Henrik Stenson does NOT sway! I just want to get that out from the start. Henrik has a lateral shift toward his back foot that triggers his golf swing. Swaying is not a trigger. It is more like moving the barrel while trying to hit the bullseye. It will work one time in a hundred. However, it will never lead to precision.
A Sway is an unmanageable weight distribution in the backswing that causes, occasionally or frequently, unmitigated disasters at impact. These events are always deleterious to power and precision. The Sway causes the arms to disconnect to counter-balance the issue. Therefore, our timing problem produced by this malady is incidental to the real cause. See if you can guess what I’m going to say now….
The Sway could be a problem for golfers who set up square, but it is most prominent in golfers who set up closed. The reason is because we mistakenly believe in our ability to manage our set-up with motion. However, the knowledge to understand our role in the shot and why we move in the first place, is the problem. But, that is a topic for another discussion.
For those golfers who set up square or closed, a sway may be employed to combat a ball position issue. The brain knows where we should be, at impact, to hit a desired shot. Therefore, if our ball “feels” like it is back in our stance, our brain senses it. Then, our brain tells our muscles to move our body away from the target to reposition our ball more forward in our stance. However, instead of doing it with their feet, these poor bastards do it while they’re moving.
If the ball is played too far back in the stance to hit a straight shot, a sway could occasionally help produce this, understandable result. Mistaking moments of success for repeatable efficiency can be the kiss-of-death for a golf swing. Interpreting one result or a small collection of shots in a practice session as indicative of success is the folly of “Bug-cutters” and “Choppers”, as the Kat-man would say.
We need to help these folks get on the good foot by giving them Open Stance advice. Let’s cure golf swings from the ground-up people! Speaking of the ground, I’ve had some cynical thoughts about catch phrases we have been hearing for the last few years. I’ll post a disappearing article about it soon.
In the mean time, here is a video that speaks to the Sway in a way that will stay with you all day. Okay? Enter Happy Gilmore reference here.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy