TURN YOUR HIPS

An oversimplified phrase that Mr. Trevino called the one thing that's ruined more swings that all the tornadoes in Texas. Lets dive into it. Turning your hips in a barrel can often lead to restriction. Restriction in my humble opinion became "En-Vogue"(in style) due to the incredible run that Tiger Woods had with Butch Harmon. Far be it for me to criticize the BIG CAT but this restriction of the lower body(specifically the knees) was misunderstood by the masses.

Butch only had Tiger do this to shorten the backswing aesthetically which prevented the club from going across the line and point right of the target. But that was Tiger's fix. We are talking about a wiry 150 lb 6 foot-2 ectomorph in young Eldrick. Even now Tiger isnt built like this. There are many players, successful ones who have now had to restrict less and wind the hips freely to prevent further injury (ie, Jason Day, Patrick Cantlay).

Here's one of the upsides of an open-kinetic chain. Fancy for Lift the heel and dont brace your trail knee while winding up. It may have been seen as "Old-School" but as golfers age they start to do this....(GASP! Pay attention to Rory Mcilroy's lead heel....It occasionally doesnt just come up on the follow thru-I cant make this up!) even when they aren't trying to do it.

Mr. Trevino did it. Mr. Nicklaus did it. Mr. Hogan did it, heck long drivers do it......Maybe we should try it to get as much distance as we can and try to hit it justthatmuch straighter with better timing and rhythm.

-Flea Trevino