Early Extension

WEBVTT

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In this video, we're going to discuss early extension as a common low point

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killer.

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So oftentimes contact issues come down to a few key movements and one of the

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biggest

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ones that results in poor contact is early extension.

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Now early extension is basically when your body is getting more vertical like

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this during

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the downswing.

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Now that can either happen from the lower body moving too much into the golf

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ball or

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from the upper body moving away from the golf ball or both.

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But we call it early extension because it usually happens either in transition

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or as

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you're starting the release instead of happening way down here as you're going

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into your bracing

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position.

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So it just, it happens early.

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In paper, early extension does three things for a lot of golfers.

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One, it creates speed but it does it too much from the back and not enough from

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the abs.

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So what happens is if you are doing more of a back extension like if I had a

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spear or

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a cable here and I was going to pull it down in front of me, to pull those arms

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in front,

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I would often use my back to help complement that movement or provide more

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stability or

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support for that shoulder pulling down like this.

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The problem is now you can see that the back muscles have pulled me away from

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the golf ball

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and to the side.

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And so if I did that, I now have to throw the hands to get down to the golf

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ball.

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Now that can feel good, it can feel powerful but because my upper body is up

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and back,

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that's a double whammy as far as moving the low point backward and causing me

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to release

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my arms early.

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The one common issue if you are struggling with low point control is learning

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to use

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your abs, especially in kind of transition which feels more like a left crunch

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to use

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the abs but keeps you more in this spine angle all the way through.

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All the way through down into the release and then if you want, you can let

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your spine

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go in order to not lunge forward too much.

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So issue number one is early extension creates speed.

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To counteract that, you have to feel more of the speed coming from your core

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and your

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abs and less from your back.

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We have lots of drills to help activate your core and get more of this feeling

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of crunch

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and rotate instead of extend.

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Piece number two is early extension shallows out the club.

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So oftentimes golfers who have more of an aggressive pull down, if they were to

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get into

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a good body position at the same time, you could see that from the down the

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line camera,

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this club would be traveling very much down into the ground or outside in or at

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the very

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least narrow and steep, kind of like that.

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And so what a lot of golfers do is in order to balance that out, I'm pulling

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with my arms

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but I also stand up a little bit with my body.

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Now as I demonstrate and then a power source idea, that actually compliments

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the more that

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I use my lat or my back muscles to pull those arms down, the more that the

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stand up move

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actually helps compliment it.

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So it becomes tough because this movement of early extension can be tied to

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multiple things.

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It can be tied to how I control contact and it can be tied to how I'm creating

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power.

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Now the problem with that steep arms is that as I go into this early extension

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move, that

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normally moves the low point backward.

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And so I'll have to do something to counterbalance that and move the low point

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forward.

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The most common issues for that would either be a slide of the lower body,

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which can work

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with some longer clubs but does cause some two-way misproblems, more of a lunge

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with

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the upper body.

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So my lower body doesn't go a whole lot forward.

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But as I'm going upward, my upper body drifts forward, that typically causes

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more problems

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with the longer club.

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Or three, I swing outside in to move the low point forward.

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So even though this is going upward with shallows, I would bottom out back here

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.

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But now if I just spin those shoulders and swing outside in, that moves the low

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point

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forward.

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I puzzled that one.

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But you can see that I at least contacted the ground ahead of the golf ball.

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Now the good thing with that is it's complementary in the sense that my arms

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are pulling down

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and my shoulders are rotating.

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Those are both upper body dominant moves.

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So I can kind of do those simultaneously.

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The challenge is that that is one of the tougher patterns for the longer clubs

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because it doubles,

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I have to get on top of the ball and I'm swinging steeper outside in.

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It creates a whole host of angle of attack issues for the longer clubs.

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Sometimes it results in a chicken wing.

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It can create a problem for contact.

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So again, if that's more the case where it's coming from the upper body pole or

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the early

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extension is a reaction to the upper body pole, then I have to really work on

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the arms

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shallowing and becoming less of the power source with my arms and more getting

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the speed

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from my legs and from my core the way that you probably used to see in golfers

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on TV.

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So that's two.

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We've got power source and then we've got a big shallower.

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The last one is club face control.

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So oftentimes golfers have the club in a wide open position and then the early

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extension

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will happen later to help get the club to whip over.

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So the club is pointing out at the camera like this as I pull in and stop the

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grip.

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Now the club passes me.

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So it was pointing at the target as it passed the golf ball, but it's only

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going to happen

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at the very bottom of the swing.

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So it's hard to get the low point forward because if I'm coming out of that

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pattern

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where the club face is open, the more that I get down into this good merry go

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round position

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and use the abs, the more that I'll tend to hit shots off to the right.

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So usually if that's the case, I have to do some complimentary work on the club

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face

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control.

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I have to work on the motorcycle movement and getting the club face to rotate

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closed while

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I'm working on using my abs as more of the power source.

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So if you notice on the down the line that you tend to have more of this stand

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up move

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and you're struggling with a lot of contact issues, you can use this framework

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to kind

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of help you break it down.

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Is it happening more early and it's a power source?

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Is it happening more as a response to the steep arms and it's a shallower?

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Or is it more a compensation for the club face being wide open?

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If you identify the reason you're early extending, you'll be much more likely

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to solve it.

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Okay, so let's demonstrate a couple.

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So this would be the early extension pattern where I'm standing up and throwing

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the arms

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past my body.

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I'm able to pick the ball and it'll require a little bit more timing.

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Now I just want you to see from both face on and down the line.

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If I now change that pattern, if I stay down, if I shallow the arms and I close

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the club

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face, you'll see, has a little bit more of a rhythmic look through the ball,

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less of

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a stall look.

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And that one with a lot less energy or effort, perceived effort, hit the ball

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actually further.

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So it's a worthwhile cause because this is one of the number one causes of

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inconsistency.

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But it's also a pesky cause because it's tied to club face control, path

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control as

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well as your power source.

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But good luck working through it.

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It's well worth it when you solve your early extension issues.