about the feet and legs

[Sandwedge74]

hi - i was watching some old masters videos of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus and I notice that when they both take their back swing , their left leg lifts up ever so slightly as they coil thru their backswing - the leg seems to start the swing back forward. I tried this on the range today and to my astonishment I hit the holy &*^%$! out of the ball and it seemed to fly even straighter towards where I aimed. is this just a freak thing or did i happen apon something good?? I also like to slightly kick my right knee in (Saw gary player advise folks to try this) before I take my backswing with my irons - are these things bad habits that are going to lead to the destruction of my golfswing??

[iacas]

hi - i was watching some old masters videos of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus and I notice that when they both take their back swing , their left leg lifts up ever so slightly as they coil thru their backswing - the leg seems to start the swing back forward. I tried this on the range today and to my astonishment I hit the holy &*^%$! out of the ball and it seemed to fly even straighter towards where I aimed. is this just a freak thing or did i happen apon something good?? I also like to slightly kick my right knee in (Saw gary player advise folks to try this) before I take my backswing with my irons - are these things bad habits that are going to lead to the destruction of my golfswing??

They require a bit more timing and it's easy to get sloppy. The modern method seems to be to have a bit more of a stable lower body.

If you are a believer in the "X Factor" as key for distance, you'll also probably want to limit the amount of foot lifting and knee-in-kicking. It was a lot more common in the old(er) days, yeah. Don't see it much these days... and there are probably reasons for it. I'd be surprised if this continued to work for you. A lot of times little things can have a big immediate effect, but only because they get us to think about one thing or because they get us to forget about our other flaws or compensations for awhile.

[geezer]

Just like when you experiment with Stack and Tilt for the first time.

[MPS67]

Sandwedge74,

My instructor uses this technique in order to help him get his hips started. He also says it helps him establish a firm left side/posted leg to set up resistance in which the rest of the body system to rotate against. He, like Ben Hogan wrote in Five Fundamentals , only suggests to lift it off the ground a little, maybe an inch.

I've used this technique with success as well, but like Iacas warns, you'll loose a little differentiation in your upper body versus lower body coil by employing it. I've learned to somewhat overcome this issue by rotating back slowly and with a more fluid motion. Thus, I'm easing into the full coil and stop at the top. Because my tempo is slower, I make sure that the heel lift is minimal and has a negligible effect on my torsion amount.

[Dent]

My dad has been using this kind of swing for years. I'm not sure if it really helps him, but he does the exact same thing you have described. He can still hit the ball very well. I never know why he is so accurate.

[Sandwedge74]

ah ok so just a little bit - but what about kicking in the right knee??

Sandwedge74,

[Avid Golfer]

hi - i was watching some old masters videos of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus and I notice that when they both take their back swing , their left leg lifts up ever so slightly as they coil thru their backswing - the leg seems to start the swing back forward. I tried this on the range today and to my astonishment I hit the holy &*^%$! out of the ball and it seemed to fly even straighter towards where I aimed. is this just a freak thing or did i happen apon something good?? I also like to slightly kick my right knee in (Saw gary player advise folks to try this) before I take my backswing with my irons - are these things bad habits that are going to lead to the destruction of my golfswing??

The foot lifting is helping you get your weight transfered into your back leg and hip, but can cost you consistency and balance if you don't return the foot to the same location with good timing. Now that you've felt what it does you should be able to find another way to get the same effect without as much risk.

As for the Gary Player knee bumb before starting the swing there are a lot of other players today that use that as a swing trigger. (I think Iacas misunderstood and interperted the knee kick in as a downswing move, which can cuase problems). You don't need to do it to the degree he does to get the benefits. The main plus to the move is that it sets up your back leg to brace in the backswing. It helps keeps the weight inside the back foot during the backswing, and helps build resistance and store enegry that may be used on the downswing.