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Key #1 - It's Not About the Head

iacas

Entry posted by iacas in Droplets

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I worked with one of the college players today. His spine was around 31°, and he'd turn his shoulders at about that angle early on in his backswing, but by the time he got to the top it would be 18 or 19°. Predictably, his head drifted back a little, but up a fair amount.

So, we worked on Key #1. I could have called it Key #4 (path) but it was a bit more of a secondary effect. Heck, even Key #5 was improved.

But Key #1 is not about the head. I know, it's in the name, but we say this: the head is a reference point. The point we care about is what we call the URC - the "Upper Rotational Center." The URC is a spot between your shoulders, and if it stays in roughly the same spot, it's easier to hit the ball consistently solid.

When your shoulders change pitch quite a bit, the URC is moving around. It's tough to hit the ball solidly, consistently. And… since your head is pretty closely connected to the URC, if it's moving, it's probably because the URC is moving.

But… "Key #1: Steady Upper Rotational Center with a Full Pivot" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

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mvmac
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Well said!

Yeah see too many "worked on keeping my head still" posts on here. It more about how the body is working to the keep the head steady.

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JonMA1

Is it safe to assume that new players often suffer from both vertical and lateral head movement but that many intermediate players - even after they've learned a centered pivot - still suffer from the vertical movement you've described? If so, is "coming up" on the downswing a result of making a compensation to another swing fault? Or is it simply a poor attempt at trying to gain club head speed?

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iacas
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Is it safe to assume that new players often suffer from both vertical and lateral head movement but that many intermediate players - even after they've learned a centered pivot - still suffer from the vertical movement you've described? If so, is "coming up" on the downswing a result of making a compensation to another swing fault? Or is it simply a poor attempt at trying to gain club head speed?

With a minute to think about it, I'd arrive at saying that I'd caution anyone against trying to put people in bins like that.

Some amateurs sway off the ball. Some go up and down more than they should (to play their best golf - a little up and down is almost always fine and/or even beneficial). Those amateurs are from all different ranges of ability. I don't know that there's any real association of "higher handicappers do this, lower handicappers do that other thing." They all do different things differently. Lower handicappers tend to have a bit less movement in whichever direction they choose, and they tend to play more too so any movement they have is that little tiny bit more repeatable.

But that's all I can really say about that… I don't think I can put them into lumped categories.

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iacas
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Key #1 should be called "Rotate About the Spine" maybe? This year I finally clued into what that feels like. I don't know why it took me so long.

We like the name of it just fine… plus, your spine rotates, too. Nobody rotates "around" or "about the spine." That sounds painful! :-O :-D 

We like the name of it just fine because all of them require a little more understanding to "get" what they're really talking about, and the word "Simple" means something to us.

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iacas
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So what did you do with the student? Did you show him video and tell him your diagnosis? What did you do to try to fix the problem?

That's not really the purpose of the post, and I don't really want to get off topic. I demonstrated why it was a problem and then worked with the player to help him fix it.

As fixes and feels are often specific to the individual, I'm sure you understand.

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Lihu

It's amazing how many people don't get key 1, and move on to other things before being "ready".

it ends up being work on key 1 until they think they get it right the work on key 2 then find that key 1 is not quite right and bounce back to key 1. . .

i guess it's an iterative process?

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iacas
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i guess it's an iterative process?

Yes, plus Key #1 is of course not always the priority. I don't even know if we start there with most people. Key #2 and #3 get a lot of attention too, for average golfers.

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MattM

I just want to make sure I'm know what is being talked about here because I think I do this too.  When you say his spine starts out at 31 degrees I'm assuming you are talking about his spin angling back.  Then when his spine gets to 19 degrees and you say his head goes "back"  Do you mean back to the front towards the target or back away from the target?  Bc if it was back away from the target wouldn't that make his spine angle more?

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Abu3baid

I just want to make sure I'm know what is being talked about here because I think I do this too.  When you say his spine starts out at 31 degrees I'm assuming you are talking about his spin angling back.  Then when his spine gets to 19 degrees and you say his head goes "back"  Do you mean back to the front towards the target or back away from the target?  Bc if it was back away from the target wouldn't that make his spine angle more?

I'm pretty sure he is talking about his spine angle at set up and then at the top of the backswing.. 

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mvmac
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I just want to make sure I'm know what is being talked about here because I think I do this too.  When you say his spine starts out at 31 degrees I'm assuming you are talking about his spin angling back.  Then when his spine gets to 19 degrees and you say his head goes "back"  Do you mean back to the front towards the target or back away from the target?  Bc if it was back away from the target wouldn't that make his spine angle more?

From dtl, A1-4.

You don't do this.

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