Flux II

It was a wonderful day today on the course.  Tee time was 7:08 and we were able to get away a bit early.

The seniors are starting their club championship and it was wise to get out early or take the day off.  They can be a bit slow at play and with a championship at risk, they would be taking extra time lining up the second, third, and perhaps 4th putt on all the greens.

It was cool and damp and as I write this my feet are still wet.  It would have been a good day for waterproof shoes, but I'm lazy and hate to change them.  I'd love a pair of the Eccos with rubber spikes, but they don't come in  my size and then they are expensive and I'm still a bit frugal.  Barb is wrinkling her nose at me.  It maybe that all the goose "goo" and reclaimed water has not left my shoes, socks, and feet with a favorable fragrance!

In re the blog title, I'm still considering what I am up to for a swing.  I ran across a video on YouTube produced by Athletic Motion Golf.  They have gathered a lot of data of good amateurs and professional golfers.  They've found that there are a lot of stark differences between what the AMs do and the Pros.

The last video that I found last night was hip motion.  The video had information in it that I've not seen before and it struck home. 

The basic motion of the hips is almost opposite for pros and Ams.  The Ams basically freeze their right hip joint and then move the left hip into the area when your arms will be coming during impact. 

The Pros basically freeze their left hip joint and move their right hip backwards away from the ball and thus create more room for the swing.

When the backswing is finished, the Pros will slide the hips to the left - just a bit - and then rotate the hips back out of the way.  This leaves the weight above the left foot and the rotation moves the left hip further away from the ball.  A huge volume of space is now created for the arms to come down and impact the ball and then move out of the way. 

Another image of this is that at address a pane of glass sits behind the player.  As the hips move back, they break this plane and stay on the broken side of the plane.  When the hips rotate, the left hip will then also move through the pane.

Now what do Ams do?  And when they talk non-pros they are talking about very good, low single digit index players.  They are not 20 handicappers.  The typical Am is moving the left hip first and thrusting it towards the ball.  The entire hip structure moves not through the pane of glass, but towards the ball.  The space needed for a swing is now crowded.

On the downswing the Am tries to "fire the hips."  But there is no time for this.  To hit the ball at all a couple of things may happen.  One of the common ones is to stand up a bit -- thus creating the area needed for impact.  The other reaction is "hump the goat" -- a gross movement to get the lower body out of the way.

They've timed how long you have to fire the hips, etc., to get out of the way and it's 0.14 seconds.  Sadly, not enough time to do something consistently and usefully.

Now contrast this with the pro movement.  Their backswing does two things.  The first is get the hands in a position to swing at the ball and the second is to create the space needed for the arms to come down without any body interference.

Now, how easy was this to do?  Was it even possible?  Is my back in traction now?  Well, the heating pad is on; it just feels good. 

I was able to do this.  There was no real speed component to it.  I just moved the right hip back and let all the other stuff take care of itself.  The downswing was just a mild slide to the left then left hip moving out of the way.  Arms came down and bang, off the ball went.

I was very straight and very long.  One of the best ball striking sessions I've had.  I was playing the irons to be 15 yards longer than last week and I was able to play to it.  I could move the ball left or right if needed.  Pin left?  No problem, just hit it with a touch of draw!

I wasn't perfect, but it was a very enjoyable and productive round.

Add to all of that, a round which took the three of us a mere 3 hours and 20 minutes to play.  Never had to wait the entire round.

Then off to Costco for a bit of inexpensive refreshment!  A perfect morning.