The Infamous Left leg "SNAP"
 

I was wondering what TGM's take was on the snaping straight of the left leg through impact. ALOT!!! of tour players do it, and it seems like the best kept secret. AK does snaps his leg straight before impact, while Tiger does it just post impact. Im have been trying mercilessly to accomplish this but i havent had much luck. I think i know how its done in but when i try to put it into practice, it doesnt work at all.

There isnt a Jumping out of the stance at all i think, What it is is, when your weight is heavily on your front leg, and you turn against it, you get the sensation of it starting to straight. I think that this is how it is done, you plant your left leg, and then you turn in some way to snap ur left leg straight.

What you all think?
If anybody has a swing where you snap your left leg that be great.

TOUR Snapping of the Left Leg Straight
 

Whew!

Your post leads us back -- however indifferently -- to Bobby Jones, the '20s and the 'straight left side'.

Indeed, your Left Knee characterization leads us to believe it acts:

"Mercilessly" . . .

"Jumping" . . .

"Snapping". . .

Please, take a breath.

Then consider:

Hip Slide/Turn dictates Knee Action.

Not vice versa.

All while the Head remains Centered.

Think about it.

:)

Everybody post. I'll be back when I can.

:salut:

so your saying that the hips are controlling the left knee snapping then? cause ive found, if you dont swing with your feet, or kind of "plant" into the ground, golfs going to be alot harder.

All the great hitters have that squat, or at least most of them do. them kind of lowering down and then the hips spinning. In my swing, i can get the lower part...i kind of squat and turn, and my leg almost snaps straight, i can feel the sensation, but then it doesnt snap all the way. I must be doing something way wrong becuase, again, w players like AK, the leg is extended PRIOR to impact. So if he gets it straight that quickly, and i cant even do it post impact, i must have a big gap in my motion...i should upload my swing soon

AK doesn't straighten the Left Knee before Impact. Watch any of his Face-on video in slow-mo and you'll see his Left Knee straightening through the Impact interval as his Hips almost face the Target. His Hip Turn causes the Knee to straighten. The bent knee allows his hips to turn. As the Turn progresses, the less bent the knee becomes.

This is an example of Homer Kelley's "Standard Hip Turn" modified by the "Right Anchor" "Knee Action".

His Left Hip rotates away from the Target Line as his right hip travels down the line because AK Pivots around the inside of his Right Leg. His "un-centered" Pivot (ala Ben Hogan and AKA Homer Kelley's "Right Anchor") gives his Left Hip a wider range of motion than his Right Hip. His Left leg becomes straight as the distance increases between his left hip and left foot. This is very noticeable in any Down-the-line view of his swing. Notice that his Hip Turn is level-ish compared to Tigers (tigers is more slanted). Tiger uses muscular effort to "Snap" the Left Knee straight at Impact. Purposely straightening the Left Leg causes his left Hip to rise which causes his Hip Turn to truncate. A few years ago, Tiger said he used that procedure when he wanted a little extra yardage ( ya, that seems to be working).

Tigers Right Hip seems to "run into" his left hip. The Right Hip of AK and BH flow down the Target Line in-line with their right foot because their Left Hip clears out of the way.


Here's a little quote from the Ben Hogan book.

The position Tiger is in there looks really damaging to mee. Hogan's move is better for spine & left knee and probably for ball trajectory as well.

Also note that AK saves his knee by flaring his front foot slightly open between the two frames. You can see a lot of that in Sadlowski's swing and also in Bubba Watson and a few others. They are however not snapping the knee. It is more like a running motion. Kick off the right foot, land on left, kick off the left foot. I'm more of a walker myself:happy3:

Kelvin Myiahira has attributed the workings of the pivot to the "spine engine theory". He compares the footwork, the hipwork and the motions in the spine with what happens when we walk and run. It is very detailed on what happens between the hips and the arms, which isn't really detailed in the yellow book. But still 100% in agreement with the TGM notion that Yoda posted: "Hip Slide/Turn dictates Knee Action. Not vice versa".

Hogan and AK appear to be swinging more left than TW in those pics. Could be TW was practicing the draw in that pic?

The left leg being extended allows the hips to keep turning and allows for more slide.


Great picture of Hogan and Tiger. Right arm and club are in the same place, but chest and left shoulder locations are much different and so are right knee and right hip positions. One of those 2 has much more slide and standing up than the other.

For now, anyway.

lmAo!!!!!!

Daryl,

I read your response to this. And it was wise and fun. I'm sure Sir Elton would have enjoyed it to :salut:


In fact it could also be the opposite.

You can't see whether there's a draw or fade coming from those differences. It all depends on how you time the arms vs pivot etc. There's a zillion of ways of striking through the ball with the club face open or closed.

And while I understand what you mean with swinging left, it is a highly misleading term. If you want to "swing left" you need to open up your swing plane and possible your stance too. That's about it. From face on it will basically look the same. If you want to "swing left" and still hit out on the ball you need to turn the pivot more before you release your arms and the club. I prefere to strike the ball that way, but it is still an on-plane motion.

Tiger is so talented that he can basically get away with anything. The rest of us need a reasonably good stroke pattern to play decent golf. I don't think Tiger is a good swing model the way he strikes the ball these days.

"For now anyways". Hmmm. Do you know something we dont know Slice?

The Legs as Levers is a MORAD thing Im thinking. Not sure. Both camps would want the Left Leg to straighten somewhat but Homer didnt even consider Double Anchor to be a necessarily bad thing. He, of "no one best way". In Lynns first telephone conversation with Homer , he would not take the bait to it being a bad thing. There are saggy knee practitioners in the Hall of Fame after all.

When my back is bad I get Double Anchor for some reason. My back extends but my knee stays bent and wobbles. I hate it. I'll try anything to get rid of it.

Hogan 5 fundamentals pg 107
 

"As regards the legs,a geat many golfer think that
classical style prescribes that, at impact and throughout
the follow-through, the left leg should be as straight as
a stick. Definitely not. If you keep your left leg straight,
you prohibit your hips from making their full turn and
restrict the whole free flow of your body to the left. When
your weight doesn't get sufficiently transferred to the left,
your arc is cramped, and your body, arms and hands cannot
release the full power they're capable of pouring into the
shot."

Hogan was a wise man.

Good quote. A straight knee is not optimal for impact. Neither is a front toe pointing straight at the target line.

I just gotta couple things i want to say. 1st is look at this link zoomed on AK's legs, to me it looks like the left leg is straight, almost extended, BEFORE he hits the ball. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSoV_upbIw Right at 45 seconds, the leg looks almost locked up.

And just to clarify a few things, you guys are saying he is using his HIPS to lock up his leg/ straighten his knee? NOT using his KNEES to do it? im getting this from the comment TGM, " the hip turn/slide dictates knees" or seomthing along those lines...

Im just confused, wouldnt it make more sense that the knees control the hips instead, cause they are closer to the ground...like the old saying feet-knees-hip-shoulder-arms-hands-clubhead,(Kinamatic sequence)

I think i already know the answer to this but ill ask it anyway...you dont conciously move your left hip backward when going through the ball right? that is just a concequence of the hips turning to a certain degree...

Also Daryl, great post btw but could you please explain what you meant by ....This is an example of Homer Kelley's "Standard Hip Turn" modified by the "Right Anchor" "Knee Action".

Im still waiting for the book to come in the mail, and i checked out the new biography TGM, and it didnt give hardly any information. Thanks guys

That's the Ben Hogan Pivot.