oc1001

But that's not what I see in the Stack & Tilt book. I forgot what page it is, but there is a picture showing the backswing from behind. The author drew a line in the middle of the back, starting from the waist up to the shoulder. The line slants to the left. This image, in conjunction with the straightening of the right knee, demonstrated to me as the customer that as I make my circular backswing and straighten my right leg, my spine slants to the left and I achieve the "tilt" part of the swing. Now if I got the wrong impression from the picture and misinterpreted the instrucction, isn't the burden on the S&T; authors to provide a different explanation? After all, they are in better position to explain what I need to be doing. Additionally, you state that Foley does indeed advocate decreasing the flex in the right knee on the backswing. But That's not what I take from his instruction. From his Golf Digest lecture on the On Demand, Foley states that as you make your centered backswing, you'll feel the muscles in your right leg contract and put pressure into the ground. When I put this into practice, my right leg ends up staying relatively flexed. And when I'm in this position, I feel like I am in a better position to make the transition from the backswing to the downswing. This instruction, along with the other ones he presents, has helped me achieve better ball striking. Now do both Foley's and S&T;'s teaching methods actually achieve the same movement? I'm not a golf professional but if we presume Foley "stole" from S&T;, then the answer would be yes. However, the most effective method in explaining this movement to me as the customer was Foley's terminology and not the S&T; terminology.

Iacas: I'm not sure if Sandtrap accepted my last response post so I'll try posting again. 1) This presume I am standing straight up by I'm not. I bend forward at the hips, keep my back straight, and take a traditional setup. Using the pole analogy, the pole goes through the top of my head, down through my torso, and touches the ground behind me. That's what I feel I am turning around. As I do so, my shoulders turn on a downward angle towards the ground. If I try to turn my shoulders more horizontal to the ground, I feel tightness and pain in my right back near the shoulder. The pain disappears if I turn my shoulders on a natural downward plane. This is consistent with Sean's instruction to turn your shoulders on a steeper plane. 2) "Right temple" is a common description for the right temporal bone. I was using the "right temple" term because I presume that most people reading this forum are not doctors. I apologize for my erroneous presumption. Finally, I would like to point out a distinction between S&T; and Foley's method that most people overlook. I have read the S&T; book and noted the backswing requires a straightening of the right leg, which results in the spine tilting towards the target, thereby providing the "tilt" part of the backswing. Under Foley's method, you don't straighten the right leg but keep it rather flexed. This allows me to keep my centered position. A great illustration is swinging on an upside down Bosu ball. If straighten my right left, my sternum and ultimately my weight shifts to the left. However, since I am standing on an uneven platform, I lose my balance and fall to my left. By keeping a flexed right leg, I am able to complete my backswing without falling off the ball.

"How do you make a centered turn?" From what I got from Foley, you are swinging around a centered point, which is essentially a vertical pole running from your head and through the sternum and into the ground. For a right handed golfer, your shoulders and hip turn in a circle. As you do so, you'll feel your left knee buckle in a little and your right hip turn back and behind you. Your left shoulder will be under your chin. You can accomplish all of this but still be centered. A great drill Foley showed was turning on an upside down bosi ball. If you didn't make a centered turn, you fall off. "Why should make a centered turn?" Why? because it will help with your timing. Under older teachings, your head moves to right on the backswing and has to move forward on the downswing. That has to be timed correctly and its difficult. "What drills do you do to emphasize it? Beside the bosu ball drill, Sean has the golf-club-on-the-right-temple drill Tiger does. Your right temple should be touching but not pushing the club on the backswing. FYI, I got all this from the Sean Foley's, Golf Digest on Demand DVD, preview clips from his next generation dvd, and some of his youtube videos. Its working for me so far.