The Measured Golf RU-vid Channel strives to be your destination when it comes to learning the science behind the golf swing. Whether you are a new golfer or an experienced club champion, everyone has to use their body to swing the club, and by addressing how the body can and will work first, it becomes much easier to get the golf club to move in harmony with the body.
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Excellent content. Back in 2018 I did research on my own using the Perfect Putter on greens some call the best in Orlando (Orange Tree GC) that were at an 11 stimp at the time. The big key is the speed of the putt, whether it's primarily dictated by the stimp or the slope. One of the things I found was that starting at about 13-feet the data indicated that *making* putts was increasingly more about luck than actual skill. I could roll the same putt at optimal speed (~2 to 3 revolutions/sec) and have the perfect line and putts would start to miss much more often. My belief is that it happens because there's usually too much land to cover and the ball can be slowed down or move offline, etc. due to the ball, indentations and spike marks on the green and other factors like wind. I also found that *skill* in terms of making putts starts about 3 feet. So skill outweighs luck when it comes to making putts from 3-12 feet. Once you get outside 12-feet, skill comes into play when it comes to avoiding 3-putts. But making putts outside 12-feet becomes increasingly based on luck. The other part I found interesting was on putts from the top half of the fall clock (9 o'clock to 3 o'clock) you were more likely to make a putt that was read 0.25% to 0.5% too high with 'perfect speed' than you were to make putts that were read 0.25% to 0.5% too low with the perfect speed. But on putts on the bottom half of the clock, there was no discerning difference in make %. I surmise that the ball on uphill putts (and greens with slow stimps) the ball will come to a halt more quickly and that affects the ability to gently lay one into the cup and thus the lack of variance in make %. So essentially, if it's downhill or sidehill, particularly on fast greens and on putts greater than 13 feet long, you want to make it a point of emphasis to not miss on the low side (and also to not hit the putt too firm (let's say not hit the putt more than 2-feet past the hole). From inside 13-feet you may want to consider a slighter bias to reading it high or just playing for what you think is the perfect read. On uphill putts and/or on slow greens I wouldn't be as concerned with having a bias of missing on the high side. That may be too much for most golfers to remember, but then again, that's what practice is for.
If you are putting downhill and the ball loses speed, it will work towards the hole and have a chance of falling in, if you putt uphill, and the ball loses speed, it works away from the hole and can’t fall in. Bryson actually did a great video on this, sorry I can’t remember the term for this.
Average tour player is only moving about 2 inches away from the target and 3 inches towards the target from there, including Scottie. Thats what great about these boards is it helps golfers start understanding that the body or mass doesn’t move side to side, just the pressure. All the best.
Interesting! So first, we load the pressure in the inside of right foot(right hand player) while keeping the weight centered, then in the downswing, to create horizontal force, it's not a slide toward the target, but instead, no slide and only upper body rotation and left leg act as support?
We want to load the pressure into the trail Cuboid during the backswing. As for the weight staying centered, I would say that the spine stays neutral while the lead SC joint moves towards the trail cuboid which creates a rotation of the lead shoulder to the trail side of the body, as well as a good amount of shoulder tilt to help keep the club from getting stuck underneath the “plane”. The horizontal force is a push from the trail side towards lead side, and if you haven’t first loaded the trail side, what is there to push? In my opinion, the reason most golfers struggle with low point control is due to a lack of pressure being loaded into the backswing. All the best.
The face sends it and the path bends it. Use the ball flight to determine club path and match the face to the path. That will take care of the two way miss. All the best.
How exactly do you move your right foot/leg/thigh in the backswing? I used to open up my right hip in the backswing, engaging my right glute by sitting back, having no upper body rotation. To counteract this, I started thinking INTERNAL rotation of my right thigh to spike and lock my right foot. It seems to me that understandig HOW exactly you stabilize the right side is very important. Thank you!
I think an easier way to think about it is to try and not move the trail hip away/towards the ball or away/towards the target. The center of the hip should stay more or less in place and we should twist the leg while keeping the pressure underneath the ball of the trail foot. Hope this adds some clarity. All the best.
This is interesting, back when I was quite a consistent driver of the ball, I set up lead hand higher with a weaker grip but still a strong trail hand. The swing just felt smoother and comes with less spin as well. Sometimes I wonder if I should go back to that. 😅
Love your work Mike! As a fellow instructor, what motion and force plates would you suggest I look at getting. I see Swing Catalyst and Smart2move are popular options. Which one would you recommend? Thanks for your time
I have three different sets of plates and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. I think most people would be best starting with a pressure mat and learn on that before getting into the forces and torques and dual plates. All the best.
@@andrevanstaden221 it’s another tool that provides information that you cannot see with the naked eye, so I think it is great. Become a great cook and the kitchen doesn’t matter. All the best.
If you think of holding a steering wheel at 9 and 3, when you turn the wheel to the left with both hands, you want your left elbow to lead the wheel and stay “on the outside” of the steering wheel. The opposite would be letting the lead elbow move towards the rib cage which then requires the wrist to do the turning before running out of room.
Hi Mike, in the lesson you referred to a shift into the lead side. Is this triggered from moving the trail AC joint downwards or is there a shift of mass first to get pressure into the lead side before moving AC joint downwards?
The pressure shift towards the target actually starts around P2. The transition of the swing from away to towards the target is lead by the SC joint followed by the rest of the trail arm assembly. Also, we don’t want to move the SC vertically down in the transition, rather more across and towards the lead side of the body. All the best.
If you load the trail spiral line, you shouldn’t need to worry about the lead very much. Kind of like explaining how to shoot a rubber band gun, just pull it back and let it go.
Couldn’t agree more and I think that is why you saw so many Tour Pro’s go away from that model. The new Trackman Golf averages still have the average Tour Player at -1* AoA. All the best.
That last comment about “getting more loft on the face” made something click. I’m a low ball hitter with decent speed for an amateur, also a huge “jumper” with both feet but especially the left with driver. Never thought those two things would be correlated. Hmmm 💡
I like the focus on the purpose on the grip and the pressure points. It allows the player to find the grip style that most easily allows them to accomplish the goal of the grip. As an aside, you’re the only other person besides Sean “The Beast” Fister I’ve heard reference the brachioradialis in relation to the golf swing. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it stuck with me because my father’s was so big (construction guy) that my brothers and I called it the Daddy muscle until I learned the name of it 😅
Your comment about 12 inches past the hole is a result of the speeds used for aim point calculations. What is interesting, is that Mr. Dave Pelz did a very in-depth study on optimum speed to hole putts on all green speeds and found that 17 inches was the most effective consistent length. I'm curious to know why there seems to be an effort to prove him wrong by some other methods.
Jon, I am not saying one foot past the hole in reference to Mark Sweeney and AimPoint Golf. I am being vague/general and saying one foot due to it being easier to explain than perfect entry speed which is exactly 1.68 mph which makes 74% of the hole available to the ball which is the best we can do. Therefore, not one answer is correct for every putt, which is why I am vague and generalizing to one foot. Also, if you say the greens stimp out at 12 so you can calculate the exact distance past the hole, that doesn’t work as well as stimp readings are taken on a flat portion of the green, and effective stimp is changing on every hole due to the position of the ball relative to the fall lines. We aren’t trying to prove anyone wrong, just trying to share some sound strategy based off facts. All the best.
I was watching your video with Fast Eddie, and it appears that he is torgueing his feet clock wise. I wanted to make sure that I am understanding correctly this movement because it appears that he is doing the opposite of this video. He obviously is a super great athlete and Long drive champion and so my guess is that what you show him is tailored to his specific swing which is certainly not like mere mortals.😎 Thank You
Cant wait to try this today. You do the best video's on you tube for weight transfer. Still struggling with it but you describe it great. I find because I don't transfer weight well it stops me from swinging through properly.
Most people that don’t finish well have a lower trail hip at delivery which prevents them from being able finish standing tall on their lead leg. A great thought for this is starting your downswing with the cue of getting your trail heel all the way around your trail ankle as fast as possible. You want to get the outside of your trail shoe all the way on the ground, this should get you feeling way more pressure on your lead side and sooner. All the best!
Great video I love the link you make to our anatomy in your videos. In the backswing would our lead foot be twisting clockwise to load the spine? Also in the downswing both feet do the opposite of the backswing?
Yes, the lead foot would be twisting clockwise in the backswing. You are also correct that we reverse the twist in the transition and downswing. Important to be sure when twisting the lead foot counter clockwise that the lead hip doesn’t move away from the ball, this is the cause for spin out and not what we want. All the best.
@@measuredgolfso you’re saying the feet feel like they’re pidgeon toeing towards each other? This doesn’t make sense to me but I think I’m missing something
@@dr.kareempize767 it is not a positioning of the feet itis how we internally and externally rotate the joint segments that make up the leg. The idea is that you aren’t trying to open your right hip in the backswing, you are am trying to twist your lead side against a neutral or slightly internally rotated trail hip. All the best.
@@measuredgolf .. maybe, maybe not. Why wear sun hat indoors and then why wear a needless sun hat backwards, indoors. I’m really struggling to figure it out 🤔
If you are keeping your lead wrist cupped which I think is reference to extension of the lead wrist, how do you square the face to the target line without drastically altering the dynamic lie at impact? Anytime we are trying to keep something, or not do something, we are getting in the way of the motion.
At around 3:09, you talk about vertical separation of the elbows. I've been finding that softening the right elbow and getting more than a little vertical separation between the elbows sets me up for a better on plane takeaway and backswing. What are the downsides of having too much vertical separation that you discuss in the video?
Yes, the trail shoulder and start in external rotation which allows the trail elbow to fold under the plane of the golf shaft while the trail forearm can still pronate along with the trail wrist to create a more side-on, or side-cover grip. Great question and all the best!
Hi from Ireland. This video has helped a lot. While playing around with ground forces(no plates) I started loading the right side by moving my weight like u were going to hit some one with your shoulder to your right. Some good results picked up some yards. Then by accident through experimenting, instead of just moving my weight right I started pushing off my left foot. The following happened. My weight moved right but immediately my right foot pushed back left and rotated on its own. This increased my distance by easily 15-20 yards with little efford. What do you think?
During the backswing, we are in the loading phase of the motion. With that said, we load the trail side by contracting the right spiral line of the anatomy around the bones that make up the trail leg and then further up the chain. I think anytime we try to load using the lead side for assistance, we tend to cross load the body which throws off the sequencing a lot. Would keep it simple and try to push away from the ground with the trail leg to start the backswing. We don’t want to create too much sway and lose low point control. Enjoy the Emerald Isle for me! All the best.
This is good information. I think that what you are saying is, improve your short game from inside 30 yards from all possible situations, sand, rough, fairway etc. and the average 15 handicap should be able to get close to par on an average length golf course in normal conditions with constant improvement.
Yep. The best golfers in the world miss greens, it is unavoidable. They also miss fairways and 50% of the field on tour is considered “short” off the tee by comparison. Scrambling and double bogey avoidance is always going to be the normal golfers best friend when it comes to shooting better scores. All the best.
Interesting. That's crazy that Kyle has 210 ft-lbs of torque and Brian has only 88 at the top of the swing. I currently swing the opposite in my mind with a feeling of zero torque at top and then the "free ride down" before I give it all the torque I can muster.
You may want to get on a set of plates and look at the timings of your kinetic sequence. One agreed upon thing in this crazy industry is that we must use horizontal force, vertical torque, and vertical force in that order. If you are feeling the torque at the ball, you may be moving your left glute too far away from the ball and spinning out. Check the dynamic lie and that will give you a very good indication if you can’t get on a set of plates. All the best.
Some players do move more up and down with their structure than others. However, I am talking about ground reaction forces which is force production (kinetics) and not the anatomy moving up and down (kinematics). We have to push against the ground to use it, hard to push and move closer to the ground at the same time. All the best.
That backswing approach contradicts a different video of yours that has the student squatting first into his hip, glute and heel (in order to engage the glutes you need be more in the heels - right?) then rotate the torso as opposed to being more on balls of the feet in the Is video?
I would never intentionally have someone squat into their trail hip. If the trail hip turns around the spine in the backswing, then it must go up from its starting position, not down. Also, being on the trail heel engages the back of the leg, which is for stability and not dynamic movement. This is why most people get stuck behind the ball in transition and are unable to push from the heel. The trial cuboid is the correct spot to load the trail spiral line. Great question, and something that can be quite confusing when looking at video and not force plate data or motion capture. All the best.
In the video, I explain the only way the lead foot flys is if the pressure is on the trail foot, which is never good. So I can’t do a video on how the lead foot should fly when we have to move low point forward in the golf swing which requires a pressure shift to the lead side. If you want to use vertical force, we have to keep the lead leg connected via a pressure down to the ground to use this reaction force. All the best.
That is a way to feel it, however, it may work better to be more specific and focus on loading the trail brachioradialis. Hope this helps and all the best.
@@measuredgolf interesting feeling. I was playing around with it today, is it correct there will be some level of trail shoulder external rotation to load the trail brachioradialis?
How much bend is okay? It seems like your elbow was at almost a 90° angle. Is that how much you bend or was it just exaggerated for the example being shown?
@@janglederek great but difficult question to answer without knowing all of your particular variables. With that said, bend is your friend, and if we go back to the idea of cracking a whip, we need both arms to bend, otherwise, one of the arms won’t be able to bend as much as it should do to the arms moving around the body and needing to work in an opposite and equal manner to control the club face. If you find yourself having to bend the left arm like crazy as in my example, it is likely due to a lead wrist being in too much extension at the start of your swing. Hope this helps, and all the best.
Thanks for your videos, they’re awesome! As a fellow instructor who wants to learn more, what you recommend I do to learn more about ground reaction forces in the swing? I appreciate your efforts to assist people improve!
We actually have an education on this very topic for coaches. If you visit our website measuredgolf.com and click on training, we think you are going to like what you find. All the best.
Your last point is so important also because most of us hit our tee shots after a long wait on the tee boxes where our bodies cool down and move slower. Some experienced fitters would actually not give you a chance to really warm up to see what’s the low end of your data.
I hadn’t until I just googled them. It isn’t about a system, it is about understanding that the human is composed of certain pieces and they can only move relative to the piece they are attached to. Happy to see more people trying to understand and not just recreate the wheel. All the best.
The lead leg internally rotates (clockwise) during the backswing and counterclockwise during transition. In terms of movement, most people get into trouble by letting the lead hip open instead of torque into it in transition.
