Start a Free 3 Day Trial

Get access to 900+ instructional videos
No credit card required
Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best Young Teachers in America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America. Meet your new instructor.

Click here to join now and get full access.

9 To 3 - Down & Not Up

This is a great version of the 9-to-3 for golfers who really struggle with a "flip" style release or a lack of extension through impact. By placing an added emphasis on the arms extending down and away from the body, while the clubhead continues to remain low to the ground, we can start to re-train some of these less efficient release patterns. Overall, this should improve the length of the "flat-spot" and ensure that the maximum arc width is occuring after impact (and not before), both of which are important for consistent ball-striking. 

Playlists: Train Your Release, Fix Your Flip, Fix Your Chicken Wing (Bent Arm @ Impact)

Tags: Fundamentals, Poor Contact, Chicken Wing, Impact, Release, Drill, Intermediate

00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000
Strel is 9 to 3 down not up.

00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:10,000
So this drill is more for golfers who have a tendency to have an early release pattern

00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:16,000
and get the club kind of bending or getting the arms bending more chicken wings scooping

00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:17,000
kind of flipping on the way through.

00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:22,000
So golfers tend to do more of their 9 to 3's kind of more like this where the arms are

00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,000
pulling in through impact rather than going away from the body.

00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:33,000
So the idea in this version of the 9 to 3 is that you're focusing on trying to get

00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,000
your arms to extend down away from your body.

00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:42,000
Now in reality, down and away from your body is not going to go straight into the ground

00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,000
if my body has had some rotation to it.

00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:49,000
The hands will come up but for many golfers who are used to bending it will feel like

00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,000
it's going down.

00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:56,000
If you wanted to exaggerate the feeling of the club going down, then you would just have

00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:01,000
to prevent your arms or your body from getting open and having any turn.

00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:09,000
So then the arms would have a down and extended feel or the feel would match reality.

00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:15,000
But for this 9 to 3 so basically working belly button to belly button height, your

00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:21,000
focus is that the arms are getting into full extension in the finish position and that

00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:26,000
your arms are staying or the club is staying low to the ground through there.

00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,000
The only way you're going to get that club to be low to the ground through there is by

00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,000
having a feeling of the arms extending the club down.

00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:40,000
One common problem with golfers who early release or chicken wing is that the lowest point

00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,000
will be right about here and then just after impact the club will be a couple inches

00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,000
or an inch or two off the ground.

00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:53,000
So when you're doing this version of the 9 to 3 you're basically going to feel like

00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,000
that club stays low to the ground through the hitting area.

00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:02,000
Once you can comfortably do that with your 9 to 3, work your way up to 10 to 2 and full

00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:08,000
swings, making sure that you get the same ground contact as well as release feel.

00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:13,000
So when you take the bigger swings the club won't necessarily stop through there but

00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,000
it will go through that position on its way up.

00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:30,000
So attend to focusing on the club working more down through there.

00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:35,000
May hit a tiny bit lower than normal which is a good little at least a very easy and

00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:46,000
in shot to have and now we'll try and take it up more towards a full swing.

00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,000
And like so working on the club going down through the hitting area instead of coming

00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:54,000
up focusing first with the quality of your 9 to 3 release.

Click here to start your free 3 day trial. No credit card required.