Incorporating Jim Furyk’s extreme swing moves to rid me of the deadly tilted spine
Update December 27, 2019- I finally did it. I incorporated Jim Furyk’s extreme moves in order to rid me of that deadly instinct to stay too far tilted to the right at impact.
I can normally make major swing fixes easily once I know the problem, but this one was the hardest thing to change in my nearly-four-years of the Golf Project. That is because it has to do with the sense of balance and our vestibular system that prioritizes balance. Moving my spine position just a few inches felt like I was moving two-feet.
I invented what I call the Greer Arm-to-Ars Drill. Not only does Furyk flex his right humerus, but he also hyper-rotates the pelvis to stick his ars back away from the target. The upper arm collides with the right gluteal muscle, thus arm-to-ars.
But wait. You might wonder, “How does this help fix the spine-tilt problem?” Well, it is counter-intuitive, but the way to straighten the upper spine and sternum is to manipulate the pelvis and sacrum.
Once I got that move into my head, I then had to think of getting my sternum to swing past the point of ball impact. This feels really scary, as if you are falling over to the left. What worked for me was to feel the sternum and torso drive downward and to the left, into the ground, to get a downward strike on the ball.
December 25, 2019- by Steven E. Greer
Over the last few days, I have been trying to fix my problem of the sternum and head being too tilted to the right at impact. Even if I sway the hips and get my center of gravity over properly, my head stubbornly stayed put.
So, I thought about players who get an exaggerated torso turn at impact. Jim Furyk came to mind.
At my home golf lab, I tinkered around and was reminded of the feeling to throw the club underhanded like a softball pitch. I tried it out on the range (they let me on today as a gift), but all I could achieve was a good normal swing.
I went back home and realized what I was failing to do. Furyk and others with extreme body turn at impact actually extend their right humerus in the transition. Relative to the mid-line in their ribs, the elbow moves backward, which creates tremendous clubhead lag.
This is also what happens during any other athletic throw. Great baseball pitchers and quarterbacks extend the humerus, or cock it like a gun trigger, before releasing it.
I will try this tomorrow and update this post.