| Earlier this week I, along with the various geniuses on the Golf Digest video team, published a video explaining Will Zalatoris’ recent golf swing changes. I was pretty proud of how it turned out, and I hope you like it.
You can check it out right here, or below.
Golf already has so many strange and confusing terms that I’m wary of asking golfers to learn one more. But this one is important enough to make an exception.
It’s called side bend.
The video focuses a lot on side bend, which is an important concept for golfers to understand. Side bend is, quite literally, the amount your upper body tilts (or bends) away from the target during your golf swing, and specifically during your downswing. It’s what gives your golf swing this kind of reverse C look.
Side bend is vital in the golf swing because, among other things, it helps golfers hit more up on their driver, which helps them launch the ball higher and with less spin.
Hyper-mobile junior golfers and pro golfers tend to create too much side bend, which causes the discs in the lower back to shear up against each other. As the our fitness editor Ron Kaspriske explains:
“The combination of side bending and torsion can do a lot of damage to the lumbar spine,” he says. “It’s the L4 and S5 spinal segment that takes the brunt of it.”
This is what Zalatoris is re-working in his own golf swing, and Ron has a great article right here about some back-boosting exercises every golfer can do.
But anyway, while young and flexible golfers create too much side bend, most amateurs don’t create enough. It causes them to get steep, and hit shots like low pulls or big slices or chunks and tops.
Not to pick on my colleague Sam Weinman, who writes the fantastic Golf Digest newsletter Low Net, but his golf swing is an example lots of golfers can relate to.
Notice how by impact, Sam’s upper body and lower body are pretty much on top of each other. Measuring him via an app called SportsBox, you can see his pelvis has moved about three inches towards the target, but his upper body has moved even more towards the target. That’s why he’s only created about 17 degrees of side bend in his chest.
(Don’t worry, Sam knows this, is working on it and making great progress. Also look how pained Golf Digest’s Alex Myers looks in the background of this)
Measure and compare that to someone like Min Woo Lee and you’ll see the difference.
Min Woo’s pelvis has moved a little more towards the target than Sam’s, but his upper body has actually moved away from the target. While Sam has just 1.3 inches of difference between his upper and lower body, Min Woo has almost seven inches. It’s why he’s created more than double the amount of side bend, and is one of the best drivers in golf right now.
It highlights the key move in creating just the right amount of side bend in your golf swing.
As Golf Digest Best in State Teacher Joe Plecker explains, it’s good to pre-set some side bend in your golf swing with your driver by tilting your upper body back away from the target at setup.
Your upper and lower bodies will start their downswing together, as Golf Digest No. 3-ranked teacher Sean Foley explains, but your hips should continue driving towards the target. The process of your hips driving as the ball stays in the same place is what creates side bend.
As Plecker demonstrates here.
It’s a specific move, but an important one. Too much is an issue; too little is an issue. It really is a kind of goldilocks metric. Your golf swing will be at its best with just the right amount.
P.S. Keep the questions coming!
Finally, thanks to everyone who has reached out with questions. If you have a question, don't hesitate! I love hearing them. There are a few ways you can ask me...
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