Hit the ball with your "chest"?

Re: Hit the ball with your "chest"?

Hit with your chest is a weird thought.

I think what's being hinted at here is this notion that one must 'compress' or feel the compression of the sternum towards the ball/ground as the swing bottoms in order to be in a powerful impact position with lag on the club. Even that's a somewhat complicated thought.

Re: Hit the ball with your "chest"?

Sounds like a way to prevent swinging with the arms and hitting the ball, throwing away the lag. Hitting the ball with your chest is a swing thought to get the core muscles as primary engine in the swing. For me, it feels like losing control of the club, since it will release because of gravity and not because I release the hands. It should give you more distance, not less.

Then again, what you think and feel is usually not what happens, which is why you should record the swing on video and see what is really going on.

Re: Hit the ball with your "chest"?

Seems like most golf swing methods have you use one of two downswing triggers at the top:
1. Drop hands / drop club in the slot, or
2. Kick the hips (or some variation)

I would suggest you get lesson and make sure that you have...
* Read the article correctly
* Have got the motions coordinated

I'm not sure what you mean by incredible impact without release by hands and arms. If you posted a swing video clip, or the link to the article, maybe some of the better players could help you.

I emphasized the drop the hands last season to eliminate coming over the top, but am trying to coordinate hand drop with more hip drive this year.

Re: Hit the ball with your "chest"?

this sounds like horrible advice. my chest is actually past the ball when i make contact. if i had to think of hitting the ball with a body part, it would be my right hip, cause that's what's in line with the ball when i make contact, not my chest.

Re: Hit the ball with your "chest"?

Well I'm getting lessons and the pro told me the exact same thing.
I was very handsy with my shots, so to get the feeling he was getting me to hit punch shots.

Is working great, I find I'm hitting the ball further lately and more accurately.

He said you can't use it for the driver though.

Re: Hit the ball with your "chest"?

I am also working on swing a club with my body rather than my hands or arms. I trust my coach but this new shoulder / chest rotation thing is killing my game....at least for now. ha ha

Re: Hit the ball with your "chest"?

I like to think of it as "throwing" the ball. I feel like I'm skipping a stone across a pond. The back leg kicks in, and the hips turn, which causes the upper body to come down. I literally feel like I'm "throwing" the ball with my legs, and it especially helps when chipping and pitching. You want that feel.

I would say, learn to hit with the chest, then move down, hit with the core, then hit with the legs. It should teach you to fire in sequence.

Re: Hit the ball with your "chest"?

for what you are saying, the article sounds correct. the shoulders and hips should be the trigger for really the backswing and the downswing. i start my backswing with my shoulder turn and dont think about my downswing is just happens. but you do not want to start your downswing by pulling down your hands really hard. that will not add distance.

as far as thinking that you wont hit it as far by using your shoulders and hips there are a few things to know. first, you have to understand that the golf swing is a kinetic chain that needs to be done in perfect sequence to get optimal power and accuracy. by tugging your arms down you will probably be making it difficult to keep your sequence straight. thats why i say its better to hit the ball with your tempo than your muscles. you just need to keep your sequence (tempo) smooth and your muscles will work on their own. earnie els is a perfect example of this.

so just turn back with your shoulders, then come through i would say with your chest wanting to come down to the ball at impact and then rotate thru into your follow thru. nice and easy, tempo first.

really your arms are just there for the ride. and also the only time i really want to feel my body exerting any big time power is exactly at ball contact. if you are tugging your arms down hard at the start of your downswing then you are wasting all the force before you hit the ball. that makes you decelerate your swing and really makes you finish early...haha...and thats never fun. so really i would say to make sure that your power is climaxing at contact and not before. you are really trying to release the energy into the ball not into your downswing.

then secondly just think, what is stronger, your hips and shoulders or your arms. the hips and shoulders are much bigger muscle groups than your arms.

hope this helps, good luck.

Hitting the ball with your chest is a reference to a Golfing Machine concept of pressure points.

The 4th pressure point is where your straight left arm (for righties) touches your chest at the end of your backswing (or during the downswing if you're "float loading" the 4th accumulator). If you were to "hit the ball with your chest", it simply means you're maintaining the pressure between your left arm and chest during the downswing and through impact (or as close to it as you can). In order to swing this way, your arms would need to be relatively passive and the driving force of your downswing would be the turning of your shoulders anti-clockwise. Your arms should feel as though they're just along for the ride.

 

As for is it worth pursuing, that's up to you.

 

 

 

Long before the Golfing Machine, Hogan described his forward swing as merely a rotation initiated by his hips, with no conscious effort to manipulate his hands.  Seemed to work out OK for him, as well as for anyone who tries for a one plane swing (Jim Hardy teachings).

 

I constantly struggle with getting too handsy with my swing.  By trying to manipulate my hands, I become very inconsistent with contact, and my distance suffers.  It is only when I work on letting the body rotation take care of the downswing that I improve both distance and accuracy.

I understand you completely. And it is the most accurate way to play. A great drill would be to grip the club with both arms fairly straight and your elbows close together, lift your arms in the air, then let them fall on your chest. Tighten slightly your arms against your chest were your arms and chest connected, but keeping both of your arms relaxed. Now just turn back using only your shoulders while your legs are supporting you as

 if you were a goalie during any sport, stop at the top then turn your body threw except your head. Arms and hands do nothing just watch them swing threw. This is the best golf swing 100% accuracy, just believe your arms and hands do nothing. In the beginning I lost 20- 30 yards and I wanted to use my hands and arms because I believed I will go farther but I only went farther to the left and right. After 8 hours a day,7 days a week with out any playing, just practice for four months. I got my distance back and now with accuracy. I did the same thing sand traps, putting, chip shots, mid irons, long irons and driver all the same, way there was magic. And if anyone on this planet wants to get good at this game believe me and believe in your swing, you will hit the sweet spot every time. Remember ball position must be in the same spot with every club in the bag. That is the trick,you must find your sweet spot for every-ones body turns differently.

I agree with those saying that "Hitting the ball with your chest" is a way to get your core muscles powering the swing.  My most common error and the one I see most among my fellow amateurs is "coming over the top."  Which to me means using the small muscles of your arms and shoulders as the primary power source in a "chopping" motion which usually includes the right shoulder pushing out and toward the target, like you're throwing a block with your shoulder in football.  This causes breakdown of the swing plane, loss of power, poor contact. These small muscles play a role, but it is subservient to the large muscles, including the "core" muscles of the torso.  See the Musculature paragraph in this Wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_stroke_mechanics

 

The torso should rotate around the spine which, ideally, stays in the same position in space from address through impact.  The mass of the chest is in front of and hangs off of the spine, like the mass of a door on hinges.  The movement of the chest mass should be like a door swinging on the hinge of the spine.  The spine, or "hinge" only rises up out of its original position at address after impact when the inertia of the club and arms straightens the body up to a finish position. 

 

I hope this helps.  Appreciate any comments.