Todd Sones is a Golf Digest Top 50 Instructor and has been a Golf Magazine Top 100 Instructor every year since 1995. He also serves on the Golf Academy of America’s National Advisory Board. Last week, Todd and his top assistant attended the 2016 Golf Magazine Top 100 Teachers Summit at Timacuan Golf Resort in Lake Mary, Florida.
The hot topic was teaching ground force. Says Todd, “That topic was amplified by Brandel Chamblee’s presentation at one of your dinners, which was met with some opposition from some of the world’s great teachers to say the least.” That lead Todd to write the following blog post, which I’ve elected to re-post here:
My Holy Grail for Clubhead Speed
By Todd Sones
toddsones.com
It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog. For the most part, I don’t write just to write. I write a blog when I have something to say.
I have had a lot of students ask me about Brandel Chamblee’s article in the February issue of Golf Magazine titled, “The Holy Grail.” Chamblee’s “Holy Grail” is no hip restriction to the point of lifting the left heel quite far off the ground. He qualifies his opinion by saying most of the greats in the game have no hip restriction and lift their left heel.
I could argue that opinion, but I could also understand it to a DEGREE. I would start by asking, “What about Dustin Johnson, Ricky Fowler, Jason Day, Jordan Speith, and many of the other modern day Tour players who hit the ball farther than their predecessors?”
Beginning in the 80’s, which was when I was a young golf professional, many of us latched on to the X-Factor penned by Jim McClean. The theory was to create stretch by coiling in the backswing from the top down, resulting in a spring uncoiling in the downswing from the ground up. It made common sense, and it still does. But, there is a catch. Is a player stable, strong, and flexible enough to load their weight fully in the backswing while maintaining some degree of resistance in their lower bodies?
In the last five years or so, I have had increased success by getting players to understand where their pressure belongs on the feet during the backswing. Now that we have multiple systems in the market that measure where great players have pressure on their feet, we have data to learn from. My “Holy Grail” is where and at what point during the swing players apply pressure on the ground using ground force to maximize their clubhead speed.
My friend Mark Sheftic, who is the Director of Instruction at Merion Golf Club, came up with a great chart using the same BodiTrac system that we have started using. At address, the majority of great players start with 80% of their weight on the left leg, moving to the right leg as the takeaway begins. When the arms are halfway back, the weight is 50/50.
At the top of the backswing the weight is 50% on the right leg, and at the transition of the downswing the weight is already transferring to the left leg. That transfer actually starts well before the upper body and arms have completed the backswing. At impact, the weight is 75% on the left leg, and at finish, it is back to 80% on the left leg.
Pressure and ground force are really what are important here. I think as has happened many times in the instruction industry, we have over done it. The pendulum of resistance has swung too far. However, if you just turn your hips as far as you can, lifting your heel as high as you want, you can expect a lot of mis-hits and wayward shots. Centered, solid, and consistent contact plays a major part in distance, and by the way, greater distance at the cost of ball control will not yield lower scores.
Where I have had much more success in teaching amateurs at all levels, is the sensation or feeling of loading the right (trail) hip in the backswing. I would describe it as more of a sheering action. When properly “loaded,”a player should feel their right glute and quad engaged with pressure being driven down through the right heel at the top of the backswing. It is also important to note most players have loaded the majority of their weight by the time the arms are just halfway back. What that means is that your core (mid-section) should be engaged into action as your club starts in the takeaway.
When a player has “loaded” their right heel, engaging their right glute and quad, they are in position to transfer pressure onto their left heel, engaging their left quad and glute. It is also important to understand that pressure to the left side is transferred well before the arms and upper body have completed their part in the backswing. When the arms start down before pressure shifts to the forward leg, be assured a player is steep and coming over the top, prematurely releasing any stored energy well before impact.
Since at Impact Golf we understand the importance of teaching by FEEL, we like to say that the hips and arms move simultaneously to start the downswing. I think Brandel has a point in that too much restriction kills power, athleticism, and fluidity. However, over rotation of the hips and blatantly lifting the left heel for many players will lead to loss of ball control even if there is a power gain, which I am not sure there would be.
My advice would be to engage your right hip, glute, and quad, maintaining some knee flex so that your weight presses down into the right heel early in the backswing. If you’re inflexible or your lack of flexibility means that your left heel needs to be pulled off the ground, that is perfectly okay and recommended.
The reality is that most players would load their weight better if they allowed their heel to come off the ground as dictated by a full loading of the right hip. I also think slamming a left heel back into the ground is a great way to properly start the transition getting the weight to the left side, just before the arms drop into the downswing.
In conclusion, like in many things, moderation is probably the answer for most people. Too much hip restriction is probably just as much a deterrent as too much hip rotation.