Fix Poor Ball Contact with Better Lower-Body Control

⛳ Focusing on knee movement during the swing helps control hip sway and improves contact with the ball.

👟 Shifting the lead knee out over the lead toe in the backswing keeps the hips positioned better towards the target.

💥 Short, controlled punch shots allow golfers to train knee and hip movements without worrying about distance.

🔄 Practicing proper knee movement made ball striking easier and improved consistency for the student.

📈 Visual feedback comparing body positions before and after adjustment clearly showed progress in hip and knee movement.

00:00:00 - Well, we are back for lesson three with Josh. The first two lessons we worked on better contact with the club. Seven irons, kind of what we've been focusing on lately. Then we've worked on hip sway and then one new thing I learned flared feet. That's what we did last lesson. So, I think we're just going to kind of watch my shot and see see what we need to work on next.

00:00:25 - >> So, how has the practice for you been going? It's been good. Definitely. Like I said last time, I was over correcting to the left. So now hitting them straighter. Distance has still been an issue. >> Again, probably why you would get fit for clubs, but um distance has been kind of an issue. But I'm hitting him straighter, better contact. Still hitting behind the ball a little bit. If I'm having a miss shot, it's cuz I've chunked it. No longer topping it.

00:00:50 - >> Totally cool. So let's have you hit a couple. Um let's kind of get an idea of what's going on and then we'll take a look.

00:01:06 - Oh god. >> Oops. >> So Payton, you've hit a few shots. I know you said you still had a little bit of contact issues. So definitely seeing that in the balls that you've been hitting. Okay. Um, so we're going to continue to kind of talk about the hip swipe for you. Okay. I know we talked last time about how your hips need to move, especially in the down swing. Okay. you're starting to do a little bit too much in the back swing of moving away. So, we're going to control

00:01:30 - basically how your knee moves and that's going to help you go a long way to helping make sure your hip space stays more forward. So, you look at Colin over here, you can see how his left knee especially kind of stays closer to that circle where it started. >> Um, and then his hip stays inside of that line. Tour players on average are.3 in towards the target at this point with their hip sway. You're 3.1 away. >> Big reason why you're hitting the ground instead of the golf ball first. Okay.

00:01:51 - Um, and then if I take you down to impact, this is going to be the other piece where your knee movement is going to be super important. So, you can see how he actually gets his knee in front of where it where it was at a dress and then his trail knee moves more towards the target. >> Yours kind of do the exact opposite, right? Your lead knee stays right where it was and your trail knee doesn't really move and so then your hips are an inch away whereas his are closer to 3.1.

00:02:14 - Okay? So, what we really need to focus on for you is just getting your hips to basically move more towards the target so you can get a nice solid strike every single time. And that will also help you with your club path swinging more into out, which we can talk about later. We're not going to worry about that one right now, but that's definitely something that will help with the path as well. Okay. So, that's really going to be the focus today is just how your knees and how your hips are moving.

00:02:33 - >> Perfect. Sounds good. >> So, Payton, what we're going to do, we're going to talk about your hips and your knees. Okay. So, we're going to do this without a ball. So, you can set up over here. I'm going to stand up here. So, please don't hit me. Okay. >> All right. We're going to we're going to preface that right now. Like I have told her not to hit me. Okay. So, go ahead and take your address position for me. >> Okay. >> Um I want you to take a back swing and

00:02:51 - stop when you get to the top of your back swing. Okay. Really the main focus for you is going to be two things. So, when you take the club away, I want your left knee to feel like it moves more out over your left toe instead of in towards your right toe. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, that's going to help keep your hips a little bit more towards the target. So, that'll be the first thing. And then as you swing down to hit, again, these are going to be little half swings. You're not going to go super

00:03:12 - fast and really hard, but you're going to try to move your left knee closer to me, like more towards the screen. That's why we flared your feet last time. Yep. >> Okay. And then with that, your right knee is also going to start to move more inward. So, you'll basically be pushing off the ground, moving your knees just more towards me when you hit. >> Okay? So, go ahead and set up. >> Make a back swing and stop, keeping your left. There you go. Move your knee out

00:03:34 - over your toe. And then move your hips and your knees towards the target as you go down and hit. Perfect. Okay. And you can swing all the way through to like chest high and just kind of freeze right there. >> Okay. I love what you did there as you finished the swing. Did you see how your right knee kind of moved out towards your left knee? >> That's perfect. Like I want you to do more of that sooner. >> Okay. So, practice a couple of those. >> Good. Awesome. Perfect. Just like that. Couple more.

00:04:03 - Good. Those swings are maybe even a little bit too long. I wouldn't even go back that far. Okay. So like reduce that by call it half. >> Okay. >> Good. Perfect. Awesome. So what I want you to do, what we're going to practice when we hit, we're just going to hit some punch shots. Okay? You're just going to kind of punch a few of them out there. Like these won't go probably more than about 100 yards, but that's really the length of the swing. You're going to try to

00:04:25 - travel from essentially chest high to chest high with the focus on your knees. Okay. >> What's the biggest difference for you when you're doing that? >> The rotation almost >> the like the down swing. >> The down swing. Yeah. Okay. The back swing doesn't feel different at all. >> I feel like that's not as hard as the rotating this knee in. >> Okay, cool. Do one more of those. >> Okay, >> good. Shorten up the swing, but other than that, that was perfect. Okay, so

00:04:51 - now let's go ahead and punch one out there just like you were practicing. You don't have to go super fast. And let's take a look and see what it looks like. >> There we go.

00:05:05 - >> So, Payton, you just said that was way easier. Yes. >> Okay, that's good because you did a really nice job. So, look at this one. This is what you were doing before. Okay. I put some tracers just around like how the center of your pelvis moves and how your knees are moving. So, that's what that yellow line basically means. Means you started here and you moved away from the target. That's what we don't want. Okay. If you look over here on this one, look at the difference

00:05:25 - at the top of your back swing, right? So, you can see how your center of your hips didn't really move. Your knee is basically in the same spot here. Even your left knee moved a little bit, but not nearly as much as over here. And then this is what's really cool. If you look at impact for both of these, check out the difference. So, this one never got back to where it started. You can see how everything's basically in the same position as where it was at a dress

00:05:44 - or even slightly more away. This one now you're matching exactly what Colin was doing. So, your knee is moving a little bit more in. Your lead knees moving more towards the target. Your hips are like 3 in towards. So, that was really awesome. Like that contact was perfect. That was exactly what you want. So, I think this really helps you understand like getting your hips to move was part of it, right? But I think for you it's moving the knees that makes a little bit easier. Would you agree?

00:06:06 - >> Yeah, it's much easier to think about the knees than kind of swaying almost. >> Perfect. So, that's really like for you your practice for the next week or two. It's really just focus on how your knees are moving. You should see a lot more solid strikes. The ball should start to get up in the air a little bit more. Um, and that's really the the objective for you. And then if we can continue to work on this, then the next time we can talk is about how we can get your path into a

00:06:27 - little bit better spot so you can even hit the ball further. >> Perfect. Sounds good. >> So, really good job. >> Thank you.

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