hi there,

I have been recently sliding my hips forward and therfore pushing the ball directly right.

I have now fixed this problem, but my swing feels very unfomforable, and cramped. Is this normal becuase I dont think it is? I feel that im still not getting the best out of my swing.

How forward can my hips move forward before hitting the ball right? And what should I be doing to uncramp myself?

hi there,

And what should I be doing to uncramp myself?

Take a big dump.

Any parallel hip slide should be at most 1” in the old money before the rotation of the platform gets going. It is to give you more room so you should feel less cramped. You would feel cramped if the entire torso has slid forward as now the low point of your arc has changed and you will have to ‘dump’ to hit the ball with trailing hands which will still have the face open.

I am trying to reduce the slide in my hips at the moment as well, as I am also occasionally producing pushes to the right.

I watched a pro at Glenelg on Boxing Day, he didn’t look cramped, but he had no slide at all in the first 40-50% of his swing motion.

I tried to replicate this, and had some success. What I did notice was that in order to reduce this slide, it’s very important to have a straight spine around which you can rotate. If your setup over the ball is wrong without a straight back, you’re likely to get more slide into your swing.

NB: I am nothing even remotely approaching ‘guru’ or ‘coach’ or anything like that, this is just purely based on observation, so please correct me where necessary guru :)

One thing to keep in mind is that sliding and/or swaying is often the result of a lack of flexibility or stability in the lower body. Many people are physically unable to rotate around their lead leg. If so, sliding is the default action.

Agreed Nidan, it did feel like there was a bit of added resistance when rotating without the slide, and for me it will mean adding a bit more flexibility training to the weekly workout regime. I’m glad I found out about it now before I get older and lose even more flexibility.

OKB,

Check out the Titleist Performance Institute website (MyTPI.com). It’s free. They go into great detail about how many swing flaws have their roots in physical causes and they have many suggested exercise programs to correct the problem. They recently posted a ‘sliders’ program that is worth checking out. The bottom line: to play good golf, one has to be in good golf shape.

Good link:)

I think that if you perform a backswing pivot action correctly, then you have to understand what’s the purpose of a hip slide before one performs a left hip clearing action. The purpose of the hip slide is to replant weight on the left foot so that one can stabilise the left leg and turn it into a firm supportive post, which can support the left hip clearing action. I describe this phenomenon in great detail in this video segment

Jeff

It is the ‘second axis tilt’ that has the dual purpose of allowing any weight that needs shifting to be done, and the right shoulder to swing down plane. Done incorrectly you cannot get your right elbow past the right hip in the down swing and you are cooked.

Please, what is second axis tilt?

Please, what is second axis tilt?

First is the slight tilt of the upper body away from the target caused by the right hand being lower on the grip and the second is the slight bump of the left hip towards the target at the start of the down swing.

Thanks, Burner.

Shall we use this to start a new definitions thread?

I disagree with Burner’s etiological explanation of the secondary axis tilt phenomenon.

I believe that secondary axis tilt is correctly established by first performing the backswing pivot action in the correct manner that creates a reverse-K position at the end-backswing. Then, secondary axis tilt is acquired when the head remains stationary during the early downswing pivot action (when the pelvis shift-rotates to the left in a hip squaring action). When the pelvis shifts left-laterally to the left at the start of the downswing, the lumbar vertebra are move leftwards while the cervical vertebra remain stationary at their end-backswing position. That causes the spine to acquire a tilt away from the target and that represents secondary axis tilt.

Here is a segment of my swing video lesson that demonstrates how to perform a backswing pivot action correctly in order to establish a reverse-K position at the end-backswing.

Jeff.

Thanks, Burner.

Shall we use this to start a new definitions thread?

Be quicker than using Jeff’s convoluted offering, which boils down to the same thing.

Depends really if you want to talk G.O.L.F or play Anatomy 101.

Just joshing Jeff.:)

The first axis tilt is indeed the right arm having to hold the grip lower. It physically HAS to be unless you have a longer right arm:) This can then be adjusted to cater for impact fix to set the heads height level for the entire shot.

The first tilt has zip to do with a backswing motion….though you see plenty of funny looking backswings which screw the initial set up spine angle and make any useful forward motions very difficult.