One of the subjects I cover with my students is the importance of creating the proper imbalances in the golf swing to create movement efficiencies. These imbalances occur over the entire duration of a golf swing. From the first movement through the finish, there are sequential imbalances based on initial intention that drive the motion of a golf swing and a dynamic counterbalancing of that force trailing the (intentional) motion. There are names for the forces at work inside your golf swing.
There is centripetal force and centrifugal (Phantom) force. Splitting hairs on whether to acknowledge centrifugal force is the reader’s prerogative. It’s debate, however, seems only to confuse the issue of counterbalancing forces. It seems to me that to deny the phantom force in the counterbalance is to deny the Laws of Physics. Within the golf swing, there is the force of acceleration and deceleration. There is terminal and radial velocity that create the force of inertia, or inertial force of impact. Then there is the additive force of momentum.
No matter which force we cite, they ALL begin with the connection of the feet to the ground. And when a target is thrown into the mix, the orientation to the ground remains constant, so the only logical variable to address, then, is the orientation of the feet to the target line. And the only orientation by that measure that facilitates all precise intention with a one’s golf ball is the Open Stance – the philosophy that leads to swing health and maintains a golfer’s physiological integrity.
That said, all force created is due to a prior decision to get out of control in a forceful way. These force-creating imbalances are made deliberately and within the limits of the individual’s athletic capabilities. Done properly, the chain of events initiated can be summarized with the following statement…. The longer the imbalances can be maintained before compromising impact, the faster the compensatory motion with the golf club will have to be to regain balance into solid impact.
By this measure, it is the ability to deliver the club head to the ball without falling or missing the ball. This dynamic is expressed when the resultant muscle stretch is converted into potential energy – which is to say force. If imbalances dissipate early in the backswing, there is less stretch maintained in the muscles – requiring less speed to rebalance one’s self into impact. As a result, the force created by momentum, rotation, leverage/lag, and the resulting club head speed will dissipate before impact, costing us force and resulting distance. Do we like hitting the ball shorter?… Me neither.
To get a move-by-move description of the imbalances, you will have to purchase my book. It doesn’t focus on the imbalances themselves. It relates the progression of imbalances to the sequence leading to perfect Open Stance impacts. I don’t claim to know any more than what Newton, Jung, Chopra, Hawking, etc. gave me to use for measuring motion of any kind. If accused of any brightness that is out of the ordinary, it is only the light I shed on the truth others have proven.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy