The average golf score for men and women has been the same for the last one hundred years. Modern technology in golf instruction has not improved it. Hi-Tech equipment has not improved it. The golfing media is teaching centrifugal force and body rotation. Simple observations show this to be incorrect. If you improve, it must be in spite of what you are told, not because of it. Your subconscious just overrides what the conscious hears and performs in the best way it can. Once you understand the mechanical movements that are necessary for producing power and accuracy, golf mechanics become laughably simple. Forget everything you have heard or read about the body producing power. Every statement is incorrect. Golf is a simple right-handed underhand tossing motion supported by the body.
There are two basic schools of thought for producing maximum club head speed. One is the big muscles (body and legs) and the other is the arms and hands. Each of the authors of the big muscle theories are serious students and teachers of the game. They are not incorrect because of time-on-task work. They are incorrect because they base their findings on the only thing they can, their perceptions. I have great respect for these teachers as sincerely trying to improve your game. Unfortunately science proves them incorrect.
You cannot produce speed where there is no speed of a moving body part.
The hips move less than 2 miles per hour and therefore cannot produce speed.
The lower body can and does rotate independent of the upper body.
Rotary motion of the lower body leading the downswing causes the shoulders to move out of plane.
Rotation of the hips as the start of the down stroke puts great torque (around 200 lbs) on the lower lumbar spine.
Upper body rotation is less than one mile per hour and therefore cannot produce speed.
Calculation of the inside moving the outside shows that body rotation can account for a maximum of around 5 miles per hour of club head speed. Because the lower body is moving independent of the upper body, the actual numbers will be less.
The arms (from muscular contraction) are capable of moving at speeds between 20 and 30 miles per hour.
The hands (from wrist action — extension and rotation) are capable of obtaining the highest speed in the human body. The hands from forearm and triceps contraction is the bodies’ only high speed moving part.
How many people do you know that practice and play all the time and never get any better? The answer is most. You are limited by your ability to coordinate the complexity of today’s mechanics. Once you reach your coordination limits, you will not become a better ball striker (hit more fairways and greens) no matter what you do. There is only one necessary movement in the golf stroke. The movement of the right hand from just above shoulder high in the backstroke to just after impact . A repetition learned rotation of the forearms through impact. This is when the right forearm produces the major power of the swing. The right forearm both rotates and flexes (uncocks) the right hand. The correct application of forearm force at the exact correct time is what separates long hitters from short hitters. Harvey Penick had it right when he said, rotation of the left wrist through impact is one of most difficult motions for amateurs to perfect. Amateurs want to bend the wrist rather than let it rotate through impact. I must impress the need to rotate your forearms during the golf stroke. The majority of club head speed comes from forearm rotation, the only function of the body below the shoulders is to stabilize the swing. Contrary to Gary Mccord and all the other golf analysts, the hips and legs contribute virtually nothing to club head speed. For any of the speed of the hips and legs to be included into club head speed, the shoulders would have to be aligned with the hips at impact.
The physics is simple, optimum use of arm levers. The body is a stabilizer. There are no mechanisms for transferring any speed, momentum, force, pressure or any other term that has been written about from the body into the arms. Type IIx fast twitch muscles moving arm levers create maximum club head speed. Body rotation at the start of the down stroke is the number one cause for the average score being around 100 and most amateurs having low clubhead speed. All tour professionals have type IIx fast-twitch muscle in their forearms. They have been swinging as hard as they can for years.
You can listen to someone telling you what to do and you will NEVER make an effective change in your golf mechanics.
There is one and only one way to improve and change your neuronal patterns for motion. Your body must pass through the exact positions numerous times every several days for two years to make a permanent change.
PGA Professional, Tim Roggero. Contact Tim at rgg284@aol.com.
