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This drill video is when checking alignment work from the grip backwards, so

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many golfers struggle with alignment especially on the course. If you're if

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you're one of these golfers who has a hard time taking their range game to the

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course, I'd say alignment 50/60 maybe even higher than that, a high percentage

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of

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the time, the alignment changes when you're on on the course compared to when

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you're on the range. So when you're checking your alignment, I want you to

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work from the club backwards. So I know that the common thing to look at is you

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look at where the feet are aimed and you put this down like that and you say

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okay

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where are where am I aligned. But I actually like to work from the grip

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backwards. So I like to check the forearms, then I like to take check the

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shoulders or the scapula, then I like to check the rib cage, then I check the

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pelvis, and then I check the feet. There are many factors as to why someone

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wouldn't want a perfectly square stance, especially if something was going on

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in

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the pelvis or if you had any type of leg length issue, which is quite common.

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But the shoulders and the forearms have a really big impact on the overall path

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of the club. So I like to make sure that those aren't too out of whack. The

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most

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common ones that you'll see are either when you get set up from the down the

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line, that right hand will be on top too much. And now if I had a line going

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across my forearms, which is very hard to do on my own, you would see that the

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forearm alignment would be way left of this stick. One trait that you'll see

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with most tour pros is when you're looking from the down the line, if you have

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a

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reasonable camera angle, you will be able to see a little bit of the left

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forearm on top of the right forearm. So not this way, but a little bit that way

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.

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That comes from having the left arm a little bit straighter than the right arm

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and the natural side bend in order to account for the right hand being down

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lower. If I was to not side bend, then I would have to get my right shoulder

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closer to account for the right hand being lower on the grip. And that's where

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a

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lot of golfers get off. So making sure or double checking from that down the

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line camera angle, doing a bit of mirror work with a stick, and just kind of

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looking to make sure that the tops of my forearms there are right of or

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parallel

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to the stick parallel at the at the very latest. This is a good checkpoint for

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when you're looking at your impact position as well, that that left arm

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isn't too far on top of the right and that that's still in good alignment. So

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then the next point would be looking at the shoulders or shoulder blades, and

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they're going to be closer to square, but usually slightly left, just slightly

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left. Golfers you get in trouble will either be way left, like that right

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shoulder

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will be very high, kind of like this. Or potentially they can get those

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shoulders pointing too far to the right, especially if the forearms are out of

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alignment because of the shoulder movement. So if I'm getting really on top of

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it

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with my arm action, if I'm getting really steep with my arm action, I'll

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typically try to balance that out by getting my body pointing more off to the

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right. So a good secondary check is I'll come up and I'll hold the if the fore

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arms

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look decent, sometimes the shoulders will be a little bit off one way or the

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other, and I'll double check that. The next piece I'll look at is the ribcage.

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And

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this is often one of the causes for the shoulders being off, because the

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shoulder blades sit on the ribcage. So some golfers will get set up with their

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ribcage kind of pointing forward to help avoid hitting it fat, and some golfers

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will get set up with their ribcage pointing way behind the ball to help

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adjust for a really steep swing path. So double checking ribcage and where that

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is compared to the yellow stick, and then looking at the pelvis. So is the pel

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vis

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more or less close-ish to the stick? This is where I start to get a little bit

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more

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lenient. So if the pelvis or the feet are off by you know five, ten degrees, I

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'm

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not too worried about it, it's really only if I'm off by a significant amount

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20, 30, 40 degrees, which often on the course you will see that happen. So it's

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very important to have a good alignment process and to practice it enough on

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the range so that you feel very comfortable on the course. For everything

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but the forearms, one of the most common little drills that I'll give my

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students is to pretend you were playing defense to the target line. So usually

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what I'll do is if they've got a stick down like this, and they're still having

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trouble, and they're maybe just a little bit left like this, I'll come in and I

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'll

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stand parallel to the target line. I say if we were playing defense, would you

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feel

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like you're ready to guard me? And they'll say no, I'm kind of aimed this way.

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And that

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gives you a good sense of by correcting it and pretending that there's a

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defender right there, parallel to the target line. If you stand up a little

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taller, it allows you to kind of orient yourself to this space. And I find that

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that helps a lot of golfers get their general orientation down. And then it's

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just a matter of training where the forearm alignment, where that is straight.

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Because a lot of golfers again are just used to a little bit more left shoulder

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from that right arm being a little bit more on top. So if you find that you

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have

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a hard time taking your range game to the course, double check your alignment,

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or

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if you're just working on one of the one of your kind of fine-tuning

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mechanisms, if you're working on setup, this is a good little process or

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checklist

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to run through to make sure that you're close to a line to get ready for your

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stock swing. Pretty good setup there.