Axis Tilt/Shank question

Status
Not open for further replies.
I have started trying the axis tilt in an attempt to rid my downswing of the dreaded roundhouse motion. I have noticed that each time I attempt this move my weight seems to fall to my right side causing me to swing off my back leg resulting in a push and sometimes a slice. Any suggestions?

One other question - Can a flat, around the body backswing promote shanking?
 
The tilt is not activated by pushing your right shoulder down onto your right heel. It is accomplished by shoving your left hip to the left - and with it, your weight. You have the wrong mental image of the action if it causes you to swing off your back leg: it is a FORWARD MOVEMENT of your center of mass - the hip area - while your CENTER - your neck area, remains "back".

And yes, if you don't swing vertically enough with your arms, you can easily roundhouse and shank. If your plane does seem appropriate and you still shank, you simply are crowding the ball. Your body is elastic and your shoulderblades fold forward from the force of your forward swing, throwing the club further from your feet than when you are relaxed at setup. This is offset to a greater or lesser degree, however, by how much your left shoulder has moved from setup position to impact position - which is higher and backer from setup...
 
Thanks for the response

I have tried this in the past and I felt like I was sliding and getting my upper body to far ahead of the ball which in my case led to an OTT swing. Is this move maybe a quick slide followed by a turning of the hips while at the same time keeping the upper body back?
 
The leftward slide of the hips is of the hips only, not the upper body. AND the slide is not a very large movement: could be somewhere total between 3 and 6 inches...but it DOES move the weight left. OTT is for the reason that you TURN your shoulders around instead of TILT the right shoulder down. If you stand looking in a mirror and move your left hip left leaving your head stationary, your right shoulder DOES move down. It is structural..not independent of the left hip and spine motion leftwards. There is no reason at the BEGINNING of the downswing for the shoulders to TURN; that comes later.

If you shoot a gun with a 6" barrel, the direction of the bullet is already committed by the direction of that first six inches. If you make a downswing with a left hip bump and a right shoulder movement down, you have committed the swing on plane and if truly your weight DOES move left, you can NOT swing over the top.

This is a maxim that will help enormously: Wherever your weight is located, THAT is where your body rotation will occur. So if you are still standing mostly on your right foot, your body will swing around a piano hinge running up your right leg. If you are standing on your LEFT foot, your body will rotate around your LEFT leg. Wherever you are balanced - if it is in the middle between both feet also - your pivot will rotate around THAT.

A pivot around weight centered between BOTH feet is totally powerless. ALL good swings have the majority of the weight on the left heel at impact: some go to that heel earlier than others, but none succeed that don't get there.
 
One more quick question - After the brief left shift would you suggest straighteining the left leg in order to prevent further slide and also providing a base for which to rotate around?
 

Burner

New
gjsinop said:
One more quick question - After the brief left shift would you suggest straighteining the left leg in order to prevent further slide and also providing a base for which to rotate around?
Once you get into the swing of things the left hip shift is something that will just happen - for now forget all that stuff and simply focus on swinging your HANDS, from the top, in a straight line to the ball. The rest of the good stuff will just happen if you do this.
 

Brian Manzella

Administrator
gjsinop said:
I have started trying the axis tilt in an attempt to rid my downswing of the dreaded roundhouse motion. I have noticed that each time I attempt this move my weight seems to fall to my right side causing me to swing off my back leg resulting in a push and sometimes a slice. Any suggestions?

One other question - Can a flat, around the body backswing promote shanking?

Tell me about your ball flight, prior to all of this and after.
 
I would not try to straighten the left leg: on the contrary, whatever small amount of kneebend exists at setup should remain the same throughout the swing. If momentum raises you up after the ball is gone and after followthrough, that's fine. But straightening the leg intentionally will move your swing center and you'll skull and top and thin your shots if you do it.
 
I tend to fade/slice the ball off the tee. When I try to tilt I sometimes end up on my back foot which I believe also causes me to swing outside in, resulting in a slice. Over the past two days I have been trying to shift the hips slightly left before tilting which I think may be the answer to my problems off the tee.
 
If you shoot a gun with a 6" barrel, the direction of the bullet is already committed by the direction of that first six inches. If you make a downswing with a left hip bump and a right shoulder movement down, you have committed the swing on plane and if truly your weight DOES move left, you can NOT swing over the top.


This is the best OTT problem statement/solution I have read yet :cool:

Great post! This should be in a hall of fame or something.

CW
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top