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Ryan Moore's setup

Tom, I watched your helpful video about getting the knees over the toes in setup and it reminded me that while watching the John Deere tourney last weekend I wanted to ask your opinion of Ryan Moore's setup. Clearly he has the knees over the toes. His takeaway is much higher than you teach, forcing him to drop to a lower plan on the downswing, but what do you think of his initial setup? https://youtu.be/UeOTYxiwW9g

2 comments

2 Comments

ericostling

Aug 04, 2021

@billp2000 , getting the knees over the toes is a key principle in athletics in general, and one that I don't see emphasized nearly as much as it should be. It prevents twisting, which the knee is not designed to do, and which is the #1 cause of injuries there from what I've seen and experienced myself. @Tom Saguto 's "goofy feet" approach also encourages this proper relationship, since it encourages opening up the hip joints, something which we're not at all used to doing usually. When the hips stay closed that often transfers excess burden onto the knees (ouch). Looking over the Ryan Moore vid personally I think he could go even further with it in the setup than he is(!), making his golfswing life a little bit easier. Quick thoughts...

Tom Saguto

Aug 04, 2021

Replying to

@billp2000 - My apologies, but your original post never hit my radar!

Ryan Moore is a great player. The fact that his swing style of taking the club back way outside the line and then nearly straight up differs dramatically from S&T does not detract from that. It obviously works very well for Ryan, and he does a nice job of maintaining his center and shallowing the path on the way down.

Moore's setup is classic shift & lift, with the lead foot flared outward to promote firing the hips through the zone, and the trail foot perpendicular to the line to create resistance in the in order to build "torque" on the way back. So, the lead foot flaring is consistent with S&T; the perpendicular trail foot is not. Trail side resistance - which sadly remains a part of "conventional" instruction - is responsible for countless lower back, hip, and knee injuries (just ask Tiger), and is also a culprit behind much mental anguish suffered by amateur golfers for the sideways shots it has caused. The stock setup for the S&T swing prescribes having both feet flared out 10-20 degrees, with both knees flared outward as well but to a slightly lesser degree. This facilitates a resistance-free, body-friendly 45-degree hip turn that then enables the shoulders to turn 45 degrees without any strain or tension. It also helps us with keeping our weight forward throughout the swing rather than shifting, and it supports the hands-in component which enables us to then harness the tremendous - and virtually effortless - power source that is Angular Momentum.

Therefore, in answer to your question, if one wishes to set up and swing like Ryan Moore, then the SG online school is most assuredly the wrong place for them to be toiling....🤣