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Ross Jun 15, 2016
First… your elbows will never be right in front of you (or your hips), like setup, because the body is unwinding and rotating… so, the hips will be slightly turned when the elbows arrive. This happens very fast and is a “dynamic” or “in movement” position.Now, there is a moment when all body parts “sum” to move the ball. Kind of a “maximum” power moment. You can easily practice this by setting up (like the photo below), against an open door jamb, then let your hips unwind a bit (like the photo), and let your “rotation” press the club up against the door jamb…. you should feel everything unwinding to push against the door jamb equally. You don’t have to unwind too hard. Just enough to feel everything working together. There should be no leaning, or weight shift, or any hands/arms pushing… this is total unwinding into the jamb. That is what impact should feel like when done correctly… and you will see where your elbows end up to maximize impact.
BTW… I believe that if you practice this “impact position” against anything… the couch leg, a pole, a bench out on the range… anything that will resist, and gently HOLD IT for 15-20 seconds. Your brain will start to “map” impact and you can then “recall it” and “get to that position” just by “visualizing it” right before you hit. It is like you can visualize impact because you’ve been practicing impact. Boy, if you send your brain that great visualization, it will get to it. Remember, this is “dynamic”… nothing stops there or happens there, or hits there. It’s just a moment when everything is moving the ball, while your unwinding. I’ve see many students improve just by holding the correct impact… then getting back to that position during a real swing.
Watch Setup vs. Impact in the Swing Section for more info.
Ross Nov 14, 2015
Send me the videos you’re looking at so I can see. Front, and from behind looking down the target line.Ross Nov 13, 2015
Everything does not “line up”. The lower body will always be leading the shoulders and arms a little. This is the nature of unwinding… it is like a rubber band. So don’t fret if the arms are not exactly in front of the body… it is about the result… not the video. If you’re hitting solid… great.Ross Nov 08, 2015
Sure sounds like it might be. Yes, the elbows do bend, but never at the same time until the end of the swing. This is the ideal scenario.Your ideas about pointing the elbows down to help prevent “chicken wing”, is good. The elbows pointing at the hips, also helps achieve that.
Ross Nov 08, 2015
Real common. That is why I like to shorten the backswing to the point that you regain, or start making “solid” contact (like a fallback safety net). You hit many short shots and get confidence… then let the shoulders go a bit farther, until you “lose it” (so to speak).Then… many times times the culprit really stands out. The culprit might be arms lifting or across your chest… or wrists hinging various directions… or both elbows bending. Once you see what going on, you can work specifically on that. You either can improve the culprit, or you’ve gotten your self, past the point of a productive backswing. Everyone has different limitations.
Ross Nov 07, 2015
I’m not sure what you mean in your first question:“When you work to get the elbows back in front to point at the hips, how do I get my turn to sync with my body rotation.”
Your “turn” and “body rotation” are the same thing. The unwinding of the downswing, brings the arms down and around to the left (right hander)… they’re connected because of the way we wind up. So… if on the downswing you can “unwind” your body (turn), without moving your arms, then your backswing is not right. Many golfers move their hips with their shoulders on the backswing and don’t create and “windup” from top-down. This might be what you’re experiencing (guessing since I have not seen a video).
I don’t feel anything touch on the downswing. My body has a sense where my arms/club are, and the body’s job is to “unwind them down and around”. It is all done in one continuous motion. Kind of like, I was using my body to throw something, using both arms, from right to left by turning.
When in doubt, shorten the backswing, so the arms can be controlled. Watch the Straight Arm Drill too. It can help teach you how to control your arms using your body.
Forget about elbows for now and lazily let the body move the arms from about 8:00 on the backswing…through impact and around to the left… in one motion.
Ross Jul 20, 2016
Hi Ed
Not really. Remember, as you practice, you can experiment a little bit with the ball position. You can get different results if you impact a 5 wood just before the bottom of the swing arc, vs. right at the bottom of the swing arc. You can tell by the small divot vs. no divot. If you impact just before the bottom, it might give you a little spin and a bit more sit down… but just before impact, can also kill the shot if there is a face wind and you’ll come up short.Ross Jul 23, 2016
I don’t go into detail about stance, because everyone is a little different and since we keep 60% weight forward, the ball is played pretty much just inside the front foot. I do talk about stance some in the video “Ball Position and Front Hip Rotation” in the Swing Section (about 1:30 min. in). Here is a hint: If you were to throw a ball, you would not worry about stance width. You’d get comfortable so you could unwind around the “lead leg”. The same thing happens with different clubs. As the clubs get longer, you’ll adjust your “back foot” for comfort… a little bit wider. Then as they get shorter, that back foot comes in where it is comfortable to rotate. It is easier than you think…hope this helps.Ross Aug 07, 2014
Thanks for the nice comments Jimbohaw. Not sure what Tiger needs these days… [confused] I do know, you can only take your “routine” to the course, not swing thoughts. Swing thoughts on the range… then practiced in the routine (a lot!)… then the routine goes to the course… and you “trust it”. He used to visualize his shots… now, he’s visualizing swing positions. Being a teacher I’ve gotten caught up in this kind of thinking with my own game. A more “make golf shots” routine is his “way out” … and his body will remember from past experiences.Ross Jul 29, 2014
Yes, the loft does change. Any open/close prior to gripping the club, should be slight changes. Remember, a lot of golf clubs (and I think golf balls too) on the market today, are trying to not let the ball cut or draw with perimeter weighting etc., so you may have that working against you.Ross Jul 29, 2014
There is nothing in stone on the “4 idea, it is a “starting point”. One of the main benefits to having the ball “out there” is, the golfer now has a freedom to turn to “go after it” via the rotation vs. the hands having to flip to help the ball into the air. It also kind of removes it from view and helps make the golfer turn and trust that the turn will get the job done without the help of the hands. You want to keep the setup shape (flat left wrist, shaft in line front arm, bent in back wrist) “holding” through impact as you ROTATE! You move the ball with your body turn. If you help with the hands, you will usually add loft, and can send the ball right or left.(This might get a bit technical, but important information to learn)
Now, you can do different things to achieve different results. You can tee it lower. That will catch the ball in a different spot on the club face. Ideally, you want the sweet spot every time. This is also where golfers realize, hummm … this 10° driver, now hits the ball too high because I use to play the ball in the middle of my stance, and was essentially hitting down on every drive (unless I would flip to save the shot). So, the 10° driver now with this method is 12° (effective loft at impact) since the club face is ascending into the ball and launching it (good thing). This is something you want to be aware of… meaning you don’t want to have to tee the ball, to purposely miss hit it, to offset the fact that the loft is wrong. We want to hit the sweet spot, with the ideal loft at impact, for the results you want. PLEASE, experiment with different lofts, and ball positions, before you run out and buy a new driver.
You can put the ball only 2″ in front and pick it up a bit sooner. You want to play around with this.
You can “close or open” the club face slightly before you take your grip. Then, use your feet to line the club face on your target. This should automatically change your foot alignment to accommodate the face (if you opened the face before you took your grip, your feet will be slightly opened to the target… and the opposite if your closed the face.
Ross
Ross Jul 13, 2014
My initial thoughts are, …where are the weights placed and why? And, are they also working with in conjunction with some other compensation (closed face, low center of gravity, perimeter weighing, offset hosel) to “help” the golfer?I would think, these kinds of club head properties, would not play much of a role, if the club head is controlled correctly. We want the shaft in line with the front arm, and club face square at impact, which can be controlled with grip pressure and using the body’s mass/rotation to control the arms/hands/club. I believe the body’s rotation “dominance” would override any compensations in the club head. Now, if the golfer stops rotating and lets the club head go on its own… then anything goes. Weights in the club head, may also affect the golfer using my method that has a light grip pressure and they may “fight” the clubs compensation dynamics, to want to roll shut or stay open.
Sorry davew, that’s about all I can come up with. Hope it helps some… Ross