May, 2018 | Wayne DeFrancesco

Lateral Hip Movement in Transition: All the Great Players Have It

The idea that the forward swing should start with the hips squatting and that the pelvis shouldn’t slide (I would call that “Squat and Spin”) is gaining some traction with the popularity of California instructor George Gankas. I will do a video where he explains his ideas and has a “model” student hit balls on Trackman, but here my purpose is to ask why in the world would you want to do that when none of the greatest players in the history of the game have demonstrated that technique? Therefore, I have gone through my bank of model swings and taken the major champions of whom I have stable face on views to prove that in transition, with an iron or a driver, the pelvis slides forward as it changes direction from clockwise to counterclockwise, what Lee Trevino aptly called the “slide/turn”. To simplify the complex movement of the hips and pelvis for my students I have for years asked them to view the hip movement as driving 45 degrees left of the target as the swing changes direction. In reality the right side pelvic rotator muscles start the movement, but many players sense the left knee or hip initiating. It really doesn’t matter how you think about it, as long as the hips gain depth, open and move to the left, pulling the left arm against the chest as the chest stays relatively still. The movement should feel continuous, like a “hula” motion (I wasn’t very good at hula hoops), and the amount of lateral will be determined by the set -up position and the amount of pressure you want on the left side at impact.

Lesson of the Week: Joe Shull- Posture, Setup, Routine, and Takeaway

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Joe came to the lesson with a specific wish: he wanted to fix his backswing, which he knew was putting him into poor position at the top and making the downswing difficult to manage. I first suggest a less slumped posture with the hands a bit higher and looking at him face on I wanted both his weight and his hands more centered. Joe’s grip had gotten quite strong, but he couldn’t see it because his hands were so forward at address, and even more forward after squeezing the grip and forward pressing. Getting into this setup position is crucial for Joe to be able to get the club up on plane and the face less closed in the first part of the backswing, as he needs to maintain the bend in the back of his left wrist from address to the top of the swing. Joe’s overly closed clubface and low to the ground takeaway cause his right shoulder to eventually crunch up and get stuck at the top, and there is no way the right arm is going to work properly from there. We also go over a routine that will get him into the proper setup each time, an important item many players disregard even though the prospect of changing their swing for the better depends on it.

Wayne D’s Swing: May 2018

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

I’m still at it, this time getting ready for the 2018 competitive season by trying to improve my ball striking and hopefully pick up some distance off the tee. I played fairly well in the Middle Atlantic Match Play tournament, finishing T-10 in the qualifier (this is against all the section guys, not just the seniors) and then won two matches before losing on the 18th to a very good player I have taught in the past. Here I go back to some of the things that I still see in my 2001 victory at the National Club Pro, namely a brisker overall pace for the swing, especially the backswing, an earlier engagement of the hands and wrists in the takeaway, and a harder “catch” at the top to flatten the shaft more and more aggressively. I have also incorporated one of Hogan’s setup ideas, as I’m squeezing my knees toward each other at address to try to alleviate some of the problem I have with not being able to clear my left leg quickly enough in the forward swing. It’s an interesting feeling having my knees pressed toward each other (which gets me to the insides of both feet) while my elbows are bent away from each other (helping me flare my right arm so that it does not pinch in front of me in the backswing.

Lesson of the Week: Paul Tibolla 2- Still Working on Right Arm Pullback in Transition

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Paul is a great example (he would rather not be) of an intractable swing issue grooved in for years into his neuromuscular pathways. Paul’s swing is notable for the pullback of his right shoulder in transition, and his upper right arm simply cannot advance far enough forward once the scapula is pulled back at the same moment he is starting his lower body forward. He has seen this over and over and knows what he would rather be doing, but the timing of his swing is dependent on the time it takes at the top for the right shoulder to feel fully turned. We have tried just about everything to change this pattern, and to his credit Paul has made some progress and hits the ball much better than he used to, although not nearly as good as he would like to. In this lesson I decide that we need to eliminate the part of the backswing that pulls the shoulder backwards by getting the lower body starting forward sooner. I had Paul visualize that his backswing ended at P3 (left arm parallel) and that he would “catch” his backswing while his hands and arms felt like they were still moving away from his head. If we can make this timing change (no easy task) then I believe it will be possible to keep the upper right arm in front of the chest and to flatten the shaft while the right elbow moves forward instead of down and back.

Simpson, Reed and Watney: Cupped Left Wrist at the Top

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

Lately we have seen a lot of the top players utilize a flat or bowed left wrist at the top of their swings, namely Spieth, D. Johnson, Keopka and Rahm, but here I focus on 3 recently successful players in Patrick Reed, Nick Watney and Webb Simpson, all of whom get to the top with the left wrist definitely cupped. Some of this has to do with grip type, but in general cupping the left wrist keeps the clubface more open, and with the addition of forearm rotation tends to point the club either on plane or left of the plane at the top. Hogan stated that he liked to roll the face open and cup the left wrist right from the start of the swing all the way to the top and being a Hogan fan, I have always taught that it was a good idea to maintain the bend in the back of the left wrist to the top and starting down, which I think is a simple idea for students to understand. The cupping of the wrist helps my own swing by adding wrist cock, which enables me to increase my lag and produce more speed, something I am conscious of since I go 5’8” and 160 lbs. I also throw in here a couple swings of Bryson DeChambeau, who uses an extremely weak, palm grip and seems to be eliminating all forearm rotation in the backswing keeping the clubface constantly closed, the opposite of Hogan. DeChambeau is hitting the ball as well as anyone on Tour, while Reed just won the Masters, Watney finished second at the Wells Fargo, and Simpson is in control of the Players Championship.

Online Lesson: Austin Kendziorski 4- Bracing the Right Foot and Centering Balance

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Austin had a great fall season at Marquette but fell into a bit of a slump this winter. Here I spot a loss of brace in Austin’s right foot as a culprit in multiple issues with his swing, and when you produce 185 mph of ball speed with the driver you can’t afford to get too far off. You will find more than a few great ball strikers who appear to have “give” under the right foot where the right loading of the backswing stresses the lower leg and the pressure under the foot shifts from the inside to the outside of the foot, but in their swings (obviously since they are already on Tour) the loss of brace (see Sergio Garcia) does not cause what Austin’s mistake causes. Austin’s swing tweaks slightly across the line at the top as his foot gives way, causing it to steepen slightly in transition. This issue, combined with the fact that Austin is leaning a bit left at address (especially not good with the driver), causes his sequence to be off and his approach to impact to be erratic and the driver to have too wide a dispersion. Austin’s swing has come a long way and he has developed the kind of power that would make him one of the longer hitters were he to make the Tour, but as we know control is everything.

Lesson of the Week: Michael Patz- First Lesson Ever

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Having done this job for as long as I have I’m usually the most experienced (and expensive) instructor wherever I am working, and thus do not get many beginners in my book or give anyone their first lesson ever, although I certainly don’t avoid the prospect. The general perception is that a beginner would start with a less accomplished teacher, and I have heard the statement more than a few times that “I am not good enough to take a lesson from you”. Of course, if you give that statement a bit of thought it makes no sense, but that’s the way most people feel. Michael did not feel that way and chose to take his first ever series of lessons with me, and this is a revealing video in that regard. Unless the student has never picked up a club or hit a ball before they already have built in tendencies as their mind and body tries to make sense of what it takes to propel the ball straight ahead, up in the air, with enough distance to play the course.

Lesson of the Week: Andrew Kaye- Getting Started

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Andrew is a newly addicted golfer. He’s young and strong, and his athleticism shows in his high-level tennis. He is pretty much a weekend golfer but likes to get some ball hitting in during the week. He has committed to taking a lesson every week or two this year, and this is our first go-round. I enjoy these lessons, as I must make up my mind as to where I want to start and how much I want to go into in the first lesson. Some people want a bunch of information about what their swings are doing and what needs to be fixed, especially those who are experienced in the game and have been through the taking lessons process. Others have no idea how to get better other than to play and hit balls, haven’t taken any lessons, and once they decide to try to learn about what they are doing it is imperative that they get good information right off the bat.

Swing Analysis: Andrew Landry- Making the Strong Grip Work with Great Pivot Motion and Right Arm Movement

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

Chalk this one up to the “little guys” on Tour, as 5’7” Andrew Landry plays solid golf down the stretch to win the Texas Open. The most distinctive things about Landry’s swing are his strong grip (a la Zach Johnson) and his extremely left exit. Landry’s right arm stays bent well past impact, even with his driver, and when his body is as open as it is by the time he gets to impact you know the hands, arms, and club are going to exit well to the left and come out under the left shoulder. Landry uses an early wrist set to make sure the left wrist stays cupped, and if he had a neutral grip the face would probably be almost toe up. With the grip being so strong, however, the face still appears closed, and it becomes imperative that he keep his wrist cupped and his right arm in front of his chest. He does have a habit of leaning back away from the ball in the backswing, but balances things out perfectly by leaning back toward the ball in the forward swing, the opposite of what so many struggling golfers do. It is notable how open his gets his entire body at impact while keeping the right arm bent and against him through impact, as this allows him to achieve minimal face rotation through the strike. Another thing of interest is the difference between the driver swing face on and the 5 -wood swing. He is way more behind the ball with his driver to hit up on it and moves everything more forward and the ball more back to hit the 5 wood off the ground. Another item of interest is the slow tempo of the backswing and the extreme acceleration of the downswing, not the standard 3:1 ratio that you see in most Tour players.

Monthly Archives: May 2018