Going over my swing videos from the weekend and the one thing that’s continuing to plague me is my lead knee is turning in horizontally towards my trail leg instead of down towards my foot. I also noticed my lead shoulder is not turning down like it’s supposed too. It starts down but then levels back up again. I know there’s a lot of cause and effect in the golf swing. Are these two things related? I (don’t think) my weight is drifting back, it doesn’t feel like it. But I know feel isn’t always real. I’m planning on working on these issues this week and it would be good to know before I start.
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@Buford T Ogletree, @mpandichjr, & @danny - Excellent, accurate, mutually helpful dialog! This is exactly the type of interactive exchange I was hoping this new forum would trend towards!
My two cents, which pales in comparison to what has already been said:
A. The lead knee should always work down in the direction established at address - which should be slightly flared outward towards the target. This keeps the weight forward and the swing center intact. Any inward movement of the lead knee will shift the center and low point backwards. This can lead to inconsistency and may also cause some discomfort to the knee.
B. Along the lines of what @danny said with regard to reaching back for more it is definitely of great importance to feel and ingrain your body's natural stopping point in the backswing where the tilting, turning, and extending motions are complete. This is the point where if we were to try to go any further any or all of the following will occur:
1) the lead arm will bend and/or lift
2) the wrists will break down
3) the lead knee will kick inward towards the trail side
4) the lead shoulder will level out and lose its orientation towards the ball
5) weight will shift into the trail side
Well played, y'all!!
Tom
I was doing the same thing. The swing analysis showed I was turning a bit too much in the backswing. I'm trying to learn where to stop the back swing. Once your body reaches it's natural stopping point and go for more, it needs to come from somewhere. In my case, It came from the left knee breaking away from the target and the the whole body coming off the "wall" we're supposed to stay up against throughout the the swing.
I was having the same issue, and when the knee comes inward, it causes a chain reaction right up the body. I fixed it with feel vs real. Rather than trying to get my my lead shoulder coming down and replacing the spot below the first button on my golf shirt, I have to feel like I am tilting sideways towards the target. This will naturally make your right shoulder come up and automatically turn after you tilt, and I get the 'feel' that my lead shoulder is directly over my lead knee. It 'feels' like a quarter swing but is actually a full turn. For the downswing, I reverse it, getting the feeling that I am tilting my right shoulder back down behind my right heel. This naturally and simultaneously bumps the left hip forward and straightens the left leg, and get the club dropping into the proper path (for me at least). Best trying this keeping those upper arms glued to your pecs, light grip, with gentle 1/4 - 1/2 swings. Again, it is a feel vs real thing, but it helped me greatly. It is difficult to accurately get the feeling of plane angles for me, but this feel move seems to set everything perfectly so I don't even think about contact - it just happens.