I don't know why, but inferior setup positions are the most habitual faults before even starting the golf swing. The setup "looks easy". The feet are about here, club there, bend over, hit the ball. However, an inferior setup will result in inferior golf swings. Thus, when someone embarks on a campaign to fix a swing issue such as early extension, over the top, excessive inside or outside takeaways, or the cutting off the backswing, the setup is likely contributing to a majority of the problem.
I (we) will scratch our collective heads as to why swing fixes that we KNOW are correct, still don't work, or some swing fixes result in more swing issues. This leads to the "never-ending" viscous cycle of "working" on the swing and, at best, with marginally better results. Or worse, deterioration of the swing over time as supposedly "improved" movements make things worse, without any consideration to the setup.
So why would the setup be so important, even more than the swing? First is weight distribution, or with the left and right foot. SnT prescribes 55/45 as a general rule. Check. Now, what if I setup 55/45, but with nearly straight knees combined with too much bending from the hips, or excessive torso overhang? Well, at that point my weight would be more like 75/25 out towards my toes. Thus, I would be 55/45 relative to the target line, and 75/25 towards the target line. Does that sound like a recipe for disaster? When the club nears the top of the backswing, most folks with this condition will rock back to re-balance....they don't feel it, but they will because otherwise they would fall forward on the downswing. Thus the 55/45 linear distribution is now fighting against a forward / back weight distribution...all in about 0.5 seconds. If this is the case, no swing fix will work because the weight is always traveling in different directions.
Tom recently did a video about "cutting off" one's backswing too early. Well, I think there's a reason for cutting off the swing and it's not intentional. Pending one's setup they may HAVE TO cut off their backswing. How so? If the torso is hanging out well beyond the knees, making a full rotation to the top will be far more difficult. Try this for yourself:
1) stand straight up like a military guy at attention, shoulders back, perfect posture.
2) fold your arms across your chest.
3) rotate back to 90* turn, then the other way for a full turn. You will feel lots of freedom to fully rotate.
4) next, keep your knees straight, then bend over to the point the buttons on the shirt are aimed directly at the ground, then try to rotate back to 90*. Impossible. Thus as the torso tilts, the abiltiy to rotate to 90* decreases. Thus could be a major reason why many folks get into arm lifting the club to the top.
5) next, stand straight again, but this time get a club and hold the handle against the side of your right hip bone and let it dangle down, with the toe of the club aimed at your right ankle. Then bend the knees slightly and then tilt from the waist such that the club toe will bump your right ankle. Then grip the club and rotate to the top. You should feel a MUCH freer range of motion to rotate the shoulders to 80-90*.
6) from the "balanced" position the butt will feel more "tucked in" at address.
7) with a balanced setup, the ball position may change, or be a little more forward in the stance. It is for me.
If anything, for me, I want to feel like I am looking more down my nose at the ball vs. directly at the ball. Plus, the club dangle - ankle check is easy to do on the course to check my setup.
The club "dangle" check is great for those who stand with overly bent knees with an excessively upright upper body because the toe of the club will be in front of the ankle. However, more often than not, most folks squat too much at setup and as such the club dangle check will reveal the club toe is too far behind their ankle.
If the club toe hits the ankle then the chances are far greater that the front/back heel toe weight distribution will not be "fighting" the lead/trail foot 55/45 distribution during the swing. They will be working in harmony vs. against each other. The setup must be in balance before bothering with any, and I mean ANY other swing "fixes", at least in my humble opinion.
Plus, for those who run into shanking, especially with shorter irons, take it from a shank expert....I can almost guarantee that excessive upper body overhang with straighter knees creeps in more with shorter irons. I don't know why, but for me my very bad habit on PW's and SWs is to stand too far away, then hunch over with excessive torso tilt and straight knees.
Watch the pro's, they stand very upright on shorter irons with steeper angles of attack. On the course, before hitting ANY shot iron, I suggest doing the club dangle / ankle check. Therefore, the fix for my shanks was NOT a swing fix. It was a setup fix. I cannot count the number of times that swing instructors would overlook a player's faulty setup and start trying to re-route someone's swing to stop shanking when the shanks were most often the result of a bad setup. Then that person played even WORSE after the lesson. Then they buy new clubs. That doesn't help. Then 10,327 YouTube videos later they're still playing mediocre golf at best. We've all been there.
The phrase, "it's the economy stupid" could be changed to "it's the setup stupid!". LOL
@GolfLivesMatter - Nice post! The setup doesn’t necessarily make the swing, but it certainly can break it before it happens.