Good afternoon from Classic Swing Golf School in Myrtle Beach, SC! I hope you’ll take advantage of this great weather this weekend for some golf instruction, meanwhile enjoy this awesome tip from Ted!
Energy Transfer
I hope everyone has had a great start to the New Year and trust you have all set some clearly defined goals and resolutions for 2011. My focus in the newsletters for the winter months will be to address the body. I will practically eliminate the golf club from the tips for a short period of time in order to key in on several different components of the pivot. Over the next couple of months, the five components of the pivot that we will discuss are the feet, knees, hips, shoulders and head.
The feet support the pivot, the knees allow flexibility, the hips power the pivot, the shoulders give direction to the arms, and the head provides balance. I will begin this month at the top of the body and work down since the head and shoulders work closely together.
A still head is essential to putting, chipping, and pitch shots inside 50 yards of the green. During the full swing, however, the head is not still, but it is steady. The head will rotate as the shoulders tilt during the back and downswing motion. The key for the shoulders is to think about how they tilt and not how they turn.
When right-handed players address the ball, the right hand is lower than the left on the club so the right shoulder should be lower than the left shoulder, and the right ear should be lower than the left ear. See Picture #1 and notice tilt of head at address. (The opposite applies to the left-handed golfer.)
In order to keep the head steady in the backswing and downswing motions, the shoulders must learn to move at right angles, or perpendicular, to the spine. If the spine stayed in a vertical position in the golf swing, then the shoulders would move horizontally. However, the spine is tilted between approximately 30 and 40 degrees during the swing depending on the golf club and body type. Therefore, in order to keep the head steady, the shoulders must feel as if they tilt in both the backswing and downswing motions.
One of my favorite swing thoughts when starting the backswing, from putt to drive, is to feel like the left shoulder tilts down (Picture #2). A key to remember when initiating the downswing is the downward tilt of the right shoulder (Picture #3).
The shoulders provide direction to the arms in the golf swing, as well as keep the head steady through proper tilt. This is extremely important for consistent ball striking.
If you have purchased our instructional DVD, “From Putt to Drive,” pay attention to the one legged stretches for the driver sequence. This stretching and strengthening exercise would be impossible if not for a steady head.
We believe in evaluating every student’s body type, range of motion, skill level and golf goals. The three day curriculum at Classic Swing is beneficial for all skill levels.