CorporateGolfXtra 2023
+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 16 of 16

Thread: right leg

  1. #1
    Par moochie is on a distinguished road moochie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Manotick
    Posts
    314

    right leg

    I have picked up the habit of staightening my right leg on the backswing. I would like to nip this in the bud and ingrain the proper feel. Can anyone suggest some drills to accomplish this?

    All the best in 2006 everyone.

  2. #2
    Gap Wedge golfCOACH is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    CANADA
    Posts
    38
    Mooch - why are you straightening your right leg? I'm sure you found your range of motion much larger with a straight rear leg, but you're losing any energy you're trying to store in your backswing. Your right leg, for right handed golfers, is your anchor for stability. You must maintain the flex in your right knee so you don't sway or bounce (get taller or shorter).
    I bet you started to hit some fat shots? You're straightening your leg, getting taller, and then somehow guessing on how to get back down into your address position. A good drill is simply hit balls with your feet planted on the ground and try to restrict any kind move in your legs. Your lower body should feel frozen. Stay in your posture and address position and just hit balls. Remember this is a drill, so just do as many as you can. The more you do the less likely you will be to completely come out of your posture. And stretch a little more so you can make a turn with your upper body and while keeping your lower body still.... Jim McLean called this the "X factor". Look it up.

  3. #3
    6 Iron Thimble is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    83
    maintain the feel of weight and tightness on the inside of your right leg during the backswing. your hips should feel some of this tightness as well. you'll notice that your swing will feel shorter, but this is because you will have stopped overswinging/overrotating...

  4. #4
    Gap Wedge dlaville is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    35
    Quote Originally Posted by moochie
    I have picked up the habit of staightening my right leg on the backswing. I would like to nip this in the bud and ingrain the proper feel. Can anyone suggest some drills to accomplish this?
    A correct procedure is a flat backstroke shoulder turn, this keeps all backswing motions flat and the right knee bent. If you raise your right shoulder or hip you raise your right side causing your right knee to straighten.

    You may be asking "turn your shoulders back flat?". Well, yes. At address your right shoulder is above the swing plane. To get it back on-plane you have to turn your shoulders back flatly. Once that right shoulder is on-plane you can turn in down on-plane at the ball giving support and guidance to your on-plane hands. If your righ shoulder turns off-plane so goes your hands.

    Your right shoulder starts your club down on plane, your right forearm keeps in on-plane through release and impact.
    David Laville, G.S.E.M.
    The Golfing Machine Authorized Instructor

  5. #5
    Golf Canada Rules Official L4 BC MIST is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    4,163
    Quote Originally Posted by dlaville
    You may be asking "turn your shoulders back flat?". Well, yes. At address your right shoulder is above the swing plane. To get it back on-plane you have to turn your shoulders back flatly. Once that right shoulder is on-plane you can turn in down on-plane at the ball giving support and guidance to your on-plane hands. If your righ shoulder turns off-plane so goes your hands.
    Years ago one instructor suggested to me that as I swing back that I should FEEL as though my shoulders were turning HORIZONTALLY. Video showed that my shoulder plane was perpenducular to my spine, when viewed from down the line. And, this also flattened my too upright swing plane.

    There are varying views on the importance of Jim MacLean's "X" factor. Some say resisting the rotation of the lower body against the turning of the upper, is a source of power. I believe that TGM has 4 Power Accumulators, none of which are in the lower body. Is MacLean's "theory" valid, in any way?

  6. #6
    Gap Wedge golfCOACH is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    CANADA
    Posts
    38
    I used the X factor as a reference for the torque and resistance built up in the backswing. I think MacLean's definition is a little different, and I don't agree with alot of how he explains it in his books/articles, but his general idea has merit.

    I heard someone explain this resistance as the core muscles stretching, causing elastic, or kinetic energy, and this energy releases into power on the downswing. If the right leg straightens, or any other body movement to ease this resistance (or make the backswing easy on the body) the power generated through the muscles stretching is lost.

  7. #7
    Golf Canada Rules Official L4 BC MIST is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    4,163
    Quote Originally Posted by golfCOACH
    I used the X factor as a reference for the torque and resistance built up in the backswing. I think MacLean's definition is a little different, and I don't agree with alot of how he explains it in his books/articles, but his general idea has merit.

    I heard someone explain this resistance as the core muscles stretching, causing elastic, or kinetic energy, and this energy releases into power on the downswing. If the right leg straightens, or any other body movement to ease this resistance (or make the backswing easy on the body) the power generated through the muscles stretching is lost.
    Talk to a chiropractor and ask him how farther the right shoulder joint can move past the right hip and he will likely tell you that it maxes out at about 30 degrees. For Jim MacLean then, to suggest that torquing the right shoulder 45+degrees to the right hip is anatomically impossible. If you check the shots of Maclean in the X-factor article, you will see that the right hip has turned significantly more than what he says you should to achieve the X factor.

    What his X factor does is torque the shoulders at the top. But, if you try to do exactly as he says, that is keep the lower body from moving very much while you turn the shoulders as much as you can, what you will get is BACK PAIN. Call you local chiropractor at 1-800-IT-HURTS. The X factor is of no help.

  8. #8
    Gap Wedge dlaville is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    35
    Quote Originally Posted by BC MIST
    There are varying views on the importance of Jim MacLean's "X" factor. Some say resisting the rotation of the lower body against the turning of the upper, is a source of power. I believe that TGM has 4 Power Accumulators, none of which are in the lower body.
    Correct, all are in the power package which consist of the arms and club. Where the lower body comes in is extending the swing radius all the way to your feet. The further from the club head you start the swing the longer swing radius you have which technically gives greater resistance to impact deceleration.

    Is MacLean's "theory" valid, in any way?
    Being a student of TGM I've learned there is over a million ways to swing the club so I'm not going to say his "X-Factor" theory is invalid. All I know is some people have said if you try his X-Factor be sure to have a good chiropractor.
    David Laville, G.S.E.M.
    The Golfing Machine Authorized Instructor

  9. #9
    Gap Wedge golfCOACH is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    CANADA
    Posts
    38
    That 45 degrees to the hips thing was what through me off with that. What has merit is that the shoulders turn further in comparison to the hips, causing some resistance.

  10. #10
    Golf Canada Rules Official L4 BC MIST is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    4,163
    Quote Originally Posted by golfCOACH
    That 45 degrees to the hips thing was what through me off with that. What has merit is that the shoulders turn further in comparison to the hips, causing some resistance.
    Whether the ratio of the shoulder turn to hip turn is 30* or 45*, I don't believe that the resistance you mention is of any great significance in the creation of club head speed. The idea that the turn differential causes muscle stretching to the point that the lower body "springs" forward, is relatively unimportant in power development or the shifting of the weight.

    As you near the completion of the backswing, your subconscious recognizes that a change in direction will soon take place and simply moves your lower body FIRST towards a stable, balanced position, which then allows the upper body power accumulators to perform their trained task. Thinking about hitting down on the ball, and taking a divot, is all that is necessary to start having the weight shifted. Keeping the right leg taut, prevents the right hip from sliding right, the left shoulder from lowering and all the other problems that this reverse pivot gets you into.

  11. #11
    5 Iron themob is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Newfoundland
    Posts
    91
    Quote Originally Posted by dlaville
    A correct procedure is a flat backstroke shoulder turn, this keeps all backswing motions flat and the right knee bent. If you raise your right shoulder or hip you raise your right side causing your right knee to straighten.
    Do you mean flat ie perpendicular to your spine, or flat, perpendicular to the ground?

  12. #12
    Golf Canada Rules Official L4 BC MIST is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    4,163
    Quote Originally Posted by themob
    Do you mean flat ie perpendicular to your spine, or flat, perpendicular to the ground?
    Years ago a professional wanted his students to turn the shoulders on the backswing with the FEELING that they were turning horizontally. However, this did not happen and the right elbow ended up on the shaft axis plane at the top, and the left arm coinciding with the right shoulder turn plane, which, I gather is a good position in which to be.

  13. #13
    Gap Wedge dlaville is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    35
    Quote Originally Posted by BC MIST
    Years ago a professional wanted his students to turn the shoulders on the backswing with the FEELING that they were turning horizontally. However, this did not happen and the right elbow ended up on the shaft axis plane at the top, and the left arm coinciding with the right shoulder turn plane, which, I gather is a good position in which to be.
    Ditto what BC Mist said. To answer what "themob" asked, try to turn them level with the ground. Your shoulder turn swings the club inside and your raising arms swings it to the top. Together they'll give you a 3 dimensional backswing; up, back & in.
    David Laville, G.S.E.M.
    The Golfing Machine Authorized Instructor

  14. #14
    Golf Canada Rules Official L4 BC MIST is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    4,163
    Quote Originally Posted by dlaville
    Ditto what BC Mist said. To answer what "themob" asked, try to turn them level with the ground. Your shoulder turn swings the club inside and your raising arms swings it to the top. Together they'll give you a 3 dimensional backswing; up, back & in.
    In practice, for a few years now, I have been working on the start of my downsing with a BACK, DOWN and OUT move with my hands/arms. BACK meaning that I push my hands away from me to the right, parallel to the target line. The result of this is that my hands return very quickly to the shaft axis plane, and stay there to impact.

    Does TGM teach this kind of motion, or something similar?

  15. #15
    5 Iron themob is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Newfoundland
    Posts
    91
    But isn't this all physically impossible (i suppose i mean physiologically). If set up with less than an upright posture, you cannot turn completely level without dropping the right shoulder and lifting the left. Isn't it more natural for the shoulders to turn around the body?

    I've never paid much attention to where my shoulders are - i've always been more worried about my right elbow and subsequently my upper right arm.

  16. #16
    Golf Canada Rules Official L4 BC MIST is on a distinguished road
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    4,163
    Quote Originally Posted by themob
    But isn't this all physically impossible (i suppose i mean physiologically). If set up with less than an upright posture, you cannot turn completely level without dropping the right shoulder and lifting the left. Isn't it more natural for the shoulders to turn around the body?

    I've never paid much attention to where my shoulders are - i've always been more worried about my right elbow and subsequently my upper right arm.
    In my post above I mentioned turning with the FEELING of doing so horizontally. Because your spine is tilted at an angle of roughly 30 to 35 degrees, it IS physically impossible to turn horizontally, but turning horizontally is NOT what you want to achieve. Turning this way PREVENTS the left shoulder from turning too far under on the backswing, and nothing good comes from doing this. When the line from shoulder tip to shoulder tip is PERPENDICULAR to your spine angle, when looking down the line, you are in excellent position.

    Having said all of this, while I want my shoulders to be perpendicular to my spine at the top, I don't believe that one should turn the shoulders. Instead, I believe that the shouiders GET turned. Moving the arms/hands package back correctly, back, in and up, will complete the turning of the shoulders. Also, the shoulders turn independent of each other, that is, the left turns more or less than the right, depending on whether you are swinging back or down. Perhaps this is unimportant and something else to consider, but not while you are playing.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

     

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts