Post by Richie3Jack on Dec 6, 2013 10:19:19 GMT -5
Before there was Annika Sorenstam, there was Nancy Lopez. Lopez won 48 titles and 3 majors. Most impressively was her 1978 season when she won 9 titles including the LPGA Championship. All at the age of 21. She then won another 8 titles in 1979. After that she tapered off quite a bit.
I obviously do not have any statistics with regards to Lopez's play. But, if I had to guess based on the PGA Tour's statistics, Lopez must have simply struck the ball by far and away better than the rest of the ladies.
One thing that I went over in 2012 Pro Golf Synopsis was how driving the ball was far more important towards a golfer's success as we go back further in time. In fact, if you want to just take a simplistic look at it, all you have to do is look at the top-10 in the Tour's 'Total Driving' metric from 1980-1989 and where those top-10 players ranked on the Money List. Conversely, take a look at the top-10 in Total Driving from 2004-2013 and where they ranked in Total Driving. The difference is absolutely astonishing.
There's a big misnomer by some people that think that Tour players strike it better today than they did in the past. I highly question it because over time putting has become more important than driving as far as being successful on Tour. In fact, Geoff Mangum has brought up how with today's smoother green surfaces and the golf balls being in better condition to roll better, golfers are going to make more putts today. Recently I was discussing this with an instructor to a couple of current Tour players and he had remarked how I was able to spot with my metrics analysis that many players on Tour really scrape it around there much more than people think (i.e. Jonas Blixt).
Anyway, the point is that I tend to feel that Lopez's ballstriking is likely why she blew the doors off the LPGA back in 1978 and thankfully we have a swing sequence that was shot from that year.
Nancy stood fairly upright at address. You can see tell this if you can envision where her waist line is and then follow the direction it would be pointing at. The more the waist is pointing at the ball, the more bent over the golfer is at address. Here waist line is more level than it is slanted. Typically I see golfers with this type of address position dictating the rest of their swing. It likely means that they can't turn the left shoulder downward as much because in order to do so they would have to make a larger compensatory move downward with their entire torso.
And since they can't turn the left shoulder downward, they typically end up using a lot of arm swing in the backswing.
Hogan was fairly upright at address. He managed to turn the left shoulder downward in the backswing though.
What I do find common with the good players with this type of address position is that they typically take the club and the hands well inside. I think that one way or the other they figure that they have to bring the club and hands inward in order to hit the ball well when their address position is more upright. If they don't, the hands will get too far outside and they will produce too much of an 'outside-to-in' path.
Nancy has moved the club and hands inward here. She's also straightened her right knee which helps her turn more. She is turning the left shoulder downward, but it's not nearly as downward as some good golfers because of her upright address position. But we can see the torso becoming a little more bent over here.
Nancy's swing has always been called 'unorthodox.' I find with a lot of these 'unorthodox' swings on Tour that often times they are not really that crazy and are filled with good moves. It's just that one or two positions and motions to those positions are quirky and that is how the label of 'unorthodox' swing comes into fruition.
Here is where we see that quirky position. She has the hands wayyy inside. But, the butt of the club is practically tracing the baseline. In order to do that, she has to produce a very flat shaft plane. Where I see most golfers struggle here is they get well inside, but cannot produce a flat enough shaft plane to trace the baseline.
Here shoulder turn is still fairly flat, although her right knee continues to straighten as the right knee and right hip are clearly higher than the left knee and hip at this point.
So it's a little unusual to see somebody with a flat shoulder turn, but clearly straightening the right knee. And to have the hand path going that far inward, but to get the shaft flat enough so it is pointing at the baseline. And now she has a very closed clubface.
This is where Lopez's swing gets less unorthodox to me. Her shoulders are still a little flat while she has clearly straightened the right knee. She is across the line, but that isn't entirely bad. The only big thing going on here is that her clubface is super closed.
Having struggled with a closed clubface myself, the tendency is to 'back up' on the downswing. I feel it's due to the brain trying to figure out how to get some loft on the club at impact. And that usually means a very upright shoulder turn. I tend to think it also causes a steep shaft plane into P5 because having a shallow shaft plane and 'backing up' int he downswing usually don't mix very well. That can result in sling hooks and shanks.
I also feel that with the #3 PP on the side of the shaft it will allow here to better rotate rotate the wrists on the downswing to shallow out the shaft plane. I only base that off of personal experience as when I get the #3 PP under the shaft, I tend to get a steeper shaft plane. Then when I get the #3 PP on the side, the shaft plane shallows out almost naturally. I'm not sure why. It just does.
I think she's not overly steep. I think the #3 PP being on the side helps with that. The big thing I see here is her right knee. Her knees have regained flexion as they are trying to push off the ground. I'm guessing that Nancy was one of the longest players on the LPGA in 1978 because I usually don't see the females get this much knee flexion at this position. However, her right heel appears to be up off the ground slightly. That should mean that the right knee will kick out towards the ball further in the downswing and the head will hang back. All in a reaction to the very closed clubface.
This position is often called 'goat humping' or 'early extension.' Her torso and waist were flexed. Now they are not nearly as much flexed. The right ankle is pretty much completely un-cocked at this point. However, what is interesting is her clubface is pretty much square. So she went from severely closed clubface at p5 to pretty much square at p6.
The 'backing up' and 'early extension' come hand in hand. All in attempts to get the ball up in the air because that clubface was so closed at p5.
Despite all of this early extension, her shoulders and hips are still able to be open at impact. Right forearm is almost on plane as well so she had a decent amount of side-tilt.
Still extending. The exiting of the club looks pretty good. I would imagine she hit the ball pretty straight considering this was the day of balata golf balls.
The left humurus is interesting here because it's practically vertical. I think she hit it very high for a woman and either straight or with a tiny draw. She still has some nice side-tilt going here so she doesn't have to worry about 'spinning out.'
My feeling is that there was a lot of timing required in Lopez's swing. Her ability to have such a closed clubface at p5 and then square it at p6 is really fascinating. But, it takes a lot of timing and repeatability to be able to do. She also was able to open up the torso from p6 to p7 which is hard to do in such a short period of time. Her hips open up nicely in this picture. I believe her decline in her game had to do with getting older and putting on a lot of weight. She was no longer able to time her clubface to square up and no longer able to rotate the hips and torso as quickly as she did.
3JACK
I obviously do not have any statistics with regards to Lopez's play. But, if I had to guess based on the PGA Tour's statistics, Lopez must have simply struck the ball by far and away better than the rest of the ladies.
One thing that I went over in 2012 Pro Golf Synopsis was how driving the ball was far more important towards a golfer's success as we go back further in time. In fact, if you want to just take a simplistic look at it, all you have to do is look at the top-10 in the Tour's 'Total Driving' metric from 1980-1989 and where those top-10 players ranked on the Money List. Conversely, take a look at the top-10 in Total Driving from 2004-2013 and where they ranked in Total Driving. The difference is absolutely astonishing.
There's a big misnomer by some people that think that Tour players strike it better today than they did in the past. I highly question it because over time putting has become more important than driving as far as being successful on Tour. In fact, Geoff Mangum has brought up how with today's smoother green surfaces and the golf balls being in better condition to roll better, golfers are going to make more putts today. Recently I was discussing this with an instructor to a couple of current Tour players and he had remarked how I was able to spot with my metrics analysis that many players on Tour really scrape it around there much more than people think (i.e. Jonas Blixt).
Anyway, the point is that I tend to feel that Lopez's ballstriking is likely why she blew the doors off the LPGA back in 1978 and thankfully we have a swing sequence that was shot from that year.
Nancy stood fairly upright at address. You can see tell this if you can envision where her waist line is and then follow the direction it would be pointing at. The more the waist is pointing at the ball, the more bent over the golfer is at address. Here waist line is more level than it is slanted. Typically I see golfers with this type of address position dictating the rest of their swing. It likely means that they can't turn the left shoulder downward as much because in order to do so they would have to make a larger compensatory move downward with their entire torso.
And since they can't turn the left shoulder downward, they typically end up using a lot of arm swing in the backswing.
Hogan was fairly upright at address. He managed to turn the left shoulder downward in the backswing though.
What I do find common with the good players with this type of address position is that they typically take the club and the hands well inside. I think that one way or the other they figure that they have to bring the club and hands inward in order to hit the ball well when their address position is more upright. If they don't, the hands will get too far outside and they will produce too much of an 'outside-to-in' path.
Nancy has moved the club and hands inward here. She's also straightened her right knee which helps her turn more. She is turning the left shoulder downward, but it's not nearly as downward as some good golfers because of her upright address position. But we can see the torso becoming a little more bent over here.
Nancy's swing has always been called 'unorthodox.' I find with a lot of these 'unorthodox' swings on Tour that often times they are not really that crazy and are filled with good moves. It's just that one or two positions and motions to those positions are quirky and that is how the label of 'unorthodox' swing comes into fruition.
Here is where we see that quirky position. She has the hands wayyy inside. But, the butt of the club is practically tracing the baseline. In order to do that, she has to produce a very flat shaft plane. Where I see most golfers struggle here is they get well inside, but cannot produce a flat enough shaft plane to trace the baseline.
Here shoulder turn is still fairly flat, although her right knee continues to straighten as the right knee and right hip are clearly higher than the left knee and hip at this point.
So it's a little unusual to see somebody with a flat shoulder turn, but clearly straightening the right knee. And to have the hand path going that far inward, but to get the shaft flat enough so it is pointing at the baseline. And now she has a very closed clubface.
This is where Lopez's swing gets less unorthodox to me. Her shoulders are still a little flat while she has clearly straightened the right knee. She is across the line, but that isn't entirely bad. The only big thing going on here is that her clubface is super closed.
Having struggled with a closed clubface myself, the tendency is to 'back up' on the downswing. I feel it's due to the brain trying to figure out how to get some loft on the club at impact. And that usually means a very upright shoulder turn. I tend to think it also causes a steep shaft plane into P5 because having a shallow shaft plane and 'backing up' int he downswing usually don't mix very well. That can result in sling hooks and shanks.
I also feel that with the #3 PP on the side of the shaft it will allow here to better rotate rotate the wrists on the downswing to shallow out the shaft plane. I only base that off of personal experience as when I get the #3 PP under the shaft, I tend to get a steeper shaft plane. Then when I get the #3 PP on the side, the shaft plane shallows out almost naturally. I'm not sure why. It just does.
I think she's not overly steep. I think the #3 PP being on the side helps with that. The big thing I see here is her right knee. Her knees have regained flexion as they are trying to push off the ground. I'm guessing that Nancy was one of the longest players on the LPGA in 1978 because I usually don't see the females get this much knee flexion at this position. However, her right heel appears to be up off the ground slightly. That should mean that the right knee will kick out towards the ball further in the downswing and the head will hang back. All in a reaction to the very closed clubface.
This position is often called 'goat humping' or 'early extension.' Her torso and waist were flexed. Now they are not nearly as much flexed. The right ankle is pretty much completely un-cocked at this point. However, what is interesting is her clubface is pretty much square. So she went from severely closed clubface at p5 to pretty much square at p6.
The 'backing up' and 'early extension' come hand in hand. All in attempts to get the ball up in the air because that clubface was so closed at p5.
Despite all of this early extension, her shoulders and hips are still able to be open at impact. Right forearm is almost on plane as well so she had a decent amount of side-tilt.
Still extending. The exiting of the club looks pretty good. I would imagine she hit the ball pretty straight considering this was the day of balata golf balls.
The left humurus is interesting here because it's practically vertical. I think she hit it very high for a woman and either straight or with a tiny draw. She still has some nice side-tilt going here so she doesn't have to worry about 'spinning out.'
My feeling is that there was a lot of timing required in Lopez's swing. Her ability to have such a closed clubface at p5 and then square it at p6 is really fascinating. But, it takes a lot of timing and repeatability to be able to do. She also was able to open up the torso from p6 to p7 which is hard to do in such a short period of time. Her hips open up nicely in this picture. I believe her decline in her game had to do with getting older and putting on a lot of weight. She was no longer able to time her clubface to square up and no longer able to rotate the hips and torso as quickly as she did.
3JACK
