Golf Digest - K-Vest

Find Your Swing Chiby david leadbetter / golf digest teach- ing professional / with ron kaspriskethis swingwill improve your techniquephotographs byphilosophyfor longer, straighter shotsstephen szurlej100 golfdigest march 2007

SWING CHITHERE ARE DOZENS OF theories about how to swing the golf club,but there’s one common denominator among all great ball-strikers—and it’sthe key to making anyone a better player. From Ernie Els and his seeminglyeffortless swing to Michelle Wie and her incredible distance off the tee, thebest players apply a tremendous amount of energy to the ball. The Chinesehave a word for this kind of energy flow. They call it “chi” (rhymes with tee).They believe all people have a life force surrounding them and within them,and the better you utilize it, the better your quality of life.Tapping into your energy force also will make you a better golfer. I callit “swing chi,” and it comes from how you unleash power during thedownswing. If you transfer your swing’s energy to the ball more efficiently—the key move is leading the downswing with your lower body—you’ll hitthe ball more crisply and deliver more power. While this might seem likea metaphysical approach to the game, we’ve done research at my academyat ChampionsGate near Orlando to put real science behind it. I’d like toshare with you the step-by-step of swing chi, including how we test a golfer’senergy flow, and then offer you my best drills for improving your chi.WHY AM I SWINGING A BASEBALL BAT?The hip turnbegins thedownswing.Then theshouldersstart rotating.The rotationpulls thearms through.Major League Baseball players instinctively react to a pitch with the correctsequencing of their swing—hips, then shoulders, then arms. There’sno thought given to it. This athletic movement is an example of goodswing chi. They transfer their energy beautifully into the ball. I want golfersto react the same way, so I often have them hit golf balls with a batto get a feel for the proper body sequencing (see Drills, page tk).WHAT IS SWING chi?Simply put, swing chi is the energy you transfer from your body tothe golf ball. The better your downswing technique, the better yourchi. Ideally, I want all golfers to sequence their downswing fromthe ground up—the hips rotate toward the target, followed by theshoulders and then the arms. Amateurs typically sequence theirdownswing in reverse order (arms, then shoulders, then hips). This iswhat distinguishes a poor ball striker from a good one. The transitionfrom backswing to downswing is vitally important to delivering themaximum amount of energy to the ball. Ever hit a great shot that felteffortless? Congratulations, that’s good swing chi.

How WE MEASURE A golfer’s chiWe use a variety of state-of-the-art, swing-analysis devices, includingsensors that are placed on the body and club to record energy transfer. The datathat is most important in determining a player’s swing chi or energy transfer isthe amount of weight shift from the top of the backswing to impact. Anotherimportant data point is the seperation between the hip and shoulder turns on thedownswing. More separation means more clubhead lag (right) for more power.OUTDOORTESTINGIn our outdoor testing weuse a device called the K-Vest provided by BentleyKinetics. The studentmakes swings wearingthe vest, as a computerdoes a 3D analysis of bodymovement (right, actualscreen captures). Thisprocess also trains a playerwith color codes (red isbad; green is good) tohelp correct positions andimprove swing chi.SHOULDER LINETARGET LINEHIP LINEPRO90%110%BODY WEIGHTForce onBack footat top ofbackswingPEAK Forceon FRONTFOOTDURINGDOWNSWINGForceon bothfeet atimpactAMATEUR50%65%25% 50%BAD CHIThe computer capturesan over-the-topdownswing.8 degreesof separation between hipsand shoulders is poor.GOOD CHIThis downswing ison plane and wellsequenced.21 degreesof separationbetween hips andshoulders is good.BAD CHI / This computer-screen capture shows a golfer swinging down the target line and also from overhead.His downswing is traveling from outside to inside the target line—a classic over-the-top move that willproduce a slice. A big reason for this move is that he initiated the downswing with the arms, shoulders andhips moving together. This image shows only six degrees of separation between his hip and shoulder turns.SHOULDER LINETARGET LINEHIP LINEINDOORTESTINGDATAOur indoor swing-analysis equipment is provided by theUniversity of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Golfers stand onsensitive plates that measure a golfer’s body-weight forcewhile he or she hits balls into a simulator screen. Sensorsplaced on the torso, arms, legs and club (above) recordtheir swing and extrapolate statistics.Executing the proper weight shift is a very importantpart of transfering energy from the body to the ball. We’vefound that elite-level players use their body’s mass to hitpowerful shots while amateurs use only a fraction of it.This sample data (above) shows that the pros we testedsupported 90 percent of their body weight with their backfoot at the top of the backswing, but the amateurs kept theirweight evenly distributed—no shift away from the target. Asthe pros started down, they pushed off the ground with theirfront foot, registering a shift in mass heavier than their fullbody weight; amateurs registered only 65 percent—wastedenergy. At impact, elite players transfered three-quarters oftheir weight into the hit, with only a quarter of their weightregistering on the ground; amateurs were at 50 percent.GOOD CHI / The club is on plane as this player swings down. More importantly, the sequencing of thehips, shoulders and arms is terrific. A key indicator is the 21 degrees of separation between the hipand shoulder turns. Essentially, all good players coil in the backswing and then uncoil in the downswing,with the body pulling the arms and the clubhead releasing through the ball at the last second.THE CREDIT GOES HERE + the second credit goes hereMARCH 2007 GolfDigest.comXXX

SWING CHIDrills toimprove yourswing chiOPEN STANCEIf you swing overthe top, you’reunwinding yourupper bodyfirst. You needto train yourselfto start yourdownswing byturning your hips.Dropping yourfront foot back afew inches awayfrom the ball andopening yourhips (pointing leftof the target) willhelp initiate theproper downswingsequence.Try hitting driveson the range froman extremelyopen stance.14HALF BACK, HALF THROUGHWhen you swing back too far, you can loseyour coil and bleed your swing of energy.Try hitting with half swings. Take the clubback to where your left arm is parallel to theground, and then swing through to whereyour right arm is parallel. Create as muchspeed as you can in that space. When youget your sequence right—your swing chi—you’ll be amazed how far you hit the ball. ‹›2BASEBALL SWING A good batter instinctivelystarts his swing the instant the pitcher goes intomotion. His weight moves back slightly and thenshifts forward as the ball comes to the plate. As hewatches the ball approach, the batter makes thebackswing and forward swing in one fluid motion;golfers think of them as two separate parts. Thebatter’s weight shift is pure instinct. To make yourswing more instinctive, forget about mechanicsand just react. Grab a bat and have a friend standto the side and toss golf balls to you. When you tryto hit them, your body will coil and uncoil naturally.Transfer that reactive feeling to your golf swing.STEP UP, STEP DOWNIf you watch a pro’s swing inslow motion, you’ll notice heor she actually starts to shiftforward before the clubheadcompletes the backswingarc. This forward shift starts asequence of uncoiling muchlike cracking a whip, where thewhip’s handle is always a stepahead of the tip. To get a feelfor the sequencing of the hips,shoulders and arms, lift yourleft foot off the ground as youtake the club back, and thenreplant that foot just before theclub gets all the way back.3