Post by Richie3Jack on Dec 11, 2013 14:18:06 GMT -5
My initial thoughts of Gulbis’ swing is the massive head dip in the downswing as shown in this video:
She's known as the pretty girl with the ugly swing. That's not always a bad thing. As we've seen from Jim Furyk, his unorthodox swing produces tremendous results. But with Gulbis we see a golfer that usually finishes about average in fairway % and GIR % and a little below average in Driving Distance. She appears to be a very average ballstriker and average putter which is enough to keep her relevant on the LPGA. However, it is a bit curious as to why she is below average in distance when she is one of the taller players on the LPGA and in peak physical condition.
We often see her caddy place the end of a golf club on her head to get her to stop dipping the head to no avail. Butch Harmon claimed the dip was due to her having an 'extra vertabrae' in her spine. However, I believe it is swing mechanics that cause the dip and that causes the ball to fly the way it does for her and creates a lack of power.
I think we can learn a bit more about Gulbis' swing from the DTL view, this video and swing sequence is a decent place to start.
For me, the head dip is fairly easy to see what the most direct cause is. That is because I have suffered through this as well and still have bouts with head dipping.
If you look thru the impact zone, you can see that her shoulders are very vertical. The right shoulder is moving downward and the between that and the clavicle, it forces the head to dip down dramatically thru the impact zone. She is a bit like Gary Player at P5. Her shoulders are very closed while her hips are square. That's not a bad thing, it's just that Player and Gulbis have much more separation than your normal golfer or even your top-tier ballstrikers. It takes a lot of flexibility to do that and Player was in tip-top shape and Gulbis is a yoga fanatic.
I think what you learn here is that while she employs a 'spatula' release and it's not a way to release the club and produce powerful golf shots, she does keep the right shoulder moving thru impact. Very difficult to do with such a vertical shoulder turn thru the impact zone. Most golfers don't do that and struggle to hit the ball. That's a big reason how, I believe, Gulbis is able to hit the ball at an LPGA level despite such a funky swing.
With that said, it's my opinion that Gulbis cannot just try and produce a flatter shoulder plane on the downswing and that will cure any ills she has. I think the problems start more in the backswing. In the picture below, we can see a fairly centered pivot, which is something I prefer:
She straightens the right knee as well. This produces a higher right knee than left. A higher right hip than left. I prefer this as well.
And as far as spine 'extension', I think part of the issue for her is that she may over-extend it a bit too much. The head is likely to lower in the downswing in most good golf swing. But when you over-extend like she does, it's going to cause a more dramatic dip just so the golfer can return the club to the ball.
Even still, I don't quite thing that is much of an issue as her p4 position where she is over-turned and very much across the line. I think that motion makes it so her shoulders get extremely closed at p5 and then have no choice but to go thru the impact zone more vertically than on a flatter plane angle.
And I think we can even go back further and look at her address position.
I think the driver length is too long for her height. Her torso is very upright. She also tries to utilize a 'flat spine' which is one of Butch's calling cards. At p2 she is very armsy. Her p2 position is more like a lot of good ballstrikers' p2.7 postions. This is another calling card of Harmon's work. He wants a wide takeaway with less wrist-cock. Between the address position and the p2 mechanics, it is creating a flat shoulder turn. Thus, her knee plane and hip plane are steeper than her shoulder plane. And she gets more shoulder turn, but over-rotates. That combined with her flying right elbow cause the club to get well 'across the line.'
It takes a remarkable amount of flexibility to over-turn with the hip and knee plane being steep, but she can do it.
Where I think she loses a lot of her club head speed is that because of her steep shoulder plane, she cannot quite shift the Center of Pressure in her swing to the left side.
Suzanne Pettersson gets about 70% of her CoP to her left side according to Swing Catalyst. I would not be surprised if Gulbis gets less. But that's just horizontal Ground Reaction Force. I think where Pettersson really gets much more power is from the vertical GRF. Particularly when we look at p8.5. Gulbis is very much low and close to the ground. Petterson is more extended, having pushed off the ground while Gulbis is still very much glued to the ground.
3JACK
She's known as the pretty girl with the ugly swing. That's not always a bad thing. As we've seen from Jim Furyk, his unorthodox swing produces tremendous results. But with Gulbis we see a golfer that usually finishes about average in fairway % and GIR % and a little below average in Driving Distance. She appears to be a very average ballstriker and average putter which is enough to keep her relevant on the LPGA. However, it is a bit curious as to why she is below average in distance when she is one of the taller players on the LPGA and in peak physical condition.
We often see her caddy place the end of a golf club on her head to get her to stop dipping the head to no avail. Butch Harmon claimed the dip was due to her having an 'extra vertabrae' in her spine. However, I believe it is swing mechanics that cause the dip and that causes the ball to fly the way it does for her and creates a lack of power.
I think we can learn a bit more about Gulbis' swing from the DTL view, this video and swing sequence is a decent place to start.
For me, the head dip is fairly easy to see what the most direct cause is. That is because I have suffered through this as well and still have bouts with head dipping.
If you look thru the impact zone, you can see that her shoulders are very vertical. The right shoulder is moving downward and the between that and the clavicle, it forces the head to dip down dramatically thru the impact zone. She is a bit like Gary Player at P5. Her shoulders are very closed while her hips are square. That's not a bad thing, it's just that Player and Gulbis have much more separation than your normal golfer or even your top-tier ballstrikers. It takes a lot of flexibility to do that and Player was in tip-top shape and Gulbis is a yoga fanatic.
I think what you learn here is that while she employs a 'spatula' release and it's not a way to release the club and produce powerful golf shots, she does keep the right shoulder moving thru impact. Very difficult to do with such a vertical shoulder turn thru the impact zone. Most golfers don't do that and struggle to hit the ball. That's a big reason how, I believe, Gulbis is able to hit the ball at an LPGA level despite such a funky swing.
With that said, it's my opinion that Gulbis cannot just try and produce a flatter shoulder plane on the downswing and that will cure any ills she has. I think the problems start more in the backswing. In the picture below, we can see a fairly centered pivot, which is something I prefer:
She straightens the right knee as well. This produces a higher right knee than left. A higher right hip than left. I prefer this as well.
And as far as spine 'extension', I think part of the issue for her is that she may over-extend it a bit too much. The head is likely to lower in the downswing in most good golf swing. But when you over-extend like she does, it's going to cause a more dramatic dip just so the golfer can return the club to the ball.
Even still, I don't quite thing that is much of an issue as her p4 position where she is over-turned and very much across the line. I think that motion makes it so her shoulders get extremely closed at p5 and then have no choice but to go thru the impact zone more vertically than on a flatter plane angle.
And I think we can even go back further and look at her address position.
I think the driver length is too long for her height. Her torso is very upright. She also tries to utilize a 'flat spine' which is one of Butch's calling cards. At p2 she is very armsy. Her p2 position is more like a lot of good ballstrikers' p2.7 postions. This is another calling card of Harmon's work. He wants a wide takeaway with less wrist-cock. Between the address position and the p2 mechanics, it is creating a flat shoulder turn. Thus, her knee plane and hip plane are steeper than her shoulder plane. And she gets more shoulder turn, but over-rotates. That combined with her flying right elbow cause the club to get well 'across the line.'
It takes a remarkable amount of flexibility to over-turn with the hip and knee plane being steep, but she can do it.
Where I think she loses a lot of her club head speed is that because of her steep shoulder plane, she cannot quite shift the Center of Pressure in her swing to the left side.
Suzanne Pettersson gets about 70% of her CoP to her left side according to Swing Catalyst. I would not be surprised if Gulbis gets less. But that's just horizontal Ground Reaction Force. I think where Pettersson really gets much more power is from the vertical GRF. Particularly when we look at p8.5. Gulbis is very much low and close to the ground. Petterson is more extended, having pushed off the ground while Gulbis is still very much glued to the ground.
3JACK