Keeping Your Upper Body Level

[Reposted Forum move]

Ed_Blackburn1 Apr 28, 2020
Ross, which are the best drills to use to work on keeping upper body level through the swing?
TY, Ed

[Ross]

Ross Apr 28, 2020
Not sure which aspect you mean Ed. Keeping your shoulders level? or keeping your head and chest from moving up and down during the swing?

[Reposted Forum move]

Ed_Blackburn1 Apr 28, 2020
The latter Ross, especially the chest. Just wondering what drill would be best to focus on that.

[Ross]

Ross Apr 28, 2020
If your issue is raising up in the backswing and then back down (or lower) in the downswing, you want to find out what is making you feel the need to raise up or what is raising you up.

Example 1: Your chin is buried in your chest, (maybe a vision/glasses issue) at setup and there is no room for your shoulders to turn without bumping into your face, so your head moves up out of the way or is moved by your shoulders as they turn*… then on the downswing, the head tries to return.

Example 2: You start the backswing using your shoulders, but midway your arms/hands start lifting to help, and this movement raises you and your head/chest up a bit, so the “action/reaction” is for the head/chest to return and many times they actually drop lower than where they were at setup**.

Example 3: You setup “out-of-balance”… “non-athletic”… with your chest hanging out over your toes. Your weight should never be on your toes. The first thing the body will try to do is “right” your balance or “center” you and you will fight trying to keep your tilt/posture out-of-balance out over your toes. PLUS, that position activates your lower back muscles to help hold you out of balance and causes many back problems and restricts your backswing***.

* Answer to this is to setup with your chin raised up a bit allowing your shoulders to turn freely under your chin. You’ll feel like your looking down your nose.
** Answer, learn and practice using only your shoulders to move your arms/club to the top of your backswing. Your head/chest won’t raise up and there will be no need to return or drop on the downswing.
*** Watch “Athletic Setup” Lesson video in the “Setup” section. Learn what an athletic setup feels like and practice setting up Athletically and “In-balance”.

[Author]

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