Bob Grissett on Straightening Your Trail Knee

There's a fairly lengthy article over at golftipsmag.Com approximately whether or not you have to straighten your trail knee in the course of your backswing or no longer. As you may see from the images underneath, both Palmer and Nicklaus did it.

Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus at top of backswing

In reality, the object indicates photographs of 14 distinct gamers who gained forty four majors making this very flow -- which include now not simplest Palmer and Nicklaus however additionally Snead, Player, Hogan, Trevino and Watson among their number. So why have we been taught to maintain flex in each knees throughout our backswing while so most of the greats have now not?

Instructor Bob Grissett says it's due to the fact we erroneously believed a idea that stated hip turn must be constrained at some point of the backswing. He says it's miles the single most detrimental concept in golf coaching ever.

One purpose I'm pointing this out is because he says that is a chief cause for returned problems in the golfing swing. He writes:

An article posted in February 2019 with the aid of Michelle Roberts, fitness editor for BBC News online, warns of how this restrained kind of golf swing ought to play havoc together with your back and put extra stress for your backbone, in step with U.S. Medical doctors at the Barrow Neurological Institute.
Dr Walker [from Barrow] said: “We believe Tiger Woods’s experience with spinal disease highlights a real and under-recognized issue among modern era golfers. Tiger was using the mechanics of the modern day swing and that places a tremendous amount of strain on the back. It’s still a theory but we are starting to see the late stages of this in some of our patients. We are seeing younger and younger elite level golfers with degeneration in their lower back.”
He said any golfer, elite or no longer, who experienced ache should searching for expert assist.
The proper knee extending and the left leg flexing forward on the backswing offers the hips freedom to turn by means of creating ?Hip slants.? Another gain of the back-leg extending is that it facilitates you keep your inclination closer to the ball installed at cope with.
For those of you interested in reading the entire article, here's the link to it at bbc.com. It has many illustrations to make the explanations clearer.

But the factor of this publish is that if you need to avoid again pain, you need to begin with the aid of permitting your hips to show freely in your backswing. I discovered long ago that simply turning your path foot outward as opposed to maintaining it perpendicular in your toe line permits you to show your hips greater and it takes a number of strain off your back. That's some thing that many teachers have advocated to older players for a long term.

Ironically, it also has a tendency to inspire a straightening of your path knee as your hips flip. Who knew?

Well, now you do. Live and examine!

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