10-16 (Knee Action)
The corresponding Chapter 7 translation post can be found HERE.
Knee action is classified on the basis of combinations of bent and straight conditions and at what point in the swing they occur.
STANDARD KNEE ACTION - Right Knee is straight and Left knee bent at the top of the swing. Then on the downswing there is a double knee bend (sit-down position) which finally comes into a straight left knee and a bent right knee at the finish. Homer states that this produces maximum hip slant.
This is spot on knee action for Sam Snead.
'Hip Slant' is the slanted angle of the hips when looking at them from this vantagepoint.
I couldn't find the famous Sam Snead 'squat', but here's Abe Mitchell performing it.
So the straighter the right knee at the top of the swing, the more hip slant there will be. More right knee flex will reduce hip slant.
LEFT ANCHOR KNEE ACTION - This is identical to Standard Hip Action except there is no straightening of the Left Knee after passing the 'Sit Down' position. Homer states that this method allows the hips to turn flatter.
RIGHT ANCHOR KNEE ACTION - This is the exact reverse of Left Anchor Knee Action. Here, both knees remain bent until the Sit Down position is passed. Once the Sit Down action has passed, the left knee begins to straighten. This keeps the hips flat pre-impact impact, but coming into the follow thru the body will rise quicker with the straightening of the Left Knee.
DOUBLE ANCHOR KNEE ACTION - Both knees are held at address position bend throughout the entire stroke. Produces a very flat hip motion.
ZERO KNEE ACTION - Knee action is zero or minimal. This occurse because there is zero pivot, zero hip turn, and zero foot action.
Remember, straightening the knee doesn't mean the golfer should *lock* the knee. As Homer stated earlier in the book, a locked knee will eventually have to bend and that causes problems.
The Stack & Tilt guys are big proponents of having a straightened right knee at the top of the swing. Popular golf instruction calls for the right knee to remain flexed at the top of the swing, but as Homer states in TGM, the 'standard action' has the right knee straightened at the top of the swing. Here's a pic of former S&T student Aaron Baddeley using TGM's 'standard knee action.'
3JACK
2 comments:
I've always struggled to maintain right knee flex at the top of the backswing as recommended by popular golf instruction. I'm really glad to see that Homer has named it the "standard knee action"!
Homer knew a thing or two about the golf swing. Unfortunately it seems like Leadbetter pretty much destroyed it all and then the rest of popular golf instruction took bits and pieces, but didn't know or care to put it all together.
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