Golf Pro Colin Montgomerie: Upper Body Tilt (Almost a Reverse Pivot) (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Pro Colin Montgomerie: Upper Body Tilt (Almost a Reverse Pivot) (Video) - by Pete Styles

Now Colin Montgomery is one of the most major renowned European players and actually widely known around the world as one of the best golfers. 7 European Order of Merits, lots of Ryder Cup points victories which kind of really hinges off pivoted his career really was how well he played in the Ryder Cup because he hasn’t actually won a major. Now, he’s probably described as the best player never to win a Major is Colin Montgomery. But he had a little essential quirk in his swing that made him quite well-known as well. Now his quirky swing revolved around his back swing, particularly with his bigger clubs, he had quite a big movement where he actually tilts into his left side, which goes against popular conventions.

So from a normal good address position, the back swing position with the driver would normally look like this with the body turning and winding up to the right side, that’s the kind of classic thing you would see from all the tour players. Monty’s position’s slightly different. The very steep back swing and a very big bend into his left side, quite a high right hit position, and actually quite a light right foot. It wasn’t quite the full reverse pivot that we would classically see as a big beginners mistake but it was verging on that and it’s not something I would encourage you to do. It resulted in Monty hitting quite a few left to right fade shots. He’s always troubled to draw the ball throughout his career. His fade shot was the preferred shape, he saw a lot of shots moving from left to right was his preferred shot.

So if you’re struggling with a little bit of a cut, a slice, or a weak shot that flies from left to right, just consider whether you’re moving correctly with your body weight into your backswing. A really nice way of checking this would be to lay the shaft of the golf club over the top of your shoulders and point it nicely down at the target line. And then just feel how in your back swing as you wind your shoulders up, you should be able to point in the golf club slightly down towards the ball, but maybe back behind the ball as well. Try and point the golf club to the ground behind the ball. Feel how a lot of body weight has been wound up to the right side, about to drive back through the golf ball.

So Monty’s signature move worked well for him but it’s not something I would encourage you to do. Just be careful of anything that starts to look like a reverse pivot where your body weight goes left foot to right foot with rather it was right foot or rear foot, rear foot driving forward to generate a little bit more power. And maybe, if Monty had done that, he would have won a major by now. We’ll never know.

 2012-05-29

Now Colin Montgomery is one of the most major renowned European players and actually widely known around the world as one of the best golfers. 7 European Order of Merits, lots of Ryder Cup points victories which kind of really hinges off pivoted his career really was how well he played in the Ryder Cup because he hasn’t actually won a major. Now, he’s probably described as the best player never to win a Major is Colin Montgomery. But he had a little essential quirk in his swing that made him quite well-known as well. Now his quirky swing revolved around his back swing, particularly with his bigger clubs, he had quite a big movement where he actually tilts into his left side, which goes against popular conventions.

So from a normal good address position, the back swing position with the driver would normally look like this with the body turning and winding up to the right side, that’s the kind of classic thing you would see from all the tour players. Monty’s position’s slightly different. The very steep back swing and a very big bend into his left side, quite a high right hit position, and actually quite a light right foot. It wasn’t quite the full reverse pivot that we would classically see as a big beginners mistake but it was verging on that and it’s not something I would encourage you to do. It resulted in Monty hitting quite a few left to right fade shots. He’s always troubled to draw the ball throughout his career. His fade shot was the preferred shape, he saw a lot of shots moving from left to right was his preferred shot.

So if you’re struggling with a little bit of a cut, a slice, or a weak shot that flies from left to right, just consider whether you’re moving correctly with your body weight into your backswing. A really nice way of checking this would be to lay the shaft of the golf club over the top of your shoulders and point it nicely down at the target line. And then just feel how in your back swing as you wind your shoulders up, you should be able to point in the golf club slightly down towards the ball, but maybe back behind the ball as well. Try and point the golf club to the ground behind the ball. Feel how a lot of body weight has been wound up to the right side, about to drive back through the golf ball.

So Monty’s signature move worked well for him but it’s not something I would encourage you to do. Just be careful of anything that starts to look like a reverse pivot where your body weight goes left foot to right foot with rather it was right foot or rear foot, rear foot driving forward to generate a little bit more power. And maybe, if Monty had done that, he would have won a major by now. We’ll never know.