Online Lesson: Peter Procops

Our old friend Pete is still grinding away, and while his swing has greatly improved he is still fighting tendencies that have been present for a long while as he contends with back issues. The main thing that a stiff, sore, painful back have on the swing is to restrict the separation of the upper and lower trunk movements during the full swing. The brain is wired to avoid pain, and even when the back is feeling OK it is difficult to move the body at full speed into places that previously have caused problems. I know this for a fact because I wrestle with it myself every day, and I can see in Pete’s swing that the things we want to see are difficult to achieve because the body simply avoids the positions, and it takes a huge amount of focus and physical effort to force what you would hope would be more natural. Pete has plenty of knowledge of the swing, but like even the best players he needs to be reminded of what to look for and what to focus on. What I see here is too much rightward movement with the upper body in the backswing, and I encourage Pete to stay more centered all the way to the top, guessing that trying not to move the head back at all will cut the back movement in half, which would be just about right. I also want him to deepen the hips from left arm parallel to the top so that the left hip and leg won’t get so much out from under him in transition. When I see Pete’s left knee clear late in the downswing and watch his butt move off the box line toward the ball I know that his shaft flattening move is not going to have enough “around” in the pivot movement to open the upper left side and allow him to get the shaft back out onto the plane at P6. Pete’s drill of choice here would be a stop and go from left arm parallel, as this isolates the transition and would allow him to really focus both on staying more centered in the backswing, then finishing the backswing movement by pushing the right side of the pelvis deeper into the inside of the right heel and keeping the left side of his pelvis from rotating forward. From a deeper and more centered position his pelvis can rotate more effectively, and his left arm and left side can clear enough to pull the club back in front of him on the approach.
 
 

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