The Stack and Tilt Golf Swing - Some Comments

In a recent issue of Golf Digest (June 2007) a "new" golf swing being promoted by golf coaches Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett is featured. This new approach to the golf swing is called the "Stack and Tilt" swing.

In describing the Stack and Tilt swing, Peter Morrice, the author of the article, indulges in a bit of overstatement when he says "Their secret...contradicts almost everything being taught in the game today." But is this swing really that unique?

The Key Difference

The biggest difference with the "Stack and Tilt" swing is that it completely downplays the idea of shifting your weight to your back foot when making the backswing. In fact this "new" swing encourages the golfer to keep his or her weight on the front foot, and, if anything, move it more directly over the front foot during the takeaway.

Some older golfers will think this looks like a "reverse pivot" where the golfer seems to be leaning towards the target at the top of the swing. Teachers of the typical modern swing have their golf students draw the club back and stack their weight over their back leg when the club hits the top of the swing. But Stack and Tilt encourages the golfer to lean towards the target while the club is taken up.

Some Subtle Differences

For many golfers it may be hard to spot the differences at first, but there are some significant ones. For one thing with the typical modern swing the back leg remains bent with a slight flex at the knee. With the Stack and Tilt the back leg straightens out. The photos featured in the Golf Digest article (p.122) demonstrate how the back leg straightens out as it pushes back towards the target.

As a result the front side of the body is "stacked" over the front foot, and the trailing side of the body is "tilted" towards the target.

For a comparison with the typical modern swing look at photos of Tiger's swing of the last few years, or see the photo of V.J. Singh's swing on page 43 of the same issue of Golf Digest. Singh's upper body is "stacked" over his back leg at the top of the swing, and the trailing side of his torso is perpendicular to the ground as he pushes his weight back over his back leg. This is quite different from the way the torso is angled towards the target with the Stack and Tilt swing.

It's All Been Done Before

If you are familiar with the teachings of most modern golf coaches this may sound like a radical departure from golf orthodoxy. But the fact is, there have always been alternative schools of thought which questioned the simplistic "weight shift" idea. In particular, look at old photos of Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan or Sam Snead. None of these golfers make the major shift over the back leg like you see with Tiger woods, for instance.

Or have a close look at the famous 1930s videos produced by Bobby Jones. There is no obvious shift towards the back leg. Jones remains centered over the ball throughout the swing and is more concerned with rotation around the center point than he is with the lateral weight shift characteristic of the typical modern swing.

Points of Interest

There are clearly some aspects of the Stack and Tilt swing that may help the average golfer hit the golf ball more squarely and more precisely.

The first is the lack of emphasis placed on the weight shift. For many golfers this idea is misleading and results in a lateral shift that basically turns the golf ball into a moving target. Shifting one's weight to the back also results in a "shallower" swing which increases the chances of bottoming out too early. Depending on a variety of factors this can either result in fat shots or thin ones. As an alternative, pressing into the front foot as you take the club back very definitely forces a steeper approach to the ball and should result in fewer topped shots. It also results in a lower trajectory since it de-lofts the club, and this may give you greater run on certain kinds of fairways.

The second point is that Stack and Tilt promotes a flatter swing. A flatter swing is less vertical and more rotational, and is the way Stack and Tilt compensates for being more on top of the ball when the downswing is begun.

The third point is the fairly advanced idea of the "pelvic thrust" which the Stack and Tilt teachers claim helps get the club approaching the ball correctly. This is probably where Stack and Tilt becomes too difficult for many average golfers. With Stack and Tilt, since one's weight and shoulder position are forward, the approach to the ball will be significantly steeper than normal. The pelvic thrust, along with the more rotational swing, helps to "shallow out" the swing. You achieve this by rapidly rotating your hips around and pushing your front hip up and towards the target. This creates the sensation of almost jumping up and striking the ball while on your toes. If you've ever seen Natalie Golbus swing a golf club you've got a fairly good idea what this looks like.

If these seem like technical points that are beyond your level of expertise, just give the "weight forward" idea a try. All you have to do is start with noticeably more weight on your front foot, and then press into that foot as you take the club up. You will probably find that it feels quite different from what you are used to. This move should result in fewer thin hits. But it may also result in more pushes, especially with the longer clubs, so you may have to adjust the positioning of the ball. You may also find it more physically taxing - requiring more body contortions - and for most of us that is not a good thing.

Rick Hendershot is an avid golfer who writes about the golf swing, golf travel and other golf stuff. Catch his blogs called The Weekend Golfer and Golf Around the World

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Creating a Solar Heated Swimming Pool - Part 1

Solar Pool Part 1: Making your swimming pool more efficient

Swimming pools offer a great way to exercise and beat the summer heat. However, installing and maintaining a pool can get expensive. Fortunately, The sun can provide the heat needed to keep your pool warm enough for a nice swim.

Before investing in a solar water heating system for your pools, however make sure that your pool is effeiciently filtering and circulating the water it has. Inefficiency costs money! In fact, installing a smaller higher efficiency pump and running less each day can save up to 75 percent in energy costs.

Which pump you choose depends on the size of your swimming pool, how much it is used and local weather conditions. One study shows that a three-quarter-horsepower or smaller pump is generally sufficient for most residential pools. At the same time, install a larger filter and make sure that pipes are as short and straight as possible. A large cartridge type filter is more efficient that the cheaper diatomaceous earth types. In addition, cartridges require about half as much power to push the water through.

What about circulation? You can save some bucks by simply cutting back on the amount of time the circulation pumps run. Many are set to run 6 to 12 hours a day. However, about one to three hours a day is typically all thats needed to keep water fresh. Cutting back may mean that the pool filter doesnt collect as much debris, but you can skim it off as needed or keep the pool covered.

Whats next? Most of a pools heat loss occurs at the surface where the heated water evaporates or radiates away. A pool cover offers an effective way of keeping heat and water in a pool by reducing surface evaporation. A pool cover can reduce water loss by one third to one half. And each gallon of 80 degree water that evaporates removes about 8,000 BTU from the pool. In addition, reducing water loss also reduces the amount of chemical water treatment required.

The best way to reduce evaporation and even take advantage of the suns radiation is to add a solar cover to your swimming pool. Dark covers hold more heat in than clear or light-colored solar covers. A solar cover can pay for itself in energy savings within the first year, yet they have a lifespan of 3 to 5 years.

One more energy consumption tip for your solar heated pool: Install a windbreak. A fence or plants around a pool can reduce evaporation by 300 percent or more. An effective windbreak must be high and close enough to the pool to block wind from moving across the waters surface, but it cant block sunlight.

Chad Hartman is a solar power supporter and a staff writer for Go-Solar.org. To learn more about solar energy and how you can benifit from it, please visit our site at: http://Go-Solar.org

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