Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.
The PGA Show — golf’s version of Comic Con — just wrapped in Orlando. The Show, as it’s known, is not only a great chance to network with other professionals in the golf industry, but it’s also an opportunity to check out the latest and greatest tech in the space.
One of the technologies on display was Sportsbox AI. If you’re not familiar with the company — especially if you’re a golf nerd — you’re doing your golf game a disservice.
The company was cofounded by former LPGA pro Jeehae Lee and has brought on some of the brightest minds in the game as ambassadors, including GOLF Top 100 Teachers Mike Adams and Sean Foley. The function of the product is simple — use a face-on cell-phone video to create a digital avatar packed with advanced metrics for real-time, corrective feedback.
The app provides tons of metrics you can use to analyze and correct your swing, but today we’ll focus on one that has a huge impact on generating power in the swing.
Pelvis lift
You know how teachers will talk about “using the ground” to generate power? Well, one of the results of using your legs and pushing off the ground is a metric called “pelvic lift.” And it’s one of the biggest separators between the best golfers in the world and Average Joes.
As Sportsbox AI notes in the video above, the best players in the world drop their pelvis during the downswing and then lift it back up before impact. In other words, their lead side is lower to begin the downswing and then raises back up as the clubhead gets to the bottom of the swing arc.
Why does this matter? Well, if you want to generate maximum power, you need to first squat into the ground (lowering the pelvis) and then push up off the ground (raising the pelvis).
The “pelvic lift” indicator measured by Sportsbox AI is a great proxy of how well you are generating vertical force during your swing. So, if you’re struggling to generate power off the tee, download Sportsbox AI and look at your pelvis lift indicator.