: Importance of posture

i do try to focus on posture but i would like to see a pro's posture if he had to sit in front of a computer 5 days a week

ive come to learn that not all things are possible

[Robert O' Keeffe]

Re: Importance of posture

James, sounds to me that you are suffering with a shoulder problem because you are probably not setup properly from the bottom up. What I mean is that if you do not have enough bend in the knees, as well as a proper tilt in the back, it will follow that you can not get the shoulders square and they will tend to fall in towards the ball. What i do with setup to ensure good overall posture is as follows:

stand back from the ball and let the left hand fall naturally by your side. Grip the club and apply the right hand. Now, place the clubhead square to the ball and let the hands drop naturally. You should now be the correct distance away from the ball. Next, square the feet, bend the knees, square the shoulders, tilt the back and get the feeling of balance on the balls of your feet. Now take it away with the hands and left shoulder going around a stable spine. If you are in the correct setup you will now know. Best of luck!!

[ubizmo]

Re: Importance of posture

What does TLT have to do with this? Well, TLT contends that in a classic set makeup, long irons are too long, and short irons are too short. It revisits the concept that people hit their 6,7 or 8 irons really well due to loft, and says perhaps people hit them well because they're more the proper length, and they start in their optimum athletic position.

I've never heard of TLT, but when I was on this board before, you mentioned the single-length clubs made by 1irongolf, and I was very interested in them, but couldn't really afford to buy a set. I've searched in vain on ebay for a set. Either almost nobody has them or those who do are so satisfied they're not unloading them on ebay.

Anyway, I gather that TLT isn't quite the same thing, but similar. The variance in club length isn't zero, but is less than the conventional, is that right?

I am still very interested in this, because it makes no sense at all to me that clubs vary in length and lie the way they do. It seems exactly right to me that most golfers hit with a certain club better than any other in the bag, and the reason for that is that the club fits their posture better, and the others force them to adopt a posture that is less than ideal. This, I believe, makes golf unnaturally difficult, since there is no cogent reason why club length should vary as much as it does. Club length has little to do with distance, and even the idea that shorter clubs give a steeper angle of descent on the ball isn't very convincing. The same thing can be done, if necessary, by moving the ball back in the setup a bit.

I think that most golfers could develop far better ball striking ability if all their clubs were of a length that fits their best posture, rather than having to adjust posture for each club. In fact, it seems dead obvious that this should be so.

Where does one go to get TLT irons? Maybe it's time to retire my vintage Powerbilt Fuzzy Zoellers!

Todd

[LowPost42]

Re: Importance of posture

Where does one go to get TLT irons? Maybe it's time to retire my vintage Powerbilt Fuzzy Zoellers!

Todd

One heads to Dan's Custom Golf Shop and finds a TLT clubmaker close by.

The other thing that can happen is that (ironically) I can fit you into your 'baseline' set over the internet with some data and/or pictures/video.

Ideally, of course, you see a TLT fitter, and work the demo clubs.