If you want to know why Rory McIlroy has so much power for a man standing 5’9″ and weighing all of 160 lbs, you only have to look at his down swing and impact/release to see why.
Forget all the nonsense you hear on television, the true secret of Rory’s power is the leveraging he creates both with his semi-classic pivot (heel comes up a little, but even that little gives him more hip turn than a fully planted pivot) and his down swing from the top.
I was able to get out to the range today to see how the adjustments to my setup worked out, and I was quite pleased with the results.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to get a much better impact position than I did today with regards to the footwork, but while I continue to look at video, you can have a look at a drive that I absolutely slammed.
I am pleased and more than a little humbled to say that the WAX Golf blog has officially passed 1 million views as of today.
Thanks to WAX Nation, and the nearly 10,000 comments that you’ve all contributed to the discussion on mechanically-correct golf swing principles.
I have so many swings on file in my archives, it is always a treat to go back to a particular month or year to look at what I was doing in my swing research.
I would also break my research progress down into at least 2, if not 3 separate phases.
I wrote a few years back that Rory McIlroy might have discovered the key to increasing power through technique when he was spotted letting his leading heel come up during his back swing, but it turned out not to be a permanent thing.
Now, it seems he might be back on a right track, with his apparent discovery that the hips and shoulder are connected.
I am still shaking my head about the ridiculous claim by Peter Kostis on CBS’ Masters Saturday broadcast, claiming that top club head speed will occur well before impact, and if you still need proof of this, I have it below.
He showed a clip of Brooks Koepka, if you’ll remember, claiming that the analysis machine had B.K.’s top club head speed at 126 mph about 18″ or 45 cm before impact, and an actual club impact speed of 120 mph.
I am still waiting for conditions in this area to allow some good swinging and video-taking, but while doing so, I’ve been getting my swing muscles back into shape after a long season off (I haven’t hit a ball in about 9 months to date), and I discovered something surprising today.
I’ve been working on the speed aspect of the pivot, just trying to get raw speed with the SwingRite, and take a look at the top position of my absolute fastest swings through the bottom:
I’ve been talking about how I tightened up my pivot action and got a lot more pop in my down swing over the winter, and there’s a process you can follow to get the same results for those times you feel you really “got hold of one” with a swing.
I don’t like the process of trying to convey one’s “feels” to another, but for yourself, the “feels” are the key to your own swing.
Whether you’re swinging a Driver or wedge, the key to a proper and smooth release is to swing down and through, without trying to actually strike the ball itself (which will make you ball-oriented and prone to reacting to it instead of just swinging).
I’ve talked about how you don’t swing at the target, but you also shouldn’t swing to “hit down” on the ball with irons and wedges either – down and through in one continuous motion is the way to get your best results.
Here’s what I saw when I went looking for Brooks Koepka’s 6 mph decrease in club head velocity between 18″ pre-impact to impact, and it should be plain to see for anyone who analyzes motion.
I’ve said before, been saying for years, actually, that when you squat into the address you will restrict hip turn, and when you restrict hip turn on the back swing, your hips will reach impact position before the upper body.
