Michelle Wie Swing Thread

[dennyjones]

After looking at the sequence of pictures of her swing, I do see what everyone is talking about.   She is not getting her weight forward at impact.

[iacas]

2 hours ago, Big C said:

@iacas can you be more specific about your thoughts on Wie's swing? To my untrained eye, the video above looks like a beautiful swing that I would kill to have. Then again, faults that might be obvious to an instructor aren't readily apparent to people like me.

I think it's restrictive. If you take Leadbetter at his word (IF!), it results in more stress and/or injury to her hips, and he wanted her to move to a freer, narrower, more rotationally flexible swing.

I think she's "hitting" the golf ball more than she's making good golf swings. That's not a technical sentence, but the "feel" of it should come across. There have been good "hitters," (perhaps even Lexi?) but she seems like a "swinger" type. She had great success as a "swinger" when she was younger.

I don't think you have to turn your hips back 40° or anything, but she's limiting herself. She has a shorter torso turn (shoulder turn), and she has to rely on different muscle groups and derive power from her upper body more than her whole body a bit more so with the restrictive lower body.

1 hour ago, No Mulligans said:

And, I can see what @iacas is pointing out about the hips not sliding much forward on the downswing through follow thru.  I think part of the reason for this is how much tilt she has at address.  She does stand up on that front leg pretty well and gets her weight forward given there is very little to no hip slide.

They slide a bit, but with a wide stance… it's difficult to get too far forward.

53 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

After looking at the sequence of pictures of her swing, I do see what everyone is talking about.   She is not getting her weight forward at impact.

I don't really have much of an issue with her Key #2 stuff here. It's a driver, too - far less important to get your weight/pressure forward.

[Piz]

Looks to me like someone with an over-abundance of flexibility trying to keep it in check.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Piz said:

Looks to me like someone with an over-abundance of flexibility trying to keep it in check.

By displaying none of it?

…became…

Not that her 2004 swing was perfect by any stretch, but… I like it more.

[Keep It Simple]

It looks like DJ Trahan's swing and one his father would likely teach.  

I agree with @Piz that she might be trying to control an overabundance of flexibility with a restrictive swing style.  Maybe flexibility isn't the correct word.  Being tall and lanky increases your tendency to sway and a longer swing (just like a longer club shaft) has a larger margin of error for missing the center of the clubface.

 

[JonMA1]

Is she setting up with her hip and weight shifted forward? In addition to restricting her hip rotation on the BS, she looks to have far more weight on her lead foot at the top in her recent video.

I have no idea if that's good or bad, but I have a pretty good idea her worst shots are better than my best.

[colin007]

Wait, is the OP swing her current swing? Or is that what Leadbetter is trying to fix by adding more rotation and a more narrow stance?

[iacas]

29 minutes ago, colin007 said:

Wait, is the OP swing her current swing? Or is that what Leadbetter is trying to fix by adding more rotation and a more narrow stance?

That's her current swing. Look at the date and all that.

[Buckeyebowman]

Well, I'll chip in here eve though I would classify myself as a "stupid monkey".

Back when Wie was playing well, even winning a few times, her back swing was not all that long. Her hands got to shoulder height or a little higher, but it seemed that her hips and body were a little more free in the down swing and follow through. And she could smash the ball.

I can't play Instagram vids on my computer since I don't "Insta", but it would be helpful to know what her big miss is!

[dennyjones]

2 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

I can't play Instagram vids on my computer since I don't "Insta",

I don't "Insta" either but I can see the video.

[Buckeyebowman]

42 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

I don't "Insta" either but I can see the video.

Well, I can't! When I click on the big "play" symbol, it disappears, but nothing happens. When I click on the pic again, the big play symbol comes back. So, I can't see the swing.

[colin007]

On 11/25/2016 at 6:23 PM, iacas said:

That's her current swing. Look at the date and all that.

On 11/25/2016 at 6:23 PM, iacas said:

 

So wait....her swing previously was even wider and even more restrictive?? Isn't he trying to accomplish “Although in many respects that swing was pretty sound mechanically, it was very short and very tight and very wound up,” Leadbetter said. “It was creating a lot of stress on her joints. We had to make a compromise. She’s gone back to a narrower stance, to really encourage more of a rotation in the swing, which has gotten the swing a little longer.”

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, colin007 said:

So wait....her swing previously was even wider and even more restrictive?? Isn't he trying to accomplish “Although in many respects that swing was pretty sound mechanically, it was very short and very tight and very wound up,” Leadbetter said. “It was creating a lot of stress on her joints. We had to make a compromise. She’s gone back to a narrower stance, to really encourage more of a rotation in the swing, which has gotten the swing a little longer.”

I don't know when he said that. Or if they actually ever did that.

[natureboy]

22 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Well, I can't! When I click on the big "play" symbol, it disappears, but nothing happens. When I click on the pic again, the big play symbol comes back. So, I can't see the swing.

Try opening the link into a new window/tab?

2 hours ago, colin007 said:

So wait....her swing previously was even wider and even more restrictive?? Isn't he trying to accomplish “Although in many respects that swing was pretty sound mechanically, it was very short and very tight and very wound up,” Leadbetter said. “It was creating a lot of stress on her joints. We had to make a compromise. She’s gone back to a narrower stance, to really encourage more of a rotation in the swing, which has gotten the swing a little longer.”

That quote is from 2015 when she had nagging hip injuries. Leadbetter was likely referencing the 2014 U.S. Open winning swing. Now that's she's healthy Wie is probably trying to get back to that approach (vs. her early years longer, more 'oily' swing) because she thinks that's what gave her winning form and is probably in a 'damn the torpedoes' mindset toward any injury risks from the hip restriction.