Body driven steep shaft?

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Body driven steep shaft?  

  By: Zach F on March 21, 2024, 8:24 a.m.

Hi Tyler!

Looking at a number of tour pros’ transitions through the lens of “steep vs shallow,” some are pretty obviously more to one direction or the other, like Niemann is body steep/arm shallow, pulling with the core, and DeChambeau pulls down with the arms and has shallow body angles with a steeper shaft pitch.

However, there are a number of players who appear to be pulling from the core, exhibiting forward flexion and stretch around the lead ribs, but also have a steeper shaft pitch. Is that a subset of players, core-pull/steep shaft, or have I misidentified their power sources and they’re all actually arm pullers?

Thank you Tyler!

Zach

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Re: Body driven steep shaft?  

  By: Tyler F on March 24, 2024, 3:54 p.m.

There are a few things here.
1. A golfer wants to utilize as much of their body for power as possible, but often overusing one area limits the ability to use another. So we don't mind pulling with the arms as long as it's not so great of a pull that it disrupts the arm, leg, or wrists ability to add power.
2. Steep vs shallow is less of an angle and more of a motion. For example, I use Fred Couples in this video because he has a pronounced swallowing movement, even if the shaft angle is more steep than some. https://www.golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/shallow-position-vs-shallow-movement/
3. The purpose of the swallowing movements is to help control the club face and low point at the bottom of the swing. If those tasks are within range at the bottom, then I'm fine with the match up. But if a golfer struggles with a certain miss, like a contact or direction issue, then we want to look at the big influences to that pattern.

Hope that helps,
Tyler

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Re: Body driven steep shaft?  

  By: Zach F on March 25, 2024, 6:32 p.m.

Wow, man.

I confess I thought I might get you there, like a kid waiting to scare his parent at the front door while his parent, easily detecting the clumsy ambush, comes in the back door and surprises him instead.

You REALLY get it, in a way I’m not sure anybody else ever has.

I’m again grateful for your time… and your patience.

Namaste,
Zach

 Last edited by: Zach F on March 30, 2024, 5:52 p.m., edited 8 times in total.
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Re: Body driven steep shaft?  

  By: Zach F on March 29, 2024, 8:22 a.m.

Ok. Looking at it through new eyes I believe I understand shallowing on a deeper level. You can still do it with the arms looping over, like Ernie or Snead. You can’t find that many examples of tour pros doing it the other way because there just aren’t many. It’s just that little moment where the bat falls off your shoulder, isn’t it?

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