Alphabet Golf

Filed in archive Golf Instruction on September 12, 2007

Courtesy: Golf.com

Golf really does make use of the ABCs when it comes to swing instruction.

First we had the "reverse C" finish used by guys like Johnny Miller and Hale Irwin, to name two.

Then we had the letter "K" that the legs form on the backswing - the lead knee breaking into the back knee forming the letter K. It's not used much anymore by the young guns on Tour.

Then there's the "V" formed by the arms at address.

Jim McLean popularized the "X Factor", a combination of angles of arms, shoulders, hips and legs that somehow looked like the letter X. He later modified that theory somewhat, so I guess we have the "modified X" now.

He also introduced the "Y Factor" in a Golf Digest article in 2001.

Now comes yet another member of this alphabet soup of instruction.

It's called the "O Factor" and is a move that has been observed and fleshed into a theory by swing coach, Robert Baker.

Baker has written often about how the downswing starts with the lower body. His previous view was that the downswing was triggered by a weight shift in the ankles and knees.

Now he contends that the O Factor is where the power comes from.

It's an interesting theory but I'm not sure that the moves he says we should develop in the downswing don't happen automatically anyway - all other things being equal.

Regardless, I am always hunting for a good downswing trigger and this one could be promising (aren't they all at the beginning?).