Connecting motorcycle move to ulnar deviation

Hi Petteri,

Good question! The wrists can be tricky and everyone seems to have different feels. I do think the blend of flexion and ulnar deviation can feel unified since they share similar muscles and are coupled motions. Typically the motorcycle happens slightly before the ulnar deviation.

In your comment, you mention that you hit it well with the motorcycle feel but it gets worse with ulnar deviation. You might already be doing ulnar deviation when you try to do just the motorcycle. A video would help, you can see it at impact from the DTL and post impact is easier to see in the face on follow through position. Usually golfers who need to work on ulnar deviation complain about diggy ground contact, possibly deep divots, pulls, overdraws, having trouble adding vertical ground force movements, and two-way misses.

I think the first step is seeing if you need to work on both, just one, or neither and then go from there. Feel free to post a video if you're unsure.

Happy Golfing in Finland,
Tyler

Thanks for the feedback!

My typical miss is indeed to the left. One thing I already figured out which helped a bit was to feel the unhinge from trail wrist as supination. I think previously I just dumped the unhinge from lead wrist without paying attention to right forearm/wrist which tends to be overactive in my swing.

I attached DTL and Face-on swings here. Wrist action doesnt seem 100% correct from the video to my untrained eye but it has been getting better. I am relatively new player and I know there are plenty of things to work on my swing, especially in transition, to get into better delivery position to actually execute the correct wrist motions. One thing I can clearly see is that the club is coming from very inside of the plane.

If you could take a look and point me to some areas to focus on, that would be greatly appreciated!

Happy upcoming holidays!

-Petteri

Hi Pettteri,

I often say, "your body can only work as well as your arms, and your arms only as well as your body." I think your arms are fairly good and can't get much better until you improve your body work. I think you have two big opportunities with your body, getting in a better position at the top of the swing and better sequencing in transition.

If you look at your delivery position, your chest is very closed and tilted behind the ball. That's what makes your path come well from the inside. If you're upper body was more stacked, you'd have a hard time coming that far from the inside.

Overall, I think your follow-through is quite good, which usually means you're physically capable of using the body differently.

I'd set up some kind of axis tilt station and work on the top of backswing position first, then work on sequencing from there.

Happy Golfing,
Tyler

PS - When your that far closed and tilted behind the ball it's very hard to apply good vertical forces, it's very hard to have good ulnar deviation without good vertical forces.

Hi Tyler!

Took your advice and have been working on getting to a more stacked top position. I think it has allowed me to get closer to correct club path and to a more open impact position and also helped to transition to a more body-driven swing - although I am still battling with the impulse of pulling the arms down with force from top.

I have a couple of follow-up questions. I have been working on the transition and sequencing (the four moves: Jackson five, transition tilt, arm shallowing and motorcycle). From the video, would you have any feedback on which ones need the most work?

Second question is the right elbow. I have been working on getting more open and leaving arms more passive at transition to have my pelvis and torso to have time to open up more. I specifically liked the the feel of turning through the left arm video to create lag and how body then pulls the arms through. With this feel however, my right elbow seems to get a bit stuck behind my body leading to trail arm internal rotation and a scoop/flip at the bottom. Would you have any advice/drills on how to keep the arms following the body movements but not having the right elbow stuck?

Love the content and the detail that you put into the videos!

Brs,
Petteri

Hi Tyler!

Thanks for pointing me to the right direction! I am looking at some drills for training bracing - lead leg push drill, setting up the club to an object and feeling the pull and working on the turtle shell move intuitively feel like a good place to start. Anything else I should be looking at?

One thing regarding arm shallowing I had wondered before your reply was that when I try to feel like swinging more horizontally, there is no way to hit the ball without hitting it from the hosel. I think it makes sense now as bracing moves in general would create more room by moving the body away from the golf ball and let the arms fully extend. Did I understand this correctly?

Thanks as always,
Petteri

Hi Petteri,

For training bracing, I like to use the two bucket station. It helps get a better sense of position in space. https://www.golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/two-bucket-station/ From there I would check:
1 - legs/hips extension
2 - turtle shell core
3 - Scapulae and shoulder motions.

As far as shallowing, yes, without bracing it's easy to move into the ball and hit it on the heel. https://www.golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/turtle-shell-heel-contact/

Happy New Year and Happy Golfing,
Tyler

Hi Tyler!

Have been experimenting with bracing and I am definitely liking what I see on camera. I feel like I have a ton of room to extend arms through impact and without scooping the ball! Are there glaring issues in the attached swings?

While there is still room for improvement in terms of bracing, backswing stackness and sequencing of the lower body, would it now make sense to try to blend in some arm shallowing moves as I think that I still swing quite vertically instead around my body?

Best regards,
Petteri

Hi Petteri,

Unfortunately your issues are more on the subtle side rather than the glaring category. I think the top of the swing into transition is the thing that looks the most off (or rather, less on). It’s not bad, but it looks like you flex forward too much and then balance that by keeping your rib cage closed too long and creating too much axis tilt early in transition. It also looks like the turtle shell is late. In general, it appears that you’re not rotating your core with your obliques as much as I’d like, but again, it doesn’t look bad.

Happy Golfing,
Tyler