This is one of the best golf videos I’ve seen, explaining a very complicated and technical subject with great clarity, giving a greater understanding as to what is scientifically going on in hitting a golf shot
"Relax at the Top, and let the club head drop" Some of the best advice I've heard anywhere. I've been teaching this for years, trying to explain the #3pp(Pressure Point) etc, and Lag pressure build up. Loading it, storing it and maintaining it. But relax at the top I think is a great way to explain it to golfers trying to improve their move, and keep it on the short stuff. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed listening to you both..
started golfing on a very flat plane as a kid and changed do to some bad instruction. now I have went back to the flatter plane swing going back and even flatter coming down for the past 3 years and my ballstriking is at its best. this video really puts the facts into my reasoning. great video and make some more!
I have been using this info with my students and seen an incredible jump in speed as well as better body movements. Try the lead arm only swings to get the feeling of passive torque then use both and let the club drop.... Have fun hitting it farther with way less effort.
This sounds like swingers vs hitters. Hogan talked about the plane being different on the downswing (shallower) and all videos of him show the hands and clubs dropping as part of his first move down....essentially what these guys are talking about. Nicklaus referred to the "gravity move" where he let the club drop as the first move down...and Norman said the same thing except he called it the vertical drop....all the great ball strikers were doing something like this.
wow, Chris makes it all understandable, I tried it and it works, just like he says and shows. Thanks Chris. the club really does square up, I needed to go to a more neutral / weak grip.
Wow this just blows my mind. Bradley Hughes talks a lot about this and shows how all the best ball strikers did this especially Ben Hogan. Kelvin Miyahira explains what is happening in the body with anatomical descriptions but that's it. But this is the first time the actual physics is clearly explained of why laying off the club helps to squares up the face at impact. Love it.
Gordon Jarvis Hi Gordon. I read through Kelvin's articles but I must have missed where he describes how laying off the club (perhaps through RSER and right scapula dig) drops the COG of the club below the hand path plane at the top of the downswing and when the force vector of the hands pulling on the club on the downswing creates a moment arm which creates passive torque on the left arm (supination) which squares the clubface at impact. I also missed where he describes how radial deviation of the wrists creates a high moment of intertia around the left arm axis and when a small amount of angular momentum is applied(laying off the club) when the MOI is high it translates to a lot of angular velocity squaring the clubface around the left arm axis when the wrists uncock because of now low MOI as described in this video. I did not find the above information in his article "Secret to Squaring Your Clubface" or any of his other articles or videos. Can you show me where Kelvin explains this? I'm not a hater I just want to know if I'm missing something or not understanding something. Thanks.
No Gordon Jarvis, I think you need to show us a link where Kelvin discusses this...good luck finding it in his "micro moves" because it's not there. The "elbow move" may flatten the shaft, but you still need to know how to get a vertical hand path and tumble the club face out toward the ball which he does not teach you in his works.
This is a really great video. I had seen Brian Manzella try to explain these concepts but while he did a good job the reason why its important was not as clear as shown here. I will search out other videos that may explain what one can do mechanically to help make this happen. The only one that comes to mind may be Kelvin Miyahira's "elbow" move concept. Good stuff, was not too technical IMO.
I enjoyed and better understand the idea with the 2D demonstration on the ground. The path of the handle being in a slight semicircle, rather than relying on the wrist to move the club, will more easily prompt the head to a straight whipping motion.
Watching Trevino, is it possible that he creates two moment arms in his downswing? One at his wrist and one at his shoulder. He looks like his arm path is also coming down to the left of the ark of his hand path if you are looking at his swing from the back! Am I nuts? What I find frustrating is this seems to be so natural to him and others that they never stress how important it is/was.
I believe Mr. Hogan stated that he rotated the club head clockwise on the backswing, and then made sure that his left elbow moved toward his left hip on the downswing. He said that it gave the feeling of "capturing" the ball, and sort of pitching it with the club head. In fact, he said the the faster he rotated the club clockwise on the backswing, the more power he'd produce. Wasn't he expressing the same dynamics that you've presented here?
Please read The Dynamic Anatomy of the Golf Swing by W. Garden Hendry, MB,FRCS Book dated 1985 and explains exactly what Dr Mackenzie is describing now!
i'm sure there are Golfers which understand all about. Bobby Jones already masterminded the Speed through the ball. Swing your club like a chain and let it trail your body rotation you will whip or lash it through the ball without dropping some thing ;-) You have to be very loose and not tence while swinging it away. A demo and simulation would have helped that endless talk for the better...
What have you seen if the club goes too flat? How does that affect the hand path? I have a student that used to be OTT and went the entire opposite direction over the winter. Thanks.
Really interesting research, the best golfers, tour pros, etc. always have and had thru history seems to me that falling, shallowing of the club during their transition move. The bit they didn't go into was how this happens (doh!). Is it 'talent', instinct, seems to me it's mostly a result of transition starting from the left foot, knee, hip etc (right handed golfers): Would be fascinating to see what that missing conclusion from their research on what makes that falling below plain happen.
Agree, Mike Malaska proves the opposite i.e. "swing the club-head over the top while under the plane" freeing the club-head and allowing it to accelerate around a steady centre which the golfer must provide
it did not do that for me, in fact, I had a problem hooking and smothering the ball, with a more neutral grip the clubhead returned to square without my doing anything. driving the left elbow into the hip as shown and rotating make it all come together, at least for me
Would anyone car to venture into how force vectors relationship with torques apply in the backswing as the club COG is ahead of the hand path following P1.5?
All that is well and good about dropping the club or relaxing from the top but the biggest issue is what is the state of the pronation of the right hand before the relaxing dropping of the club. If the right hand that you took out of the model is not fully pronated then you can get seriously stuck on the way down, especially if you don't have a lengthy back swing. Be super careful with this care free down swing thought. It only works when the right forearm has been torqued back so that the right hand is in a pronated position. The acid test is when does the right palm have a 45 degree plane to the ground. If you are creating that 45 degree angle of the palm in the downswing then you will never have enough time to pre-torque and fully torque the right extremity in time to get the club to the ball without stalling the chest and flipping the club. So we all remember when tiger was getting stuck and he was hooking the ball. Hank had him throwing the club over his right shoulder. When lifting the club in that manner there was never any torque being created in the right forearm and right extremity. As a result tiger was loading and unloading the whole right extremity in the downswing. There is no time for the pre-torque and the full torque of the right extremity in the downswing successfully, unless you want to hit a big cut. Loading and unloading in the downswing causes the worst stuck move possible. Make sure that if you are going to try and create a larger torque in the right extremity on the way down that you load the right side as much as possible at the top of the backswing before you start down. Done properly pre-torque in the back swing and massive full torque in the downswing will create incredible results, but no preload in the right extremity and then dropping the club under the plane will leave you looking right and left for your balls in the woods. Everyone that starts trying to play golf by putting the club into the back swing and stops using centripetal force in the backswing loses the ability to pre-load the right extremity. This is why everyone that starts trying to look for the perfect backswing starts to have difficulty putting the club on the ball. The natural swinging of the club in the back swing creates torque in the right extremity. Chris l love the flexion in Tigers right extremity now. Finally he is swinging the club to the top of his golf swing. Now the club will have speed and accuracy. Seems like all the instruction he was getting was about where he was going to put the club in his back swing instead of swing the club back and creating a torque. The only way the body knows where the club is, is because of torque. Late torque on the way down results in not knowing where the clubhead is until very late in the downswing. Great to get the club coming out of the right forearm so that all of the force vectors are aligned but if you don't want to get stuck make sure that you have torqued the right extremity before you come down too far, or even better yet get some in the back swing before you start down.
Bla bla bla, take the arms back to “p 6” with the shaft vertical, use the lower body to start and feel the shaft immediately shallow by rotating the wrists ( it’s actually the forearms).Do it until you feel an easy powerful impact then do it about 10,000 more times before you take a full swing. You can see this rotation of the wrists in Mito Pereira’s swing down the line. Notice his hand plane does not change, it’s the wrist rotation that shallows the shaft. This is a drill I use and it is amazing how solid you can hit the ball with a half swing! Your welcome!
O good God I thought they figured out my swing secret for a second that I have been working on for years. But they are off on some other track. I have to work faster on completing my theory.
Whoops, he didn't mention 1. The proper grip which is absolutely necessary. 2. Getting on plane: no brainner. 3. Most importantly, he neglected to mention the "Shift" the COM to the lead leg to shallow and slot the club into the "Pre-release" position in order to use the natural forces (centrifugal force) square the face and maintain proper sequencing. 4. The release of the left forearm to rotate the head of the club around the shaft. Maybe I'm over thinking this ;)
How is it that you want to simplify the golf swing down to its fundamental motions and you add a wrist flick at the last second. Do you really think anybody can manage a wrist torque/rotation when the club head is traveling 110 or more miles an hour? Simplify it even more. How about getting the head Square at impact and leaving your hands in that position for your backswing without the last-minute rotation. This is what a strong grip does. Get through the ball and then, THEN roll the wrists naturally.
the 11 dislike are either ignorant about different way of swinging the golf club or they know exactly what these two guy are talking about, but has just creating more confusion to the swing. the drop of the club head at the top is not an intentional move rather as a resultant of the action of the turn and trailing arm. So please don't go out and deliberately practice the drop as this !@#$ up your swing, yes the club head drop below the leading hand path but it is not two dimensional as they have explain it
More pseudoscience. None of this follows basic laws of physics. Just like to see this guy hit the ball with the heel of the club as he demonstrates. It's impossible in a full swing, the club is designed to square itself up.
These guys aren't even close to getting things right. They are not taking into account the dynamics of the body swinging the club. If the club were being swung through the air, by itself, in space, then these guys may have the relationships between positions of COG and resistance to squaring the face correct. however, the club is swung by the body. The reality is that the joints of the body have "directions" in which they will and will not move through, regardless of the direction and amount of force is applied. You can push directly left to right all day long on a piston that will only move in and out and it will not go any where. If you change the direction of force to add an in and out component then and only then will the piston move in and out. The shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, hands all have directions in which they will move. When they work together they are applying forces in directions that the joints will and will not move. Only those forces applied in directions the joints will move are relevant. Similarly, forces applied can and only will cause movement in directions that the body will allow. More cooky musings from the next incorrect cooks.
Tiger needs to think about ever little move in his swing....give me back 2000 Tiger swing....go to Jimmy Ballard if you want your body to stay together.....this stuff is going to get ugly when he gets out there trying to apply it.....takes the athlete out of him
This is one of the best golf videos I’ve seen, explaining a very complicated and technical subject with great clarity, giving a greater understanding as to what is scientifically going on in hitting a golf shot
Great stuff Chris and Sasho. Thanks for sharing and look forward to more
"Relax at the Top, and let the club head drop" Some of the best advice I've heard anywhere.
I've been teaching this for years, trying to explain the #3pp(Pressure Point) etc, and Lag pressure build up. Loading it, storing it and maintaining it. But relax at the top I think is a great way to explain it to golfers trying to improve their move, and keep it on the short stuff.
Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed listening to you both..
Dr. Sasho Mackenzie’s does an outstanding job of communicating!
started golfing on a very flat plane as a kid and changed do to some bad instruction. now I have went back to the flatter plane swing going back and even flatter coming down for the past 3 years and my ballstriking is at its best. this video really puts the facts into my reasoning. great video and make some more!
Great video guys, great info for so many golfers.
I have been using this info with my students and seen an incredible jump in speed as well as better body movements. Try the lead arm only swings to get the feeling of passive torque then use both and let the club drop.... Have fun hitting it farther with way less effort.
Probably my all-time favorite golf video. Makes complete sense, and also explains why steepening in transition makes life difficult!
Brilliant guys. Thanks for sharing!
Chris, this was amazing...thanks
This sounds like swingers vs hitters. Hogan talked about the plane being different on the downswing (shallower) and all videos of him show the hands and clubs dropping as part of his first move down....essentially what these guys are talking about. Nicklaus referred to the "gravity move" where he let the club drop as the first move down...and Norman said the same thing except he called it the vertical drop....all the great ball strikers were doing something like this.
This Como guy seems to know the deal. Nice vid guys - thank you!
Dr. Sasho MacKenzie is the driving force . . .
This is Gold!! Thanks for sharing
Great video. Very informative. I will put it into practice and see if it helps.
So many golfers/ teachers talk about shallowing the arms! It’s the shaft that shallows!
Would love to know more about what factors go into getting the club head below the hand path in transition.
Good stuff! I have a feeling that the views will be going up!
wow, Chris makes it all understandable, I tried it and it works, just like he says and shows. Thanks Chris. the club really does square up, I needed to go to a more neutral / weak grip.
Wow this just blows my mind. Bradley Hughes talks a lot about this and shows how all the best ball strikers did this especially Ben Hogan. Kelvin Miyahira explains what is happening in the body with anatomical descriptions but that's it. But this is the first time the actual physics is clearly explained of why laying off the club helps to squares up the face at impact. Love it.
I'd re look at Kelvins material just a weee bit..
Gordon Jarvis Hi Gordon. I read through Kelvin's articles but I must have missed where he describes how laying off the club (perhaps through RSER and right scapula dig) drops the COG of the club below the hand path plane at the top of the downswing and when the force vector of the hands pulling on the club on the downswing creates a moment arm which creates passive torque on the left arm (supination) which squares the clubface at impact.
I also missed where he describes how radial deviation of the wrists creates a high moment of intertia around the left arm axis and when a small amount of angular momentum is applied(laying off the club) when the MOI is high it translates to a lot of angular velocity squaring the clubface around the left arm axis when the wrists uncock because of now low MOI as described in this video.
I did not find the above information in his article "Secret to Squaring Your Clubface" or any of his other articles or videos. Can you show me where Kelvin explains this? I'm not a hater I just want to know if I'm missing something or not understanding something. Thanks.
It sure works for Sergio!
No Gordon Jarvis, I think you need to show us a link where Kelvin discusses this...good luck finding it in his "micro moves" because it's not there. The "elbow move" may flatten the shaft, but you still need to know how to get a vertical hand path and tumble the club face out toward the ball which he does not teach you in his works.
Scott Sanders Once you are shallow G you can rip through the ball. No need to think of hands torques and vector paths.
it seems like the squaring and speed will happen if you let it. very interesting study.
Amazing stuff. I will try this the next time.
Great video! Thanks for sharing this info..
This is a really great video. I had seen Brian Manzella try to explain these concepts but while he did a good job the reason why its important was not as clear as shown here. I will search out other videos that may explain what one can do mechanically to help make this happen. The only one that comes to mind may be Kelvin Miyahira's "elbow" move concept. Good stuff, was not too technical IMO.
I enjoyed and better understand the idea with the 2D demonstration on the ground. The path of the handle being in a slight semicircle, rather than relying on the wrist to move the club, will more easily prompt the head to a straight whipping motion.
Good video guys. Might be helpful to tie in the role of wrist flexion in this modeling
Guess the snap hook comes from dropping it too much!! Very interesting
Watching Trevino, is it possible that he creates two moment arms in his downswing? One at his wrist and one at his shoulder. He looks like his arm path is also coming down to the left of the ark of his hand path if you are looking at his swing from the back! Am I nuts? What I find frustrating is this seems to be so natural to him and others that they never stress how important it is/was.
I believe Mr. Hogan stated that he rotated the club head clockwise on the backswing, and then made sure that his left elbow moved toward his left hip on the downswing. He said that it gave the feeling of "capturing" the ball, and sort of pitching it with the club head. In fact, he said the the faster he rotated the club clockwise on the backswing, the more power he'd produce. Wasn't he expressing the same dynamics that you've presented here?
Great info...well done
Please read The Dynamic Anatomy of the Golf Swing by W. Garden Hendry, MB,FRCS
Book dated 1985 and explains exactly what Dr Mackenzie is describing now!
Thanks for the reference... got it on order!
Golf is an art. You play with the heart mind.
Yeah no lol
i'm sure there are Golfers which understand all about.
Bobby Jones already masterminded the Speed through the ball.
Swing your club like a chain and let it trail your body rotation you will whip or lash it through the ball without dropping some thing ;-)
You have to be very loose and not tence while swinging it away.
A demo and simulation would have helped that endless talk for the better...
What have you seen if the club goes too flat? How does that affect the hand path? I have a student that used to be OTT and went the entire opposite direction over the winter. Thanks.
That’s what I was thinking. Assuming it’s the snappers 😂
Really interesting research, the best golfers, tour pros, etc. always have and had thru history seems to me that falling, shallowing of the club during their transition move. The bit they didn't go into was how this happens (doh!). Is it 'talent', instinct, seems to me it's mostly a result of transition starting from the left foot, knee, hip etc (right handed golfers): Would be fascinating to see what that missing conclusion from their research on what makes that falling below plain happen.
Wouldn't flattening out the shaft on the downswing, lead to the hooks, bc the lead shoulder and hands would rise would rise at impact?
Agree, Mike Malaska proves the opposite i.e. "swing the club-head over the top while under the plane" freeing the club-head and allowing it to accelerate around a steady centre which the golfer must provide
it did not do that for me, in fact, I had a problem hooking and smothering the ball, with a more neutral grip the clubhead returned to square without my doing anything. driving the left elbow into the hip as shown and rotating make it all come together, at least for me
Would anyone car to venture into how force vectors relationship with torques apply in the backswing as the club COG is ahead of the hand path following P1.5?
+Junior GolfTV No.
Great stuff.
This is some pretty heady stuff but it does make sense
it works,
All that is well and good about dropping the club or relaxing from the top but the biggest issue is what is the state of the pronation of the right hand before the relaxing dropping of the club. If the right hand that you took out of the model is not fully pronated then you can get seriously stuck on the way down, especially if you don't have a lengthy back swing. Be super careful with this care free down swing thought. It only works when the right forearm has been torqued back so that the right hand is in a pronated position. The acid test is when does the right palm have a 45 degree plane to the ground. If you are creating that 45 degree angle of the palm in the downswing then you will never have enough time to pre-torque and fully torque the right extremity in time to get the club to the ball without stalling the chest and flipping the club. So we all remember when tiger was getting stuck and he was hooking the ball. Hank had him throwing the club over his right shoulder. When lifting the club in that manner there was never any torque being created in the right forearm and right extremity. As a result tiger was loading and unloading the whole right extremity in the downswing. There is no time for the pre-torque and the full torque of the right extremity in the downswing successfully, unless you want to hit a big cut. Loading and unloading in the downswing causes the worst stuck move possible. Make sure that if you are going to try and create a larger torque in the right extremity on the way down that you load the right side as much as possible at the top of the backswing before you start down. Done properly pre-torque in the back swing and massive full torque in the downswing will create incredible results, but no preload in the right extremity and then dropping the club under the plane will leave you looking right and left for your balls in the woods. Everyone that starts trying to play golf by putting the club into the back swing and stops using centripetal force in the backswing loses the ability to pre-load the right extremity. This is why everyone that starts trying to look for the perfect backswing starts to have difficulty putting the club on the ball. The natural swinging of the club in the back swing creates torque in the right extremity. Chris l love the flexion in Tigers right extremity now. Finally he is swinging the club to the top of his golf swing. Now the club will have speed and accuracy. Seems like all the instruction he was getting was about where he was going to put the club in his back swing instead of swing the club back and creating a torque. The only way the body knows where the club is, is because of torque. Late torque on the way down results in not knowing where the clubhead is until very late in the downswing. Great to get the club coming out of the right forearm so that all of the force vectors are aligned but if you don't want to get stuck make sure that you have torqued the right extremity before you come down too far, or even better yet get some in the back swing before you start down.
Bla bla bla, take the arms back to “p 6” with the shaft vertical, use the lower body to start and feel the shaft immediately shallow by rotating the wrists ( it’s actually the forearms).Do it until you feel an easy powerful impact then do it about 10,000 more times before you take a full swing. You can see this rotation of the wrists in Mito Pereira’s swing down the line. Notice his hand plane does not change, it’s the wrist rotation that shallows the shaft. This is a drill I use and it is amazing how solid you can hit the ball with a half swing! Your welcome!
The plane line is fixed; the plane angle is not
Ben Hogan discovered this years ago
yes, but this is explained much better here by Chris and I could apply it at once. it now works, Yay
O good God I thought they figured out my swing secret for a second that I have been working on for years. But they are off on some other track. I have to work faster on completing my theory.
Whoops, he didn't mention 1. The proper grip which is absolutely necessary. 2. Getting on plane: no brainner. 3. Most importantly, he neglected to mention the "Shift" the COM to the lead leg to shallow and slot the club into the "Pre-release" position in order to use the natural forces (centrifugal force) square the face and maintain proper sequencing. 4. The release of the left forearm to rotate the head of the club around the shaft. Maybe I'm over thinking this ;)
Tiger Dufner. Can't wait to see it.
How is it that you want to simplify the golf swing down to its fundamental motions and you add a wrist flick at the last second. Do you really think anybody can manage a wrist torque/rotation when the club head is traveling 110 or more miles an hour? Simplify it even more. How about getting the head Square at impact and leaving your hands in that position for your backswing without the last-minute rotation. This is what a strong grip does. Get through the ball and then, THEN roll the wrists naturally.
the 11 dislike are either ignorant about different way of swinging the golf club or they know exactly what these two guy are talking about, but has just creating more confusion to the swing. the drop of the club head at the top is not an intentional move rather as a resultant of the action of the turn and trailing arm. So please don't go out and deliberately practice the drop as this !@#$ up your swing, yes the club head drop below the leading hand path but it is not two dimensional as they have explain it
Just keep the club face square to path and all this complexity goes 'poof'.
To which path? Hand path, club head path, something else?
More pseudoscience. None of this follows basic laws of physics. Just like to see this guy hit the ball with the heel of the club as he demonstrates. It's impossible in a full swing, the club is designed to square itself up.
These guys aren't even close to getting things right. They are not taking into account the dynamics of the body swinging the club. If the club were being swung through the air, by itself, in space, then these guys may have the relationships between positions of COG and resistance to squaring the face correct. however, the club is swung by the body. The reality is that the joints of the body have "directions" in which they will and will not move through, regardless of the direction and amount of force is applied. You can push directly left to right all day long on a piston that will only move in and out and it will not go any where. If you change the direction of force to add an in and out component then and only then will the piston move in and out. The shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, hands all have directions in which they will move. When they work together they are applying forces in directions that the joints will and will not move. Only those forces applied in directions the joints will move are relevant. Similarly, forces applied can and only will cause movement in directions that the body will allow. More cooky musings from the next incorrect cooks.
no wonder TW cant dominate again.
You lose.
Here in 2018. How's that crow taste?
Tiger needs to think about ever little move in his swing....give me back 2000 Tiger swing....go to Jimmy Ballard if you want your body to stay together.....this stuff is going to get ugly when he gets out there trying to apply it.....takes the athlete out of him
You are wrong. This acctually requries an athlete... That Won't break the body. That is how I se it.