Body Movements 6 & 7

[Lance]

You have provided great information on these movements with the video instruction, the Daily Extras on Day 7, the e-mail dated 4-28-16 titled Body Movement 7 | Snap to level, and the Chapter 1 and 4 Assessment videos.

One would think that this plethora of information would cover everything a golfer would need to understand this movement. But, alas, I still have a question. 🙂

While performing Snap to Level will the right hip be (or should be) as deep at the completion of the Surf the Knees and Snap to Level as it was when the right arm was vertical at the top of the back swing?

I sense, based on your writing “Begin the motion forward with the front knee and head moving slightly down and toward the target” that the right hip is holding its depth.

Then, again based on your writing “Be sure both knees are moving slightly back away from the ball at the end of the movement (as per Body Movement 6 – Surf the Knees)” the left hip will join the depth of the right hip during the movement with both hips potentially moving deeper. All this happens while the ribs remain lifted and the frontal plane of the body moves to parallel with the target line.

For my entire golf life my right hip has moved forward in the down swing so this is not intuitive for me conceptually or via motor skill performance.

I need to reprogram my muscle memory through slow repetition. This detailed understanding is beneficial.

Respectfully,
Lance

[Tathata Staff]

Lance,

Thank you incredible description of the movement, you are spot on. Here is one additional way we build this feeling: Setup in a golf stance roughly one fist length away from a wall. So the wall is behind you in your golf setup. Perform the snap to level movement. As you draw back to the top of the motion, feel your back glute push straight back into the wall. At the completion of the movement, feel both glutes on the wall as you snap to level. You may feel the “surf the knees” movement in this same way using a fist length from the wall and push back, surf knees and turn down the thighs while feeling how both glutes push back and slightly up on the wall.

Thank you Lance for your comments and questions. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or support needed.

[David]

Like Lance, I tend to get my hips through a bit too quickly. I am on day 10 and have spent quite a bit of extra time working to master each of the body movements. When I performed “Snap to Level” near a wall as described above, I found my left hip all alone against the wall. Consequently, I’ll be doing a lot of extra reps to train my body correctly.

As a follow up, again, for those of us who like Lance are too quick with the hips, how should we check our postion with Movement 9 – Hug Through Impact? The body assement tool (love these, so thank you!!) indicates that hips and shoulders should be open to target roughly 15 degrees while the knees should be open 0-5 degrees (depending on how far back the right foot is dropped back).

Thanks again for all you do!

Respectfully,
Dave

[Tathata Staff]

Thank you David for the follow-up and for sharing your experience so far with the training so far. It’s great to hear you have enjoyed the Chapter support materials and have found them helpful. Let us know if there is anything else we can do to support you throughout the program. Thank you for the time and energy you are putting into the training.

[David]

I continue to struggle with hug through impact and also thrust through impact. Specifically, the movements for surfing and snap to level seem to conflict, or maybe collide, with my understanding of the former two (hug and thrust). I feel I have made great strides in snapping to level where my left knee will move just beyond the left foot, which has the ankle stacked instead of rolled. Also, I am keeping my abs tight and taking a punch so that my glutes and knees move back. I ran across a video of Brian emphasizing this movement to the point that his back foot actually moved away from the ball.

Where I get confused is trying to take a punch while also allowing my back hip to move into the position described in the body assessment tool for the hug and thrust movements in Ch. 1. The glutes and back knee have a hard time moving away from the ball while also moving toward the target or even then moving toward the target. I have attempted to think of this as a base through which I am running to reach the next position (like running from first to second and then to third). In the end, however, it seems very awkward to make this hard turn back and then forward to the target driven by the feet and then shins, etc. Finally, do the knees and glutes actually move materally away from the ball for hug and thrust or do I just need to make sure the back knee isn’t moving toward the ball, which would doom the swing to eternal weakness? If I do need to move the glutes and knees back materially during the hug and thrust movements then how does one evaluate whether or not he or she is doing this correctly.

Respectfully,
David

[Tathata Staff]

Hi David,

Thank you for asking this question. By you asking this, other students seeing this will also benefit. Please click the link below to view the video we have filmed to answer your questions specifically. Enjoy!

Student Q & A – Understanding How the Legs and Glutes Work Back

[David]

Brian – Thanks so much for the detailed video reply! My daughers (ages 6 & 9)have proclaimed that I am now “famous.” lol

[Tathata Staff]

That’s awesome David, thank you for the reply. Let us know if there is anything else we can help with.