Further. Straighter. Higher.
Consistently.
Consistency with YOUR golf backswing? A SIMPLE TEST.
The ONLY WAY for the club to arrive at the ball is FROM THE INSIDE, with an UNDERARM movement.
At the top of your backswing are your hands set for a tennis over-arm serve? Are they wrapped right around you? Do many right-side joints need to be repositioned?
Click on http://minimalistgolfswingblog.com/golf-videos/ to learn more…..
The MINIMALIST GOLF SWING SYSTEM – what’s new for 2013
If you are a follower of the MGSS, you will be pleased to know that there are now many new ways to IMPROVE YOUR BALL-STRIKING (for the full-swing, pitch/bunker, chip and putt) and reduce your chance for injury.
You will be able to internalize the swing process more efficiently AND learn more about the MGS System and why it works.
Here’s how:
To avail of 2012 rates on any of 1 or 2 the above, please confirm your dates for personal instruction by 12th March 2013.
Online video-based golf instruction and the DIY (do-it-yourself) GOLF ebook are offered through the website www.minimalistgolfswing.com
Naturally, any general golf-swing related questions as well as suggestions for golf-related youtube videos for the future will always be attended to asap, at no cost!
X-Factor aka Thoracic Rotation
Golf’s In-Swing Thoracic Rotation.
(see this video http://minimalistgolfswingblog.com/golf-videos/ for more on Thoracic Rotation – boon or bane)
It all began when someone told us that something called X-Factor could separate the longest from the shortest hitters on Tour. (Was this X-factor relationship one of correlation or causation?). The X-factor required a golfer’s thorax to rotate much more than the pelvis.
The X-Factor in the golf swing has now been expanded to become the Triple X-factor. It now includes the X-Factor Stretch, which means a further separation between the chest and the pelvis starting down, The Hip Rise which means how much higher the lead hip is at impact than at address, and the Head Swivel, which means turning the head target-wards at impact.
The Search for Perfect the X-Factor is leading golfers to spend time (and money) improving their fitness levels so they can rotate the thorax without rotating the hips (practically dividing the spine into two zones – is that even possible?).
X-Factor Stretch might often lead to a forward-swing slide.
Hip Rise is merely the consequence of a raised right side (for the right-handed golfer) during the backswing, which then has to be dropped down in time for impact, and which often includes the Tiger-Woods-like squat during early down-swing. Why would squat-and-rise be a good thing? It’s not, because the body, during the golf swing is meant to make a rotary movement, not an up-and-down one.
And finally, Head Swivel too is simply a compensation for the left side of the body not being able to clear the way from a squat-rise fast enough.
Why not use the Minimalist Golf Swing which offers natural chest-hip separation (each twists to its own limiting ability because, hey, did you know the thorax naturally has much more ability to rotate that the lumbar spine, pelvis and hip?). The Minimalist Golf Swing even has a natural hip-rise, though not so exaggerated as the traditional swing has. (The traditional golf swing’s ‘rise’ could lead to delivering the club to above the ball’s equator). Hip rise should be a consequence of the swing, not a deliberately incorporated movement. As to head swivel. Truly a no-no, as it requires perfect timing to do on time, and not too early. The good-old ‘keep-your-head-down’ was almost on the money, and should have been ‘keep your head and upper-body behind the ball’.
Make THIS your BEST-EVER Golf Year
In the new video with this title (in this blog, in the section ‘golf videos’) are some ‘helpful hints’ on what you might consider doing to make the New Year an exciting one for you – GOLF-wise.
Have posted several videos over the past few weeks which give a good picture of what you could do better, once you get a clearer idea of what needs doing, by watching all of the videos in the sequence described below (you could simply click on the links below; go to the ‘golf videos’ section of this blog where they pop up one after the other; or see them on youtube):
The BODY’s ROLE in the GOLF SWING http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM_DbMyHIo8
Over-the-Top GOLF SWING – Best Definition http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCnDGq_q-7s
Is YOUR golf swing a lot of BS? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UosXcURDg0Y
How to hit your best shot – ALWAYS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5_TF7Mfzk8
Is YOUR GOLF SWING Over-the-Top? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO_uFyhuwyo
Putting – A Pendulum-like Motion. Yes or No? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMFGCENGQD8
Make THIS your BEST-EVER GOLF YEAR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CCdzp0ntp0
Putting – a Pendulum-Like Motion. Yes or No?
What does a pendulum-like motion involve? Is the putting stroke a pendulum-like motion? Should it be one?
Those who make the probably most commonly used putting stroke – by rocking-the-shoulders. Could you have a greater margin for error with a stroke which has a shallower-bottoming-of-the-arc that a pendulum?
The latest video in the golf-videos section of this blog (titled Putting – a pendulum-Like Motion. Yes or No?) explains, and is the lead-in for the soon-to-be-published video titled, “In-Swing Thoracic Rotation – Boon or Bane?“
Hit the Ball Further, Straighter, Higher EVERY TIME
If a ball in not connected below its equator and on it’s inside/near right quadrant (for a right-handed golfer), where CAN it be connected? Above its equator or on it’s outside right quadrant.
Anyway you look at it, that IS an over-the-top – OF THE BALL – impact, and does not give you the best ball-flight you are capable of – maximum distance, straight direction and ideal trajectory!
Two new videos (in the GOLF VIDEOS section of this blog), titled How to Hit YOUR Best Shot – ALWAYS and IS YOUR GOLF SWING Over-the-Top together show body (joint) -positions at the top of the backswing which are the opposite of what is required for correct impact.
When multiple joints require to be repositioned, in sequential order, during the short duration of the downswing, the brain says, “no time, why bother” and simply follows the path of least resistance and drops the club over the top of the ball. hence a ‘bludgeoned’ or ‘smothered’ impact, where the golfer puts in ‘x’ amount of effort, but only a portion of it (cosine of ‘x’) goes into the ball, the rest is wasted in the dirt or air around the ball.
Once certain joints are mis-placed at the top, the golfer – depending on his/her level of skill and experience – makes individual compensatory movements in order to try to re-position upper-body and trail (right) arm joints properly. The re-positioning gives the body two opportunities to deliver the club over-the-top of the ball. You have to be very skilled and have years of practice to avoid both OTT opportunities and deliver the club from a shallow, inside path!
Ironically, the fitness experts tell you you have physical limitations which need correction in order to make a better swing, when in fact all you need is better joint placement and minimal movement during the swing!
Is YOUR golf swing a lot of BS – and you don’t even know it?
A new video in the golf videos section of this blog tells you how your golf swing might have a lot of BS to it, and how you may not even realize it, and finally what to do about it.
The Over-the-Top Golf Swing – BEST DEFINITION
Another (after the recently-posted ROLE OF THE BODY IN THE GOLF SWING) youtube video in the ‘golf videos’ section of this blog.
It’s about what exactly over-the-top (OTT) is, and what that movement does to the ball. BASICALLY it is a movement in which the club does not connect the ball precisely (ie. not below it’s equator an on the inside-right qaudrant – for a right handed golfer).
OTT really is something that you always FEEL as soon as you’ve done it, as the feedback from the hands is not a pure, effortless ‘zing’. If you try to co-relate the feedback when you make such a shot, you’re sure to know from experience, exactly what I mean – no need for any knowledge of old or new or what-have-you Ball Flight Laws!
You’ll always have the feeling that either your right upper-body (for a right-handed golfer), or your right thigh came down and forward before impact. You might also feel it as an awkwardly pushed forward (protracted) right shoulder, which then jams the entire right arm into an awkward position. And that is precisely all that OTT really is, in terms of body positions. It has, ofcourse, been made to sound a bit more sophisticated in the video, simply in order to convey it in precise anatomical terms that cannot be argued with!
The point, once again, being that you cannot just put all the major joints of the body into any old position and expect them to re-route themselves in time for perfect impact (even with 10,000 hours of hard-wiring), because sooner or later they will rebel and tell you that they will NOT co-operate every time or will just break-down in protest of too much misuse.
A new video in the golf videos section (the Body’s Role in the Golf Swing) explains why it is not enough to simply look at club shaft plane or clubface position, not to require a golfer to shift weight or rotate the torso but not the hips.
CAN the body actually place the club in position no matter what?
CAN the body bump and twist and unbump and untwist to order?
See the video to understand the role of the body – not just in golf, but in other sports too.
Coming soon – based on the abovementioned video – Over-the-top the BEST DEFINITION. Why best? Once again because it describes over-the-top in body – not club terms.
To all those who believe in ‘swing the clubhead’ or some version of it, I urge you to beef up on a bit of human anatomy. Anything the club does the body is making it do!
Ball Flight Laws for the SHORT GAME – A TEST of UNDERSTANDING
If both these ‘finish’ positions are for the short game, would you expect identical or different BALL FLIGHTS to result from the two positions below?
In other words, as the main aspect of BALL FLIGHT for the short game is trajectory, would both the finish positions shown here result in the same BALL TRAJECTORY (ie. high vs low shot)?
We know that Ball Flight is governed strictly by the BALL FLIGHT LAWS of how the club arrives at the ball, and connects with the ball. After impact, insist many folks, the ball is gone and what the club does will not matter.
So, to get back to the question above. If you answered both positions WILL result in the same trajectory, then WHICH aspects of the BALL FLIGHT LAWS make it so?
If you answered that both positions will NOT result in the same ball trajectory, then you’re saying FINISH DOES MATTER. So, in that case, which BALL FLIGHT LAW (BFL) governs that?
This is a TRAP for all the so-called Ball Flight experts in India and the USA and everywhere in between. So, am posting this on the LPGA T&CP and the National Golf Academy of India facebook pages as well as on my blog and hope to get MANY RESPONSES to this IMPORTANT CHALLENGE to the BFL!
Further. Straighter. Higher.
Consistently.