Since then, there have been countless magazine articles, blog posts (you can check out my Stack and Tilt category if you don’t believe me), and even an instructional DVD set. There has been much debate about the swing and it has even been discussed during national golf broadcasts.

I’m not sure why, but it took a couple of years for Plummer and Bennett to follow up the original Golf Digest feature and subsequent instructional DVD set with this book.  However, if you’re serious about the Stack and Tilt swing, or are even seriously considering giving it a try, then this book was probably worth the wait.

It amazed me in 2007 how many weekend players adopted the swing with relatively little information to go on. After all, the Golf Digest article was only a handful of pages. I even tried it myself based on that limited information. The need for more knowledge was kind of filled with the various subsequent outlets of information on the swing. Unfortunately, none of them is a really good substitute for a book.

Though the DVD instructional set was quite detailed and informative, the price tag was too steep for many people. This book comes in at less than a third of the price, and in my opinion, is more packed with detail.

The book starts with an initial overview of the swing and the theories behind it. From there, it takes the reader through the phases of the swing, including setup, backswing, downswing, and follow-through. After that, a detailed comparison of the Stack and Tilt versus the conventional swing is given. It finishes up with some more theory, drills, common faults and fixes, and a primer on how to track progress.

Though the book isn’t long (at a little over 200 pages), it is packed with plenty of images that demonstrate the concepts, and contains a lot of detail that is quite helpful to aid in understanding the swing and all the theory behind it.

One of the things I like about this book is that it provides a ton of technical detail while still being quite easy to read. For this reason, I think it serves the widest array of people possible – those who crave technical knowledge as well as those who might just have a casual curiosity about the Stack and Tilt swing.

One thing that Plummer and Bennett did with this book that appears in hindsight to not be such a great idea, is that they really hung their hats on their stable of PGA Tour players. Included in the book are blurbs both about and even from the handful of players that have become synonymous with the Stack and Tilt swing.

At first thought, that would seem like a great thing. Unfortunately, included in that group of players are both Aaron Baddeley and Mike Weir, who both have abandoned the swing since the original printing of the book in late 2009, and have returned to their previous traditional-type swings.

I know that pros are always trying to improve their swings, their equipment, their mental state, and so on, so it’s not unusual that players would try a swing and then revert back to their old ways, but it just rings hollow to read testimonials from Weir and Baddeley about how the swing has helped them, all the while knowing that they left it behind.

That aside, I still think this book has a ton of merit. There’s still debate out there as to whether the swing itself has merit, though. I’m one of those people that thinks it does. I don’t know that it’s the answer for everyone, but I’ve heard directly from so many people that have had success with it, that I’d be a fool to think otherwise.

Given that, my verdict on this book is that it’s excellent for anyone thinking of trying out the swing, or for anyone that has been playing with the Stack and Tilt swing but that would like to gain more refined knowledge about the concepts.

So that leaves one burning question. Does the book do a better job getting players using the Stack and Tilt than the instructional DVD set? The answer is yes and no. Both have their merits. For instance, the book has a great deal more detail. On the other hand, the DVDs provide plenty of visuals of the swing in motion, something that still photographs in a book don’t quite match.

If I was going to adopt the Stack and Tilt swing and if I was given the choice of either buying the DVD set or buying this book, I would definitely buy the book, for two reasons. For one, the book is a fraction of the price. Secondly, the book is packed with a lot more detail. Don’t get me wrong, the DVDs are quite detailed. It’s just that it’s not possible to put the same amount of detail as you can into 200+ pages in book format.

Overall, this book is a winner to me. Even though I don’t use the Stack and Tilt swing, I still like to read books like this. Especially after hearing critics come down on the concepts as being “radical” or otherwise wrong. Plummer and Bennett turn that around masterfully, though, with plenty of examples of great players from the past doing the things that they tout as Stack and Tilt fundamentals.

If you’re a Stack and Tilt player or if you have an itch to give it a try, I recommend this book to you. I think it will definitely help. Or, if you’re like me and just like to read about swing theory, I think you’ll like it too.

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Disclosure: A copy of this book was provided to me for review purposes. I received no other compensation for writing this review.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Book Review: The Stack and Tilt Swing

A couple of weeks back, I heard that Baddeley had given up on the swing and gone back to his old coach Dale Lynch.  Then, I was somewhat shocked to read that Mike Weir did the same, returning to coach Mike Wilson.

Chris Henry at Eagle Par Birdie weighed in on the situation, making the point that pros change swings all the time and that this is really getting attention because the swing has been controversial since day one.  Both of these things are true, but I’m still surprised.

Two things echoed through my mind as I read about Baddeley and Weir changing swings again.

First, I did a post a while back that crunched the stats for both Baddeley and Weir and a few other Stack and Tilters over the last several years.  I believe I was able to show that both players had lowered their scoring averages and increased their earnings since adopting the swing, though in some categories, they had not regained previous high points, for instance, Mike Weir in the year he won the Masters.

Second, since I wrote my first article about the Stack and Tilt, I have read literally dozens if not hundreds of comments and e-mails from readers that have had moderate to great success with the swing.  Don’t believe me?  Look at the posts in the Stack and Tilt category and read through the comments.  If my math is correct, I count exactly 300 comments on those posts.  A good chunk of those are mine, responding to other comments, but that’s still a lot of discussion.

Search the internet for Stack and Tilt and look at the discussion forums and other blogs.  I know that Stack and Tilt accounts for a good chunk of my visitors so I assume other bloggers and websites are experiencing the same thing.

So, I’m left wondering why Baddeley and Weir decided to revert.  I think Chris is right that pros change swings and coaches all the time.  That’s a big part of it.  At that level, stats are kind of secondary to wins and earnings.  If Mike Weir feels like he’s not on his way to a year like he had in 2003, then logic dictates that he’s probably going to change things up periodically until he finds that spot again.  Same for Baddeley.

That begs the question, then:  if players at the top feel like this swing is not going to help them get there, then why the huge popularity among the amateur ranks?

The only answer I have is that the Stack and Tilt is a good swing for amateurs to adopt that has the benefit of wiping out some of the major flaws that amateurs struggle with, proper weight transfer being one of them.  With a little study, the swing is fairly easy to adopt and players quickly begin to strike the ball better.  Better contact and better ball compression immediately gives players more distance and accuracy, even if they don’t increase their swing speeds.

What may be happening is, the swing doesn’t offer as much to top players who don’t struggle with things like weight transfer like the rest of us do.  Perhaps it doesn’t offer the same level of distance or precision control that top players need.  I’m not sure about that, though, as the stats for the Stack and Tilt players don’t really bear that hypothesis out.

But that brings me to another point:  confidence.  If a top player doesn’t feel like he has as much control, then he doesn’t.  Even if he does, if you follow me.

As reported in the Naples News article I linked above:

Baddeley, who said before the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill that he was going back to Lynch, won twice on the PGA Tour and once in Australia over the past three years. But his statistics had slid this season.

“I haven’t quite seen the results I wanted,” Baddeley told FoxSports.com. “The past year has been a little inconsistent. I thought I was making good progress but there were a couple of things in the swing that weren’t clicking, so I went and saw Dale for a second opinion.”

To me, that’s a confidence issue.  Baddeley said that a couple of things weren’t clicking.  It sounds more like a couple of things stopped clicking, because they clicked enough previously for him to have won twice  on the PGA Tour.

It’s like anything else in golf:  once confidence in something is lost, it’s very difficult to get it back.  Some players go through dozens of putters, looking for one that feels right.  They have bad streaks and change putters just because they’ve lost confidence.  They get to the point where they would putt with a tree branch if they felt like they were making putts with it.  And players change swings for the exact same reason.  I’ve done it myself, and I don’t have millions riding on my golf swing.

I kind of wonder if this will affect the adoption of the swing by the millions of amateur players out there.  And not just because I run ads for the swing DVDs.  I assure you, that’s the last thing on my mind.  I’m just interested in learning about the golf swing and seeing others raise the level of their games.  If this swing wasn’t adopted by a handful of Tour pros and subsequently featured in Golf Digest, it’s doubtful that knowledge of it would have extended beyond the most hardcore students of the golf swing.

Will players stick with it, and others give it a first try, knowing that the pros are moving on?  I read a comment on another blog once (and I can’t remember which one) where someone said something to the effect that when Tiger Woods adopts the swing, then it’s worth thinking about.  There’s some truth in that.  When one of the perennial winners thinks highly enough of the swing to switch, that’s saying something.  Everyone else is just trying out new things to find some old magic.

So, what do you think?  I know that dozens of you have had success with the swing because you’ve told me.  It stands to reason that there are hundreds or thousands more that never even bothered to comment about it, and that’s just here in my little corner of the internet.  Why is it losing steam in the pro ranks?  Do you think it will continue to be popular among the amateur ranks?  Or will it die out, only to be remembered years from now as another swing fad?

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Is the Stack and Tilt Losing Steam?

What I want to know is, how effective is the swing?  Is it really better than a conventional swing or some of the other variations out there?

From all that I’ve read about the swing, I know of a handful of tour pros that use the Stack and Tilt swing.  Some are featured in the ads for the DVDs.  Aaron Baddeley was featured in the Golf Digest article.  I read about Mike Weir adopting the swing.

I decided that I would set out to do an analysis of statistics for that handful of pros to see if I could find any evidence that the Stack and Tilt swing has transformed their games for the better.  I went back as far as 2000 (or as far as I could) and looked for trends in several statistical categories for Aaron Baddeley, Will MacKenzie, Dean Wilson, Charlie Wi, Mike Weir, and Tommy Armour III.

Methodology

For each pro, I considered greens in regulation, driving accuracy, driving distance, scoring average, and money earned for a period from 2000 through 2008.  I thought these things would be good indicators of whether a player’s swing was improved over that period.

For each player, I gathered stats as far back as I could for any year where that player played at least 20 competitive rounds.  In a year where a player split time between more than one tour, I took stats from whichever tour a player spent the most time on.  Overall, I preferred PGA Tour stats and PGA European Tour stats, over Nationwide Tour stats wherever possible.

Possible Problems

If you were under the impression that this was a formal scientific study, I hate to disappoint, but there are simply too many variables to make a definitive determination.  I’m looking for trends that could point to player improvement attributable to the Stack and Tilt.  At the same time, it’s not always possible to correlate improvement with the Stack and Tilt, because the player could have been putting in a lot of short game or putting work in the case of noticeable improvement, or could have been injured or mentally distracted in the case of a decline.

It’s also not possible for me to know exactly when each player began adopting the Stack and Tilt swing.  However, I do have some references to go on.  In The Scorecard Always Lies, by Chris Lewis, there is mention of Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett (architects of the Stack and Tilt) as well as when certain players began working with the two.

Here is what I can glean from Lewis’ inside information:

• Plummer and Bennett started working on Tour in 2004 and had their first success with Steve Elkington late in 2005
• They got their first victory with Aaron Baddeley in 2006.  I’m presuming they began working with him in the 2005 off-season, but that’s a guess.
• They began working with Tommy Armour III, Dean Wilson, and Grant Waite by the end of 2005.
• By 2006, their appointment books were swelling.

In addition, according to a Golf Digest article, Mike Weir had adopted the swing by 2007.

The Data

All the stats were gathered from the PGA Tour and PGA European Tour homepages.  If you’d like to look at the raw data I collected, you may view the spreadsheet here.  The charts below were constructed directly from that data, using Microsoft Excel.

Without further ado, here are the findings for each player in the categories greens in regulation, driving accuracy, driving distance, scoring average, and money earned for a period from 2000 through 2008.

Analysis

I’m seeing some very interesting things in there.  Let’s have a look at each category.

• Greens in Regulation – Clearly Aaron Baddeley has been trending upward since beginning work with Plummer and Bennett.  After some solid years earlier, Mike Weir has regained some of this ground in the GIR category, but not nearly to the point where he was at the beginning of the decade.  If you smooth the ups and downs, all the players except for Will MacKenzie have been trending mostly upward for the last few years.
• Driving Distance – This is probably the least meaningful of the stats I chose for this exercise, as driving distance is not generally an indicator of success without strength in the driving accuracy category.  The results were mixed, with Baddeley, Armour III, and Weir trending upward the last few years (after drastic declines in the previous few years, I might add), while the rest were generally moving downward.  It should be noted that Tommy Armour III turns 50 this year, which might explain the loss in distance from 2003-2006, but doesn’t explain why he added almost ten yards between 2006 and 2008.
• Driving Accuracy – I’m surprised that these results are so mixed, since consistency is supposed to be the bread and butter of the Stack and Tilt.  Weir and MacKenzie have been pretty much on a plateau for quite a while.  Baddeley looks like he made a huge improvement right around the time be began adopting the Stack and Tilt.  Tommy Armour III had a nice upward movement since 2004 with the exception of 2008.  Overall, with the exception of Weir and MacKenzie, the other guys were showing improvement, but Armour III and Wi had what might be considered one unusually good and one unusually bad year since 2004.
• Scoring Average – To me, this is the most telling of the stats.  Every single one of the players has been trending downward since 2005, with the lone exception of MacKenzie in 2008.  That can probably be chalked up to a bad year given that he saw drops in just about all the categories in 2008.  Without a doubt, though, scores have been dropping steadily in the last few years.
• Earnings – Again, another telling stat.  All of the players saw generally increased earnings between 2005 and 2008.

Conclusions

As I said at the top, this study is fairly unscientific and, in fairness, I don’t know that I can make any absolutely definitive conclusions.  However, with these five players, it seems clear to me that each has decreased his average score and increased his earnings since Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett hung out their shingle on Tour and started working with these guys.

There could be other factors involved.  For instance, there could have been new or renewed efforts to work on the short game, putting, fitness, or the mental game.  There could have been improvements in equipment.  There are many possible explanations.

In some cases, like with Mike Weir, there were big drops in performance from earlier successes.  In his case, he had a big year in 2003 which included a Masters win.  His rebound from his subsequent slump could have been a natural one.  Also interesting is that he still hasn’t regained his pre-2003 strength in any of the categories.

At the same time, I think there is too much correlation to say that the Stack and Tilt isn’t at least partly responsible for increased success for these five players.  The fact that all five showed a generally upward trend in both scoring and earnings tells me that they all started doing something that worked for them and the one thing that I know they have in common is adoption of the Stack and Tilt golf swing.

I think that speaks volumes to those of you out there who have been working on switching to the Stack and Tilt.  If the swing can show this kind of improvement at players at that level, then it stands to reason that average players will benefit from its simplicity and consistency.  From the massively positive reaction I’ve heard from players around the world, I’d say that hypothesis has already been proven.

For those of you who haven’t given it a shot, you might want to consider it.  At worst, you won’t improve and can go back to whatever you’re doing now.  At best, you might start shaving strokes like we’ve seen from the PGA Tour all the way down to the weekend hacker.

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Further Reading

Stack and Tilt Instructional DVD Set (Life in the Rough)
Golf Digest Revisits the Stack and Tilt (Life in the Rough)
More Stack and Tilt Analysis (Life in the Rough)
Stack and Tilt: A Follow Up (Life in the Rough)
The New Tour Swing (Golf Digest, June 2007)
Stack and Tilt Part 2 (Golf Digest, September 2007)
Stack and Tilt Critics Speak Out (Golf Digest, September 2007)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Effectiveness of the Stack and Tilt Swing

Stack and Tilt DVD Set

It amazes me still that the Stack and Tilt swing has taken such a strong hold on the golfing world.  Really, though, it shouldn’t surprise me because the number of players I’ve heard from that have had great success with the swing is staggering.

Starting with an article in Golf Digest, the swing swept through driving ranges and back yards like wildfire.  With such a limited resource for information, players were forced to resort to internet discussion to try and learn as much as possible about this strange new swing that was giving them great results.

Then, prayers were answered when Stack and Tilt architects Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer created a 4-disc instructional video series.  Distributed by Medicus Golf, the DVD set covers everything you need to know about the Stack and Tilt swing, and much more.

Disc Contents

• Disc one – Swing overview
• Disc two – Stack and Tilt in-depth
• Disc three – Analyzing your shot
• Disc four – Short Game

For some more information about the contents of the DVD set, a Life in the Rough reader has presented a nice summary in the comment section of the Stack and Tilt DVD announcement post.

The Good

• The videos are a quite comprehensive view of the Stack and Tilt golf swing.  In addition, there is a significant amout of coverage of the theory behind the swing.
• Interesting analysis about what the “real” fundamentals of golf are.  I covered this recently.
• There was a good introduction of the “flying wedge”, a swing concept I was not familiar with prior to this instructional DVD set.  More on that in a later post.
• The instruction was augmented with helpful graphics and photographic analysis to aid in understanding of the concepts.

The Bad

• Medicus is running a risk-free trial for $19.95, but the full price of $99.75 (should you decide to keep them) is pretty high.
• Plummer and Bennett are definitely excellent sources for knowledge, but aren’t really as charismatic as some other famous golf teachers you might know.  This is kind of a small nitpick, but at times the delivery feels somewhat dull and repetitive.

Conclusion

In my opinion, if you’re attempting the Stack and Tilt swing, these DVDs are a necessity.  The material in there is quite extensive and will give you an excellent understanding of the Stack and Tilt golf swing, as well as related information like the “flying wedge” and the “true” fundamentals of the golf swing.

The full price of the DVD set is pretty high, as I mentioned above, but putting it in perspective, how much would golf lessons cost?  Or a new driver?  Or a couple dozen high-end golf balls?  Thinking about it that way, the price doesn’t seem so bad.  I can say for sure that if I ever pursue the swing, I will consider the DVD set to be absolutely required.

Click here for more information.

(note:  affiliate links present above)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Review: Stack and Tilt Instructional DVD Set

Most of us have probably heard that these are the fundamentals of the golf swing.  We’ve been taught that without a proper grip, alignment, stance, and posture, we can’t hope to be decent golfers.  The question is: what is proper?

Recently, I watched the Stack and Tilt instructional DVDs created by Mike Plummer and Andy Bennett.  In one of the segments, they took exception to the fact that GASP is assumed to be fundamental to the golf swing.  Their arguments are kind of compelling.

They point out the fact that if you look at the greatest golfers in history, they all vary among those swing attributes.  Grips vary everywhere from strong to weak.  Some players align themselves closed to the target and some open.  Some players have feet that are more open than the shoulders.  Others are opposite.  Some players stand more upright and some more bent over.

In fact, you can probably say that hardly any of the all-time greats share a common set of these fundamentals.  These days, you find more “textbook” swings at the professional level, with some players having swings that look very similar, and with the GASP fundamentals also very similar, but you can still find many variations.

Stewart Cink comes to mind.  At six feet four inches tall, he has said that he doesn’t have clubs made longer than standard because he can just bend over a little to accommodate standard length clubs.  That doesn’t sound to me like he subscribes to the idea of a “standard” posture.

So if GASP doesn’t describe the basic fundamentals of the swing, then what does?

According to Plummer and Bennett, the things that unite ALL great players are:

• They strike the ground (with an iron) in the same spot relative to the stance, each and every time.
• They hit the ball far enough to play the course.
• They control the curvature of the ball.

That’s quite an interesting way to look at it.

Whereas most of us look to our pros and want to know how we should be positioned just as the swing is about to start, they’re saying that it isn’t all that important.  At least not most important.  Of course, they go on to tell us how to achieve those things using the Stack and Tilt swing, because those fundamentals don’t tell us as players what to do to play well, only what we need to achieve to play well.

The way I look at it, is, that maybe GASP components are better described as being fundamental to each other.  You have to make those things work in concert to get the most out of your swing.  It would be crazy to say that grip, alignment, stance, and posture are irrelevant.  But I think Plummer and Bennett are right in that there isn’t a single configuration that spells success, so they’re not THE fundamentals.  Not individually anyway.  It’s no different from swing plane, shoulder turn, and so on.  These things all have some degree of importance but vary greatly from player to player.

Is GASP just a small piece to a larger puzzle and not of particular importance?  Or are grip, alignment, stance, and posture the foundations of the golf swing?  What about the fact that those factors vary so greatly among the greatest players?  Should we be focusing on hitting the ground in the same spot every time having sufficient length, and the ability to control the curve of the ball, or should we worry instead about setup check points?  Or is it all important?

I’m feeling like Plummer and Bennett are on to something.  Of course, their aim is to promote a specific set of techniques to achieve those fundamentals in the form of the Stack and Tilt swing.  But I do think that they make a good point that we’re not really serving our own best interests by getting too hung up on having a textbook grip, alignment, stance, or posture.

What do you think?

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Are G.A.S.P. Fundamentals Really Fundamental?

Here’s something that thousands of Stack and Tilters out there have been clamoring for.  I received a press release today from Medicus Golf letting me know that the Stack and Tilt instructional DVD set that was previously available on a limited basis, is now being put into wide release.

Click here to visit the Stack and Tilt page at Medicus Golf for all the details.

Here’s part of the announcement:

Now All Golfers Can Learn the Hottest Golf Swing on the PGA Tour – “Stack & Tilt” DVD Instructional Finally Released to the Public!

Medicus Golf announces today the new release of the exclusive Stack & Tilt Instructional DVD Set, bringing the hottest swing on the PGA Tour to the general public. This 4-disc DVD set is the first and only available on Stack & Tilt and includes what every golfer needs to easily and effectively learn and perform the number one swing on tour.

The DVD set features Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer; the original creators of the Stack & Tilt, a swing pattern now being used by more than 25 PGA Tour professionals, including Aaron Baddeley and Masters champion Mike Weir.

Finally it’s here.  Well, in wide release, anyway.

Since the Stack and Tilt first hit Golf Digest in 2007, thousands of players have been searching for more information about the Stack and Tilt swing, especially “official” information from Plummer and Bennett.  This is it.  It doesn’t get any more official than this 4-DVD set.

Once again, you can click here to visit the Stack and Tilt page on the Medicus website.

(note: affiliate links present above)

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Further Reading:

Golf Digest Revisits the Stack and Tilt (Life in the Rough)
More Stack and Tilt Analysis (Life in the Rough)
Stack and Tilt: A Follow Up (Life in the Rough)
The Stack and Tilt? (Life in the Rough)
The New Tour Swing (Golf Digest, June 2007)
Stack and Tilt Part 2 (Golf Digest, September 2007)
Stack and Tilt Critics Speak Out (Golf Digest, September 2007)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Stack and Tilt DVD Set

It amazes me that there are still so many people seeking out Stack and Tilt information. Mostly because, aside from the Golf Digest articles, there really hasn’t been much coverage on it.

I remember the broadcast crew talking about Aaron Baddeley when he was making a splash early in the Fed Ex Cup playoffs. They referred to “his new swing coaches” and to his “flatter plane”. But it really struck me as odd that they didn’t call out Andy Plummer or Mike Bennett by name and didn’t refer to the Stack and Tilt by name.

Especially since it’s not just a flatter plane. The weight non-transfer flies in the face of the traditional modern swing. You’d think that they’d point that out with a little more analysis.

In fairness, I couldn’t watch every minute of every broadcast, so maybe they did and I missed it.

What I really want to know now are how many readers have tried it. Check in by taking the poll below. I’d very interested to know whether you tried it or not, and if yes, whether you continued with it. If you have anything to add about your experience or plans for the Stack and Tilt, feel free to drop it in the comments.

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Further Reading:

Stack and Tilt Category at Life in the Rough

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Do You Use The Stack and Tilt?

After the first article, the Stack and Tilt spread like wildfire. I covered it myself in three separate posts (click the Stack and Tilt category in the sidebar to read them) and the internet was filled to the brim with both success stories and criticisms.

One of the problems for players has been the lack of information about the swing, and a lack of teachers and schools teaching it. Players have been forced to learn for themselves and share with each other.

Along those lines, with so little information and so few professionals backing it, criticisms were left to be bounced around the web, sparking debate among fans and skeptics.

Well, Golf Digest got together with Plummer and Bennett for round two coverage of the Stack and Tilt in their September 2007 issue. The issue recently hit the news stands so if you don’t subscribe, think about picking it up. [Edit: Read Stack and Tilt Part 2].

For this go around, Plummer and Bennett give another series of lessons to help players understand the difference between the Stack and Tilt and the conventional swing.

They cover the basics of the swing, three of the swing’s key moves, and tips for hitting the driver. Hitting the driver is possibly one of the most requested Stack and Tilt techniques. Many players quickly grasp the short and mid irons and struggle a bit with the long irons and driver.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the article for me is the reactions and criticisms from some of the game’s top teachers and the subsequent responses from Plummer and Bennett. We hear from Butch Harmon, Mike Bender, Todd Anderson, Jim McLean, Ralph Simpson, and Tom Ness, and of course, Bennett and Plummer respond to each directly.

If you’re a Stack and Tilt player or just want information about the swing, consider picking up the issue for tips, instruction, criticism and response on the swing. If you don’t want to shell out the cash, then check your local library or wait until the article hits the Golf Digest website and I’ll link it up here.

Happy Stack and Tilting!

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Further Reading:

Stack and Tilt Instructional DVD Set (Life in the Rough)
More Stack and Tilt Analysis (Life in the Rough)
Stack and Tilt: A Follow Up (Life in the Rough)
The Stack and Tilt? (Life in the Rough)
The New Tour Swing (Golf Digest, June 2007)
Stack and Tilt Part 2 (Golf Digest, September 2007)
Stack and Tilt Critics Speak Out (Golf Digest, September 2007)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Golf Digest Revisits the Stack and Tilt

I’m not going to give a tutorial on the technique. I can’t do better than the original article at Golf Digest. What’s more interesting to me is the reaction I’ve gotten from people in person as well as what I’ve been reading all over the web. Many people seem to have a misconception about what’s going on in the swing.

Some people have looked at the photo sequence of Aaron Baddeley in Golf Digest and have trouble seeing the real difference between the Stack and Tilt and the typical modern swing. Some people claim that Baddely isn’t actually doing anything different except taking a shorter back swing.

So what I wanted to do is grab a video of Tiger Woods and a video of a Stack and Tilter and compare them. The Stack and Tilt guy in this case is Will MacKenzie. I actually used two clips of Tiger Woods because neither of them had everything I wanted to show. The first clip shows his address, while I used the second clip to show the top of the back swing and the impact position.

Let’s have a look.

This first image shows both players side by side at address. MacKenzie is on the left, Tiger is on the right:

There are several big differences here. First, you can see how Tiger’s spine angle tilts much more to the right. In both cases, the player’s spine angle extends through the ball. But look how much further back MacKenzie is playing the ball. Also, notice the pronounced tilt in Tiger’s hips. MacKenzie’s are almost level.

Here are the two at the top of the back swing:

Again, there are fairly significant differences. MacKenzie’s back swing is somewhat shorter. Here’s where we see the “Stack” in the Stack and Tilt. The center point of MacKenzie’s shoulders and hips are still in a line. Compare that with Tiger who is really on his right side there. His shoulders are centered over his right hip.

Another important distinction: I’ve heard people ask where the “tilt” is in the Stack and Tilt. The spine angle is tilted ever so slightly toward the target. Now, I admit, that looking at this photo, it looks like his spine is straight up. But imagine it this way: pretend you’re standing right behind MacKenzie in that photo and used one finger to touch the small of his back and the other finger to touch the spot right between his shoulder blades. The tip of the finger touching the spot between his shoulder blades would be a little closer to the target than the other finger. Try it for yourself (disclaimer: you should probably warn strangers before laying hands on them at the driving range. Saying, “Hey, I was checking you for Stack and Tilt” is a lame pick-up line).

(Update:  After watching the instructional DVDs, I have learned that the above analysis is, in fact, not where the “tilt” comes from in the name Stack and Tilt.  The left-tilt of the spine is not in relation to the target, but is in relation to the rest of the body.  This is part of what allows the shoulders to turn in a circle instead of shifting laterally.  Plummer and Bennett do a great job of explaining this in the DVDs.)

Finally, let’s look at the impact positions.

There are some very pronounced differences here. For instance, look how far behind the ball Tiger’s head is. MacKenzie is still almost right on top of the ball. Also, you can see that MacKenzie’s hips are still virtually level, while Tiger’s hip tilt has actually increased. MacKenzie’s left side is already straight and Tiger is still getting there. This is due to the can-crushing move with the left leg (see the Golf Digest article). That’s what allows him to get those hips thrusting upward, allowing him to shallow out his swing path to keep from smothering the ball.

It looks like MacKenzie is going to make impact with a slightly descending blow, while Tiger is level or slightly ascending. I don’t know how typical this is for the Stack and Tilt, or if it was a mistake. That could cost MacKenzie a little distance.

There you have it. I hope that clears up some of the misconceptions about the Stack and Tilt versus the modern golf swing. Keep in mind that when you watch Tour pros play, they have such incredible grace and tempo that their swings can look very similar, especially when the finish positions might be fairly close. But when you look at the detail, the differences become much more clear.

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Further Reading:

Effectiveness of the Stack and Tilt Swing (Life in the Rough)
Stack and Tilt Instructional DVD Set (Life in the Rough)
Golf Digest Revisits the Stack and Tilt (Life in the Rough)
Stack and Tilt: A Follow Up (Life in the Rough)
The Stack and Tilt? (Life in the Rough)
The New Tour Swing (Golf Digest, June 2007)
Stack and Tilt Part 2 (Golf Digest, September 2007)
Stack and Tilt Critics Speak Out (Golf Digest, September 2007)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

More Stack & Tilt Analysis

Yesterday evening I got out to the range and decided I was going to spend almost all my time evaluating the Stack and Tilt golf swing. Click the link above to my original post where you can get the whole story on the radical swing. Basically, since transferring weight to the right side then back left is considered inefficient by the developers of the technique, the idea is to keep the spine vertical over the ball with the weight more on the left throughout the swing.

I read the Golf Digest article on the Stack and Tilt several times to absorb all the detail. When I got to the range, it took me maybe 10-20 balls before I really started to get the feeling of the new swing.

At that point, I did start to notice a high draw, and nice, solid contact on my irons. It felt strange at first (naturally), but by the end of the around 50-60 balls, I was really starting to hit some nice, penetrating shots with each club. I hit balls with my 7-iron, 2-iron, 3-wood and driver. I have to say that it did feel like there was a nice consistency. Obviously I didn’t hit every ball well because it was my first attempt, but I can see where after a couple of sessions, I might see an increase in ball striking consistency.

Distance seemed to be all there too. In fact, it seemed like some shots may have actually been a little longer than what I normally hit. I was hitting some serious bombs with my driver.

Overall, I was pleased with the ease at which I was able to adapt to the technique and with the results it was producing.

As I left the range, I had a chance to talk to my pro about the technique for a few minutes. While he wasn’t necessarily dead-set against it, he clearly isn’t a supporter either. His feeling is that it’s really nothing new. That there have been similar attempts to keep the weight on the left throughout the swing that have come and gone through the years.

He also feels that the technique is really just a mask for improperly taught (or learned) fundamentals. He believes that the technique improves players where consistency lacks because of a swing that is too much hands and arms and where a player suffers from too much lateral head movement during the swing. By keeping the head in what is essentially the impact position and by keeping the hands and arms more synchronized with the upper body during the swing it hides these other flaws.

I couldn’t help wondering: is it really an issue if this technique masks improper “traditional” fundamentals?

For me, and for many others, the results speak for themselves. However, here are the reasons that I’m not going to pursue the Stack and Tilt right yet:

• Given that I’m rehabbing a herniated disk in my back, I’m not sure how this swing will affect me over the long term. I’ve read lots of people saying that it’s fine on the back, but that’s them. I need to know for me. It really hinges on serious rotational speed in the hips to maintain and/or increase power while using a shorter back swing. While I can say my back is all right after this one short session, I don’t know how I’ll feel after weeks of it.
• I’m a little concerned about the violent (I don’t like that word, but it’s the best I can think of right now) straightening of the left leg that thrusts the hips and upper body upward, shallowing out the angle of attack prior to impact. I read somewhere that whipping that left leg straight is Tiger Woods’ secret for power when he needs that extra few yards and that doing that might have been the cause of the knee problem he had several years back that sidelined him for a bit. If that move could cause some irritation or wear and tear on my knee, I’d like to avoid it. (Edit for clarification: certainly we all experience that straightening in the left leg, but it’s the speed and force involved in the Stack and Tilt and in Tiger’s power move that have me curious.)
• I’m not convinced that it’s more than a fad yet. There are only 20 Tour pros using it (or intending to use it in the near future). I want to see what happens as time goes on. Will Aaron Baddeley be using it in 5 years? What about the top players on Tour? Will they switch?
• Along those lines, I’ll feel a little more confident when I see Jim Flick, Jim McLean, David Leadbetter, etc. telling me about it on Golf Channel Academy.
• While the swing does seem to improve ball striking (I was hitting some real laser beams out there), what does it do for shot making? Is it harder to shape the ball? This is more of an unknown because I really didn’t try to shape the ball at the time.
• I trust my pro. I have faith in him. He’s been around the game for a long time. He understands the swing very well. If he’s not sold yet, then I’m not sold yet.
• There’s no rush because in about 2/3 of a basket of balls, I had picked up the technique. I’m guessing 2 or 3 range sessions and I’d be ready for course. It’s not like I’m being left behind if the technique gains wide acceptance. If my reservations don’t pan out after a while, I feel like the switch will be simple.
• I think there’s something to be said for what my pro mentioned about masking fundamentals. In the end, if you hit the ball straight and long, I guess it doesn’t matter, but I’d rather just be fundamentally sound and decide to pick up the technique because I feel like it’s better, not because I’m running away from poor traditional fundamentals.
• I want to read something critical about the swing. Golf Digest hyped the “swing revolution” to sell magazines. Now I want to read a viewpoint from someone reputable on the opposite side. If there is any down side, I want to know what it is. Maybe there is none, but I want the idea tossed around to all the golf gurus before I abandon my progress with the traditional swing.

There are some interesting things I learned that I’m going to hold on to. For instance, I feel like sometimes my hips slide toward the target some on the downswing and I don’t get the rotational action as much as I should. Well, I got a front row seat to what serious hip rotation feels like. I’m going to try and get better at that in my traditional swing. Also, I tend to have a problem with sliding my head right on the back swing. I now have a good feel for what it’s like when my head is very steady in a lateral sense.

Even though I’m not going to pursue the Stack and Tilt right yet, I still recommend that you give it a try. In the end, we all have our own reasons for doing things. Don’t let my apprehension keep you from trying something that could improve your own game. At worst, it won’t work and you’ll be right back where you are. At best, it will probably improve your consistency and even add some distance.

(Note: Since this post was written, I have written another Stack and Tilt post where I do some analysis and compare it with the modern swing.)

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Further Reading:

Stack and Tilt Instructional DVD Set (Life in the Rough)
Golf Digest Revisits the Stack and Tilt (Life in the Rough)
More Stack and Tilt Analysis (Life in the Rough)
The Stack and Tilt? (Life in the Rough)
The New Tour Swing (Golf Digest, June 2007)
Stack and Tilt Part 2 (Golf Digest, September 2007)
Stack and Tilt Critics Speak Out (Golf Digest, September 2007)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Stack & Tilt: A Follow-up