Anatomy of new Golf Swing Trends from US Open 2014, Pinehurst No. 2

Anatomy of new Golf Swing Trends from US Open 2014, Pinehurst No. 2

The new trends that all the pros seem to be following are:

1. Full swing: a big spine forward flexion and a steep lead shoulder tilt during backswing and an equally steep shoulder tilt during downswing.

The result? A huge, deep divot.(see Martin Kaymer below)

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Effect of ball-striking efficiency – with such a deep divot, a lot of the intended power goes into the ground – a simple vector summation of forces drawing will show that. Its great when the players are young and supremely athletic and they have so much force production to spare that they do not even realize that they could get much more distance with a shallower divot.

However, the main problem is direction. The ‘upright pendulum’ which seems to be the latest version of the golf swing,  means that there is a very narrow margin within which direction can be good. Also, as the club rides inside such a deep divot, it could be prone to being twisted in the hands, as it digs through a large quantity of our planet!

All this excessive effort for not enough result probably comes from the new concept of making a squat-jump type move during the downswing to enhance ground-reaction-force (GRF). As the lead upper body ‘jumps up’, it apparently allows the golfer to decelerate correctly. No-one, however, has quantified how much ‘jumping-up’ to create GRF is optimal. The Minimalist Golf Swing creates ‘just enough’ GRF, by not requiring any up-and-down motion, but simply from the natural straightening of the trail arm! Does the full-swing need, and can it afford, all this excessive movement?

2. Chipping: What a big back-and-through motion (see Rory McIlroy below). Why are chip shots involving so much shoulder rock, ever since some famous pro told the world ‘The dog must wag the tail”. All it needs is an arms back-and-through movement, a much lower clubhead trajectory in both directions, and a ball which has the bare minimum air-time for it to just carry the lip of the green, then roll, like a putt (the simplest, least error-prone stroke) the rest of the way home. With a lower trajectory, the extra joint-movements of the shoulders gets reduced, and intentional shoulder-movement is a much more complex movement than that of just the arms.

Does the chip shot need, and can it afford, all this excessive movement? [And, on that subject, did Martin Kaymer win because he always used his putter from off the green, making a much simpler stroke?]

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3. Putting: Open shoulders and a right (trail)-arm-back-and-through movement (see Martin Kaymer below). This makes both elbows bend to differing amounts during back-and-through swings and differing amounts of shoulder rotation too, resulting in inconsistency. Does the putting stroke need, and can it afford, all this movement?

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Consider the human joints, folks, they are sadly (so far) not designed to move in all directions with equal ease, and require everything that’s done to them during the backswing to be un-done – in correct sequence – in the fraction of a second that the downswing lasts!

(All pics from NBC Sports live streaming)

Review – Tom Watson’s Lessons of a Lifetime – an Anatomical Perspective

A review of Tom Watson’s newly released ‘Lessons of a Lifetime’ DVD series.

See the new section ‘reviews’ in this blog to read all about these 3 DVDs. You’ll see the collective wisdom of the best players and teachers of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Also discussed is how some of the instruction imparted is quite scientific, while some is not, especially from an anatomical perspective.

 

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Why does science matter? Why does anatomy matter?

The answer to the first question is that this IS the 21st Century – why should we settle for subjective, when advances in research have made it possible to be extremely objective about everything we do during the golf swing? When every other sport is basing their movements more and more on what research says?

The answer to the second is that no matter whether we’re old or young, large or small, male or female, we all have the same skeletal structure, the same muscles and ligaments and joints and they are not capable, as we often believe them to be, of movement in any old direction – regardless of how flexible and strong our muscles are!

Tom Watson with his closest ’employees’

Tom Watson with his closest ’employees’ – copy-pasted from the 2013 PGA Seniors’ Championship-

[To be followed by a review of “Tom Watson Lessons of a Lifetime II – new advanced lessons – 69 of them!]

Watch out for a new section on this blog – ‘reviews’, and add your comments too…

Did you know Tom Watson might not be as kind as he should be to his workers and not even know it? Tom Watson? One of golf’s last remaining gentlemen? Impossible you say. Well read on to see what his MOST INTIMATE workers say about him… (pics from 2014 Regions’ Tradition Championship)

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The “workers'” complaints:

Worker L5 to C1 and C2: “Hey you two love-birds up there. Stop moving around so much. It hurts. Remember, even though I’m way down here I’m the biggest one of all of you. I’ll just stop behaving if you mess with me.”

C2 (the lower one of the two ‘lovebirds’): “Hey big bro L5. Don’t be mad at me. I’m as stuck as you are. What can I do if C1 moves left, then right, then down…..”

T1 to T12: “Quiet you complainers…”

L1, L2, L3 and L4: “All you Ts. Shut up. You have those big ribs to protect you, how can you feel our pain…. OUCH! UGH! CRASH. Tom just rammed down hard on us for stupid old ‘impact’. L5, man up down there and please push down hard on that lazy guy Mr Sacrum and on Ms. Femur- she has lots of room to move about any which way. Let her feel our pain too.”

Sly old Ms Right Femur: Hey guys, don’t think you can pull the wool (I mean cartilage) over my eyes (my acetabulum, that is). I’ll just push at grumpy old Mr Right Knee. He can handle it. Here I go….. down, down, down…

Mr Right Knee: “You folks up there are so mean. I’m old and have taken a beating from all of you all my life. Stop bothering me why can’t you bother those underused forearm dudes and that silly elbow, why me all the…….OOOH, UGH, CRUNCH, AAARGH. Hey my twin bro, Left. How’re you faring?

Mr. (gossipy) Left Knee: “I did tell you Tom fired my upstairs neighbor Left Hip and REPLACED him, didn’t I? Poor guy, he’d worked so hard and been so misused for so long and then WHAM, just like that, he’s replaced. I tell you, it’s the fault of my downstairs neighbor, that little flibbertigibbet, pass-the-buck Miss Left Ankle. She never pulls her weight. She won’t even stay grounded for Tom’s backswing – but here’s a secret – boy do we all push down on her together at the start of the downswing. But Bro, I’m more worried about you. Our union is better than yours. The secret plan is to push all responsibility onto you guys for the downswing – I think they’re calling it the COUP OF THE DOWNSWING-REVERSE-WEIGHT-SHIFT. So, be careful, I hurt for you.

Mrs Right Elbow: “Right Knee. You’re just a complainer. I’m much smaller and far more sensitive than you’ll ever be, so mind your own busi…….. EEEEOWWWW.”

SILENCE.

 

 

Anatomy of the Golf Swing – Why it Matters

Anatomy of the Golf Swing – Why it Matters

What does ‘anatomy of the golf swing’ mean, and why does it matter?

Typically an ‘anatomy of the golf swing’ article or book will merely talk of which muscles are active at what stage of the golf swing. Whose golf swing? A ‘generally accepted as correct’ one.

The preceding series of articles in this blog, based on video from the Champions’ Tour event – The Regions Tradition – are not focused so much on which muscles are used at which stage of the swing, but basically on how the major joints (spine, shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist, hip, knee, ankle) are being moved.

Each joint has a different purpose, and thus different design, in order to move its limb in the manner of the daily needs of our early ancestors. Each joint can move in one, two or three of three different planes or directions – forwards/backwards, sideways and with a rotary move on a horizontal plane.

For instance, the elbow was designed to straighten or bend in the forward direction, to catch or hold onto something. The shoulder was designed to have a vast range of motion in order to move the entire arm and position the hand for everything from a boxing punch to delicate embroidery. Basically, every joint cannot be put in any-old position, while still retaining its efficiency of movement.

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For instance, suppose you had to eat soup out of a bowl to your side, while keeping the entire arm in line with the body, never in front of it. Can it be done? Yes, the shoulder will re-position the elbow (and thus the forearm and hand) to allow the movement, but will have to make one extra movement to do so (rotated sideways or ‘externally rotated’ first), while the forearm will have to have both its bones parallel to one another (supine) and the wrist will have to flex much more than if one were eating out of a bowl in front of oneself. Thus the entire upper-arm kinetic chain (comprising the shoulder, elbow, wrist and forearm) has made several compensatory moves to make up for the awkward angle of the entire movement.

The same thing happens with the typically used golf swing. With the obsession for club positions and global body movements (involving multiple joints), no one seems to be assessing each joint independently, (which is, in fact, the basis of any global movement), just because it seems to be one smooth-flowing, single motion.

In the preceding series of ‘anatomy of his swing’ posts, each golfer has been assessed for how many of his joints are moved into awkward positions which he will waste time undoing the awkwardness of, and which really are not essential to the main movements of the golf swing – mainly horizontal plane rotation of the body (picture a merry-go-round), along with mainly vertical plane rotation of the body (more like a ferris wheel). Anytime the body attempts a ‘merry-wheel’ or a ‘ferris-go-round’, confusion and inefficiency (and thus greater potential for injury) result!

Colin Montgomery 2014 – The Anatomy of his Full Swing

See Colin Montgomery’s Full Swing from an Anatomical Perspective

This is a swing which moves all of the major joints of the body during the backswing. It also goes from being wide at takeaway to fairly narrow at the top, so that as the right side is dropping down, there is very little time during which all the bent and twisted joints can unbend and un-twist.

That’s not to say that a golfer with such a swing cannot succeed. As this is being typed, Colin Montgomery has had 3 phenomenal rounds to lead the PGA Seniors’ 2014 Championship at the end of day 3, but good golf for him means making sure his full swing is always timed well and never rushed, and hoping to sink a few long putts.

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See a 2014 video of this atypical golf swing:
<a href="http://youtu.be/Z2jeNl_LZsQ" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/Z2jeNl_LZsQ</a>

Colin Montgomery 2014 – the Anatomy of his Putting Stroke

Colin MOntgomery’s PUTT STROKE

Every stroke – from full-swing to putt – uses muscle and thus joint movement to propel the club. Therefore, in all cases is assessing the anatomy of the stroke vital.

That is also why the Minimalist Golf Swing SYSTEM is a system designed to go from understanding desired ball-movement; to planning required body positions at club-ball contact; and finally to positioning the body, during address and the top, so that all joints can easily line up for IDEAL downswing sequences.

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Study Colin Momtgomery’s putting stroke through this video:

Tom Kite swing 2014 – An Anatomical Perspective

Tom Kite’s Golf Swing from an an Anatomical Perspective

The whole world assesses golf swings based on what the club is doing (swing plane, shaft across or laid off, face open or closed) at the top and at impact. Does no one realize the muscles move the joints which cause the club to move?

Some body movement is considered – such as weight shift , rotation and wrist-release. This type of body movement, however, is ‘global movement’, which means that several joints act to create is.

The forces which produce power and swing speed are assessed as well, and once again involve global movement.

Finally, any golfer wishing to improve ball-striking is given a haphazard mixture of the above elements, and told to improve his/her swing to match particular elements of the swings of the best golfers in the world (it is always presumed they do it perfectly). On the other hand, ironically, golfers are treated as individuals, and many teachers proudly claim, “I teach the golfer not the golf swing” meaning that he tailor-makes solutions for the individual golfer. A very exciting concept indeed for a society which is highly individualistic.

However, all of the above concepts lack something fundamental. They fail to realize that, male or female, short or tall, old or young, and whatever race, creed or culture, we all have one basic thing in common, which single-handedly determines all our movement (which golf certainly is a type of):
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So, let’s assess Tom Kite’s swing from a purely anatomical perspective, one joint at a time, to see how efficient it is, how efficient it could become and what potential for injury is has or has already had.

Wes Short Jr. – The Anatomy of his Golf Swing

If you look at Wes Short Jr.’s golf swing from a rear view, you can see that he has a not-too-complex, neat backswing, and the sound of his impact is strong and pure. This prompt’s a look at his player-profile and statistics, which reveal that he is barely a Senior, and only began playing on the Champions Tour in 2013.

As a golfer ages, any complex top-of-backswing positions (that is positions in which many trail-arm joints have been moved in various planes of motion), become more difficult to undo. Why? Because human muscle looses strength and thus speed and cannot perform many movements altogether. Nerve conduction velocity too begins to slow, so that the brain cannot send messages as to what to do fast enough to working muscles.

John Inman – the Anatomy of his Golf Swing

John Inman one of the leaders going into round 4 of the Regions Tradition Championship, 2014.

By amazing co-incidence, the nice-guys who permitted me to follow them as they practiced, prior to the start of the event, turned out to have the best scores – John Inman, Wes Short Jr. and John Cook (videos of the latter two to follow).

Even though they’re leading this week, what could they do to maximize their potential to do so every week? Improve the positions their joints are in during set-up and backswing, in order to get a downswing that is restriction-free and generates all the forces and club-positions of ideal impact WITHOUT VOLITION.

Hal Sutton’s chip shot – The Anatomy of his Swing

The CHIP SHOT can be assessed for anatomical positions too

Ever since someone said ‘the dog must wag the tail, not the tail the dog’ people have used a lot of body motion for that very basic shot – the chip shot.

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Sure, the dog must wag the tail, but does the entire dog need to move for the mere purpose of say flicking a tiny fly off the end of its tail?

The more movement that is made for any shot (especially dog-like movement, that is, whole-body movement), from putt to full-swing, the less likely the golfer will be to deliver the club back to the exact same spot, time after time. Even the pros. They might time it better, but under pressure, timing flies out the window.

Also, any awkwardly positioned joints (ie joints which are unable to straighten out in the plane – direction – of their design), will add to the inconsistency. And the trail elbow is practically the ‘final frontier’. If it is forced to straighten out at an awkward angle, it cannot do so correctly all the time.