The baseball swing vs golf swing article drew a lot of comments, agreeing with me that there are a lot of similarities between each. I was also happy to see so many references made to other sports also having swing motions similar to golf and references to players from those sports that excel in playing golf. Then there were a few comments and questions about Charles Barkley, one of basketball's great players and his unique swing, asking for me to comment.
Mike M says:
I echo Thom's comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Sir Charles and his exaggerated yip. Something is 'stuck' in his brain, taking over his tempo. I am not an instructor, but I would love to spend some time with him here in sunny (except for today) Arizona. Somebody's got to be able to fix that. It seems so simple, yet I am sure it is not.
Thanks for the articles. Down the middle.
The Surge says:
Sir Charles definitely has a yip or hitch or glitch in his golf swing. If you want to take a peak, click here.
Charles spent a lot of time with a teacher on a Golf Channel show series to try and fix his swing. As far as I know Barkley did not find the help he was looking for. In an article on Golf.com titled, 'Tiger's coach seeks to fix Barkley's golf swing,' the following excerpts are quite revealing.
'Barkley once was a 10-handicap golfer and could break 80. Now he can't break 100. He finished last at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in July.
'My goal is to go out and have fun because I haven't been having fun on the golf course in maybe 10 years,' Barkley said.
'Barkley has been hitting at least 1,000 balls a day as he seeks to revamp his swing.'
If you clicked on the link and checked out Barkley's swing, you see he definitely has a hitch. In fact in this swing he hitches or pumps 2 or 3 times.
My first assessment is Dynamic Balance is the #1 problem Charles is facing. I have detailed the importance of Dynamic Balance many times in articles and how, since it is an auto pilot system, it takes over our motion without us even knowing. This happens because our balance system, or 'Balance Buddy,' as I call it, has one job and one job only. That is to keep us standing up in our movements. Sir Charles swing definitely jeopardizes his staying standing. His 'Balance Buddy' kicks in and takes over and he is basically helpless to stop it as long as he uses that swing motion.
I had a lady call me last year wanting to book a few lessons for her husband as a gift. She knew he had serious swing problems as she heard him and his golfing buddies talk about it. She said he came to a complete stop and froze at the top of his backswing. She said nothing he tries can get rid of it. As soon as she mentioned stopping I knew the problem involved balance. If his setup was out of balance that meant his swing also had to be out of balance.
When golfers have to stand frozen at address a long time you can bet their setup is out of balance. The brain and 'Balance Buddy' are figuring out how to get them going and be able to keep them standing to the top of the backswing. Once at the top, the swing again has to pause and even stop. They may also vibrate, wiggle, hitch and twitch while the brain and 'Balance Buddy' reprogram how to change direction and keep them standing.
The only priority being addressed is remaining standing. Impact and hitting a good shot is not part of the equation. It is part of the player's equation but not of the balance system's concern, which is only keeping the golfer standing. That is why these players get to impact and can hit the ball. Most times they hit it badly as well as usually fall backwards and struggle to remain standing.
This is also why golfers say that no matter how much they concentrate on hitting the ball they can't seem to learn and swing the way they want and sometimes call themselves stupid. It's a big time balance problem. And until they get a dynamically balanced setup so they can swing balanced, which they also must do, they can never achieve their swing goals. They have to have dynamic balance in their setup and swing to keep the balance buddy quiet and out of action.
Charles Barkley has serious balance issues and his 'Balance Buddy' is working overtime to keep him standing. (Note: I have never seen him swing in person and only have seen his swing on TV. The one I linked to above does not have great angles to see his setup and swing.) So here is my diagnosis and prescription for Sir Charles from what I see in these videos.
First thing I would like to know is when did this start and does he have any idea what caused it. Was it from his getting out of his playing basketball shape and condition? Was it from golf lessons or working on some swing thought? Or was it when he started playing in front of big crowds in the pro celebrity tournaments and his bad shots started hitting people? These all lend to physical and mental stress that can be a cause to his problems.
I see his setup as the start of his breakdown. He appears to have his torso bent over too much as well as having too much knee bend. Add to that, it also appears that his weight is heavy on his left/forward leg. These setup problems cause him, in his backswing, to raise his torso and sway backwards. This is his effort to get taller and behind the ball, which is where he should have started from.
The one good thing about his backswing, which I saw on the first show, was that he stood his club straight up to 12:00 o'clock, the light position. Unfortunately, when this was pointed out to him as well as shown Tiger's club was at 10:00 o'clock, the recommendation was Charles had to be like Tiger and had to lay off his club.
The top of the backswing is not really the problem, as he is not stuck there and actually makes a descent flowing transition. The problem starts when he collapses his torso downward and forward completely on his forward leg. This is where we see the pause or hesitations and the gyrations begin. He is now ahead of the ball and way to close to the ground to swing his arms because there is not enough distance and room for them to straighten out at impact. The 'Balance Buddy' is figuring out how to move him, make room for the arms to straighten and keep him standing. The answer is, like one of his basketball shot, a pull up, fall back, fade away shot.
How would I help Charles Barkley? First, I'd have to get him setup dynamically balanced and pre-loaded heavy right on his back leg. Second, I would work keeping his knees and torso level in his backswing and lifting his arms more as his old swing has almost no arm lift, with his hands barely getting waist high. Together with this I would then get him vertical again, if he has lost it from the thousands of balls he hit on the show. Lastly, once he can keep his body quiet, level and lift his arms more, and get back his 12:00 0'clock club at the top of the backswing, then it is time to swing up to the T ' Finish.
I would have Charles make a lot of practice swings from setup to the top of the backswing only. Once he has that, then swing completely to the finish. All of these practice swings are done with no club. When those look good, then we add the club. Finally when that looks good and he can 'feel the swing,' he has earned his golf ball to now 'swing the feel.'
Decent to good swings gets Charles another ball. Poor to bad swings gets Charles more practice swings. Why? Because hitting lots of bad shots is bad and counter productive. Ball beating, like child and wife beating, should be against the law. Learning and feeling the correct setup and swing motion is correct learning. When the motion is correct, hitting the ball decent to correct proves the understanding and feeling is correctly being learned and transformed into a correct swing.
Charles, or any student of mine, would never hit a thousand balls a day with me, especially if they were not hitting them well. And even if they were hitting them well, they would not hit a thousand balls a day because I think that is somewhere between stupid and abusive, never mind not necessary.
Charles Barkley only needs to get into a balanced setup and then feel a balanced and level swing, from takeaway to impact, and then up to the finish. He loves golf and I sincerely hope he has not crossed the line of no return.
The Surge!