Mr.Wedge

"Move", but not straighten. The premise of the thread is to straighten the knee, and not listen to sage advice of keeping it flexed.

Sounds funny..I knew it before I posted it. But seiously, if the knee straightens, the hip rises and has to lower on the downswing. Thats the "rocking" I referred to. The question is why? For what benefit? It's just a lot of extra motion which is full of risk. Isn't the object to whittle away all the extraneous movement? For clarification, of course the knee moves some; it has to in order to accomodate hip rotation. But any conscious straightening is counter productive for someone wanting to learn to hit with authority.

That just simply isn't accurate. The hips do rotate, but reach a stopping point less than the upper torso rotation. That's the "brace" spoken of by Ballard and many others. Keeping the hips level in this manner makes it feel as if the right hip is moving down. The feel at the top is that of "sitting down" on the right hip. From someone who has dealt with lower back strain all my adult life, keeping the hips level and maintaining a solid brace on the inside of the right leg places far less stress on the lower back than any sort of rocking up and down motion of the hips.

The knees control hip level. Alteration of hip level just over-complicates the swing, adding the dimension of up and down to the primary dimension of rotation. Straightening of the right knee is a "natural" reaction of resisting the "pain" of compressing the coil. It also encourages reverse pivot, because when the hips alter level, the torso tries to compensate in order to maintain balance. This is not to say you can't play by straightening the right leg, but it makes a difficult task just that much more difficult. I agree with Hogan; keep the knee angle the same as at address. It's harder to learn than the natural" straightening, but the reward of simplicity once learned is significant.

Instead of thinking of the left arm, think of the triangle from elbows to wrists, and keep that triangle intact; the left arm will stay straight.

Well, any thing you do differently will feel strange at first. But it is important you are convinced in your mind before making such a change. Study the impact and set-up positions of as many pros as you can, paying attention to head position. You will find all great ball strikers stay behind the ball throughout the swing til after impact. In answer to your question, pay very close attention to your right knee and foot. Make sure you stay on the inside of that foot going back, and keep the knee flexed exactly as at address. You want to feel the inside of the right leg energized at the top. One of the best drills to develop that feel is to make some pitch length swings with your feet about 12 inches apart but with your knees pressed together and keep them like that throughout the swing.

It's been interesting to read through this thread, and good to see your improvement. Of particular note, since taking lessons, it looks as if your ball position is a bit more forward in your stance, which is a good thing; I am of the opinion it should be further forward still, no further back than midway, so that your head is clearly behind the ball. If you will go back and check your videos, you will note your head actually gets in front of the ball at impact. This is especially true of the earlier videos, but the most recent one shows your head still slightly ahead of the ball. Head position at impact should be slightly behind the ball. At address, you should be looking down at the back of the ball.

1) Clear mental concept of the action to be performed. 2) Grip and Posture. 3) Leverage. 4) Coil compression. 5) Viable Range of Motion. 6) Levels. 7) Swing radius. Some of these terms are likely unfamiliar to most readers, but I believe if these 7 fundamentals are learned and employed, balance will be achieved and all thoughts of "sequencing" become irrelevant, allowing for free and authoritative swinging.

No, no more knuckleballs Zeph, but watch out, here comes a hanging curve. Watching yourself in mirrors and monitors does not teach you to SWING. It teaches you to place the club in a predetermined position. It will frustrate you because you will be depending upon the small muscles of the hands and arms to develop feel. Once again, not saying you can't learn that way, it is just a very hard way to learn. Golf is a game of feel. When you are on the course, that is all you have really. There are no monitors to check or coaches to give you feedback. Feel must be educated however, as you suggest. You may be asking yourself about now, "What does Mr.Wedge want me to do, put my clubs away?" If you have asked yourself that question, the answer is yes. The best way to learn how to swing IMO is to spend a period of time developing mental concept and preparing the body with feel development as well as golf conditioning prior to touching the club. Radical? Yes. But ask yourself WHY it takes years to learn and why so many never learn. Check for a PM. Video and the internet opens a whole new arena in the area of golf swing learning as you mentioned in a previous post. It is simply a matter of HOW it is used.

It helps to understand ball flight in order to figure out how to fade or draw. At relative clubhead speed (75 to 120 mph), launch direction is determined roughly by 2/3 face angle and 1/3 clubhead direction. The slower the speed, the more face angle will impact launch direction, but the variences are so small it is safe to figure 1/3 2/3 for any full shot. What this means is, in order to hit a draw, path must be in/out with the face open to the target but closed to the path. I do agree with the idea that it is far better for beginers and middle level players to learn to master a square, straight shot prior to learning shaping. It is kind of like billiards in that respect. Learn to shoot straight pool first so you know and can execute all your angles and speeds, then learning to apply english is relatively easy.

Too bad this thread began and continues with such bombast. A healthy discussion of muscle tension in the golf swing would be beneficial.

Stable legs help control both hip rotation and spine angle. And Zeph, maintaining spine angle just through the top isn't good enough. The most common problem there is losing it just before impact, which causes you to get "stuck", preventing a free release (which you are doing in the downrange view. See how you "stand up" and your hips move toward the ball just before impact?). These are balance issues which originate in your setup position and your mental concept of the swing. The point here Zeph is why work on bits and pieces? Why not learn what the basic total swing is and rehearse THAT this winter? Not to throw shock waves at you, but this idea of hitting thousands of balls while making mistakes just drives me nuts. The main thing you are doing is ingraining faulty moves which will be so difficult to overcome later. So you work on a couple of things and maybe get them right; maybe you don't. In the meantime, the things not done right are getting worse, muscles being built to move in the wrong direction, and this doesn't take into account it is all interrelated. If the legs are malfunctioning, it is impossible to develop the proper feels in the upper body and vice versa. If the setup is off (it is), working on maintaining spine angle is futile. If your swing radius is inconsistent (it is), spine angle and leg action will give you fits. Most importantly, if your mental concept is incomplete or fuzzy (it is), you are throwing your learning up in the air hoping to chance upon discovering a feel that works then remembering that feel which you likely won't be able to because you have so many erroneous feels competing with it. I am not saying you cannot learn the way you go. I am saying you are likely setting the stage for a very long and frustrating journey when it needn't be so. Make the investment and find a good teacher. You have the will and the committment. The returns on your investment will pay enourmous dividends. Another one of my pet peaves is what I call Viable Range of Motion (VROM). If that were considered PRIOR to even touching a club, most people would have a far easier time learning how to swing with accurate authority. It is one of the key reasons learning the swing is so much more difficult than it need be. I will be posting an essay on that topic over at Swing Acadamy in the next week or so if you are interested.

My bread and butter is straight so I love playing in the wind. Steady yourself with a bit wider stance and tighten the grip a little to discourage wristiness and swing well within yourself. Crisp striking is essential. Learn to play some low punch shots with your 4 iron of varying distances even down to say 100 yds or shorter. Better to keep it under the wind regardless of wind direction unless you just want the wind assist with carry. Attempting to shape shots in a strong breeze is risky because a small error can be magnified significantly. Other than that, avoid trying to hit it hard in the wind; steady and smooth works much better.

You seem to have a healthy attitiude toward learning Zeph, and that will serve you well. Ultimately, you are your only "teacher", for only you can feel what you are doing in the swing. It does take committment and hard work, but the work is much more beneficial if you work smart as well as hard. It all starts in the mind . As an example, contemplate your last sentence highlighted above. I understand what you are saying as a level of progression, but WONDERING is no cause to celebrate. Keep the champagne on ice for a while and pop the cork only when you KNOW why a shot was good or bad. See the difference? It is a matter of being clear and precise with your goals. Until you can afford to have your own coach tag along and give you feedback on your shots, you'll need to learn to do that yourself, and IMO should be an early goal as it is part of the mental concept of golf which preceeds action. Let's go to the other statement I have highlighted. There are different schools of thought on this, so take it for what it is worth. In my view, the hips are the last thing a learner should be thinking about. The best way to learn how the hips function in the swing is to leave them alone and FEEL how they work due to other forces being applied to them. They will work just fine if you allow them to. This is part of working smart. Why make the learning process more complicated when it is complicated enough as it is? The knees control the hips in the golf swing. Think of building the swing from the ground up. If you start with your knees well flexed with the weight on the insides of the feet and leave them there, then just simply rotate the torso, the hips will remain level and leveraged, poised to return square then clear precisely at the right time doing nothing to make them do so. The key is remaining leveraged with the inside of your right foot serving as the fulcrum. Keep the knees flexed the same as at address and the hips will remain level. As you change direction of the torso, you will then feel the hips "squeeze" around toward the target. But there is the other end of the body to consider. Note from your videos how your head is changing level throughout the swing; waste of energy. The head should be over the inside of the right thigh at the top but remain the same distance from the ground. It is the coil of the swing which creates compression in the body. The leverage knee contains the lateral property of that compression and the head contains the vertical property. When you learn to use that dynamic you have just created a tailwind for yourself. There is a lot more I could comment on, but this is the key start IMO. Apply yourself and I am confident you will emerge a much better swinger in the sping.

It is the "secret" of automatic sequencing. It is using the dynamics of the swing to your advantage. It is the "aim" of the return.