Also Known As: “Don’t lock your knees”. This swing thought has you concentrating on making sure your knees don’t lock up during your swing, or at least not until after impact with the ball. Specifically, the right knee can have a tendency to lock up at the top of the backswing whereas the left knee can behave similarly at impact.
Full Answer
Should you lock or loosen your knees when you swing?
Locking up one knee or the other will skew the hips and shoulders into a position from which an inside-out or outside-in swing paths will be difficult to avoid. Keeping the knee flex angle constant throughout shields you from erring away from a desirable inside-square-inside swing path.
How do you Keep Your Knees stable on a golf swing?
Next, try using a range basket or ball such as a soccer ball to help keep your knees stable. Place the basket between your knees and keep the front of the basket pointing at your golf ball while you coil your shoulders on the backswing. Make sure to keep your feet flat on the ground.
Should you straighten your left or right knee when playing golf?
There is nothing to be confused about when it comes to positioning your left and right knee properly. Your left knee plays an important role in both the backswing and the downswing. Your left leg should be straightened out as you move through the downswing and the impact.
What happens to your left knee when you hit a golf ball?
Their left knee seems to move towards the right knee and calf. This perception is the mistake that most beginners make. What actually happens is that the golfers ensure their left knee is slightly tilted towards the golf ball that is set in the center.
What is the golf swing error?
As the name of the golf swing error implies, locking up the front knee involves gradually straightening the left leg during the downswing. At impact, the error is clearly visible through a left leg that is completely straight, with no knee flex to be found. This is in direct contrast to a better swing that sees the left leg retaining some level of flex at impact.
Why does straightening your left leg push your head higher?
This comes from the fact that straightening your left leg would push your head higher as a result of the hips being pushed higher too.
What is the effect of an outside in club path?
While not tragic in itself, an outside-in club path makes it difficult to hit shots that fly straight to the target.
Should the left leg flex be intact?
Indeed, the flex that was first set at address in your knees should be kept mostly intact for the duration of the swing, or at least all the way through impact.
Should you lock your left knee at impact?
Although it is trickier to stop locking up the left knee at impact than it is to stop locking up the right knee at the top of the swing you should still strive to do it. And one of the best ways to go about doing this is to focus on your head, which acts as a proxy for how your leg acts.
What happens when you lock your left knee?
Similarly, the action of locking up the left knee as you bring the club back down on the dowsing will lead to your hips and shoulders to turn aggressively towards the left. This in turn will steer your swing into an outside position, from where an outside-in swing path will be difficult to avoid. Getting rid of that swing path should lead you to fewer pulled shots in the process.
What does "don't lock your knees" mean?
Keep Knee Flex Constant. Also Known As: “Don’t lock your knees”. This swing thought has you concentrating on making sure your knees don’t lock up during your swing, or at least not until after impact with the ball. Specifically, the right knee can have a tendency to lock up at the top of the backswing whereas the left knee can behave similarly ...
What is the position of the hips and shoulders in golf?
Your hips and shoulders are meant to gradually rotate back (or to the right) on the backswing and forward (or to the left) during the downswing . Locking up one knee or the other will skew the hips and shoulders into a position from which an inside-out or outside-in swing paths will be difficult to avoid.
Why is the darned swing so frustrating?
The darned swing can be so frustrating when the positions don't come naturally, like they do for the lucky few.
How to prevent a sprain injury in soccer?
In worst case an surgery may also be necessary.You can prevent a sprain injury by using proper safety equipment for your wrist, ankle and knee. Other prevention methods are warming up properly and perform regular stretching before and after your soccer games.
Which elbow is best for pitching?
The master set up position of the right elbow, suggested by Robert Meade, also helps make your pitching swing more upright and consistent.
Can you fit a swing by a certified fitter?
With all that said, these are starting points. A proper fitting by a certified fitter may show that you need adjustments to those numbers to properly fit your swing. If you do the videos of your swing, you can fill out Doc's long-range fitting questionnaire and see what he recommends. Good luck.
What happens to the left knee during backswing?
Their left knee seems to move towards the right knee and calf. This perception is the mistake that most beginners make. What actually happens is that the golfers ensure their left knee is slightly tilted ...
Which knee should be straightened out in a downswing?
Final Thoughts. There is nothing to be confused about when it comes to positioning your left and right knee properly. Your left knee plays an important role in both the backswing and the downswing. Your left leg should be straightened out as you move through the downswing and the impact.
How to help yourself in a backswing?
You can help yourself by releasing the left knee just a bit. During the backswing, it should point to 1 o’clock, just when you are at the top swing and before you are about to go into the downswing motion. As you move through impact, you should slowly transition your left knee from 1 o’clock to 12 o’clock.
How to do a downswing on a bike?
You should set your left foot in front of the doorway. Once you are in the right position, go through a smooth backswing, and make the downswing movement. The idea is that, as it rotates, your left hip doesn’t make contact with the doorway.
How to do a backswing?
The best exercise out there is to use a soccer ball or a basketball to master knee positioning for the backswing. What you should do is stand in front of a larger mirror and set yourself in the address position. The ball should be placed between your left and right knee. From this position, start simulating the motion of a regular backswing.
Which knee is the most flexed when hitting a ball?
This is where the left knee comes in to play. The fact that legs are the biggest muscle of your body makes it quite clear that this is where you will be generating a portion of the power from. Thus, as you move to hit the ball, you should be keeping the right knee flexed while slowly rotating your hips towards the left side.
What is the positioning of your body in golf?
Also, the positioning of your body is determined by the positioning of your legs. Your feet should be pushing through ...
How to keep your knees stable in golf?
Next, try using a range basket or ball such as a soccer ball to help keep your knees stable. Place the basket between your knees and keep the front of the basket pointing at your golf ball while you coil your shoulders on the backswing. Make sure to keep your feet flat on the ground.
How to keep your knees stable when playing soccer?
This means your hip sockets should be inside of your knees and your knees inside of your ankles. Next, try using a range basket or ball such as a soccer ball to help keep your knees stable.
What is the meaning of "played on your feet and in between your feet"?
Many of you have heard the famous quote "Golf is played on your feet and in between your feet." Or perhaps you heard Jack Nicklaus say golf is played inside your feet. Either way, skilled players know that it's important to not sway side to side outside of your stance and to keep grounded during the golf swing. We get a lot of energy and force for our golf swing from the ground. For this reason your feet and legs are important power transmitters. The key is to use them in the right way. Like everything else in life, too much of something can backfire. This couldn't be more true of the legs in the golf swing. Sure we need to move our legs and drive them for power in the downswing, but overactive legs are actually much more detrimental than under active legs. Far more people have over active legs than quiet legs when they swing. When we over use the legs in the backswing the following swing faults are likely to occur: 1 Reverse Pivot 2 Reverse Weight Shift 3 Sway 4 Loss of Balance 5 Lack of Coil 6 Off Plane Swing
Why are your feet and legs important?
We get a lot of energy and force for our golf swing from the ground. For this reason your feet and legs are important power transmitters. The key is to use them in the right way. Like everything else in life, too much of something can backfire. This couldn't be more true of the legs in the golf swing. Sure we need to move our legs and drive them ...
What is the job of the lower body during a backswing?
During the backswing your lower body's job is to provide a stable base for which the upper body can coil around. The legs and hips should be reactive, reacting to the coil of the upper body. They should not be proactive and move on their own.
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Is golf played on your feet?
Or perhaps you heard Jack Nicklaus say golf is played inside your feet. Either way, skilled players know that it's important to not sway side to side outside of your stance and to keep grounded during the golf swing.
