Mike L. was down from Canada for his bi-annual swing check-up and playing lesson. Mike stated he was not playing or practicing a lot, but overall was hitting the ball pretty good. However, he said he was having too many flare right and then low pull shots. Knowing Mike is an ex-hockey player, I asked how his body was treating him. He said his right knee was killing him and was about ready for another operation.
We started out with the playing lesson as there is no better place to see what is happening than on the golf course. Bad alignment jumps out like a neon sign. Along with the bad alignment the swing flaws and compensations are also easily seen and identified. Overall, Mike was hitting it pretty solid and relatively straight when aimed correctly. Besides the every 4th shot being aimed right, I spotted one other setup problem and one big swing problem that needed to be corrected.
The setup problem was that Mike's stance was really wide. His feet, even for a 7 iron, were wider than his shoulders. He had his right foot perpendicular to the aiming line and to really make matters worse, he had his right knee pressed inward. When he started his backswing and tried to shift his weight to his right foot, his right leg was pulled back and straightened to almost locking. When he transitioned to the forward up-swing, his right leg/knee tended to collapse downward prior to impact. He had trouble reaching his T -Finish and getting off his right foot completely to only the toe touching the ground, or pirouetted, as I call it.
I am looking at a wide stance with the knee pressed inward pushing the weight forward causing a reverse tilt. I'm seeing his right leg straighten and sometimes lock up, and I have been told his right knee is in serious pain. This was an easy diagnosis for both helping the reverse tilt swing and likely helping the pain problem.
I asked Mike, since he is a Surge Student, what is the proper width of stance for the PPGS. He replied 'shoulder width. But my knee has been hurting for a while so I widened it to help reduce the pain.' I told him that the wider stance actually was doing the opposite and likely causing the pain. The straightening of the right leg in the backswing, where he was actually turning against and stressing his right knee, was in fact stressing the knee and causing the pain. He needed to get his right foot and knee in line beneath his right shoulder. When he began his limited turn and lifted the club into the mitt, he needed to concentrate and feel that his knee was remaining flexed, and he could feel the loading of his weight over and onto his flexed right knee and leg. This is the same move that a pitcher makes when he makes his windup onto his back foot. You see a little down squat onto his right leg before he starts his stride toward the plate to throw the pitch.
Mike understood this concept and with a few practice swings had the loading onto the flexed right knee and leg working smoothly and correctly. His spine stayed much more stable and still, and his transition was more level and explosive. He began making better contact, his ball flight was higher and straighter as compared with the fades to the right and low pulls to the left. He was really hitting the ball much better and with much better control of his direction. Mike was really pleased with the effect the right leg in line setup change improved his ball striking and direction control. Around the fourth or 5th hole he looked at me after hitting a really good shot and said that he could not believe how well he was playing.
Then he smiled and sort of humbly added, 'Surge, I'm feeling NO pain in my right knee.' He reiterated and reinforced that just 30 or 40 minutes ago his right knee was in serious to excruciating pain. The setup adjustment to the narrower stance reduced and almost completely eliminated the pain. He confessed that he thought a wide stance was better for the knee. The truth was, in fact, just the opposite.
The Surge!