Reverse K

I have been reading the book Swing Like a Pro , which is supposed to show the idealized swing based on computer modeling of dozens of tour professionals, including a lot of big names (Nicklaus, Palmer).  The author discusses in detail where each part of your body should be placed for the "perfect" swing.  For the setup, he states that the knee of the back leg should be flexed inwards and the front leg relatively straight.  This, along with the lowered back shoulder, results in a body position resembling a "Reverse K".  This is all very well known to most accomplished golfers.  However, I have always used almost an equal amount of flex in both knees during setup and as I watch most pros, it appears to me that they are doing the same.  When I provide very little flex in my front leg and quite a bit more in my back leg during setup, this seems to force my back hip forward, thus opening my hips to the target line.

Did I miss something here, or is the author overemphasizing this stance?

Anyone?  (*crickets chirping)

Probably you've missed something.

Quote:

Originally Posted by plugged

Anyone?  (*crickets chirping)

The stance you're describing sounds more like an impact positon. I'm not a pro, but for most of my swings, if I wasn't holding a club in my setup you probably couldn't tell if I was setting up to hit right handed or left handed.

Not impact position; it's a setup position.

Refering to the figure below, note the exaggerated back leg flex causing the knee to turn in slightly, which in turn causes the hips to turn towards the target.  This seems contradictory to standard advice that the feet, hips and shoulders should all remain parallel to the target line.  BTW, the text in this book specifically says to do this, so it's not just an error in the figure.

Okay now I see what you mean.  It's not too far off an impact position. Both could be seen as a reverse K. I'd probably try to have less weight forward at address, but I could be wrong about that too.

OK, this has been bugging me, so I did a little graphics exercise to compare the "ideal pro" in my previous post to setup pics of several pros to see if, indeed, their level of back leg flex is the same.

The figure below shows the leg flex superimposed on a random sampling of pros.  Out of all these guys, I think only Woods (can't really tell because his trousers hang too loose near his calf) and Els come close to the "ideal pro", but even their leg flex is not as exaggerated.  The rest don't even come close.

My conclusion?  The figure of the "ideal pro" and the advice in the book are misleading.  I have no idea how they could digitally analyze so many pro swings and come to the conclusion that "most" pros emphasize a back leg flex to the degree they show.

Maybe there is no perfect swing, but trying to blend good swings into one uberswing sounds like a good way for 14 handicappers to waste time during the off season. Good news - it's golf season so you don't need to worry about reverse Ks.

Looks like the Gary Edwin right sided golf swing.

from what ive been told, the reverse K has much more to do with the right shoulder being lower than the left at address.  this basically forces the hips forward slightly, and causes the flex in the right knee.

i know this doesnt answer your initial question, but it helped me when i finally got it.