Weight Shift In The Golf Swing
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Introduction:
I have just completed my second swing video lesson on the topic of weight shift in the golf swing. Because the swing video lesson lasts approximately 60 minutes, it is too large for my personal website. I have therefore posted the swing video on U-tube [1] in 7 separate segments - because U-tube doesn't allow a posted video to last longer than 10 minutes. After viewing the first 10 minute segment, you should proceed to read the 2nd segment, and subsequently complete the viewing process by viewing all 7 segments in the correct sequence. I have not compressed the swing video, and I suspect that viewers will need a high speed internet connection to view the video segments without frequent interruptions (due to a slow internet connection).I have presented the swing video lesson unedited - because I do not presently have any video editing skills to edit the completed video lesson. My video production is obviously very primitive because I used a $300 camcorder indoors in a friend's family room. I also used the microphone that is inbuilt into the camcorder and the sound is therefore very hollow, resonant and at times poorly audible. Because I do not know how to edit video material, this video lesson is totally unedited. My personal opinions are not arbitrary. They are the result of my substantially increased knowledge re: golf biomechanics. When I started this website 1 year ago, I summarised the golf instructional material of many famous golf instructors, and I presented the information in chapter format. Since then, I have used my background knowledge of anatomy (as an ex-physician) to bettter understand the biomechanics of the golf swing in a way that is far more comprehensive than the ideas/opinions expressed in standard golf instructional books. That additional knowledge has led me to come up with new ideas about the way the human body should optimally move during the golf swing. In this video lesson, I will be presenting this new material regarding the correct backswing and dowswing movements, and that new material cannot be found in my backswing and downswing chapters. This new material on the biomechanics of body movements during the backswing/downswing should be very informative for beginner golfers who are trying to learn how to move their body/arms/hands in space during the golf swing. My target audience, as always, is beginner golfers, and I hope that they will conclude, after viewing my 60 minute video lesson, that it was a worthwhile experience.
This swing video lesson complements my written paper on optimal weight in the full golf swing
I am providing a list of the inadvertent statement-errors, and missing points, that I made during that video lesson.
Segment 1
No major errors.
At 1:27 minutes into the video segment, I used the word "wall" when I was really referring to the "ceiling".
At 5:51 minutes into the video segment, I stated that I was going to compare my swing methodology to the Bennett/Plummer swing methodology. Although I refer to "my" swing methodology, it must be understood that it merely represents the traditional centralised backswing used by the majority of PGA tour golfers, and it is not some "swing methodology" that I have invented.
At 8:04 minutes into the video segment I discuss the position of the upper swing center as being the fulcrum of the pendular arm/clubshaft swing arc. This issue is actually much more complicated because one could also rationally argue that the left shoulder socket is the fulcrum of the pendular left arm swing arc. However, it is practically useful to think of the upper swing center as being the fulcrum of the clubshaft swingarc, and that the clubshaft is held at the end of the conjoined hand unit that is at the peripheral end of the two upper limbs.
Segment 2
At 1:52 minutes into this video segment I state that one pivots around a vertical axis that is roughly in line with the right armpit during the backswing. The true axis of rotation of the right pelvis in the backswing is around a vertical axis drawn through the right femoral head, which is approximately vertically in line with the right armpit.
At 8:15 minutes into this video segment, I describe how the upper swing center moves to the right during the backswing pivot action and how it ends up vertically above a point on the ground that is just inside the right knee/foot. This is not precisely accurate, because the upper swing center is deeper within the body structure, and not along the front surface of the chest. It is closer to the centre of the upper torso (at the level of the shoulders sockets) and just in front of the uper thoracic vertebra. The "true" upper swing center is therefore closer to the central axis than the upper swing center button that is pasted on my shirt.
Segment 3
At 1:06 minutes into this video segment I state that the lumbar spine extends from the lower swing center level to the level of the xiphoid bone (which is at the lower end of the sternum). That's not precisely accurate. The xiphoid bone is at a level that is approximately in line with the 10th-12th thoracic vertebra, and the first lumbar vertebra is roughly at a level that is midway between the navel and the xiphoid bone.
Segment 4
At 0.25 minutes into the video segment I stated that the right thigh is angled to the right, when I meant to say that it is angled to the left.
Segment 6
At 0.37 minutes into this video segment I stated that Bennett/Plummer recommend that one should have the "feeling" of squashing a soda pop can under the left foot during the backswing. That's incorrect! The "squashing a soda pop can" mental image introduced by Bennett/Plummer was described as happening during the late downswing as one thrusts the hips laterally towards the target.
At 4:10 minutes into this video segment, I imply that Bennett/Plummer want to get the upper swing center behind the ball at impact. That's incorrect! In their article, Bennett/Plummer state that they want the upper swing center to be ahead of the ball at impact, and they want the spine to reverse its spinal tilt after impact.
However, it is interesting to see that Aaaron Baddeley - poster-child for the S&T swing- reverses his spinal tilt prior to impact when hitting a driver.
Aaron Baddeley - from a swing video at pgatour.com
Image 1 shows Badds at the end-backswing position. Note that he has a straightened right leg and that is pushing his pelvis leftwards so that he has more weight on the left leg at the end-backswing position. Note that he is leaning his upper torso to the left so that his head, upper swing center and lower swing center are centralised between his feet - vertically stacked over a point that is midway between the feet, but behind the ball. Image 2 shows the early downswing - one can see that he has thrust his pelvis left-laterally and that he has reversed his spinal tilt. Image 3 shows the impact position - note the secondary axis tilt due to the fact that his lower swing center has moved forward while the upper swing center is kept back.At 4:27 minutes into this video segment, I state that Bennett/Plummer recommend thrusting the left buttock muscles under the lower spine during the hip thrusting maneuver. That's a statement-error. I meant to state right buttock muscles.
Jeff Mann.
January 2008.
Commentary, controversy and criticism:Insightful comments from viewers will be posted in this section.
References:
1. Weight Shift In The Golf Swing.
You can click on the first video segment. After viewing the first 10 minute segment, click on the "More from: Imperfect Golfer" at U-tube, and you will see all my videos listed there. You can then click on the rest of the segments and view them in sequence.
Segment 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku1L4EieJ5M
Segment 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZmLEJnMK7E
Segment 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b293B4Z6mks
Segment 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuLjUOtHYFs
Segment 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUxEIPlk9sw
Segment 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5cfmR6kd-I
Segment 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpgrx-La6nU
