Exaggerated steep body shallow arms

Ohhhhhh. The more I learn, the less I know! Your description of the trail side lengthening and the lead side compressing but at the upper spine is super helpful though. If I’m understanding this more correctly, what you’re describing is a much simpler motion and flows naturally from the hips rotating back toward the target. Am I on a better track here? Even if not, thank you so much!! I don’t know quite why the pursuit of understanding this motion brings me so much joy, but it does, and I so appreciate your guidance! Update: of course this is opposite to what I was trying to do, so now I see that when you get that tilt going properly it *forces* you to do all the shallowing components or you just come way the heck over it. I included my first crack at it, for your amusement, and then what I considered to be a halfway decent rep from the end of the session. For whatever reason, that description you gave me of how the left and the right side of the spine move really made the concept click into place for me, and left me again wondering just how in the world you ironed all this stuff out. With admiration, Zach

I will say, that when I perform the left side crunch correctly it becomes very difficult- almost impossible- to come too much from the inside. Especially with long clubs. Also, I’m starting my third GSA circle. I went back to “deconstructing the arms at impact” and have circled back to ulnar deviation, but now it’s happening from a place of forearms being rotated away from the target. Please pardon the skivvies, but now I can feel how it’s necessary for the body to be rotated at impact, and how much power comes from rotating the ribs underneath the lead arm. In addition to much better body rotation in my one armed lead side release it feels like more of a a solid, full lead arm supination through the ball. What a ride, man. Z Update- still working on this, and I see clearly now how using side bend as a shallower is probably the single biggest root of my contact problems. You know, I always kind of wanted to have a little 150 yard 3 wood or driver shot, just to have, or maybe if I get to play Pebble someday and the wind is howling in off 7. I think this’ll do- it almost has elements of a cast pivot, doesn’t it? Thank you so much, Tyler Z

Man, I can’t thank you enough Tyler! The ‘how’ for me seems to be a mix of allowing my trail arm to straighten more quickly, maintaining trail scap retraction, and (most importantly) core tension. So it seemed like step one would be finding and ingraining the new delivery position, and step two would be learning how to hit it from there. Does this seem like a good spot to start from? It’s not massively more inside but it sure feels that way. Update: this change has been massively difficult for me; it has involved revamping my entire downswing and it introduces so much more tension in my torso than I’m used to that I’m taking that as a sign that I’m on the right track. My first discovery was that WIDTH into delivery was the key that allowed me to hit it solidly from my new delivery(F/O, I’m using Nelly and Cam Champ as my models).Then it’s been a matter of walking the downswing backwards from delivery. At first, I couldn’t hit it without EE(beach vid) but then I did the math and realized that was probably because my shaft pitch was too steep, thus I was still probably pulling down(down with the arms and up with the body was my old early-transition move). So, I’ve been doubling down on the left crunch and forearm rotation away from target, and if I can teach myself the patience at the top of the swing to execute that move, I just might get this. Never mind the right miss; a compressed push is still a welcome visitor to the stable at this point. Thank you again, so much! Zach Another lagniappe- follow through into finish is coming along, although I can probably begin to trust the re-hinge again and use the wrists to absorb speed a little more efficiently. I also feel like I’m better applying forces where they need to go, but I’d be obliged if you’d kind of check that on the 5 wood from the course. I know it’s a process, but I’m feeling like I grasp globally where the blocks need to be stacked. At this point I also feel like I’m surrendering control of some of theses little motions I’ve been training and focusing more on the broad forces. This is feeling new. Yours with respect, Zach

Final note- that’s not to say I’ll be abandoning any path elements; here’s the latest on the inside delivery. I feel like early transition is much better, although there’s room to improve my arm shallowing, but I could do a better job of keeping my arms behind my pivot coming through the ball; I feel like my rotation is stalling a little around p6 and as a result I still have to throw it somewhat. If I could get p6.5 looking like the robe still when I’m out in the wild, then I’d be cooking with gas I think. The F/O is just to show what I meant by the wrist hinge in followthrough. Many thanks!! Z

Yay! Ok, now I’m focusing on the little hairpin turn the clubhead describes during the change of direction. I see this as a key component of early shallowing, and something I’ve never been able to get right… but I think I’m on to something. I’ve previously been able to teach myself to float load, but only with a shaft steepening component… I think I’ve isolated the culprit. These are early efforts, and I’d love your input. Happy 4th! Zach Update: OR, and this may sound crazy, but I could perform the individual arm motions exactly as you describe them in the deconstructed arm shallowing video and get exactly the look I’m going for, without the mental gymnastics. When am I going to learn about the old Gypsy woman????!!! Ruefully, Z

This is an area where it has taken a massive difference in feel to move the needle, but I’m happy to report both that it’s starting to move, and that I was correct in that getting the initial transition shallowing loop makes it easier to approach from the inside(for me at least). Included are my cartoonish feels, a yard rep I was quite happy with, and a job site 56. Hooray progress!! Note: in my “don’t worry Tyler” video(blue shirt), I saw that I needed more “clubhead left behind” and “unhinge then supinate,” so I posted a correction swing, where I see that I needed more lead arm adduction and turtle shell. It’s like Tom Watson said, the swing is like a rug or a fitted sheet and once you get one corner down, another corner pops up. I’m trying to be disciplined in my order of attack here though, because the more I investigate that little shallowing loop in transition the more important I think it is, so that’s first. I’m also doing some mobility work with my wife, who is an accomplished athlete and trainer, to unlock my glutes and lower back to make my scap movement more reflexive and fluid. I definitely get the message that the steeper the body gets coming down, the shallower the arms have to be, and they might not even look that shallow (like Nelly, for example), but one can rest assured that the shallowing and lag is happening. Thank you as always! Yours truly, Zach