Have you driven a Plummer lately?

Unbelievable!! Asking the other golf teachers what they think about Stack and Tilt is like asking Chevrolet what they think about Ford!!!  "Well they make a pretty good car, but if you want a real car...."   I thought I would at least see some opinions from the 20 or so tour players who have switched to the new swing.  How about it?  Let's see how their game has actually changed , along with some stats to back it up. Now that would be something we could bank on. Thanks, faithful reader Chuck Sawyer , Howe Indiana.

Good idea, faithful reader. Both Aaron Baddeley and http://www.ontgolf.ca/g4g/2007/06/29/new-national-post-column-weir-says-swing-changes-are-almost-there/ have talked about the switch, their stats have improved, and writers like http://golfsdailyslice.com/2007/07/29/how-and-why-mike-weir-changed-his-swing-stack-and-tilt-method/, who follow them, have commented. But the idea of packaging that is good. I'm on it.

We're also in the business of helping average players' stats and we've plenty of feedback there, in our forums, in the Golfwrx forums, and on the Geoff Shackelford blog. No shortage of testimonials, with a smattering of, "It hurts my back..." Here's the latest, pretty typical, letter from Brad Dovichak of Wilmington, North Carolina.

I read your article in June about Stack & Tilt. I found it interesting and started working on it. I hit my irons more solid but higher and a little shorter. With my woods I had mixed results. In your September issue you had another article but this one had a hip slide that was not mentioned in the first article. I am working on this but have already had a huge improvement. More practice will hopefully equal more consistancy.Consider another article on the short game with Stack & Tilt and a refining of hip slid and maybe some drills.

Great idea on the short game Stack & Tilt. Thanks.

--Bob Carney

(Photo: J. D. Cuban)

Okay, we've wronged the lefties, and they're right about it.

Dan McKerracher is one from British Columbia, where they speak English and plenty of it.

I am a lefty, and am writing to ask if you have ever considered that you are confusing between 8 and 15 percent (according to generally-available research) of your potential readership by universally referring in your articles and teaching aids to golfers and students as though we are all right-handed.

There is never so much as an introductory sentence or two of contrition, never mind apology, for the right-handed oratory that is about to be presented in each case.... there are thousands of us duffers and lovers of golf who stand on the 'right side of the ball' and have a devil of a time transposing each descriptor in each sentence of each article in each of your issues so that they make sense to us. Enough, already!

Dan suggests that we alter "right" and "left" to "forward" and "back" and illustrates on a tip in the Jim Hardy Breaking 100, 90, 80 in September. Under the headline, One Plane: The Magic Starting Move:

"You're probably heard the pharase "getting stuck" but what does it mean? When you pull hard with your left hand on the downswing, the club tends to flatten and fall behind you. It also opens the clubface, so you have to quickly flip your hands to hit the ball square...."

McKerracher amends Hardy:

"You've probably heard the phrase 'getting stuck', but what does it mean? When you pull hard with the front hand on the downswing, the club tends to flatten and fall behind you. It also opens the clubface, so you have to quickly flip your hands to hit the ball square.

He then concludes:

I cannot adequately describe to you how much better my left-handed mind assimilates this important and valuable tip using these slightly different words....

Dan: I'm glad you got that off your chest, even the gigantic parts I've edited out. You're right. We should be more careful, or careful at all, as the case may be. And a belated Happy Left-handers Day.

I'm only worried that the guys who just mastered right from left will be writing in, wondering where the hell their forward arm is.

--Bob Carney

This is long, but it's worth it. It's from a leading orthopedic surgeon, Dr. H. Morton Bertram III, of Naples, Florida, who speaks to the question of joint and back strain in the Stack & Tilt swing, both from the perspective of a doctor and of a good player who has adopted the swing:

I feel uniquely qualified to comment on the “Stack and Tilt” swing theory. I am an orthopaedic surgeon that specializes in the surgical treatment of the arthritic knee and hip and have been a scratch or better player for the last 34 years. First of all, this swing is not new. I have looked at pictures of Snead and Hogan swinging the golf club since I was 14 years old. The one thing I noticed, but was ashamed to comment on for fear of being ridiculed, was how much on their left sides they stayed during the golf swing. It is most noticeable when viewed from behind the person swinging the club. Hogan was quoted as saying one time when asked about putting weight on his right side during the swing, “why would I do that when this (on his left side) is where I want to end up”. Nicklaus always stayed, as he puts it, “on top of the ball”. His swing had unique idiosyncrasies because he had polio as a child and had one leg shorter than the other. When he set up to the ball, his pelvic tilt from his leg length discrepancy made him appear more on his right side at address than he actually was. With his narrow stance, he did not have any significant weight shift. Snead, the most gifted athlete to ever play the game, also was on his left side during the entire swing. I applaud Plummer and Bennett for speaking their minds and sticking to their guns. They have been working on this formula for years, and it is not something they have tried to sensationalize or publicize in any way. The word has just gotten out because of their pupils' incredible successes. From a purely musculoskeletal point of view, this swing is easier on all parts of the body than what is currently taught. It is easier on the back, and there is not one iota of truth that this will cause knee or hip problems. It does not require more flexibility, quite the contrary. If this stiff 50-year-old can hit the ball better and longer with this swing, and I can, anyone can improve their ball striking.....

Given that we've had players and physical therapists arguing the opposite, one can only conclude that not everyone's doing S&T the same way. Be careful out there.

--Bob Carney

(Sequence photo: J.D. Cuban)

Joel Copeland of Plymouth, Michigan, jumped up from watching the Barclays yesterday and wrote us. Quickly. Maybe left the television on.

IN THE HOLE!!!
We've all heard it. Live and on TV. I was watching the Barclays tournament Sunday afternoon,
(congrats to Steve Stricker for a stellar performance) and was observing a player putt out, I don't recall who, but, within a nano-second of finishing his forward stroke someone in the gallery yelled as if trying to expel his lungs... IN THE HOLE, BABYYYYYYYYYYY!

As focused as I was on what the player was trying to do, the man in the gallery made me come out of My chair. This has got to be unnerving. There was a time when the game of golf was played with utmost courtesy by the players AND the members of the gallery. It's a simple matter of respect. Dont' you agree? Watching a good round of golf used to be as peaceful and soothing as being out there yourself with your three best buddies having the mind clearing experience that I think many of us consider it to be. Well, what happened?

Today, the norm seems to be the same behavior that you'd find at the neighborhood tractor-pull. And what about the reactions of the spectators around this person? Seems to me that someone would grab this clown in a headlock and give him a good noogy-thump on the back of the head and hand him a nice cold bottle of shut the hell up. (That's my fantasy anyway.)...

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

Joel: You are in dire need of live, amateur golf. Turn off your television and get yourself to the nearest Junior Amateur, Senior Amateur, Girls' Junior, State Amateur or Walker Cup. Watch it live, get close, enjoy the whispering galleries and forget about those noogies. Those are illegal under new FedEx Cup rules anyway.

--Bob Carney

In our September issue, we solicited the reaction of a number of different teachers and trainers to the Stack & Tilt method taught by Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer. One of the objections to the method was greater potential for injury, especially to backs, by physical therapist Ralph Simpson, a 12-year veteran of the PGA Tour Fitness Trailer. Reader Jeff Ostrowski of Glen Mills has an contrasting point of view. Like Sampson, he's a physical therapist; he's also a Stack & Tilt devotee:

I disagree with the opinion of Ralph Sampson, PT that there is a higher risk of injury with the “Stack &Tilt” golf swing as compared to other swing techniques. I too am a physical therapist who has worked on fitness programs with professional and amateur golfers for many years. I am also an avid golfer who has been practicing the Stack &Tilt golf swing for over a year.

Personally, I have experienced no pain or injury from the Stack &Tilt golf swing. I am practicing much more now than ever before too. Previously, when I did not use the Stack & Tilt concepts, I often had pain in my wrists, elbows, shoulders and back.

In my opinion, the Stack &Tilt golf swing imparts less stress on the body than other swing techniques. I believe this technique probably reduces the risk of injury, especially in the shoulders and arms, but this needs to be studied and observed over time. It appears that from my personal experience and that of the clients of Mr. Bennett and Mr. Plummer, that the early reports are favorable to the Stack &Tilt swing.

Most importantly however is this point: the golf swing is an athletic movement. If a player does not possess an adequate amount of strength and flexibility, then he or she will be predisposed to injury, no matter what technique they use.

Hear. Hear. In a previous entry here a reader talked about the back problems he'd experienced after attempting what he understood to be the Stack & Tilt swing. My view is, doing anything different from your normal swing will put strain on your body. Proceed with caution.

--Bob Carney

(Photo: Chris Stanford)

Brian Denike of Toronto possesses the two essential characteristics of all real golfers: a subscription to Golf Digest and a sense of humor. Here's Denike on the New Tour Swing, Stack & Tilt.

As most 12 handicappers I will try anything to improve to the next level. I have read with interest every golf improvement article in your publication, and others, for years and I am still a 12 handicap. The latest golf swing revolution in your magazine (Stack and Tilt) appeals to me because it tells me not to correct my two worst mistakes.(reverse pivot and swaying-not-turning)  Then I read in your rival's magazine (same month) that I can eliminate up to twelve mistakes I make in my backswing, by simply eliminating my backswing. 

So I say to myself, why not combine the two revolutions? Start my Stack & Tilt at the top, weight on my forward foot, pump and swing down while swaying my hips at the target and tilting away from it. So far its just a theory.  Tomorrow the driving range. I'll turn pro next week. 
 
Brian, you can play in my foursome anytime you want, whether you turn pro or not.

By the way, that "eliminating the backswing" tip is suspiciously close to a Golf Digest cover story by David Leadbetter back in January 2002: "Erase Your Mistakes....eliminate your takeaway." Does this sound familiar?

"I've always felt that most players' problems occur early in the swing--at address and in the takeway....I knew that if they could eliminate the takeway mistakes and get into a good position halfway into the backswing, all golfers would hit more consistent, straight, powerful shots. So I thought: What if we just elimnated that early part of the swing?"

Or this:

"The Swing of the Future starts here: shoulders turned three-quarters back, hands in front of the chest, wrists fully cocked. Take a couple of small pumps to get a rhythmic start, then simply finish your turn and hit the ball."

As Steve Allen said, "Imitation is the sincerest form of television magazines."

--Bob Carney

We got two interesting questions...questions is putting it nicely...about two of our photos in the September issue of Golf Digest. The first came from Bob Giolitto of Norwalk, Connecticut, who was appalled that we would run the photo we did of Michelle Wie that accompanied Jaime Diaz's story, Wondering about Wie.

Why would you lead off an article on a 17 year old girl with a picture like the one of Michelle Wie in your September issue? Whether or not Michelle, her parents, or her agent approved the picture is irrelevant. It is irresponsible and reprehensible that a legitimate magazine would resort to what amounts to "sexploitation" of a teenager. Are magazine sales so important to you that you need to practice this type of tabloid journalism? Please do the right thing: Don't defend, just apologize.

Bob, I won't defend or apologize. I'll ask a question: Did you get the fact that this was a photo illustration of Michelle as Wonder Woman, in that superhero costume? And that this Wonder Woman had a bandage on her arm? I'm sorry if you were offended at the "sexiness" of the outfit, but I thought the idea was a clever way to communcate that the Super Woman too many of us had predicted she'd be was a wounded superhero at this point. For the record, Michelle Wie did not pose or cooperate with this illustration.

The second question comes from eagle-eyed Ken Staroscik of Firestone, Colorado, about the photo accompanying Tiger Woods' tip in our Lesson Tee section:

Just finished reading the Tiger Woods article (Lesson Tee--Sept. 2007) which boldly proclaimed BE HONEST: WHERE DOES YOUR GAME NEED HELP? My question is this: Is Golf Digest being honest? The sub-title of the article states--narrow your focus and seek out a trained eye. Here we see a photograph of Tiger "practicing by moonlight, under Hank Haney's eye." Well my trained eye tells me that the moon is in its Last (3rd) Quarter Phase. Astronomically speaking, the Last Quarter moon rises approximately at midnight--Solar Time. By the position of the moon in the photograph I would think the photograph (if real) was taken sometime between 5 and 6AM--probably nearer to 5. I know that Tiger practices at all hours of the day.......but at this time? No wonder that Hank Haney and Steve Williams seem so excited!!

Ken, you caught us. But not Tiger. He really does practice that early. Given that he often plays a practice round at seven, he might well be on the range at six and was in this case. But that moon, the moon on the morning the shot was taken, was lost when we cropped this photo for Lesson Tee. So, after cropping the picture, we re-inserted the image of the moon.

Photo Editor Matt Ginella explains that while we would never alter a news photograph in this way, we give ourselves the liberty of "cleaning up" instruction and feature photos to make a point like this.

The bottom line is, you're right. We moved the moon.

--Bob Carney

(Photo illustration of Wie: Michael Elins)
(Photo of Tiger: Dom Furore)

Love this photo from Washingtonpost.com of boxer Fernando Guerrero. Not only does it suggest a great exercise for golfers (who are reasonably fit to begin with), but it makes me think Fernando may be in the wrong sport.

The photo is one of a gallery of great photos by Jonathan Newton.

--Bob Carney

(Photo: Jonathan Newton, Washington Post)

Robert S. Scott, a "long-time golf instructor in west central Florida" adds his voice to the other instructors in Stack & Tilt Part Two in the September issue. He agrees, he says, with Andy Plummer's assertion that "The main thing that's different about Stack & Tilt is the 'explanation of the swing'....not necesarily mechanics."

I think that 90 per cent of S & T is far more 'conventional' than most people seem to realize, including the top teachers you asked to comment...

ADDRESS: a body weight distribution of 55/45 front foot to back is directly out of the era of most of golf's great "Greatest of All time"--Jones, Snead, Hogan (who was mentioned), Palmer, Nicklaus, Player, Watson...So, 55/45 at address is not really "unconventional" at all..

BACKSWING: One of the statements made in the article I don't believe is true--that, "Most golfers are taught to make a BIG shift to the (back) foot on the backswing." I have NEVER taught that, and I don't know of ANY instructors who have. Good teaching touts a "Slwo-feeling, very smooth, low-ish takeway...simply a TURN back...NO 'conscious weight-shift."

Scott also that the target-ward spine tilt taught by Mike Bennett and Plummer is "conventional." He objects to the claim that the back leg "straightens" on the backswing:

...in every single one of the photos shown with the player at the top of his backswing, his back knee is quite visible protruding outward against the front pant leg, definitely indicating some flex....again, quite conventional.

Now Scott on the DOWNSWING: Almost every great player I have ever interviewed agrees that, in most all the best golf swings, there is definitely some "lateral" shift forward of the hips "along with" an unwinding...So Andy and Mike's "sliding (and turning) the hips forward" until 80-90 per cent of body weight is on the forward leg and foot is "very conventional..."And the "thrusting upward" through impact has been around for a long time...letting yourself "come up" (but not too early) right after impact, as opposed to the "slightly older school" of the reverse-C, keeping you in your posture (and really straining you lower back!). Again, all quite "conventional".

Interesting points all, Robert. You obviously know your stuff. Let me only say that somehow the Plummer/Bennett presentation, conventional or not, has connected with tons of golfers and--their word, not mine--made big differences in their games.

For more discussion of this controversial method, see our own forums, our forums at GolfWrx and those on Geoff Schackelford's blog.

--Bob Carney

(Photo: Chris Stanford)