The Main Body

First of all, it should be defined what the term "the main body" means. Upper part leaves no illusions - the main body starts when the neck ends. Lower part is much harder to be defined correctly - some say that the pelvis area belongs to the main body, some says that this part belongs to legs, i.e. is an upper part of the legs that links it to thorax. Both concepts, from biokinetical point of view, are sound.


Nevertheless, I must look at the "big picture" when looking particularly at the golf swing motion, therefore, I treat the pelvis tare as one of three main segments of the main body THAT MAY BE and IS RULED BY LEGS (the border is coming through the hip joints). This specific point of view allows to consider all movements of the pelvis area as one of the main body movements - which is very crucial when describing the transition in the golf swing, i.e. the most crucial of all the moves in this motion (BTW, the only one when the orientation of the movement is asynchronic and opposite).

Besides, the shoulder area may also be ruled by arm motions, however, the fact that the arms, opposite to the legs, do not play any role as a base of the whole body, makes this statement of a second category in this context.



Secondly, it is very important to understand what are the three main sections of the body and why the lower part can move independently on the upper one, even in another direction without thinking about it.

So, the three sections are:

1) shoulders area (from the top of the shoulder joints to the sternum, where the rib cage begins);

2) rib cage area (from the sternum to the end of the last two ribs that are not connected to it);

3) pelvis area (from the end of last rib to the hip joints).

Some may ask why the rib cage is so important to be mentioned as one of the three main parts. The importance is linked to the very important biomechanical fact, namely, that the rib cage prevents the thorax from any lateral motions and, practically, reflects what the spine is doing. OTOH, both shoulders (althought in a very limited way) as well as hips (in much wider way) can be moved in all possible directions, independently on the spine's motion. Moreover, the specificity of the rib cage end allows to define a relatively narrow space (called colloquially "waist") that is responsible for already mentioned ability of the opposite direction independent movement of upper and lower parts of the main body. For the needs of biokinetical theory, the waist is reduced to a thin elastic horizontal stripe, despite the fact that in reality a lot of important muscles are involved there.



The most important role of the main body is to guide the swing motion the way the motion of the two upper distal parts (i.e. arms) can be subconsciousnessly subdued to it automatically. What does that mean - nothing more, nothing less that the main body movement has to be optimal enough to avoid the necessity of conscious arm movements in order to compensate errors when thinking about delivering the clubhead to the ball. Moreover, another important aspect of the main body movement is the ability of creating effortless power. That is why, I regard all swings that are pivot guided as superior to the arm guided ones that are full of timing issues to happen all the time.



Since my theory is based on limitations (because, as I said, this is the most sound way to get rid of timing issues), one can ask what kind of limitations exist in the main body action. Let us start with the upper part, i.e. the shoulder area. Shoulders are able to move independently of the spine, and what is equally important, independently on the arms. If you remember Jim McLean's concept of X-Factor - the very shoulders have their own small X-Factor as well as the possibility of maximizing it. Imagine moving both shoulder joints back Iincreasing of the shoulder X-Factor) or forward (decreasing of it) without any spine movement. If there is a X-Factor involved there must be a limitation.

Therefore, the limitation of the shoulder movement is achieving the biggest possible stretch between both shoulders. It is a very important thing (especially for rear eye dominant golfers whose upper body turn is limited due to the eyedness and, consequently, correct head movement during backswing) since it allows to gain a decent coiling and power without necessity of turning the hip area too much back. It's becoming obvious that the backswing should be monitored by the rear shoulder movement. Monitoring the backswing by the lead shoulder appears to be the same inefficient as monitoring the hip turn by the lead hip. When saying "monitioring" I do not want to say that the backswing should be initiated or led by the rear shoulder joint - what I wanted to say is that the most efficient way of swinging is when a golfer encounters the limitation in the shoulder area.



Since the rib cage section, as we said moves neutrally (so, there is a X-Factor between shoulders and rib cage) we can move down to the waist and the pelvis area. Since the one of most important goals for a golfer is to create a necessary amount of power (read: clubhead speed at impact), the whole movement cannot be uniform. The waist allows to coil the upper body against the lower body - it happens when the lower body changes direction of turn in relation to the upper body - the transition. Of course, there is another "small" X-Factor between the hips and the rib cage. It constitutes the concept of the "big" X-Factor that was the subject of McLean's life work.

Personally, I think that the real X-Factor is not the maximum angle between hip plane and shoulder plane that a golfer can reach, but specifically, the distance between THE LEAD HIP and THE REAR SHOULDER, i.e. the sum of both "small" X-Factors that is in perfect accordance with the theory of limitations. Hogan knew it and wanted us all to begin the downswing with the hip turn before the shoulders ended backswing and thanks to the very fast movements of the hips to maintain the X-Factor until impact. IMHO, this is the essence of creating lag in a pivot-guided downswing where the arms are subdued to the pivot..

In this point, it is vital to mention that the hips are not just turning. Jim Hardy explanation of the hips motion in a One Plane swing is the best I know. Shortly, the hips move as the eccentric wheel where the focal point is not between them but behind them (roughly said, the tail bone) - neither of the hips are moving forward (to the ball) - that would be impossible in case of imagining the turn of the hips in a circle. It is crucial to understand it when talking about maintaining the X-Factor until impact as well as about counterbalancing the spine bend with maintaining the tush line as well as when talking about the CoG shift in the hips area. The CoG shift, that is unavoidable because of the side spine angle and the momentum of the club, happens automatically when the hip turn is being done correctly the way it has been described above, of course with a great help of the proper legs movement.

Please also note that if the rear shoulder and lead hip are in most distant possible places STATICALLY at the end of the backswing there is no possibility of screwing the whole motion because there is no room left to do it. Since the transition is the most dynamic motion that the main body encounters in a golf swing (lower part goes rapidly in another direction that the upper part), from a DYNAMIC point of view the coiling even increases because human muscles and flexors always have some reserves.

Now, the optimum position at the top (that is defined by small X-Factors) requires a proper weight distribution that is another great thing when talking about introducing automatism in the whole motion. Keep the weight too much on the lead leg - you will find it hard to stop the lead hip; keep the weight too much on the rear leg - you will feel that the rear shoulder cannot find its limit. Both are wrong things.



The shoulders can be moving too fast or too slow in the downswing in reference to the hips since they did not find the biokinetical limit anywhere and our brain treat their movement as a DELIBERATE action of the shoulders and of the hips SEPARATELY, which won't happen when our brain can treat the motion as a whole and let it happen automatically. One needs only to understand and accept that the waist section solves this issue excellently by itself because there are no bones or joints - only the stable core (spine) and very strong muscles around it. Too many golf theories are dealing with details while our body can solve it much better by itself.



Just to add, the problems in separating lower part of the main body from the upper one, IMHO, are strongly linked to the fact that both small X-Factors have not seen their limits. That's why I consider McLean's X-factor theory (both hips angle level to both shoulders angle level) as not complete from the biomechanical point of view. However, the main concept of linking the "effortless" power of the swing to the ability of separation is great and true, especially in pivot-guided swings.