Golf Smart Academy Forum — Right hip/knee on downswing

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Right hip/knee on downswing ¶

By: Garrett F on July 10, 2021, 11:38 a.m.

Hi Tyler- been working on trying to get better lower body action and reduce early extension. You had previously recommended a stick in front of trail knee to improve lower body action. See the two videos below. One is regular swing with no intent, other is trying to work on keeping trail knee from over flexing in transition and early extending. I feel like I’m locking out right knee and keep it dead straight on downswing leading to throwing arms at ball and not rotating. Doing any other intent just leads to runners foot and crashing through imaginary stick line.

Do you mind providing feedback and/or some alternative intents to improve lower body in transition with upper body intents? Maybe there’s something prior causing problems?

Appreciate the help.

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Re: Right hip/knee on downswing ¶

By: Tyler F on July 11, 2021, 2:33 p.m.

Hey Garrett,

It kinda looks like you get stuck when trying to go back into the heels.

There are two ends to the pivot part, You could experiment with having the upper body stay more down, which encourages the legs to work more away from the ball but it might be easier for you to feel a continued body rotation with the upper body closer to the ball idea. If you look at the snapshots from impact. In order to have that right shoulder closer to the ball, you'd have to delay the timing of the trail arm straightening. As you said, I like the spacing on the drill video, but the lack of rotation and shoulder height is a little concerning. Make sense?

Tyler

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Re: Right hip/knee on downswing ¶

By: Garrett F on July 11, 2021, 5:48 p.m.

I’m actually still learning the lingo so I don’t quite understand. Do you mind going at it a different way?

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Re: Right hip/knee on downswing ¶

By: Tyler F on July 14, 2021, 9:55 a.m.

Hopefully this helps clear up the upper vs lower body thought.

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Re: Right hip/knee on downswing ¶

By: Garrett F on July 28, 2021, 2:23 p.m.

Thank you for clarification. Do you mind also elaborating on your comment “ it might be easier for you to feel a continued body rotation with the upper body closer to the ball idea.”

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Re: Right hip/knee on downswing ¶

By: Tyler F on Aug. 1, 2021, 10:46 a.m.

I can try to elaborate. But, where are you stuck? There are two ideas, stay down and turn through.

With the idea of having your chest stay down, you have to overcome what it feels and looks like to be closer to the ground. If you are closer to the ground and use too much arm action, then you'll hit the ground before the ball. So you have to add in the idea of continuous movement through the ball. For some, this feels like a smoother motion. Less of a hit at impact and more of a feeling of swinging through the ball.

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Re: Right hip/knee on downswing ¶

By: Garrett F on Aug. 1, 2021, 11:53 a.m.

I think I was getting lost by reading your initial response as 2 different options (chest down vs. continuous rotation) rather than interrelated (chest down and continuous rotation). For someone like me will that feel like an over the top move with left shoulder and hips rotating out of the gates?

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Re: Right hip/knee on downswing ¶

By: Tyler F on Aug. 1, 2021, 3:55 p.m.

I never try to guess what a golfer will fill. Every week on the lesson tee a golfer surprises me when they describe what a better move feels like. Last week a golfer trying to feel their chest down felt his nostril was closer to the ground. Also, the feels tend to change day to day. Even though the feels change, the physics and the movement goals remain constant.

Here's a video I did on that topic - https://www.golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/comparing-your-pattern-model/

So you doing the right movement might feel more like chest down or continuous rotation. You'll have to play around with the drills and monitor feedback until a feeling emerges. One thing I've noticed, if it does feel like an extreme over-the-top move, then you'll have to keep a closer watch on the actual path of the club as you work on it. That's the type of feel that usually evolves quickly!