Geometry ? for tall golfers

[yogi_tala]

For taller golfers, is the preferred address taught to bend slightly with the knees and more at hips (increasing the angle of spine in relation to perpendicular, say ~35-40 degrees, or more accurately moving the spine angle _towards_ horizontal) or more at the knees and less at the hips (moving the spine more perpendicular to the ground, say to an vertical angle of 15-20* )? With the former, the arms hang nearly straight down, but probably 9-12 inches from my thigh. The latter has arms much nearer the body but at a slight angle away from the knees.

I can get the clubhead to the ground either way, but am curious as to how you would approach it. The TGM aspects that I am adding to my game has helped immensely, cutting strokes quickly and making the game a bunch more fun. But until I can get these down, there is still much inconsistancy...

Oh, I am 6'8", current clubs are 3* up and 2" long. Was a 20+ HC but now down to a 15.

TIA,
jwh

[annikan skywalker]

Dude...you should be playing basketball....Can you still dunk?

[YodasLuke]

For taller golfers, is the preferred address taught to bend slightly with the knees and more at hips (increasing the angle of spine in relation to perpendicular, say ~35-40 degrees, or more accurately moving the spine angle _towards_ horizontal) or more at the knees and less at the hips (moving the spine more perpendicular to the ground, say to an vertical angle of 15-20* )? With the former, the arms hang nearly straight down, but probably 9-12 inches from my thigh. The latter has arms much nearer the body but at a slight angle away from the knees.

I can get the clubhead to the ground either way, but am curious as to how you would approach it. The TGM aspects that I am adding to my game has helped immensely, cutting strokes quickly and making the game a bunch more fun. But until I can get these down, there is still much inconsistancy...

Oh, I am 6'8", current clubs are 3* up and 2" long. Was a 20+ HC but now down to a 15.

TIA,
jwh

I've fit a few NBA players, 2 at 6'11". Just to give you an idea about extremes, one needed 3" long and 6* upright. For the longest time, most manufacturers wouldn't make the club that long. I called one major manufacturer to order a set and they told me they wouldn't make them that long or that upright. They said, "we can add an inch and make them 2* up." I said, "The guy's 6'11"! Here, I'm going to let you tell him that you won't do it." I ended up fitting him in Henry-Griffitts, and he loves them.

The latter example that you gave reminds me of George Archer. I always felt sorry for him, as it looked like he was playing with a junior set of clubs. I'm sure, at the start of his career, "standard" sets were all you could get. I know he suffered from lower back problems for a long time. His back always looked a little too straight, from what I remember.

I find as people get too much knee bend at address, it's harder for them to maintain that precise amount of bend throughout the stroke.

[yogi_tala]

I've fit a few NBA players, 2 at 6'11". Just to give you an idea about extremes, one needed 3" long and 6* upright. For the longest time, most manufacturers wouldn't make the club that long. I called one major manufacturer to order a set and they told me they wouldn't make them that long or that upright. They said, "we can add an inch and make them 2* up." I said, "The guy's 6'11"! Here, I'm going to let you tell him that you won't do it." I ended up fitting him in Henry-Griffitts, and he loves them.

The latter example that you gave reminds me of George Archer. I always felt sorry for him, as it looked like he was playing with a junior set of clubs. I'm sure, at the start of his career, "standard" sets were all you could get. I know he suffered from lower back problems for a long time. His back always looked a little too straight, from what I remember.

I find as people get too much knee bend at address, it's harder for them to maintain that precise amount of bend throughout the stroke.

Wow, I feel humbled. 6'11"? I remember reading about David Robinson of the Spurs having clubs with similar specs. Golfsmith did a custom jobs on the clubs. I only heard about it because I was living in Austin at the time, and knew one of the clubmakers out there...

I got lucky on my first set; I started with a custom set from GS that was +2 & +2. Worked ok, but I didn't have the swing for it to matter much. I moved to a set of Cally X-12s with similar specs, but traded them in for a set of BB2002s at 4* up and 2" long (the pre-owned shop did a special order bend, I don't think Cally Corp will bend beyond 2* up).

Along with the changes that I have picked up from the book and this site, I have dropped my HC by 8 strokes, and shot an 84 for the first time ever. I am still plagued by inconsistancy, tho, hence the question.

Thanks for the thoughts on the knee bend, I will do some more testing on it. Sure make sense tho, as I tend to hit fat/thin when swinging from a more verticle stance.

jwh

Oh, I can still dunk on a good day, but my son has overtaken me at hoops. I am tired of getting smoked on the court, so trying to keep ahead of him in at least one sport.