The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

This week I am going to discuss the tweak that didn’t work, and why this method is not good for chipping and putting. The thing that amazed me when I made a golf swing with my arms folded across my chest was how my legs seemed to move automatically into the correct positions during the swing. So I went on a quest to find out what muscles were controling those legs. I spent a good 15 to 20 hours reading neuro anatomy textbooks and golf books that described what muscles were being used in the golf swing.  I ran into a real problem. The golf books that described the muscles that were used in the golf swing, described muscles of the legs and arms as in active process. With the shoulder swing the muscles of the arms and legs are passive. When you went to non golfing textbooks the muscles actions were described when a person is standing erect. You talk about dry reading. I was having flashback college nightmares. Naturally you are not standing erect when you make a golf swing. After much reading I came to this conclusion. The muscles that are responsible for turning the trunk are the internal and external obliques and a few other muscles of the lower trunk. My tweak was to think of the obliques turning and stretching on the backswing, and releasing on the downswing. In the beginning this worked quite well. Because I was not thinking of my shoulders , eventually my arms started to take control, like the evil twin brother. I went back to just thinking of my shoulders making the turn with my left shoulder turning down and under my chin on the backswing and then my right shoulder turning back to ball and under. Naturally with my shoulders attached to my arms this brought them back under control. It is the shoulder turn that should control the swing. I tried to incorporate this shoulder turn into my chipping and putting. I had more success putting with this method than chipping. In the long run I did not do that well with either using the shoulder swing. I think the reason is because chipping and putting are such short and very precise shots that you simply can not take the hands and arms that much out of the shot. Next week I am going discuss some of the things I need to improve and implement on both the full swing and the less than full swing for the 2013 season.