The subject of ‘fake turns’ has been something of a fascination to me for the better part of the past year. Largely because, as a fake turner myself, it’s a move I’m working hard to strip out of my own backswing.
Fake turning can come in a variety of different forms:
- You can let go of the club, or collapse your arms, making your swing look longer than it actually is.
- You can also turn so much that your body starts tipping backwards because you’re extending with your upper back instead of turning. That one’s horrible for your back.
- And then there’s the pelvis spin, which is when your hips turn in place without really engaging the muscles in your legs. You can see me demonstrating my bad tendency, then a good example below…
As Min Woo Lee’s coach Ritchie Smith explains in our upcoming December-issue cover story: think of it like twisting a spring while holding it in the air. Sure, you’re turning the spring, but you don’t have any good tension. In order to get that powerful coil and torque, you need to secure the base.
Your hips, glutes, and quads are some of the most powerful muscles in the human body. Your lower body’s goal in the backswing is to load them up as much as you can. While fake backswing turns are annoyingly common, the good news is they’re very easy to spot. Just use the camera on your phone, and when you do, look for one thing in particular.
The Power Pants Crease
“One of the first things I look for is a crease formed in the golfer’s pants on the backswing,” says Golf Digest Best Young Teacher, Nick Bova. “When you do it right, you’ll feel it in your quad, groin and glute. That’s when you know you’ve really hit those muscles.”
The Power Pants Crease (which is a phrase I just made up but like, so I’m going to keep using it) Bova’s referring to is a kind of diagonal crease created in the upper part of golfers’ trail thigh (right thigh for right-handed golfers) at the top of their backswing.
Most golfers will create some kind of crease, but generally speaking, the more apparent the crease, the better.
The Power Pants Crease is formed by a few things:
- Turn your hips away from the target
- Keep some bend in your trail knee
- Feel your trail foot twist towards you into the ground
It’s important to note that while many coaches, like Bova, want you to keep some flex in your trail knee, you’re not trying to restrict your hip turn. Turn ‘into’ your hip – that’s how you form the Power Pants Crease.
“If you’re pushing something, or throwing a baseball, or doing anything athletic, you’re not going to do it with a straight leg,” Bova says. “You’re going to brace, turn, and load.”
