Hip Action

Guys thanks for having a place to learn and grow. I'm a G.S.E.M that has a question concerning the hips.

I Know and implement the down the line slide of the swinger and the crossline slide of the hitter. I have devices which keep the bottom of the spine out (no crossline slide) that I use a lot for juniors.

My question is what is the best way to teach the correct hip slide to juniors. I have so many that learned the game with a closed face grip and rotated the the pivot very aggressively to square the face. A real mess.

thanks

Perhaps hitting off the knees would be a good one here.

Originally Posted by vj

Guys thanks for having a place to learn and grow. I'm a G.S.E.M that has a question concerning the hips. I Know and implement the down the line slide of the swinger and the crossline slide of the hitter. I have devices which keep the bottom of the spine out (no crossline slide) that I use a lot for juniors. My question is what is the best way to teach the correct hip slide to juniors. I have so many that learned the game with a closed face grip and rotated the the pivot very aggressively to square the face. A real mess. thanks

It may help to have your junior train with an extremely flexible shafted club, helping the junior to match the arm speed to the pivot speed.

Congrats on Veazy's win.

Hope this helps,

Thanks for the thought of using very flexible clubs. I will put it into effect immediately.

As a machiner at heart and mind, I utilize TGM in every golf lesson I give. Question though. How many of you guys follow the lanes (pivot, arms, hands)? In other words if Joe has a strong double action grip with a vertical hinge and you know he steers all over the golf course do you go to the hands or do you go to his sloppy knee and foot action.

Vj,

Great to see you at the show, hope everything went well.
I think that depends on the students level of commitment and the amount of time they want to put into improving. With your knowledge of the machine I think you would help this student immediately either way you went.
Mr. Kelley said to work on the first wobbly point of the pattern, grip is right at the top, always remember changing one component affects every other component. If I had this student, I would probably fix grip and go to basic motion and aquired motion to zero out pivot. Grip and hinge action could be trained together then adding pivot when ready.
Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3!

Todd

I agree with mbcpro about the first wobble point.
But I would be first concerned with the education of the hands.
I would reinforce the three impertatives and essentials, as well as the concept of the flying wedges before "fixing" any body action. And I would put a check on vertical hinge action outside lob or putting strokes.

6bMike I agree with what you are saying. Todd pointed out the first wobbly point which mr.kelley speaks of. At the same time Ben basically told me he starts every lesson with the pivot. In other words he is following the book.

I just want to make sure me grabbing the arms and hands isn't out of touch. Understand though, I am not talking about 5 handicaps, club champs, or tour players. I am talking about the other 700 people I teach each year. Pivot or zone #2,#3.

Thanks for the insight guys and gals.

trolio

From my experience working at a driving range and watching thousands of people hit balls, one thing sticks out - and it is the overactive lower bodies of kids/teens. I was one of those people before I straightened it out, yes, but it's very hard to fix.

We like to call it the "high school hips." When I played high school golf, almost everyone I played with in tournaments is spinning their hips like crazy. First tee, straight shot. Second tee, big push. Third tee, snap hook. And so it goes on the whole round, as their hips continue to throw things out of alignment. Very rarely do you see someone with a quiet lower body. Why? Two reasons:

1) It certainly FEELS powerful to spin your hips.

2) There are instructors actively teaching you to spin your hips.

Combine these two, and you have a recipe for some very out of control lower bodies. It's very hard to get out of your swing if it's been ingraining itself since you were a child. You must realize that there is no power to be had by spinning your hips - it only disrupts the real power sources. A quiet lower body goes a long way towards getting not only a stable swing but also accurate power.

Awesome Matt. Gives me some words to fight with.

But I still need more drills, more exercises, I need to give these guys more incentive to make the change even though it will take time and energy. And I need to make sure I use TGM to do it in the simplist, most effiecient way.