Jack Nicklaus Sitting Into His Golf Address Position (Video) - by Peter Finch
Jack Nicklaus Sitting Into His Golf Address Position (Video) - by Peter Finch

Looking in Nicklaus’s early years when he was playing, it’s very -- it’s very easy and it’s very kind of obvious to see that yes the spine is titled, yes the head is tilted. The acid address, he's very much set into his posture. What I mean by that is as you get setup, the knees are bent probably a little bit more than we are used to seeing. He's quite a tall guy, so may be a case that he was just trying to get a little bit further down towards the ball. But the knees are a little bit bent more than usual, and he is settling down and sitting down into his posture position a little bit more than some other players, and some of his peers. Now what advantages will that give Nicklaus?

It's not quite as easy as just saying sitting down into your posture will give you an advantage. It’s how he uses that position when he sits down throughout the rest of his technique. What Nicklaus did, he sat down at address, really sank down with his knees, had that tilt, had the head tilt as well. And as he moved up to the top of the backswing, the left heel lifted. The spine tilt was maintained. But that pressure that he put down into his knees at address that he was pushing down into the ground at address, as he moves down into the ball he redoubles it. So moving down into the ball, the left knee -- the left knee -- the left heel plants down. That left heel bends and then he pushes down into the ground. From that position he's even more sat down than he was at address. But from there he moves upwards, extends the left hip up and out the way, and uses his ground forces to really spring upwards through the point of impact. So he sat down at address, he moves to the top, sits down through the point of impact. And then explodes upwards with the lower half and it’s why Nicklaus is rightly considered to be one of the longest hitters ever. Using the equipment that he was using, he could get the ball well over three hundred yards. And this was when it was still specimen headed clubs. If he was using modern-day clubs in his heyday, he would be one of the longest drivers on tour. Because he was able to use those ground forces and sit down through the point of impact. It’s not something that a lot of people maybe should do in their address positions. It only really works generally if you are quite a tall golfer. However using that sitdown during the downswing is certainly something you can try, to try and give you a little bit more distance. 2016-08-25

Looking in Nicklaus’s early years when he was playing, it’s very — it’s very easy and it’s very kind of obvious to see that yes the spine is titled, yes the head is tilted. The acid address, he's very much set into his posture. What I mean by that is as you get setup, the knees are bent probably a little bit more than we are used to seeing. He's quite a tall guy, so may be a case that he was just trying to get a little bit further down towards the ball. But the knees are a little bit bent more than usual, and he is settling down and sitting down into his posture position a little bit more than some other players, and some of his peers. Now what advantages will that give Nicklaus?

It's not quite as easy as just saying sitting down into your posture will give you an advantage. It’s how he uses that position when he sits down throughout the rest of his technique. What Nicklaus did, he sat down at address, really sank down with his knees, had that tilt, had the head tilt as well. And as he moved up to the top of the backswing, the left heel lifted. The spine tilt was maintained. But that pressure that he put down into his knees at address that he was pushing down into the ground at address, as he moves down into the ball he redoubles it. So moving down into the ball, the left knee — the left knee — the left heel plants down. That left heel bends and then he pushes down into the ground. From that position he's even more sat down than he was at address.

But from there he moves upwards, extends the left hip up and out the way, and uses his ground forces to really spring upwards through the point of impact. So he sat down at address, he moves to the top, sits down through the point of impact. And then explodes upwards with the lower half and it’s why Nicklaus is rightly considered to be one of the longest hitters ever. Using the equipment that he was using, he could get the ball well over three hundred yards. And this was when it was still specimen headed clubs. If he was using modern-day clubs in his heyday, he would be one of the longest drivers on tour. Because he was able to use those ground forces and sit down through the point of impact.

It’s not something that a lot of people maybe should do in their address positions. It only really works generally if you are quite a tall golfer. However using that sitdown during the downswing is certainly something you can try, to try and give you a little bit more distance.