We are used to seeing pretty good swings in these lesson videos, but as you can see I teach plenty of people who struggle mightily with the essential items needed to swing decently, and yet are out there practicing and trying to incorporate what would seem to be basic and simple to more accomplished players. Whether it is lack of athletic awareness or just a lack of ability doesn’t really matter: it is my job to find ways for such players to first understand the concepts behind swinging the club correctly and then to get them to execute the movements, first without a ball and then of course with one.
Jordan has a chronic over-swing with a recalcitrant right arm action that is exactly the reverse of what we want it to do. I always stress that the pivot movement starts the downswing and that the key to moving the right arm correctly is to sequence the swing correctly from the ground up, but Jordan gets the right arm so far back behind him with his legs practically straight that it is almost impossible for him to move it other than the way he does. Thus, in this lesson I shift gears to getting his backswing more in order so that his arms are more in front of him as he gets to the top and his legs are ready to start the downswing much sooner. In order to give him a feel for actively loading into his right side and into the ground toward the right heel I put him on the Posture Pod. You can see for yourself here the amazing difference in the swing on the machine. It is so difficult to give the feel for this pivot motion to players who just don’t get it, but in this case you can see that by using the machine Jordan has a chance to hit balls with a completely different sequence of movement. As is the case with all swing aids, the idea is to use it a few times, then move away from it for a few swings to see if the feel can be reproduced, after which you move back into the station and repeat the back and forth until the movement is learned. Of course, the swing aid has to do its job, and here we see evidence that the Posture Pod does an excellent job of producing deeper hips and a more efficient coil in the backswing.