Help! Over the top

[dave.]

But my point is you aren't moving the right cheek, its stuck to your leg and moves because of that fact. So thinking about something that cannot move on its own seems like madness. If you have a fault with hip turn then sort it, why worry about your right cheek? Its utter madness to suggest the movement of the right cheek is one of the most critical in the swing, I can't get my head around that at all, afaiac is the opposite, totally irrelevant.

 

[Eracer]

I highly disagree, especially in reference to the OP's problem. The right cheek can do 2 things. It can turn with the shoulders as is the case with every golfer with a halfway decent swing, or it can remain more stationary, cause the right leg to straighten, tilt upwards and cause a lean forward at the top... reverse pivot. From there the swing is stuck and the club must be thrown out to have room to come down, lag is gone, club gets thrown outside of the plane and the old outside to in OTT move causes a pull, pull hook or a pull slice. Sure, someone could play this way but not very well for very long. Every straight shot is really a pull. IMO it may be one the most important moves in the entire swing.

You watch this clip:

YouTube - Tiger Woods' Perfect Swing (SWING VISION)

and tell me if Tiger:

A. Pivots around the center of his pelvis and moves his right buttock backwards during the backswing.

B. Pivots around the right hip socket, keeping the right leg as firm and stable as possible.

C. Has a reverse-pivot.

The answer is B only!!! He rotates around a stable right leg and does not have anything remotely resembling a reverse-pivot. If you swing your butt like some two-bit floozy, then you set yourself up for a reverse-pivot, since your weight on the backswing is moving towards the target.

Yes, the right hip moves a bit as a response to the torque generated by a proper hip turn, but a proper hip turn does not include pulling the right hip backwards.

 

[ezra76]

It moved backwards a ton. Hang on.



Click on the analysis I just did SwingAcademy.com

Tiger is in the exact same position as in the Brady Riggs video. Argue it if you want that it's not important, for me it was the single most important piece of info I ever learned about the golf swing. I was a swayer with a nasty OTT move.

 

[Eracer]

Tiger is in the exact same position as in the Brady Riggs video.

LOL - not even close. Riggs' hips are 90º to the target line at the top. Tiger's are 10º at most - and that's just a result of torque.

Look my friend, I'm glad whatever it is you do works for you, but it ain't the same thing Tiger does.

 

[ezra76]

I disagree, Tiger's are nearly the same. It's just because you are seeing a front view. How is his left hip turned all the way out there if the right is not also? It's right there in the video. If the hips aren't turning, you are leaning towards the target at the top, a reverse pivot.

 

[ezra76]

Here's Riggs from the front doing the exact same instructional position next to Tiger. I rest my case.

 

[dave.]

LOl, whatever works Ez If its worked for you then great, as a key it seemed to work to stop your swaying, which is fine. But imho the hip turn should be based on maintaining them at level and turning the shoulders twice as far,the back pocket for all the gerat players I have seen never moves, they turn over a very very stable base. Yes you need great flexibility to do that, Tiger and particularly Greg Norman barely moved anything,certainly not the back pocket behind the right hip.

 

[Armygolf]

I think the basic concept of Rigg's video lesson is important for people who constantly swing over the top. As you can see neither Hogan or Tiger sway or swing the right hip back as Riggs describes being a symptom of some who swings over the top. Obviously, they don't pivot the hip back and around as much as Rigg's video shows, but I think he may be exaggerating it for the lesson.

I was reading a "How to" lesson to stop swinging over the top and they describe it as imagining someone is giving a firm pull on your right pocket(for right handers)pulling your hip away from the ball and behind you.

 

[slickpitt]

Something that I've managed to figure out that has REALLY helped me is I have to make a conscious effort to keep my head BEHIND the ball. If I do this it helps me clear my hips and hit through the ball. If I get lazy and let my head start drifting forward on my downswing I almost always end up coming over the top.