The other day, Elaine wrote her question (see below) saying that her husband, a good player, says that she always comes off her feet hitting the ball. She asked why it happens and can I help her. Ken wrote in yesterday about his wife coming off her feet every time she hits a ball.
I had already decided to answer Elaine as this is a problem I have seen in women golfers from LPGA Professionals to amateurs. In fact, I have seen the lady pros affected by this more than the amateurs because of equipment issues. This is also seen in a lot of junior golfers, both girls and boys, and for the same reasons I will cover. There are setup issues, club issues and swing issues that affect and cause the 'Jump Shot' or if the feet don't come completely off the ground, 'Tip Toe' hitting. Let's start first by reading what Ken and Elaine both said.
Ken Gundersen says:
My wife comes off both feet every time she hits the ball, How come her practice swings are perfect?
Elaine says:
I am a leftie on a higher handicap and my husband keeps telling me I take one of my feet off the ground unbeknown to me when I swing. He wonders if I am standing wrong or is it just that I try to put so much effort into my swing and it just happens. It is definitely hampering my golf so hope you can help me.
The Surge says:
Let's start with looking at setup issues that can cause air golf swings. First, I will answer Ken's question as to why his wife does not go airborne in practice swings. It is simply because it is a 'practice swing' which lacks the speed, muscle power and intensity of actually hitting the ball.
The setup issue is usually one of two problems. Standing too close to the ball can cause raising or standing up to make room getting the knees and legs out of the way. Aiming right (for right hander) can cause this when the player pulls her torso up and left to get the body out of the way so the arms can swing down the aiming line.
The equipment issue is one, two or all of three issues. The clubs can be too long, too stiff and or too heavy. There is a prevailing thought or belief in the golf business that when a female golfer, from a young girl to a grown woman, exhibits a somewhat power swing (as compared to women golfers in general) and is becoming a quality player, 'They need to be playing with men's clubs.' That's WRONG'¦almost completely WRONG, including the LPGA Players. Why?
Because men's clubs are longer, stiffer and heavier than women's clubs and thus too difficult for most women to swing with power, control and balance. They have to revert to using the extra leveraging of their entire body to swing the club. Why? Because ladies have, on average, 30 percent less upper body strength than a man their comparable size.
The solution for this is simple. If a lady is in fact a power player, and/or is tall and needs longer clubs and/or thicker grips, get these clubs made with ladies components of grips, shafts and club heads. Grips can be built up thicker. If the shafts need to be longer and stronger than a ladies shaft, then the woman can use men's ultra lite or graphite shafts. The point here is that longer and stronger ladies clubs built with ladies components are lighter and thus easier to swing with speed and control than a comparable men's club. Easier means the ladies can stay grounded when they swing.
The swing is the cause of a lady getting airborne when the player is making a big hip and shoulder turn and usually with the turn over swinging to and definitely past parallel. Because ladies have less strength in their arms and shoulders to pull the club up and around to the aiming line from an over swing, they have to engage their entire body to add leverage, which causes them to sort of jump up. They first have to pull the club up from the over swing past parallel and then once up, pull it down to impact. So, the cure here is to use the PPGS with the limited turn and ¾ backswing.
The limited turn with the forward arm over the toe line and the club at ¾ backswing length has the club in harmony with gravity. It is ready, with the first muscle tweak of movement in the transition, to start falling down and then swung more easily on path to the ball. The key here is the extra leverage of using the entire body to first pull up is not needed. The player stays grounded and has better timing, balance, control, and power to swing into impact and through to the T ' Finish.
The Surge!