Is This Swing Thought Valid

[A.Princey]

Three things I try and work on at the range are staying centered(balanced w/o sway), keeping my elbows connected with my torso back/thru the ball, and keeping an athletic stance at address with knees bent and posture good during tgthe swing.

 

Here's my question, I have a really good swing-thought that leads to a noticeable sensation at transition to start the downswing. The idea is to fire the rear glute(while maintaining the same athletic position), thus rotating the hips open and the upper body follows. Is this a good thought to start/fuel the downswing or will it lead to inconsistency? I'm a little afraid it could be injurious to the lower back as well because of the odd angle of the spine with relation to upwards and out hip turn. I've always had very passive legs in my swing, and this move feels really good and seems to be the key to openness at impact.

[Millbrook]

It's a good move. Russell Heritage calls it separation. Check this;

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[juststeve]

You would in my opinion be better off with a swing thought about what the golf club does instead of what an isolated muscle group in your body does. You don't hit the ball with your glute.

 

Steve

[davep043]

> @juststeve said:

> You would in my opinion be better off with a swing thought about what the golf club does instead of what an isolated muscle group in your body does. You don't hit the ball with your glute.

>

> Steve

 

I know you and I have talked about this before, but different people need different thoughts to achieve the same goal. For many, thinking about what the club is doing at transition, or to start the forward swing, would lead to over the top or early extension or some other similar problem. For those people, a swing thought about starting with a specific lower-body movement may be the better way to go about it.

[Zitlow]

> @"A.Princey" said:

> Three things I try and work on at the range are staying centered(balanced w/o sway), keeping my elbows connected with my torso back/thru the ball, and keeping an athletic stance at address with knees bent and posture good during tgthe swing.

>

> Here's my question, I have a really good swing-thought that leads to a noticeable sensation at transition to start the downswing. The idea is to fire the rear glute(while maintaining the same athletic position), thus rotating the hips open and the upper body follows. Is this a good thought to start/fuel the downswing or will it lead to inconsistency? I'm a little afraid it could be injurious to the lower back as well because of the odd angle of the spine with relation to upwards and out hip turn. I've always had very passive legs in my swing, and this move feels really good and seems to be the key to openness at impact.

 

If it's working don't change anything.

[glk]

The answer is maybe. With out seeing your swing its just a guess. My experience is isolated changes in movement don’t often improve a players swing unless they fit what that player needs.

[A.Princey]

Noted, but the idea at least gets my hips moving early and avoids lack of motion entirely. I find this really works wonders on partial chips, where passive lower body can be a killer, where it's even harder to engage all the right muscle groups with smaller, more delicate backswings. "Arm chips" and putting style pitches are a different animal, but whenever I get serious wrist hinge and/or clubhead acceleration, the rear glute firing through the ball gives me crisp contact. Verdict is still out on whether it's applicable to full swings. Perhaps just partial practice with this focus in mind will instill the move in my full swing without having to think about it.