AUGUSTA, Ga.—For a match as steeped in custom as The Masters, it is at all times been one among golf’s innovators with regards to new know-how.
We noticed a type of in the course of the “Masters On the Range” broadcast on Monday. While World No. 1 and match favourite Scottie Scheffler hit balls on the driving vary, CBS employed its Optimotion know-how. In doing so, it dispelled one of the crucial common golf swing misunderstandings round. And one the remainder of us can be taught from.
Optimotion is a 3D system, powered by GolfTec, which is a new addition to CBS’ 2024 broadcast and made its first look at the Masters on Monday. The system tracks and measures totally different segments of golfers’ our bodies as they swing, which permits academics to pinpoint totally different areas they wish to enhance.
One of these measurements tasks a golfer’s side-to-side weight shift as they swing, which led to some helpful learnings when the published peaked beneath the hood of Scheffler’s transfer.
At setup, the system discovered Scheffler’s weight was fairly evenly distributed between each legs: A little bit greater than half his physique weight on his proper leg; a little lower than half on his left.
About midway via his backswing, Scheffler shifts greater than 60 p.c of his weight onto his path leg on the backswing. This, it seems, is his most quantity of weight shift onto his path leg.
As Scheffler reaches the highest of his backswing, his weight has begun shifting again to his entrance leg: Whereas simply 36 p.c of Scheffler’s weight was on his left leg mid-backswing, now nearly 50 p.c of his weight sits on his left leg at the highest of his backswing.
Herein lies the educational:
Many golfers suppose they should have most or all of their weight on their path leg at the highest of the backswing. While shifting your weight again is a highly effective transfer, many amateurs slide their weight over to their path aspect too late, and by no means come again as a outcome. They hit chunks, thins, and make different contact errors due to it.
By mid downswing, Scheffler now has a majority of his weight again on his lead leg.
By influence, he is shifted greater than 73 p.c of his weight onto his lead aspect
…which continues via to his end.
An aggressive weight shift from right-to-left via the ball, which is solely attainable as a result of he begins early.
The feeling, as Padraig Harrington explains right here, is the sensation of taking a large step in direction of the goal midway via your backswing. Essentially, stepping towards the goal as quickly as you begin your golf swing.
1. During your takeaway, it is best to really feel your weight shift again to your path leg.
2. As the membership shaft reaches parallel to the bottom, that is when it is best to start to “recenter”, and shift again to your lead aspect.
3. As you start your downswing, it is best to have generated a lot momentum that you can simply step via the ball, in direction of the goal.
The feeling ought to be that of stepping side-to-side, or like a pitcher striding ahead with their decrease physique as they’re winding up with their higher physique. By the time they launch the pitch, their weight has already absolutely transferred in direction of the batter, which offers them energy.
Adopting the identical transfer within the golf swing can do the identical factor. It can promote ball-first contact for extra stable strikes and assist generate velocity whenever you do.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/masters-2024-golf-swing-tv-technology-masters-optimotion
