To clarify:- I am not talking about a reverse C per se but simply having your tailbone in front of your neck through what ABSers might refer to as p4. If you are looking to continue a strong pivot motion through the ball where your hips AND torso continue to turn together supporting the shaft I would consider this very desirable. When the hips and tailbone stay too far back and the head starts moving forward at said p4 position then the swing tends to become more arm dominant to the finish. I don’t believe the former results in steep shoulders unless you are deliberately driving your legs, swinging too much too the right or your upper body tilts back during the downswing. I think that you will find a great deal of the cohesive body tension that has been mentioned when you can post up on the left side and turn against that resistance as flat as you can. I agree that this isn’t fundamental as Palmer and Moe show here but clearly the arms here are swinging past the body which is in direct contrast to a Hogan type release and the release that I believe we are searching for on this site. It’s just a small point that I believe is worth looking at from a caddy view and is very evident in virtually every ‘body release’ hitter out there.
absolutely.
I would also add that a tightening of the abdominal muscles tends to cup inward that area rather than push forward, tailbone thrust etc.
I learned this from taking Tai Chi instruction years ago and this was part of the basic posture of movement. Very opposite from Yoga. The reverse C to me is more Yoga than Tai Chi. Both in some ways can be related to golf.
Again, the left shoulder is critical because the farther and faster it moves away from the ball post impact the greater the acceleration potential. Flat shoulder rotation helps big time… so does some lateral movement. If the hips move laterally and this moves the torso laterally, that is good. If the torso moves forward (bend toward the target) that can also work.
Palmer, Moe, even Byron to some degree did this. Chi Chi comes to mind the way he would play some shots.
The hanging back or big reverse C is really an anti OTT move… usually combined with swinger releases… and in that framework, works very well. The cupped in abdominal cavity intention I think has merit, as long as the rotation is strong and flatter…post impact… and the club is slotted well on the downswing. Flatter gear also helps with that way of doing things.
There is a gif of Snead on a new thread on sitd on Snead that is from behind. If you want to see how properly to set into the right leg in transition…watch over and over again.
What thread? Or could you bring it over here.
Apparently T. Watson didn’t think too highly of Snead’s action absent tempo.
“Sam’s swing may not be mechanically perfect- his clubface doesn’t stay square all the way through the swing and his leg action was never the greatest- but his classic tempo more than makes up for any imperfections.”
Always looked pretty decent to me.
Thanks, Range Rat, that’s a beauty, I’ve never seen this view of him. I look forward to pondering this…
It’s not wide, narrow, wide. Never was, at least then. It’s wide, WIDE, narrow. Go east, hands, go east.
Thanks for the gif RR.
It seems to me that from this angle, its hard to see Snead actually moving into the right side. Certainly, Snead lifts his left heel off the ground but if you look at his upper body he stays very centered over his lower body. When I try to mimic this in my own turn I find that my weight stays fairly centered over my tailbone (i.e. weight is 50 50 between left foot and right foot) but what does “shift” is where the weight is now focused. Turning in the BS takes my weight and moves it to the ball/toes of my left foot and just behind the ball and into the heel of my right foot. Then in my transition and in the DS I feel the focus of the weight reverse. This reversal moves my weight from the heel of my right foot to the toes and into the heel of the left foot (which signals the “end” of my swing).
Maybe this shift of focus or pressure is what people actually mean by “weight shift”. I’ve always taken it to mean the shifting of the body’s weight to the right side in the BS and into the left side in the DS and follow through (I know that’s the extremely simplified version but I think it’ll do). From what I’m seeing in the gif however I wonder if “weight shift” would be better termed “pressure shift” since the foot pressures seem to be what is shifting (the “shifting” of weight thus being a byproduct???) rather then simply ones body weight.
Does anyone else see this in the Snead gif?
Is this a helpful/accurate way of talking about weight shift?
Does anyone else feel this?
Sask.
That’s generally what I feel in my feet. I get that when I try to get my right ass cheek behind my body on the backswing with a stable right leg.
Keep your arse behind you, works for me…
Do you try to keep your arse “in the box” so to speak?
I need to stay connected, rip the left shoulder back while hitting hard with the right side, and KEEP driving to get this to happen… Still hard at work.
I like John’s phrase: “Accelerate FOREVER!”
I travel a bunch for work, forced time away from golf, so this ABS thing has been slow going for me. A lot of ‘2 steps forward, 1 step back’. Happy to see some light at the end of the tunnel, no one said it was going to be easy!
Now if I could just get transition squared away. Mod6 likes to get lost on the way to the course 
Advanced ABS student:
Do you think this is tied into the fact that he was able to drill while not hitting golf balls? I feel drilling is much more important than hitting practice shots when making a drastic swing change. Sometimes going to hit golf balls before the new movement has been ingrained causes people to revert to their previous, more comfortable way of striking the golf ball. Maybe he was able to let the new movements really become comfortable.
Who knows how long the winter is where that student is, but 3 - 4 months of solid drilling will always have a positive effect on your game. I have been drilling about that long on Mod 1 and 2 and I can see the effects in my swing.
Mod 2 Grad Student:
I may be coming late to this realization, but, after a tip on Mod 3 from Lag, it is beginning to become apparent to me that there is no slack in the golf swing. I feel like I am pressuring the club all the way from P3 to Pv5 with a feeling of tightness in my whole body. I am beginning to believe that if there is any feeling of loose and relaxed while I am swinging, then there is something that needs work.
I like the sound of keeping that tightness all the way through. It is so tempting sometimes to just coast through impact to the finish but you really don’t see that from the best hitters.