I was recently asked (again!) about my thoughts on the Stack and Tilt (ST) method taught by Andy Plummer and Mike Bennet that was in Golf Digest earlier this year, featuring the swing of Aaron Baddeley (other tour players are also in the Plummer/Bennett stable). For those of you not familiar with this technique, you can read about it by clicking http://www.golfdigest.com/instruction/2007/06/stackandtilt1_gd0706. So, here are my thoughts.
In my book, The Negotiable Golf Swing, I discuss lateral movement in the backswing, although I do not specifically discuss the ST method. But here’s the bottom line; it’s negotiable. In my book, there two side-by-side photos, one of Curtis Strange, and the other of Colin Montgomery, illustrating that a player can move quite a bit laterally, to the right (for a right-handed player) or stay very centered and move very little. To say that one way or the other is right and wrong is misleading because what works for one player, may not work for another. In addition, blindly employing a method can be debilitating for some golfers.
One supposed benefit of the S/T method is that it helps a player find the bottom of the arc (the ground) with the club easier and more consistently. While there may be some truth to that (for some), I don’t believe it will have any impact on the direction the player swings the club (clubhead path), which is what most player struggle with. In other words, if a player is slicing the ball with his driver 30 yards, stacking and tilting isn’t going to make the ball go any straighter.
Also, keep in mind, tour players are extremely gifted athletes who can incorporate a different motion and sequence – even if it’s not the best way for them to swing the club – and still get results. Let’s see if Baddeley, along with other tour players who are employing this methodology, stay with it for the rest of his career. Or if it’s just temporary. After all, back in the ‘80s, instructor Jimmy Ballard coached Curtis Strange, and his method was to move laterally on the backswing. Strange won back-to-back US Opens and was a dominant player in the ‘80s.
Recently, I was having lunch with a Golf Magazine top 100 instructor and we had a brief conversation about the ST method. He said that it’s “in” right now, but five years from now, people will probably be again touting the methodology of moving laterally in the backswing, and all of its benefits. He’s probably right.
Subscribe