Myth of Maintaining Your Address Flex in the Rear Knee

[michaeljames92]

Another great video Mike. It bamboozles me how someone cannot understand this. Pretty simply: For the shoulders to turn to create power, the hips need to turn. For the hips to be able to turn you need to lose flex in your rear leg. Unless of course you have straight legs to begin with :-)

[The_Pharaoh]

Originally Posted by james_hirshfield

It still amazes me that there are golf instructors who can't grasp even the most basic of concepts and understandings of this.

If you can't get your head around just THIS piece, you should not be on the lesson tee. You are putting golfers in potential danger for injury and poor golfing.

What I have encountered when it comes to teaching golf, is that the majority of instructors pass the exam, get their little PGA badge to stick on their bag to impress people and then promptly stop learning/researching/understanding/questioning. They think they have all they need for a long and successful career as a golf instructor. I almost cried the other day when I heard one of the instructors that has been working at my club for over 30 years say to a student, "the golf swing has already been invented".

When I passed the Spanish Golf Federation exam (heavily influenced by John Jacobs, by the way), I came out saying to myself "now I need to learn how to help golfers play better". Initially, I repeated all the old instructional tips to my students but quickly realised they don't work. It's the reason I hit the internet to search for good instruction. I am forever grateful for stumbling across TST and having my eyes opened to a newer, better way of teaching golf. No more old wives' tales, no more "because Faldo says you should do it" etc., only instructional advice based on what the best players in the game are actually DOING when they swing a golf club.

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by michaeljames92

Another great video Mike. It bamboozles me how someone cannot understand this. Pretty simply: For the shoulders to turn to create power, the hips need to turn. For the hips to be able to turn you need to lose flex in your rear leg. Unless of course you have straight legs to begin with :-)

Thanks

Even Brandel agrees

Originally Posted by The_Pharaoh

No more old wives' tales, no more "because Faldo says you should do it" etc., only instructional advice based on what the best players in the game are actually DOING when they swing a golf club.

Nothing you don't know already Philip but great players explaining what they do isn't always incorrect, it's important to have the knowledge so that we know what is right and what is wrong.  I ask instructors all the time when they post a video up of a student making a change, "what was the feel?".  I love the story of Snead saying grip it like you've got a bird in your hands and Hogan saying "what he didn't tell you was that the bird was a hawk".

[The_Pharaoh]

Originally Posted by mvmac

Nothing you don't know already Philip but great players explaining what they do isn't always incorrect, it's important to have the knowledge so that we know what is right and what is wrong.

That was my point exactly Mike, don't believe what they say just because they won 6 Major championships. Believe what they say when they are actually doing what they are saying! Feel is a completely different animal.

[boogielicious]

This is why it is so hard to find good instructors.  I worked with a couple before switching to Golf Evolution.  They weren't bad guys, but they didn't seem to want to teach me the "why" part of a good golf swing.  Being an engineer, I wanted to know why I should be doing parts of the swing a certain way.  Also, I want an instructor who keeps learning and bringing that learning to me.

Thanks for this post Mike.

[glock35ipsc]

One of the things that really screwed me up was a trip to GolfTEC.  I was told that I was straightening my back knee during the back swing, and that was "causing all of my problems".  My problems, BTW, were either topping the ball or hitting it fat........ I had been playing the game for all of 3-4 months at this point.  So, I was told to have the knees flexed at address, and to never let my back knee straighten up.

It took me a year to finally realized that while I was squeezing almost every muscle in my right leg to keep it still, I was unknowingly tensing up almost everything else..... I was keeping my left arm tense, so I wouldn't let the elbow break down, really tight grip pressure, etc.

Then not long ago I watched a series of videos on Youtube from an instructor in Las Vegas who had such a smooth, relaxed, almost lazy swing that would make Fred Couples jealous.  his left elbow even bends at the top of the back swing, but he appears to be a good ball striker, and looks very fluid and balanced.  I've been working on some of his stuff, along with now having a very relaxed swing, and my ball striking has improved immensely!  My worst problems were hitting driver off the heel, and just overall inconsistent ball striking with the irons.  Since relaxing everything from my grip to my back leg/knee, I have seen a noticeable improvement.  Not only has my ball striking improved, my follow through and finish are very consistent and repeatable (wasn't before), my swing is in balance, I'm taking a divot in front of the ball for the majority of swings, I'm not falling over during the follow through, and my low back and hips aren't hurting after a round now.

If I don't concentrate on things like keeping my knee flexed and left arm straight, and just swing freely, I have a great round.

Oh, and the last "instructor" I went to see to help fix my slice.... told me to turn my right hand over just before impact to square the face.  Then, after almost arguing about ball flight laws, I decided to look elsewhere.

[mvmac]

Changes in 2012, more info to come, there was a reason I included him in the video

[The_Pharaoh]

Who is he, Mike?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by The_Pharaoh

Who is he, Mike?

CHIII.

[michaeljames92]

Chucky 3 sticks :-)

Looks like textbook stuff if you ask me ;----)

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by The_Pharaoh

Who is he, Mike?

Yeah, Charles Howell III.  He's working with Grant Waite which I think I can officially say now.  No longer worrying about keeping the knee flexed.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by mvmac

Yeah, Charles Howell III.  He's working with Grant Waite which I think I can officially say now.  No longer worrying about keeping the knee flexed.

Interesting. What does Grant "officially" teach, Mike? I mean, I know the circle of information ( ) he's part of, but does he label himself one way or the other?

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Interesting. What does Grant "officially" teach, Mike? I mean, I know the circle of information () he's part of, but does he label himself one way or the other?

Grant officially teaches a centered pivot, push draw pattern where the rear knee straightens, left flexes, on the backswing so the shoulders and hips can turn on an incline plane allowing the arms to swing inward and from there the hips slide forward and the butt tucks into the followthrough.  His information is based off an understanding of biomechanics, geometry and physics. Same information maybe in a different teaching style.  I should also add his partner is Joe Mayo, who is a Trackman guy.

He has learned from what he saw happen with S&T;, he's not labeling it anything.  He was Andy and Mike's first student on tour and Grant introduced them to most of their students the first few years.  The 3 of them knew each other because they were all Mac O'Grady (MORAD) guys.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by mvmac

Grant officially teaches a centered pivot, push draw pattern where the rear knee straightens, left flexes, on the backswing so the shoulders and hips can turn on an incline plane allowing the arms to swing inward and from there the hips slide forward and the butt tucks into the followthrough.  His information is based off an understanding of biomechanics, geometry and physics.

That shit will never catch on. It's against nature!

It's nice to see folks who are all pretty much on the same page about the golf swing actually working together to get good information out there, rather than wasting their time squabbling about whose particular doctrine is closest to the one true path. (Rob) Rock on!

[The_Pharaoh]

Excellent stuff! Will be keeping an eye out for him this year. The names are starting to get bigger. Or at least longer!

[johnclayton1982]

Did anyone see the big article in the latest Golf Magazine about how keeping the right knee flexed through the entire swing is the "key to power" ?

[The_Pharaoh]

No. Please post in the Comics thread!

[GaijinGolfer]

Originally Posted by johnclayton1982

Did anyone see the big article in the latest Golf Magazine about how keeping the right knee flexed through the entire swing is the "key to power" ?

Exactly.  I dont know any instructors who advocated straightening the right knee on the backswing.  How are you supposed to get onto your left side if your right leg is straight and wont allow you to push off and shift your weight to the left side?

Also, using tour pros' swings as a model is never a good thing because those guys are freaks of nature and almost none of them have a mechanically perfect swing in the first place.

I actually used to straighten my right leg on the backswing and since focusing on keeping some flex in that leg Ive gotten more consistency, straighter shots and more distance.  I used to hit a big ole block shot because I wasnt able to get onto my left side.

If straightening the right leg works for the OP and for others, thats cool but it didnt work for me.