Eric Congorno vs. S&T

I would switch swings with Fred Couples. The smoothest swing which looks effortless.

Thanks for the comments. Korda and Thomas are employing backswing extension which is taught in S&T, and what Tom teaches. They are not lifting the club to the top. The "lift" is what people do in lieu of backswing extension. Extension keeps the body centered over the ball and gets the club more upright at the top, or nearly over, or over the trail shoulder. Without extension the club shaft and shoulder plane will be flatter, and the swing will be shorter with less power. Shorter swings can generate power too, but the timing (for me) is very hard because everything happens too quickly.

In Tom's videos, he demos static backswing positions which is a flatter swing plane. However, during those static demos, he is not extending like he does when he hits full shots. When he hits a full shot, his club shaft is nearly over his trail shoulder at the top (see below pic). Thus, the club travels higher, or on a steeper plane with extension. I think some folks see the static position and mimic that position, but the real position is where Tom is at the top of a full swing. Tom says the shirt buttons should feel like they are pointing to the sky. It's very hard to point the buttons at the sky with a flat swing plane.

Tom's position at the top is similar to Korda and Thomas. Tom's shoulder plane is steeper than 45* like Korda and Thomas. While Tom's club shaft is not quite over his trail shoulder, it's very close....within an inch or two at most.

In my opinion, static backswing positions are "part 1" of the S&T swing system to get folks to learn and understand the dynamics of tilting, stacking, weight distribution, etc. Part 2 is backswing extension which Tom, Cogorno, Cheney and many others teach as being a key component to completing the backswing. Extension will move the club up higher towards being over the trail shoulder. If I extend and try to stay flatter my swing would be more like a T-Ball swing. If I don't extend I can end up throwing the club out at the ball for a shank, and/or start taking less divots because the angle of attack is too shallow. Or a flat backswing can promote an over the top re-route.

Flat or flattening backswings is my #1 problem. Since working on the extension piece, a lot of issues have gone away, and I have far more power. It's not easy because it's a longer swing that will initially feel like it's "out of control", especially on the course. And getting the trail shoulder to be closest to the target at the top will feel very odd...but it's actually not all that difficult with practice.

I think he was very careful to avoid saying "get stacked over the ball" in the video...LOL. I think some folks get weirded out with S&T because they are accustomed to decades of shifting and lifting, or moving off the ball. Their lead shoulder starts to turn down, but then both shoulders flatten at the top. Thus the "tilt" piece that actually gets them stacked over the ball feels wrong. They "try it", it doesn't feel right vs. their flat shoulder swing, then they say S&T "doesn't work for them". Then they continue shooting in the 90s and buy more training aids, watch more videos, etc.

I was watching various pro's swings yesterday (Nellie Korda, Adam Scott, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau). I took some screen shots of their shoulder tilt angle at the top of their backswings from a down the line view (two shots are below). The red line shows their shoulder tilt angle at the top. The yellow lines are simply there to create a 45* line to compare to the red line. Their shoulder tilt is steeper than 45* (red line compared to the 45* yellow line). And the red line extends downward to roughly 4 to 5 feet beyond the ball. The average golfer's shoulder tilt at the top is much less, or more like 10-20* due to a flattening of the shoulders as the club rotates back. If I drew a line down the average players shoulder tilt angle, the line would extend well beyond the ball. When I tried more tilt yesterday it felt like my eyes were looking straight at the ball vs. looking more out of the "bottom of my eyes".

The only way to get more shoulder angle at the top is by creating more tilt on the takeaway. There is a limit to everything, but I don't think most folks will tilt too much. They will (like me) tilt too little and get too flat. Tilting requires more work, more extension, where the trail shoulder feels high at the top vs a flatter swing. This is probably why I get lazy, or run out of gas on the course. My other problem is I'm probably not stretched enough, or sufficiently conditioned.

So when Tom does his demo of standing with a club extended out in front of him, then he tilts to his left, then turns to the top, the more he tilts to the left the more shoulder angle at the top.

Well, Stack and Tilt works for me on the golf course. There are many teachings in the golf world. Like religious denominations. If one works, use it!

He can't admit to being a supporter of S&T otherwise he'd lose half his viewers. I really don't understand the pushback to people trying S&T. If you don't like it, then don't use it, but people get really offended when you bring it up.

I think where Congorno departs from S&T is the fundamental of keeping the weight forward throughout the swing. He does teach a shoulder tilt and torso turning but he talks about using ground force using both feet as I recall. Haven’t seen his latest videos, though.