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The typical leg position for a golfer at impact is front leg straight and back knee bent roughly towards the target with the back ankle off of the ground (this varies). It seems like every pro uses this technique. However, I'm wondering if there's a better way?

I watched an interview with Danny Luirette on the long drive tour who claims to have a special move through impact that creates a lot of club head speed. At full speed, Luirette has a very fluid swing with a whip like move through the ball. In slow motion, he starts his downswing by rotating his knees and hips towards the target before his wrists fully hinge (this creates a lot of lag in the shaft). But things get even more interesting as his arms drop to the ball, his back leg appears to explode upwards and straighten. This causes him to be on his front leg toe at impact?

So instead of the typical positions of front ankle planted and back knee bent and back ankle up, Luirette's front ankle is up and his back leg is straightened with the back ankle on the ground. His special jumping move appears to really sling the club through the ball. Is Luirette on to something that all golfers can use?


hendu

No. There is ONE reason long drive champions are not competitive on TOUR. Consistency. They cannot consistently hit accurate shots from their impact positions. The weight being on the front toe and heel up is a move to prevent blowing out his knee (either conscious or subconscious) as hard as he (and the other LD Champs) swing. No matter what, you still have to get the ball in the hole. LD Competitors DO NOT PLAY GOLF. LD Competitions are not GOLF Competitions. There are guys on the LD TOUR that can't break 85 in a competitive round. There are some golfers on the TOUR but LD Competitions are not about golf skills.

This leg position at impact sounds a lot like Laura Davies

Hendu, if you are looking for distance, stop trying to look for distance. You'll make it worse. Distance comes as a result of good fundamentals.

If you aren't, then my bad.

I was thinking the same thing.

Players Like Davies at impact are elivated off the gound (look like they are on their toes at impact). When the feet are touching the ground about 30% or your energy goes into the the ground and not to impact. I have seen players do this but have never heard of it being taught. This is similar to photo frames of horses running - in one frame the horse is not touching the ground with any leg.

When your body leaves the ground then that extra 30 % can better be applied to impact (the body gets into this position accommodating the extension of the levers - the arms and club extending through impact).

Thanks for the thoughts.

In response to BDR444, I'm interested in analyzing different swing techniques to maximize my distance with minimal effort. I consider the fundamentals as good balance and hitting the ball squarely. Otherwise there are many different techniques that create speed and launch conditions which add to those fundamentals.

I agree with glfdiva that Luirette and Davies are both maximizing their levers at impact. I'm interested in this technique because I don't feel like I'm using my legs very much. I know some golfers advocate quite legs but I believe I'm missing out on a major power source.

hendu

Check out Jack Nicklaus' book HOW I PLAY GOLF (i think that's title). He talks about how different players should utilize different parts of their body to best utilize their physical strength. He talks about how he has very strong legs but avg upper body and how he derived most of his power from his legs. He also mentions other players of his era who are mostly upper body players - guys with strong upper body but avg lower body. It's an interesting read.

I think the Nicklaus book you're remembering is "Golf My Way".

It's absolutely one of the best golf books co-written by a tour player--I don't think applying what Nicklaus describes will let people go too far wrong in their golf swing.

Thats true to a certain extent. I know of quite a few LD'ers who would kill on the tour and probably do fairly well. LD'ers are exactly that for a reason, most (if not all) are regular guys with regular jobs. There is one golfer who holds the PGA long drive record set last year at the houston open that being Victor Schwamkrug who is an accuflex staff player. LD'ers are not bred as golfers, and frankly it takes a bit more to get into pro golf than Q school.

That might be a bit of an overstatement. If they would "kill on tour" and "probably do fairly well" they'd be on tour instead of chasing peanuts in LD competitions. :nodsmiley Last I looked, "fairly well" on tour was much more lucrative than any LD competition.