New Blogs!

I wanted to take a moment for some shameless self promotion .  For those of you who were unaware, I have recently been posting a series of golf blogs in the site's New! Golf Blog section.  I look forward to doing this on a regular basis, and I will be covering a variety of topics, hopefully without too many grammatical errors .  I would strongly suggest, especially since I penned them, that you check them out.  We have recently received many requests about Steve Stricker's golf swing, and I am happy to announce I will be analyzing his swing from the RST point of view in a five part series.  In addition to the blog, there will be an accompanying video for the analysis.  Enjoy!

I love the idea Al, especially because it makes me want to ask questions!  So here is a question about "Why Can't I Stay Centered?".

Simply, do we really want the spine to not move laterally at all? In the RST seminar, I recall a weight shift was advocated. In particular a 2" shift into the right heel.  Doesn't this require the spine and head to shift laterally 2" as well?

Fluffy,
My father-in-Law asked me the same question about a stationary head being an imperative.  My answer;  
Vertically, the head can and should drop on the downswing but never raise, ala RST weight shift for the downswing.  
However, it shouldn't move laterally at all, ideally.  If it does, I believe the dynamic low point of the swing arc will move with it as moving the head most likely signifies you have moved the biomechanical Fulcrum with it.  I define the Biomechanical Fulcrum roughly as the area of the first Thoracic vertebra, T1. We can feel the 7th cervical vertebra as the most prominent spinal bump at the base of the neck especially if you put your chin to your chest. T1 is directly below it.  Instead of moving the Fulcrum, the Fulcrum should remain stationary throughout the swing while our Center of Gravity(part of the spine from the belly button down) should shift left (as the hip girdle effectively goes with it).  By performing the weight shift this way, the axis tilt we are looking for suddenly appears.  This is what I see Al doing in the downswing weight shift video.  That left leg is completely and perfectly stacked right over the left ankle (NJA) after moving from the right ankle while keeping the head (and Fulcrum) centered to where you had it at setup.

Or, we can use a bell as a simplified analogy.  Picture a clapper inside a traditional bell.  The stationary point the the clapper is attached to at the top of the bell would be the Fulcrum and the the ball at the bottom that strikes the sides of the bell is the Center of Gravity (our hips).  Now imagine if the Fulcrum was constantly moving around at the top of the bell at random.  You would not be able to predict from one moment to the next how far you would have to move the ball at the bottom to ring the side of the bell.  Moving the Fulcrum introduces a variable that cannot be accounted for repeatably in the time it takes to swing the club.  So, I can picture swinging my hips left into NJA as ringing the bell and I should make good contact as long as my low point hasn't moved very far in the process.
 
Unfortunately, being aware of this and being able to perform it correctly are two completely different things.

Maybe Al can correct me if I am off here because this is only my interpretation.

That's why I said 'ideally'. You should strive for no movement at all if we are speaking in model terms. This is true for the backswing or the downswing. It does not mean you can't move at all but the lateral movement theoretically has to be recovered on the way back down. That would introduce a reproducibility issue. Check out the very first video on the weight shift. Chuck says something like 'it's a small movement to set the weight to the right and it's only done with my hips (he demonstrates the move right at that point with his hands on his hips). My head stays centered'. It's the video where he says not transferring your weight right and then left will lose you approx 15% in distance.

Again, if the movement is small enough then you may not have to worry about it. However, if I start having fat shots that would be a place to look. Also, just because chuck does it does not mean he is necessarily happy about it. His intent may be to remain stationary with his head as far as lateral movement is concerned.

check,

no reason to correct you...very good explanation