Proper knee action: How?!?!

[filippi]

Hey everyone,

 

Long story short, I've always struggled with a buckle in my left knee post-impact as well as too much separation in the knees through the hitting area. Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can work on fixing this? Attached is a video of me hitting a 3/4 7 iron while trying to work on limiting the gap between my knees. 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by filippi

[tgreenwood11]

Not sure but your clubface is shut by several degrees at address.  This can restrict your turn plus cause other problems.

[golfarb1]

At impact the lead knee should not yet be straight , but should be in the process of straightening. Buckling the lead knee implies that the lead knee retains too much bend with weight moving too much towards the target.This in turn will encourage the outside of your lead hip to move beyond the outside of your lead foot and reduce the available range of motion available for rotation.

It is very difficult to see whether and how much your lead knee is bucking/ straightening  from the enclosed DTL video, but you could benefit from more pelvic angular movement at impact, which I will discuss below.

 

Anatomically there are three main forces affecting the lead knee during the downswing 

1. Hip rotation - this refers to the rotation of the head of the femur( thigh bone) within the hip joint. Because the distal end of the femur ( far end) is one of the bones that form the knee joint, the knee will AUTOMATICALLY also rotate in the same manner as the head of the femur  rotates. Rotation of the head of the femur ( and therefore the knee) will typically happen in early transition and is the centerpiece of George Gankas’s transition.

2. Hip abduction-sidewards movement of head of the femur within the hip joint  with the lead knee also moving sidewards towards the target . Also happens in transition 

2. Movement of the entire pelvis.This largely happens after  lead hip rotation/ abduction.Unlike the  hip , the pelvis has very limited mobility to rotate around a central joint ; therefore any angular movement  of the pelvis is dependent upon a positional change in the pelvis itself. This is accomplished by the lead part of the pelvis  at the hip joint moving both AWAY from the TARGET LINE and AWAY from the TARGET. To do so the lead leg must move in the same direction and it must straighten.

 

To improve angular movements of the pelvis try these suggestions

1.Experiment with both flaring your lead foot 1/4 turn toward the target and with no flare of this foot and see if either affects your buckling problem. Anatomically flaring  of the foot affects the range of motion of your lead knee which will in turn affect its ability to straighten

2.Open your stance slightly by pulling back your lead foot 1 to 2 inches away from the target . Anatomically this will affect the range of motion of your knee and hip.

Do NOT ALSO open your shoulders as you open your stance 

 

PLACE an alignment rod vertically just outside of your hip. The goal is to NEVER touch this alignment rod on your downswing/ follow through with the outside of your lead HIP. 

It is fine for the outside of your  knee to lightly touch this vertical alignment rod, but not to push into it hard.

 

 

[golfarb1]

SORRY

You Open your stance by pulling your lead foot 1 to 2 inches away from the TARGET LINE not target

[iteachgolf]

You’re compensating for a lack of depth. If you kept clearing left side you’re path would be a mile left and silly steep.  It’s your compensation to shallow things out late

[filippi]

5 hours ago, iteachgolf said:

You’re compensating for a lack of depth. If you kept clearing left side you’re path would be a mile left and silly steep.  It’s your compensation to shallow things out late

 

Lack of arm depth? What's a good way to work on that?

Edited October 22, 2020 by filippi

[MonteScheinblum]

2 hours ago, filippi said:

 

Lack of arm depth? What's a good way to work on that?

 Look like pelvis action in backswing is hurting that.  A face on will tell more, but looks like right hip and knee don’t work right in the backswing.  

[filippi]

On 10/22/2020 at 2:48 PM, MonteScheinblum said:

 Look like pelvis action in backswing is hurting that.  A face on will tell more, but looks like right hip and knee don’t work right in the backswing.  

 

Thanks, Monte. Here's the full video that includes a face-on angle (shortly after the DTL view). Really curious on how to clean this up.

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by filippi

[chipa]

I couldn't open the video but Sam Snead had significant knee separation right before impact and many good golfers have the left knee bent at impact as well - in fact this is much easier on the left leg just ask TW.

 

Imo, leg/hip problems are due to something else such as a poor weightshift or improper hand and rm mechanics that cause one to have to do all types of unnatural contortions to square the club and generate speed. I would get the mechanics correct for quater/half swings with very little lower body action and then increase the length of the swing and let the lower body adjust naturally as opposed to a contrived motion.