“In the box” is a phrase I have coined to highlight the importance of having the hips stay deep during the swing. If the head stays out over the ball the deepening of the hips produces an increase in posture during the swing, which means that the head of the golfer will lower both in the backswing and in the first part of the downswing. The Golf Posture Pod is a device that allows you to train this movement while visually measuring whether or not you are being successful at your attempt to deepen the hips during the swing. If you have watched any of my lesson videos you must have noticed that a common mistake among amateur players is the movement of the hips and legs towards the ball in the forward swing. When this happens the body is forced to balance itself by pulling the upper body up and back, and consequently posture is lost, i.e. the player “stands up”. In the process of standing up in the approach to impact the ability to rotate is lost and the right side cannot move forward, causing the player to “run out of right arm” and be forced to “flip” the club into impact as opposed to leaning the shaft forward at impact and “sustaining” the bend of the right wrist past the ball.
Proper pivot motion is physically difficult. Staying bent over (and actually adding bend) through the downswing while aggressively driving forward and around is taxing on just about every joint and muscle in the lower body, and up into the upper trunk as well. Most golfers, if not otherwise taught, will avoid such difficulties and seek out different, easier routes to hitting the ball. They may be easier, but they aren’t nearly as good. The prevalence of great players who lower during the swing and add posture means only one thing: it is a good idea for anyone to do the same thing. The Golf Posture Pod is the first machine I have seen that allows the player to practice correctly while getting feedback on real time swings to tell him if his practice is producing the desired results.
I love this machine. I have it set up so that I can get the student to make a few back and for the movements while pushing back on the pad, then step forward to hit a shot. I can go back and forth with them as much as I want, and the results are fairly astonishing. It has been obvious to me for a long time that the hip movement that the Posture Pod ensures is important in the attempt to acquire a good swing. I have tried to teach and train this movement, but it is one of the more stubborn of swing flaws. Driving the right leg toward the ball and up under the upper body, causing the upper body to respond by backing up (the essence of “losing posture”) is an instinctive motion that is easily understood but incredibly difficult to change. This machine will make a big difference in my attempt to teach what I consider to be higher level technique.