By Kim Jeong-kyoo
Korea Times Golf Columnist
What has stormed onto the USPGA tour scene with much ado is a new swing method that contradicts almost everything presently believed to be the true fundamentals of the modern golf swing that have been deemed so far to never change.
First introduced by Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, the hottest teachers at the present moment, this fresh, revolutionary swing called the "Stack and Tilt Swing" features two movements: tilting spine to the left with your hands working inside, not straight along the ball-target line, on the backswing and springing up through impact with even more weight shift to the left at the initial stage of the downswing.
This radical swing was unknown until 2006 when it won Aaron Baddeley his first tour victory and another one in February.
The kernel of this new sensational swing is to keep the head and upper body from moving to the right away from the target on the backswing. It holds water somehow to say that letting the head and weight shift right on the backswing is as if hitting the ball that moves.
For solid impact, golfers who shift their head and bodyweight right need to precisely return them to their original address position, which is almost impossible to repeat on a consistent basis. That is what Plummer and Bennett believe makes it difficult to hit the ball consistently well, frustrating every golfer at all levels.
However, with the body remaining centered on the backswing as it did at address, you don't need to make exactly the same shift back to the left through impact as you did not move them to the right at all.
Without a doubt, your spine tilt to the left and downward turn of your left shoulder on the backswing ideally prevents your body from moving off the ball to the right but brings about reverse pivot, as you don't shift your weight to the right. Your bodyweight shifts slightly more to the left at the early stage of the forward swing.
But don't worry. Ben Hogan's classic advice is that you'd better swing around your left leg when hitting irons. Moreover, for all successful shots the majority of your bodyweight needs to be on your left side through impact.
As always in everything, crucial to success are proper pre-swing preparations and in-swing movements based on sound basics. Here are the rudiments of the hottest golf swing.
Put some 60 percent of your bodyweight on the inside hip-joint with the weight toward the balls of your feet so that it serves as a fixed axis of your upper-body tilt towards the target on the backswing. Placing more bodyweight on the left leg at address facilitates tilting the spine to the left. That also makes it easier for your body to be centered over the ball, promoting a rotary swing.
Take a moderate or slightly wider stance. The distance between your feet needs to be at least as great as the width of your shoulders with the driver in use. Check to see if your feet are outside your hips.
Align your feet parallel to the ball-target line or slightly closed with the left foot flared out 30 to 45 degrees toward the target just like baseball batters. This facilitates taking the club away from the ball on a path that is immediately inside.
By the same token, you need to adopt a neutral or strong grip as it contributes to inside takeaway.
For a natural inside takeaway it's essential to bend over more from the hips at least 35 to 45 degrees forward from vertical. Avoid an erect posture. With your spine erect or bent forward toward the ball by some 20 degrees or less from vertical, it's just unnatural to swing the club inside.
Also crucial here is to keep the spine perfectly straight, not tilted to the right away from the target, when viewed from the front.
Be sure that two points, one halfway between the shoulders and one halfway between the hips, are "stacked," so your shoulders are directly over the hips.
These two points are swing centers and to hit the ball solidly you need to focus on turning your shoulders and hips without these two swing centers moving, which is what the "Stack and Tilt Swing" is all about.
Stand farther away from the ball than you used to as you need to swing your arms and hands immediately inside and around the body, not up and away. That encourages your arms to stay close to the body during the entire swing, enabling you to swing in harmony.
Better yet, the hands swing fastest when they stay close to the body and approach from the inside. It is usually a hook that knocks down the opponent and the same is true with the golf swing.