Stack & Tilt: My Backswing

Continuing the GolfTEC analysis of my swing, here is the start of the backswing with Ernie Els on the left, me in the middle and Stack & Tilt (S&T) on the right. Starting the backswing, what GolfTEC is looking for is weight shift and a stable lower body. The weight shift results from the upper body turning behind the ball. Notice the lines against Ernie Els' back leg and head. The right leg stays within the line but Ernie's head has moved back from the original position. The lower body can rotate to get a full shoulder turn but without swaying (moving the right leg backwards). Contrary to S&T, GolfTEC wants the head to move backward in the backswing and move back a lot (12 inches in my case).

My swing was described as a "reverse pivot" with the weight moving forward to the left foot and my head moving substantially forward of the ball. I could not find an exact S&T model for this point in the swing but if you roll the frame on the right back a bit in your mind, it looks pretty much like what I am doing. About the only thing that GolfTEC liked about this position was that my arms and hands have good extension and good wrist hinge.

From my perspective, I didn't realize that my head was moving that far forward. I thought I was keeping my head steady. Now that I see it on the video, I don't like the way the swing is starting.

P.S. Today I played a round of golf going back to my old width swing with possibly some elements of the Hogan-missing-piece swing. I didn't score that well (it was a cold day with swirling winds) but I hit some nice shots letting my weight shift back on my right foot. My playing partners commented that my swing looked more fluid. It seemed a little easier to play but I had to continually concentrate on taking a full shoulder turn and making sure my hips cleared on the downswing (at least I had only one swing thought through the round). And, as you'll see later, I wasn't getting a full shoulder turn with S&T.