- Mar 9, 2005
- 1,473
- 23
There is little content in this post. Just some observations from last weekend.
CBS did a lot of side by sides between Ochoa and Wie showing how "fast" Wie got done with her swing compared to Ochoa.
As Tour Tempo has told us all the greats, that is most EVERY pro, swings to a 3:1 ratio. Most are 24:8, some are 21:7, some are 27:9. The numbers represent "frames of video" as video is "always" 33 frames per second. So on a 24:8, Tiger Woods for example, he takes it from address to the top in 24 frames (.727 seconds) and from the top to contact in 8 frames (.242 seconds). (Since working with time is a LOT more cumbersome, I'll only be discussing in FPS from now on. A constant of 33 FPS is used)
That 3:1 ratio is for good contact. If it gets to, in a 24:8 swing, 9 frames on the downswing, the golfer is a little late and pushes it. Usually.
So they had the side by sides, Ochoa vs. Wie, and I counted the frames. Ochoa was a WHOPPING 32:8!! A 4:1 ratio! It absolutely takes her FOREVER to get that club back. But she was consistently 4:1. I can't imagine how many bad thoughts would creep into my head taking it back for 32 frames!
Ochoa is a little off of the 3:1 ratio that all the greats have used. But she is consistent with it, and still takes the club through in 8 frames. Thus she generates power. Power is precisely equal to how fast you make that move from the top down to contact, with length the clubhead travels in that time added in.
On the FLIP side, Wie is another character. Her "fast swing" has her taking it back in 18 and TRYING to come back in 6. I say "trying" because it's almost physically impossible for flexible folks to take a club that far back, to parallel, and try to make it down in 6. She was consistently getting down in 7 or 8, but was very consistent with the 18 back.
18:6 is not a ratio they recommend in the Tour Tempo book. It's just too hard to get the club down that fast. I know, I tried. When I first taped my swing, after reading the book, I was consistently 18, but then varied between 7, 8 or 9 on the downswing depending upon how far back I took it. I had more 8's and 9's than 7's and 6's, so I decided to slow my backswing down in order to reach that 24:8. It's taken a while because it seems to take "so long" to get back there now.
Anyway, back to Wie.
I absolutely can't believe Leadbetter is allowing her to try to move the club that fast. I think her trying to get back to the ball "in time" is killing her driver consistentcy. She's just as flexible as Tiger, maybe more so due to her age, and should have no problem at all with a 21:7, or 24:8. She was pushing drives all day, thus the 18:7's. Just a little late. If she hit a fairway, I'm almost sure it'd be because she shortened her backswing just "that much".
Ochoa, with a swing that slow, may go the route of Nancy Lopez, without the "greatness". In the book they say that Lopez was a 24:8 in her hayday, but kept getting slower and slower. Near the end of her career she was like 50:10 or something. I'd have to look it up.
In conclusion, I think Wie will tear up once she either decides to slow her backswing down, even to 21:7, or shorten her backswing up just a little, itty-bitty bit in order to make the 18:6. Over the long haul though, I doubt she could keep an 18:6 swing up. I think there'd just be too much stress and torque on her body, over time, and things would start breaking down.
Granted with all the personal trainers and nutritionists her sponsors are making her utilize, she'll be in tip top condition well into her 20's. And she doesn't have to worry about putting on her Freshman 15 because she's ineligble for college golf.
Thanks for reading. Any questions or comments are welcome as these are observations I felt I "just had to" write, and is only one man's opinion.
CBS did a lot of side by sides between Ochoa and Wie showing how "fast" Wie got done with her swing compared to Ochoa.
As Tour Tempo has told us all the greats, that is most EVERY pro, swings to a 3:1 ratio. Most are 24:8, some are 21:7, some are 27:9. The numbers represent "frames of video" as video is "always" 33 frames per second. So on a 24:8, Tiger Woods for example, he takes it from address to the top in 24 frames (.727 seconds) and from the top to contact in 8 frames (.242 seconds). (Since working with time is a LOT more cumbersome, I'll only be discussing in FPS from now on. A constant of 33 FPS is used)
That 3:1 ratio is for good contact. If it gets to, in a 24:8 swing, 9 frames on the downswing, the golfer is a little late and pushes it. Usually.
So they had the side by sides, Ochoa vs. Wie, and I counted the frames. Ochoa was a WHOPPING 32:8!! A 4:1 ratio! It absolutely takes her FOREVER to get that club back. But she was consistently 4:1. I can't imagine how many bad thoughts would creep into my head taking it back for 32 frames!
Ochoa is a little off of the 3:1 ratio that all the greats have used. But she is consistent with it, and still takes the club through in 8 frames. Thus she generates power. Power is precisely equal to how fast you make that move from the top down to contact, with length the clubhead travels in that time added in.
On the FLIP side, Wie is another character. Her "fast swing" has her taking it back in 18 and TRYING to come back in 6. I say "trying" because it's almost physically impossible for flexible folks to take a club that far back, to parallel, and try to make it down in 6. She was consistently getting down in 7 or 8, but was very consistent with the 18 back.
18:6 is not a ratio they recommend in the Tour Tempo book. It's just too hard to get the club down that fast. I know, I tried. When I first taped my swing, after reading the book, I was consistently 18, but then varied between 7, 8 or 9 on the downswing depending upon how far back I took it. I had more 8's and 9's than 7's and 6's, so I decided to slow my backswing down in order to reach that 24:8. It's taken a while because it seems to take "so long" to get back there now.
Anyway, back to Wie.
I absolutely can't believe Leadbetter is allowing her to try to move the club that fast. I think her trying to get back to the ball "in time" is killing her driver consistentcy. She's just as flexible as Tiger, maybe more so due to her age, and should have no problem at all with a 21:7, or 24:8. She was pushing drives all day, thus the 18:7's. Just a little late. If she hit a fairway, I'm almost sure it'd be because she shortened her backswing just "that much".
Ochoa, with a swing that slow, may go the route of Nancy Lopez, without the "greatness". In the book they say that Lopez was a 24:8 in her hayday, but kept getting slower and slower. Near the end of her career she was like 50:10 or something. I'd have to look it up.
In conclusion, I think Wie will tear up once she either decides to slow her backswing down, even to 21:7, or shorten her backswing up just a little, itty-bitty bit in order to make the 18:6. Over the long haul though, I doubt she could keep an 18:6 swing up. I think there'd just be too much stress and torque on her body, over time, and things would start breaking down.
Granted with all the personal trainers and nutritionists her sponsors are making her utilize, she'll be in tip top condition well into her 20's. And she doesn't have to worry about putting on her Freshman 15 because she's ineligble for college golf.
Thanks for reading. Any questions or comments are welcome as these are observations I felt I "just had to" write, and is only one man's opinion.