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Posture has a huge effect on what happens when the player starts to move, and in just about every case where I see a slumped, heel oriented setup I suggest something more athletically angled and “ready”, with the upper body out over the ball and the foot pressure toward the balls of the feet (but not on the toes). I like to see the player bend from the hip joints so that the pelvis has some downward tilt to it, and I use the analogy of just about any sport where the player needs to be able to move quickly forward or to the side, such as a tennis player waiting for a serve, a shortstop waiting for a ground ball, or a linebacker waiting for the ball to be hiked. For those who have never played those sports I compare the setup to standing on the starting line for a distance running race when you’re waiting for the gun to go off and you want to get a good start in front of the hundreds of people trying to do the same thing. I put Justin side by side with Tiger, and later in the video suggest that he try to straighten his left knee sooner with the driver, something I think will be easier for him when his posture improves.
Sometimes when a student who has taken more than a few lessons from me sends in some swings I can spot an immediate issue that I would like to see corrected before I make a bunch more comments. In this case Justin, who I have given face to face lessons to as well as online lessons, seems to be setting up more on his heels than he usually does, which has effects on just about everything in the swing. I put him side by side with Tiger Woods to demonstrate how I’d like him to be bent more out over the ball with his foot pressure more toward the balls of his feet, which I hope will allow his pivot to work more efficiently. I want to see him try this and send more swings before commenting on anything else, so stay tuned for his next video.
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