Texas Children's Houston Open

Memorial Park Golf Course



The Loop

Tilting "No" on New Tour Swing

September 04, 2007

Instructor Peter Stern of Kings Point, New York, is not surprised by the success of Stack & Tilt pros this weekend in Boston. Aaron Baddeley (-11), Charlie Wi (-7), Will MacKenzie (-4), Mike Weir (-4) Dean Wilson (-4) and Tommy Armour III (+1) all fared reasonably well. But Stern, who's written before, isn't buying the "New Tour Swing" for amateurs. Add his name to the teachers who voiced doubts in September's Stack & Tilt Part II story:

Golf Digest, for the sake of average golfers (95%), I hope this will be the last issue regarding [this] swing theory.... this method will cause golfers to swing on a very vertical upright plane. What goes straight up, comes straight down which will only cause slices, pop-ups, loss of distance, toe shots and difficulty with the longer clubs. These are problems pretty much every mid- or high-handicapper faces. As an analogy try hitting a Roger Clemens fastball with your weight starting on your front side. >

Weight shift is important in every sport there is and golf is no different.

To quote, again, Butch Harmon in that issue: It ain't for everyone.

--Bob Carney