The following picture is from SEP82 issue of Golf Digest.
The caption for the left picture:
If you lower the right side, this puts the bottom of your swing arc behind the ball, so that you either hit the shot fat or swing up on the ball and top it.
The more you lower your right side, the less you’re swinging down on it.
A second thing, the more you lower the right side, the more the club stays in the air. When I say “stays in the air” I mean that the club is in the same relationship w/ the body as it was at the top of the swing. All you’ve done is lower your body and the club has not swung relative to the body for at least half of the downswing. By the time it does swing, it is swinging up into the air with the bottom of the arc well behind the ball.
The caption for the swing on the right hand side:
From the top, practice swinging the arms down while the body remains steady, just as if you were to hit a ball while seated on a stool.
Keep body up while you swing the club down with your arms and hands. This will put the bottom of the arc slightly ahead of the ball, creating the descending blow that spins the ball into the air, making use of the upper body flexibility and “flail potential” that you have. In this manner you're using a whipping arm motion.
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I realize that the golfer in the picture looks too low in the left hand picture, and the whole article seems a bit of an exaggeration, but I thought this article would help me ask the questions I wanted to ask. By the way, I do believe in the TGM principles.
Questions
1. Can axis tilt put the bottom of your swing arc behind the ball? If not, why not? When I lower my rear shoulder on the downswing, it seems like it's easier to hit the ground with my clubhead way before the ball. Or could it be that you could be doing everything right, by just that you're running out of right arm too early? With my rear shoulder lowered, if I run out of right arm too early, I notice ,more easily, that my swing arc does seem to bottom out way before the ball.
2. Does axis tilt cause you to swing relatively less down on the ball? Is the arc less steep because of lowering the right side?
Neither drawing illustrates advisable technique. Here are the faults and cures:
1. First drawing. We're Bobbing big-time. Instead, keep your Head Stationary.
2. Second drawing. The Right Shoulder is being held passive. As a result, it is providing neither Thrust for the Swinger's inert Left Arm or Back Up Support for the Hitter's driving Right Arm. Instead, from the Top, turn your Right Shoulder directly toward the Ball. If you're a Swinger, use this active Thrust to 'crank the Gyroscope of the circling Clubhead' and Pull the Club through Impact. If you're a Hitter, use the Turn to provide only the initial acceleration. Then, use the Shoulder as a 'backstop' from which you Push the Club through Impact.
If you do those two things -- keep your Head Stationary and learn to properly use your Right Shoulder -- Axis Tilt worries will soon be a thing of the past.
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