Article #49
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Dear Jitterbug:
I have read just about every golf book there is, seen every instructional program, etc. Still, there is one particular concept I simply can't get. How does one learn lower body resistance? I can't make it work in my golf swing.
Shark Jameson
Jitterbug Gang Fan
Jitterbug:
Lower body resistance is beneficial to those seeking extra power without extra effort. Let me explain how it works.
Imagine shooting a bow and arrow. You hold the bow in your left hand and pull the string back with your right. In this case, your left hand is the resistance hand. It resists as the right hand creates and stores tension with every inch it pulls the string back. If both hands do their jobs, there is maximum energy released when the arrow is launched.
Imagine, on the other hand, that the left hand doesn't stay steady as the arrow is drawn back. Rather, for every six inches the right hand draws the string back, the left hand moves three inches in the same direction. When the arrow is finally launched, there'd be much less energy released compared to when the left hand stayed steady. Not to mention, accuracy would be greatly compromised.
In the golf swing, the lower body-feet, knees and hips-play the same roll the left hand plays when shooting an arrow. The upper body, most notably the shoulders, is like the right hand pulling the string back.
Simply put, lower body resistance in the golf swing refers to how resistant your lower body is to the turning of your upper body during the backswing.
Mr. Vaughn:
That's a pretty good analogy about the bow and arrow, so don't mind if I build on it a little.
If you read about golf, you know how important it is to turn your shoulders ninety degrees during the backswing. But, what you may not understand is that, for most folks, there are diminishing returns much beyond that.
Let's just say, for argument sake that you can achieve ninety degrees of shoulder turn with forty-five degrees of hip turn. That's pretty good. But, then someone comes up and says, "You know, if you'd just turn your shoulders farther back, you could hit the ball farther."
So, you try it and find that you're flexible enough to turn your shoulders 110 degrees, twenty degrees farther than before. The problem is, however, that to do it you had to turn your hips another twenty degrees as well, all the way to sixty-five degrees. You didn't gain nothing! All you did was the equivalent of pulling both your right AND left hands back an additional six inches when firing that arrow! What's worse, now you're all outta whack a million miles away from where you started, and you'll be lucky to catch the ball clean one out of three times.
Put another way, everybody needs to find the right combination of hip and shoulder turn to maximize stored energy release while minimizing movement away from the ball during the backswing.
Lord Berry:
I can teach you to find your own correct lower body resistance.
With a short iron, set up over a golf shot and perform the following:
1) After addressing the ball the way you normally do, adjust both knees to the left two inches (toward the target). If this makes you feel like your weight is distributed more on your left side, then so be it.
2) Keeping both knees left, start with some short swings, careful to not let either knee move to the right during the backswing. Keep both knees absolutely left.
3) Build a larger swing until you can maintain this feeling of lower body stability when making a full turn away from the ball.
In a short time, you'll feel and maintain the right amount of lower body resistance to swing powerfully with less effort.
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