Tiger Woods’ Posture Trouble
There has been alot of press these days about what is going on with Tiger’s golf swing. I don’t think Tiger forgot over night how to rotate his arms and club around him, but I have noticed his posture is different from when he was playing well. At the setup, he used to have his knees and neck lined up. This is one of the basics of an athletic position
. To be in an athletic position you need to have an equal amount of knee flex and shoulder bend so you can stay centered. Golf is a sport so we must get into a balanced and ready position at the setup, very similar to a basketball guard position. Currently, Tiger is setting up with his neck quite a bit in front of his knees. This is causing him to lose his balance during the swing toward the ground. This makes his swing plane steepen, which causes pulled shots to the left and fat shots. These are the types of misses he has been experiencing.
What would your golf swing be like if you were on balance disks with lava underneath you? Would you want to lean where you are swinging? Of course not. You would want to counter the force of the swing pulling you toward the ball, so the net result is that you would not fall forward or backward. So what I am saying is that Tiger Woods just needs to practice hitting balls while on balance disks. He wouldn’t be able to setup like he is currently with out falling off the disks. Like Michael Jordan says, “The fundamentals don’t change, our attention to the fundamentals changes.” So Tiger needs to get back to the fundamentals he had with Butch Harmon. Above in the picture, you can see when he hit 71 percent of fairways his knees and neck were in alignment during the swing. With his balance too far forward and his neck too far over his knees he only hit 52 percent of the fairways. You be the judge. Please leave your comments and let me know what you think. Thank you.
The Most Over Looked Fundamental
One of the most over looked Fundamentals is staying in your posture through out your swing. I have had the pleasure of working with 36 handicappers to scratch golfers on this essential to a good golf swing. The most common loss of posture happens in the downswing. Most people misuse their lower body in the downswing by trying to move the lower body in some way as the first move. If you slide laterally you will come out of your posture. What I find interesting is that we innately understand what we are supposed to do with our lower body. If you were going to move some furniture you would definately not grip the furniture and try to move it using your lower body. You would grip the piece of furniture, then resist your lower body and pull with your core. This is how you should make your downswing to stay in posture. On tour they used to talk about “tolling the bell” in the downswing. If you were going to toll a bell you would brace the lower body and pull with your core. This move will keep you in posture as long as you keep your tilt. Keeping your tilt means that you should coil over your right side, and then unrotate from there or turn under as I say. If you were going to skip a stone acrossed water you take a step, plant and then rotate under or in a tilt. The most simplest way to work on this fundamental is to stay sitting with your lower body through out the swing not just on the backswing. One of my students likes to picture flash lights on his knees that he keeps pointing straight ahead through out the swing. He feels this and lets the rotation pull his lower body through. 
Which Means His Head Stays Over His Right Foot, While He Turns Under.
This is a great Example of how the lower body clears left while you turn under. Pay close attention to where his Butt Stays.
Example of Rotating in Your Posture
Additional Thoughts on the Lower body in the Golf Swing
The legs are definitely the power source in the golf swing, but are often misunderstood. The lower body should provide resistance and stability through out the golf swing. Most players believe that they should “fire” their hips or legs to begin their downswing. This is wrong. You need to keep your lower body stable to be able to rotate your upper torso. Jimmy Ballard, in his book “Perfect Connection,” notes a great drill you can use to feel the lower body’s job in the golf swing. First get into your address position where you can have the clubhead against a door jam or something that is solid. What you want to do is apply pressure with the clubhead to the door jam, so your club shaft flexes a bit. This will give you the feeling you need to understand where you get your power and what your lower body should do in your swing. First try to apply pressure to the door jam by sliding or driving your legs and hips, you will find that this move applies absolutely no pressure to the door jam. Then try to resist your lower body, and apply pressure by rotating your upper torso. You will find that you can apply alot more pressure with a stable lower body.
I like to think of the body parts in the golf swing as employees; if you tell them their job they will do it, but if you don’t they won’t. So next time you practice before you make each swing tell your lower body to provide stability and resistance then focus on making your turn. What is interesting about this topic is most people on T.V. mention the lower body’s movement because that is what they see. I’m sure if you asked the pro swinging he would say what it looks like I am doing and what I am thinking about are two different things. I hope this helps you get a better idea of where the power comes from in the golf swing.
Alignment is all Relative
As for Alignment, the simplest thing to consider is that the tangent line to your downswing path will dictate where the ball goes. Jim Furyk uses this concept well. He relies on his downswing path for his conisistency. The ball will always go on the tangent line to the downswing path as long as the clubface is perpendicular to this path at impact. Eventhough, Anthony Kim and Tom Watson appear to be doing something different, they actually keep their swing path tangent to their target line. What is interesting about alignment, is that there have been many successful and famous golfers that have not aligned themselves the same. This makes me believe that the best thing to do is to “Dance with the girl that you brought to the dance.” So if your fading the ball, aim a little left and play the fade.
William Metcalfe, my mentor, was on the range one day in Vegas. The head pro came up to him on the range and asked him if he wanted to play golf. He hesitated at first, and asked why? The head pro repeated himself and said, “Do you want to play golf today or not?” So he replied, “Yes of Course.” The head pro then said he was going to play with Jack Nicklaus. So he went out and played with Jack. When they got out to play, William realized Jack was playing a slice. The funniest thing ever was that William (Bill) on the range was working hard to hit the ball straight, and he went out to play with Jack who was slicing it and playing it. Jack shot 68 and Bill shot 72.
I asked my golf instructor, Wayne Warms, one day if I should try to work the ball or try to hit it straight. He replied, “The golf ball is round, therefore it is meant to be curved.” Ben Hogan slid laterally and blocked it and hooked it, then modified his hand position at the top and block faded it because the clubface was so open and he despised the hook. He then aimed at the left side of the flag and push faded it toward the target. Lee Trevino did the same thing. Kenny Perry push hooks it all the time. Tiger always works it one way or another. The lesson to be learned with alignment is that you must pick a target that gives you the best percentage. Jack Nicklaus used to aim 10ft left of his target and plan on fading it; if he hit it straight he was 10 ft, if he faded it perfectly he would be all over it, and if he over did it he would be 10 ft.
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The moral to all these stories is that you should always play the ball flight you have when you arrive at the course if you want to score well.
Butch Harmon said, ” You should never change your golf swing because you are bored; you shouldn’t change it to swing like someone else, you should only change it if you have a problem with your ball flight.” But, if you don’t like your ball flight. And want to work to have a very neutral swing with a mostly straight ball flight like me and Bill. Then, you want your clubface to be perpendicular to your target line at the setup and your shoulders hips and feet parallel to your target line. The easiest way to align yourself properly is to use a intermediate target to align your clubface then shoulders, hips and knees parallel to the target line. I hope this helps you with alignment.
Parallel to Where Your Ball Will Start
What is the Lower Body's Job in the Golf Swing?
One of the most misunderstood Fundamentals in the golf swing is the job of the Lower Body. The lower body’s job in the golf swing is to provide stability and resistance through out the swing. Butch Harmon says, “Lower body stability allows for upper body mobility.” If you turn the top of a mayonaise jar, but don’t hold the bottom you will never get to the mayo. You need to have resistance on the bottom to turn the top. This means you need your lower body to be stable and resistive the entire time you swing.
Players that lose their lower body resistance on the downswing are not able to rotate their upper torso so they will use their hands and “flip.” If you were going to move a piece of furniture you would not hold on to it and try to move it by turning or moving your hips. You would hold onto it, then brace your lower body, and then turn your upper torso.
To strike a golf ball consistently solid you must keep your lower body stable, flexed, and resistive. Lower body stability directly correlates to how solid you strike a golf ball, so next time you are playing and you are strunggling with contact; work on keeping your lower body flexed as if you are squatting over a chair. You should try to keep this flex the entire time you rotate, because “Early extension of the lower body, limits rotation.” This is another concept that has been passed down to me from Butch Harmon. What it means is if you try to rotate your hips in your downswing, then you will lose your resistance which will lead to less hip rotation, not more.
If Aaron Baddeley had lost his lower body stability his right foot would be off the ground. It is not so you know he is keeping his lower body stable and resistive.
Lower Body Resistance In The Downswing
By trying to keep your lower body position the same while you make your swing, you will be able to maintain your posture much better. This will also help you to create a better coil and better ball contact, which leads to more distance. I hope this helps you to use your lower body better during your golf swing and have more fun when you play.
Ball Position is One of the Most Important Fundamentals
I work with alot of people every day and almost all of them need a refresher on their ball position. This is one of the most important fundamentals, because if the ball is in the wrong place then you must make a compensation during your swing.
I was glad to find out in a clinic this year, that Tiger Woods does ball position the same way I do. The most important thing about ball position is that you must always have your head behind the ball. This is where golf is similar to baseball. If you swing late at a pitch in baseball, you will end up hitting it to right field. If you position your golf ball too far back in your stance then you are begging to hit the ball to right field. There are three ball positions in total. The first ball position is off of your left heel, which is for your Driver and 3 wood. The next ball position is one ball position back from that, which is for your long irons. And the last ball position is one more ball position back, which is for your short irons. If you put three golf balls on the ground next to each other and position the front ball off of your left heel you will notice that your head is behind all three of them. This is what you want.
The reason you want your ball position here is so you do not have to try to hit down on the ball. Since your left hand is holding on to the end of the golf club, this is the radius to your swing. What this means is that where your left arm hangs straight down is where the bottom of the swing arc is. The bottom of the swing arc happens to be in between your Driver ball position and your long iron ball position. This is on purpose so when you make a swing you will catch the irons on the downswing, and you will hit your driver on the upswing. The interesting thing is that if you have the proper ball position you don’t actually have to try to hit down or up on the ball. Just let the swing happen with the ball in the proper place.
Head Behind The ball and Bottom of the Arc
The Infamous Swing Plane. What is it and What does it feel like?
In 1999, the best golfer in the world gave one of the best tips I have ever seen. He said very simply that you should try to swing the club on the angle the shaft is at the address position. Without saying it, Tiger encouraged people to swing the club on plane.
The swing plane is something that is often misunderstood. An easier way to think of the swing plane is to think of it as the slant you should swing on. In baseball we swing on a level plane, and in golf we swing on a slanted plane. This slanted plane is always the angle the club shaft is at the address position. Sam snead used to picture and feel his clubhead traveling around him on a wagon wheel that was on a tilt. Ben Hogan always talked about swinging his clubhead underneath a pane of glass that was resting on his shoulders, which forced him to swing on a slandted plane.
Your balance can have a lot to do with what kind of plane you swing on. If during your swing you happen to feel your weight go toward the balls of your feet/toes then their is a good chance you have swung too steeply or "come over the top." If you weight is too much on your heels you may have swing too much from the inside or "too flat." Most golfers I run into tend to have too much of their weight toward their toes at impact which causes them to have a steep plane of attack. This can sometimes be caused by being too far away from the ball. If you are too far away from the ball, keeping your weight back while you swing will make you miss the ball. So two things that will help your swing plane quickly will be to keep your weight more toward your heels while you swing shallower and to do this you may have to move the ball closer to you.
For Advanced Players: One of the most important things to maintaining a good swing plane is maintaining the angle you have in your left wrist (or the counter balance you are doing with your left wrist) while you rotate. Alot of golfers get flat because they lose the angle in their left wrist they have at the address position. Alot of golfers get too steep by increasing the angle they have in their left wrist at the address position. So if you can keep your arms, wrists and club the same as they are at the setup while you rotate; you should swing more on the angle your club shaft is at the address position or more on the swing plane.
I hope this helps you get a better understanding of what the swing plane is.
How does Baseball/Softball compare to Golf
The biggest difference between golf and baseball/softball is that in golf the ball is not moving. This means that the lower body must remain stable and in place. Any movement laterally with the lower body in either direction will cause big issues with ball contact. Tee ball is probably the most similar to golf, because the ball is not moving. If you were playing tee ball and you slid laterally in front of the ball you would hit it to right field. This is what happens to alot of people in golf as well. They slide laterally and end up pushing and slicing the golf ball.
I have studied Barry Bonds and Tiger Woods in slow motion. There are definitely similar things they both do that make them successful in their sport. The one common denominator is that Tiger woods and barry bonds both keep their arms and club/bat in front of their chest while their chest rotates. Alot of people would refer to this as the triangle. They both maintain the triangle when they are fully coiled up, at impact, and into their finishes. This gives them the widest arc which enables them to generate alot of club/bat speed. The key to this is that they are using their upper torso’s rotation to transport their arms around them, or stay connected.
A great way for you to practice this would be to get a small beach ball and place it between your forearms. Then swing the club around you with out losing the beachball. This will force you to keep your arms in front of your chest, and give you the most powerful swing for both sports.
Where should you be at the top of the golf swing?
I see alot of golfers on a regular basis and most of them have the same problems at the top of the swing. The two most common problems are a lack of right knee flex, and a lack of shoulder turn. These happen to be related, because when you don’t turn you will tilt and tilting causes your right knee to lose its flex.
The best thing you can do to fix both of these problems is to focus on getting your left shoulder over your right leg. If your left shoulder is over your right leg then you have turned and you being over your right leg forces it to stay flexed. I would recommend working on this in slow motion at first, and gradually increasing your speed.
Baseball players get into this loaded position right before they hit. They all get loaded over their right leg before unwinding their power through the ball, golf is no different. If you have any questions about this please feel free to ask, and if you have success with this move I love to hear about it. So next time you are at the range work on getting your left shoulder over your right leg.
The takeaway is the most important part of the swing…Here's How.
In Jimmy Ballard’s book, “Perfect Connection”, there is an old story. The story goes like this, there is an old touring pro changing his shoes in the locker room. He hears the door slam open and two guys come walking in talking about the use of their hands and wrist cock in the golf swing. The old touring pro doesn’t bother to look up to see who these guys were because he knew they were a couple of amateurs. The moral to the story is that pros do not use their hands or wrists in the golf swing. I am an instructor at GolfTEC and have given over 2000 lessons in the last year. I have a +1.9 idex. The number one thing I have to work on with my clients is the takeaway. This part of the golf swing is critical to a repeatable golf swing. The key to this move is using your upper torso/chest rotation to move your arms. You should not try to set the club with your wrists but allow the momentum of the clubhead to do this for you. The beauty of this move is that you will be using your big muscles not your extremities, which means the move is more repeatable and more powerful. The biggest reason people tend to use their extremities instead of their big muscles is because their grip pressure is too tight. If you barely have any tension in your hands you won’t be able to use your hands, but instead you will have to move your arms and the club with your chest. So next time you are going to play, reduce your grip pressure and try to twirl the club around you using your chest almost as if your arms and the club are like an elephants trunk. I hope this helps you get more enjoyment out of the game. If you like this tip, please give me your feedback.