So many golfers struggle with the reverse pivot. It's silly, because it's a super, super easy thing to fix. A couple common thought that get stuck in people's heads that cause them to reverse pivot that I'm going to alleviate today. Hopefully, it'll get rid of these golf swing myths that you've got holding you back from achieving your true potential as a golfer.
The first thing I want to address is the easiest one to fix and that is set-up. The number one cause for golfers to reverse pivot is to not set-up correctly. That all comes from axis tilt. I've talked about axis tilt on so many videos on the site and still yet, every single day in lessons and clinics, I see the same stuff. People don't set-up with enough axis tilt. They say, "Well, it doesn't feel comfortable." I don't care how it feels to you at first. You're going to get used to it as you start learning how to swing correctly.
I promise you that if you don't set up with enough axis tilt, nothing will work correctly in your golf swing from the moment you step up to the ball all the way down to impact. Yes, it may feel strange to you at first because you're doing a bunch of other wonky things in your golf swing. Get over it. Keep practicing in front of the mirror. Keep setting up the same way and you'll get used to it.
How do we get enough axis tilt? I like to check myself in the golf swing training mirror first to make sure that I'm doing it correctly. Yeah, looks good. All I need to do is put a club against my chest and belt buckle, just like I talked about in the axis tilt video, and slide my hip to the left until the club hits me in the leg. Now, just this eight to ten degree tilt of axis, helps a ten. As I go back to the top of my swing, my spine is leaned in the opposite direction that it would in reverse pivot. Hey, that's a no brainer. If you're spine's leaning towards the target at the top and you know that's bad, why not lean it away from the target at set-up? Duh. Of course you have to do that. You have to set-up correctly to get rid of axis tilt.
The second thing that's going to cause people to have a reverse pivot is they're way to sloppy with their lower body and they let their hips move. Again, I'm going to check myself in the mirror. If I put my hand against my right thigh, I can see that as I move back and I do it incorrectly, my hip moves past where it started. Your hip has got to look like, on video and in the mirror, that it looks like it never pasts where it started at address. Now, technically, it will a little bit, but because you're also turning, it's moving back. From face on, it looks like it never moves laterally away from the target. What does a lateral shift do? Leans my body away from the target.
The only way you're going to know if you're doing this is to video your swing or look at it in the mirror. That's why I'm putting it up here. I want to keep reinforcing these habits. You must look at your swing in the mirror. If I'm doing this, no bueno. As soon as I shift my base of my spine away from the target, my upper spine is going to lean towards the target which is, in fact, a reverse pivot. To fix that, watch the right hip line video and start watching yourself practice in a mirror so you start learning how to shift correctly.
The third one, and this is a really challenging one for a lot of golfers to get over because they've had it beat into their heads so many times, that they don't want their head to move. When you try and keep your head perfectly centered over the ball, you will reverse pivot. Let me say that again. If you try to keep your head from moving because you're so fixated on the ball or you've been told, "Oh, I don't want to sway," or maybe you used to struggle with swaying, you will reverse pivot.
Watch what happens. I don't want to move my head. I know it's bad. As soon as I go back, I try to keep my head here, but as soon as I turn my hips at all, my upper body's always going to lean towards the target. Your head must move a little bit off the ball going back and will move a little bit forward coming down. It's okay for your head to move. It needs to move a little. Now, I'm not saying you're going to let you move your head six inches. We're talking an inch, inch and a half. It's almost not noticeable.
If you look at your swing on video, use our swing analyzer, you're going to see what your head's doing. It's okay for it to move a little bit off the ball as you go back so that you're maintaining the axis tilt that you had at address. Get pass the idea that your head moving at all is a bad thing in the swing. It has to happen to avoid a reverse pivot.
Going to recap real quick. Three things: you need axis tilt at address, you need your right hip to not slide out pass the right hip line as you go back, and you need to let your head move just a hair off the ball going back so you can load up properly into this side. If you do that, you'll never reverse pivot again.
Elliot
Elliot
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