We have a question here from Inner Circle member Segnet. He says, “My body seems to be twisted! I can line up my feet parallel left just fine. Yesterday at the driving range, I met a local professional, and he put a club on my back to show me my shoulders where lined up about 20 to 30 deg left. And this accounted for my horrible slice.
'Well… I must say I was not actually “turning” myself. Rather I seem to naturally be 'twisted' that's when I remembered that my Chiropractor had informed me that my right leg is about 3/8″ shorter than my left.
'I don't wear corrective insoles or special shoes, I tried that and it caused me such great back pain I got along better without them.
'Now for the big Q: Will a “short right leg” (like standing in a deep divot) cause a right to left shoulder alignment twist relative to the feet when at athletically ready position? If so, would there be a problem with carrying a “block” or a temporary shoe insert to be used for my swing, then removed again (according to game rules)? Would there be another way to correct this seemingly natural right to left twist of the shoulders?”
First I'll talk about using a block or a piece of wood just to put under your foot to swing. I don't think that will fly with the USGA. I'm not a rules expert, but I know them pretty good and I would suggest you need to call the USGA and see what they say.
As far as twisted or you're feeling like you're standing in the divot, I don't think the shorter right leg is going to cause you to automatically have a twisted upper body, where your front shoulder is way out to the left, causing the outside in swing for the slice. I think it could give you a higher front shoulder to back shoulder so you have more shoulder tilt from front to back. That would be very good in making sure your right arm is below the left in the master setup position. But as far as twisted?
I think you need to be spending some time standing in front of a window or mirror or maybe even the sun, outside, or having someone standing there watching you to learn to walk into the ball for your mind to memorize when your shoulders are square over your feet.
I think it's just a situation of you just having to learn that square position of shoulders over the feet so that you can get pretty close to it.
This is nothing new. Almost every golfer suffers with it. It's a never ending battle to be square at address. Toes, knees, hips, shoulders and your eyes, parallel to your aiming line. Many golfers who start off “twisted” to the left, once you learn it, you'll find many times you might a little twisted to the right. That means your shoulders will be closed instead of open.
Many players, especially those who really get into the master setup position, where the back arm is lower that the forward arm, that becomes another issue they have to work on all the time to make sure they don't pull the back arm down and in too much, which closes the shoulders.
Squaring your shoulders is a never ending battle, no matter how much you concentrate every time, there will be a tendency, to use your term, you can be twisted a little open or a little closed. So you'll always be working hard to make sure you stay square.
Guys you play with could be checking you out as well as you checking them out.
I don't think there's anything wrong with you. You just have to learn practicing standing up and have somebody check you out to learn where square is so you can get into that position every time when you get over the ball. When you lose it, you can get it back because you have that feeling locked in your mind.
The Surge!