This is my latest finding with the golf swing. I call it the "rib cage rip" for a very interesting reason that I would like to share with you. For years we have taught the importance of a hip rotation and weight shift on the down swing through impact. It has become a bit of a stranglehold for even the better player to time this motion with the arms swing. You can just about pick up any issue of Golf Digest over the past 10 years and find articles with some of the world's greatest players talking about "firing their hips." I am singling out Vijay Singh, who tops the list with his entries in these magazines.
There was an interesting story told by Paul Azinger during one of the telecasts that he was announcing last year that pertained to the importance of this move. Azinger said that he enjoyed his opportunities to play an occasional practice round with Singh during the year and during one particular practice round at the Memorial Tournament, they got a chance to hook up. Singh asked Azinger, "So what have you been working on with your swing."
Azinger told him what he was working on and Singh said, "You know every time we play together you are always working on something different. I've been working on the same thing now for 10 years and I'm just starting to get good at it."
I find this story interesting for two reasons -- Azinger had said that they only seem to get to play together a few times a year. If so, then working on two different things a year is a lot for someone like Singh, however that wouldn't seem like very much to someone with a high handicap. There is a lesson in that alone. The second reason for my interest is what Singh was working on at the time -- it's this hip firing business and it took him 10 years to get good at it. I would like to add that he hits more balls than any player out there on tour. He must have had three or four articles in the magazines about it.
I would like to share with you something that could save you 10 years. It is not your hips that you should be concerning yourself with. It's your rib cage. That is what you should be turning and you should do it as quick as you can as you release your arms from the top of your swing.
The reasoning behind this is linked to the biomechanics of how our bodies works. My theory is correlated to how our spine has three atlas points or access points -- places that we have the flexibility to bend, turn and twist from.
These points are starting from your head to your hips. First up is your neck, a very flexible and sensitive area. And then down to thoracic 7, one of the vertebrae in your upper back, it's just opposite your sternum in your back. Traveling further down to the last flexible area is Lombard 5, in the lower back just above your hips.
Now when you think about making a hip motion in the golf swing, your hips are below all three of these flexible areas and your arms are only below one of them, your neck. This may not seem like a really big deal, but as far as synapses -- how a message gets sent through your body -- this distance for some of us could feel like sending a message to a foreign country. The timing of arms with hips is something that pros are always tiring to get synchronized.
Think about your rib cage. It's only below one of these atlas points, it's right there with your arms and it is actually connected to the second atlas point down, T7 in the upper back. This relationship, arms and rib cage is so much easier to get in sync with one another. With the beauty of making a rib cage turn, your lower half, hips included will turn voluntarily. It's by design if you will. The key to this turn is to do it with the proper amount of spine tilt and turn it steadily through the down swing past the bang zone and you will make a bang. Come take a look at 7mythsofgolf.com for more information on the swings of the future.
