Golf Smart Academy Forum — Braking Mechanisms

Hi Tyler!

I recently stumbled across a nest of Stack and Tilters on Instagram, and I found most of the stuff to be very stylistically interesting but maybe not very applicable to the Stock Tour Swing. One thing that did stick with me though is the concept of braking mechanisms.

As a young golfer, I imprinted on Vijay Singh, and even after five months of pretty consistent practice the “hit it hard stop short” still gives me troubles. What physically allows us to stop short? I find myself grabbing the club very tightly just after impact to stop it, but the S&T guys talk about a series of pressure points(which I presume come from the Homer Kelley book- I ordered a copy so I can know what the fuss is about) which I find intriguing. Do we use pressure points to stop short? Do we squeeze the muscles of our core and glutes and insides of our arms?

Thank you in advance for your insight.
Zach

I like to think of the Stock Tour Swing as more of a framework for understanding the golf swing. So S&T easily fits within the pieces I mention here. They have a hierarchy of contact, direction, distance as well as some basic influences like a centered pivot, radius control, etc.

As far as the Hit Hard, Stop Short challenge. There are a couple of limiting factors. The wrists/forearms, the shoulders, the spine/pivot. All of them need to be moving in a way that helps the stop short.
Wrists/forearms - ulnar deviation and trail wrist extension
Shoulders - avoiding the shoulder spin too early and avoiding hard internal rotation
Spine/Pivot - negative torsion (thoracic extension with leg extension) and rotation happening from lower spine rather than upper.

Missing one of those ingredients makes stopping short a real challenge!

PS - I think pressure points were proxies for muscle chains. If you use the right chains, then the pressure points don't actually have to be in contact, but frequently they are.

Tyler

Braking Mechanisms

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