Q. I was trying to figure out what was causing me to open my club face on the downswing when I had had a nice square face during the shoulder turn. Could it be that I am starting my body rotation before the momentum of my club is complete and therefore my body is getting ahead of my arms and hands and causing the club face to open?
A. Yes!.. Sometimes you get thin or open face, because the arms (usually the back elbow) gets stuck behind the back hip, because the hips are rotating before the elbows have returned back in front. You also may have a bit of an arm or hand lift right at the top of the backswing.
The Help:
Shorten the backswing to only using the shoulders… when they’re done, start the downswing and visualize your body rotation bringing the arms back in front, as you continue all the way to the finish*. The body leads, but can’t race away, must bring arms/club along. I will make many references to this in the new videos I plan on making this Spring.
*Traditional golf instruction has you clear your hips first (huge power loss) then, to fix the face being WIDE OPEN, release (roll your hands) quickly and hope you time squaring the face… when all you had to do was just use your body rotation to bring the arms/club back in front, and USE the hips/body’s rotation, as a big power source.