An image that I’m taking away from watching Paul’s swing is how he sets the club at the top of backswing with his wrists fully hinged. Then all he does to maintain lag is turn his lower body in a circle. Since his arms and hands are turned off, the “cocked” position they’re in at the top doesn’t change until his hands have just about come even with his back leg. It’s centrifugal force acting on the club head that makes it want to fly away from the center of the arc that causes his resistance-free wrists to unhinge at the bottom. His hands are ahead of the ball at impact simply because they’re still trying to catch up with his arm. A moment later when his wrists are fully unhinged, you can draw a line along the club shaft through his straightened back arm that extends through the middle of his abdomen all the way to where his hands had set at the top. At the bottom of that semicircle is where the club head has reached the halfway point of the swing arc, not at the point where it strikes the ball. His power comes because the club head has to travel much farther than his hands to get to the point where they’re in the straight line described above. This means that the club head has to move a whole lot faster than his hands. Turning the lower body faster increases the acceleration of the club head. I’m no physicist, but I would hazard to guess that the increase in club head speed caused by turning the hips faster would be nonlinear. In other words he gains an amount of speed that’s disproportionate to the increase in the speed of his lower body and hands. Paul probably knows about that. Paul? What he does looks so simple. Just keep a stable lower body, take the arms out of it, and turn in a circle. The club head does all the work. You don’t need to help it with the arms and hands. But what I’m finding is the simple is hard. It takes much more effort in the swing to make it look easy.
Exactly, my club is lagged so it whip faster as I turn my body faster (weight on a string). People are just whacking away with the arms. I did this too. It wasn’t until I completely turned them off that I reached my full potential. When you turn them off though there are different feelings associated with this so you have to get used to them. Unfortunately, if the person doesn’t get it in 3 balls they go right back to hitting which locks them up again. Watching the ball is a powerful force that I have to teach people to overcome. I keep saying it is not about the ball it is about the movement. Perfect the movement and you get the ball.
There has been so much to take away from this series, but a big common denominator seems to be what appears to be an effort in these students to purposely shift weight to the front, rather than letting it happen naturally from a proper hip turn. I have always heard from other coaches and players, “shift your weight”, which is of course true, but you don’t want it all the way over before contact. The tips on avoiding an over the top move describe weight shift correctly, but I’m sure too many people don’t fully grasp that the hip turn takes care of it if it’s done right. It seems that too much arm effort is a direct consequence of incorrect weight shift. As Paul says, one flaw leads to others to compensate. This game is hard enough without having the right basics to start with. Great series!
Glad you are getting a lot out of these tips. I was taught to shift as well. This was disastrous to my swing as I had a huge slide (which took me 2 months to fix). If you turn and go to my touch the legs position you had to have shifted. So why think shift? You need to think turn getting to this position. The faster you turn the faster the arms come down. Couple this with loose wrists is how you get power.
The ball is the problem. If you learned as an adult you want to hit. I am not hitting anything. I am coiling and uncoiling letting my arms go along for the ride. The looser the wrists the faster it whips also the less manipulation of the face.
People really need to be working on building a great swing. It is all about movement not the ball.
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8 Responses to “Student Comparisons – Through Swing – Part 2”
March 15, 2017
WillCooperAn image that I’m taking away from watching Paul’s swing is how he sets the club at the top of backswing with his wrists fully hinged. Then all he does to maintain lag is turn his lower body in a circle. Since his arms and hands are turned off, the “cocked” position they’re in at the top doesn’t change until his hands have just about come even with his back leg. It’s centrifugal force acting on the club head that makes it want to fly away from the center of the arc that causes his resistance-free wrists to unhinge at the bottom. His hands are ahead of the ball at impact simply because they’re still trying to catch up with his arm. A moment later when his wrists are fully unhinged, you can draw a line along the club shaft through his straightened back arm that extends through the middle of his abdomen all the way to where his hands had set at the top. At the bottom of that semicircle is where the club head has reached the halfway point of the swing arc, not at the point where it strikes the ball. His power comes because the club head has to travel much farther than his hands to get to the point where they’re in the straight line described above. This means that the club head has to move a whole lot faster than his hands. Turning the lower body faster increases the acceleration of the club head. I’m no physicist, but I would hazard to guess that the increase in club head speed caused by turning the hips faster would be nonlinear. In other words he gains an amount of speed that’s disproportionate to the increase in the speed of his lower body and hands. Paul probably knows about that. Paul? What he does looks so simple. Just keep a stable lower body, take the arms out of it, and turn in a circle. The club head does all the work. You don’t need to help it with the arms and hands. But what I’m finding is the simple is hard. It takes much more effort in the swing to make it look easy.
March 16, 2017
Paul WilsonWill,
Exactly, my club is lagged so it whip faster as I turn my body faster (weight on a string). People are just whacking away with the arms. I did this too. It wasn’t until I completely turned them off that I reached my full potential. When you turn them off though there are different feelings associated with this so you have to get used to them. Unfortunately, if the person doesn’t get it in 3 balls they go right back to hitting which locks them up again. Watching the ball is a powerful force that I have to teach people to overcome. I keep saying it is not about the ball it is about the movement. Perfect the movement and you get the ball.
March 15, 2017
DanielAmishThere has been so much to take away from this series, but a big common denominator seems to be what appears to be an effort in these students to purposely shift weight to the front, rather than letting it happen naturally from a proper hip turn. I have always heard from other coaches and players, “shift your weight”, which is of course true, but you don’t want it all the way over before contact. The tips on avoiding an over the top move describe weight shift correctly, but I’m sure too many people don’t fully grasp that the hip turn takes care of it if it’s done right. It seems that too much arm effort is a direct consequence of incorrect weight shift. As Paul says, one flaw leads to others to compensate. This game is hard enough without having the right basics to start with. Great series!
March 16, 2017
Paul WilsonDaniel,
Glad you are getting a lot out of these tips. I was taught to shift as well. This was disastrous to my swing as I had a huge slide (which took me 2 months to fix). If you turn and go to my touch the legs position you had to have shifted. So why think shift? You need to think turn getting to this position. The faster you turn the faster the arms come down. Couple this with loose wrists is how you get power.
The ball is the problem. If you learned as an adult you want to hit. I am not hitting anything. I am coiling and uncoiling letting my arms go along for the ride. The looser the wrists the faster it whips also the less manipulation of the face.
People really need to be working on building a great swing. It is all about movement not the ball.
March 17, 2017
WillCooperI was taught to shift my weight, also. I’d get to the top of my backswing and then heave over to my forward leg. Disastrous.
March 19, 2017
Paul WilsonWill,
Exactly and people are still being taught to do this.
March 27, 2017
TomGottschalkCompare Dustin Johnson’s swing to yours
March 28, 2017
Paul WilsonTom,
I’ll do more of those next fall/winter when it’s hard for me to get outside to shoot tips. I will add it to the list.