I made an observation the other day during one of the fabulous Player and Teacher Development Forums given by the PGA each year in my section. I was very interested in the main speaker and what he said that day, having worked for one of his Golf Academies in Arizona almost 10 years prior to this particular event.
We all recognized this man for his contributions to the game of golf and his insightful findings with the golf swing. I would also like to add, I admire him for his candid honesty with the topics of that day's discussion. Jim McLean talked with the PGA professionals about what it took to become one of our world's greatest golf instructors.
His golf schools are the second-most popular schools in the world, making millions of dollars every year. Ironically I have been somewhat fortunate to have also worked for the No. 1 golf school, John Jacob's Golf School. This title should not be confused with the Champions Tour player, or for that matter, the actual teacher John Jacobs himself. Shelby Futch is the owner of the golf school. Although they try hard to instill the methods of John Jacobs, it is sometimes hard to do without the master himself.
Futch is also a very successful man -- he owns several golf schools and is a competitor. Shelby is also quite accomplished as a teacher -- he has made the Golf Digest Top 100 instructors list, along with his most accomplished lead instructors at Golf Digest and John Jacobs Schools.
It's a matter of opinion. These titles don't necessarily mean that John Jacobs and Golf Digest Schools are No. 1 with instruction. That honor may well have to go to a man that was in the trenches, someone that built his own theories and his learning facilities from the ground up.
One of McLean's comments that day while answering the question, "How do you get on the top 100 lists?" was, without missing a beat, "I can't get off the list, the best instructors out there aren't necessarily on that list. Guys like Carl Welty aren't on the list."
For those of you who are not familiar with the name, Carl Wetly, he is like the Oracle in the Matrix movie. He is someone that has an almost mystical sense for what happens in the golf swing and he never received the recognition that he deserves. McLean let us all know on that day, guys like Welty passed on information that was invaluable to him. As he went on with his discussion about the X-Factor, he told us that he didn't come up with that name. He said it was one of the writers for Golf Digest that put that tag on his article.
McLean got to write for Golf Digest because of the advertising that he did with the magazine. As usual, for me I started to question some of the newer theories that McLean had started to discuss. One of his newer theories seemed to be a stretch for something that just wasn't there. It was during his description of something he was calling, "body compression."
He showed some footage of a few of his students from the tour, which is something that will always get a PGA golf instructor's attention, if you teach a tour pro we all just assume that this guy is good, real good. I have worked with a few tour players and some pre-tour players, as well as collegiate stars.
I know fully why I like to tell that to any new student before or during a lesson -- it gets their attention. It also does tremendous things for my ego, which I know wants to control every event in my life if it has the chance.
McLean started by saying what he sees the best players do at impact. Their heads drop and the hip on the left side of the body gets higher (for a right handed player). There was a long pause in his speech, he started to show more footage of the motion with other players in his stable and then there was a question from one of us.
McLean was asked, "do you think there is a correlation between the two motions."
McLean's answer baffled me as he said without hesitation, "you know I'm not smart enough to figure that out."
His reply was met with congenial laughter. It was at that moment that I had an epiphany. It dawned on me -- who really comes up with the swing theories? McLean never gave anymore to his original answer. The answer to the question, is there a correlation, of course there is. When you move the top of your left leg laterally and then straighten your left knee it pushes the left hip up. Our head is on the other side of our spine when this upper left leg motion is occurring; the head has no other option but to drop downward.
The lateral motion starts the change in spine tilt, head dropping and the straightening of the left leg to finish it off. I see the motion as similar to what an old steam-engine train looked like when it was pumping its wheels.
The pumping motion creates the rotation. When your left leg straightens it has a facinating effect on the hip that is right above it. The straightening motion pushes or fires the hip out of the way. The straightening causes rotation. You can watch this motion with all the long hitters on tour. The shorter hitters don't straighten their left leg as much and I always tell my bad back students to stay clear of the completely straightened left leg if the motion causes any discomfort.
The lower back can load up to seven times your own body weight if your clubhead speed is over 100 mph. This motion can compress your lower L-5, S-1 vertebrae to the point of some real discomfort when your core strength is not in good form. This doesn't mean you can't pivot. It means your body will never respond to this motion with a golf ball it front of you.
It's funny -- I've seen my students make the motion perfectly without a golf ball over and over. When that ball appears the body will just not respond the same. Why? The body will always try to protect itself. If this is you, there are two options and I would suggest both. Start working on your core strength with yoga stretches and a resistance ball, and let the knee stay bent a little, but not completely, just a little as you turn into your left heel. I hope this helps open you to what really goes on in the world of the golf swing. If you would like to see more extensive footage go to www.7mythsofgolf.com.
