Not sure where to start? Ask Mulligan
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.
Meet your new instructor.
Arm Extension - Timing And Direction
During the downswing, your goal is to build speed in your hands and then transfer that speed to the club head. This process involves a team approach of the body and the arms. When it comes to the arms, there are two general issues that can show up. One is the timing of when the arms fire (almost always too soon) and the second is the direction (or the positions of the arms). For a full swing, the arms should work more across the body than down toward the golf ball. If they work more down toward the golf ball, then it will be almost impossible for your body to rotate and side bend as much as you would like.
During the downswing, your goal is to build speed in your hands and then transfer that speed to the club head. This process involves a team approach of the body and the arms. When it comes to the arms, there are two general issues that can show up. One is the timing of when the arms fire (almost always too soon) and the second is the direction (or the positions of the arms). For a full swing, the arms should work more across the body than down toward the golf ball. If they work more down toward the golf ball, then it will be almost impossible for your body to rotate and side bend as much as you would like.
Hide
Video Transcript
WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.760
This drill is arm extension, timing, and direction.
2
00:00:04.760 --> 00:00:07.840
So there's two major things that you can look at when you're watching a video
3
00:00:07.840 --> 00:00:08.200
and you're
4
00:00:08.200 --> 00:00:13.280
seeing when the arms are releasing and kind of what direction.
5
00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:18.330
Now we can't see on video the intention and necessarily why your arms are
6
00:00:18.330 --> 00:00:19.320
extending when
7
00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:20.320
they are.
8
00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.390
But simply put, the more that your body stops, the more that your body kind of
9
00:00:24.390 --> 00:00:25.320
braces, that's
10
00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:28.910
going to cause your arms to extend, the more that your body continues rotating,
11
00:00:28.910 --> 00:00:29.320
that's
12
00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:32.280
going to delay the timing of those arm extension.
13
00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:36.950
So if you videotape yourself and you look at your swing or you submit it and we
14
00:00:36.950 --> 00:00:37.040
talk
15
00:00:37.040 --> 00:00:42.770
about the timing of when the arms extend, this is roughly what we're looking at
16
00:00:42.770 --> 00:00:43.120
.
17
00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:47.790
What should happen is right about here my arms are going to start extending,
18
00:00:47.790 --> 00:00:48.440
but my body
19
00:00:48.440 --> 00:00:52.150
is going to continue turning so it looks on video like they're going to be
20
00:00:52.150 --> 00:00:52.840
extending
21
00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:57.510
more or less down through this hitting area with everything say longer than a
22
00:00:57.510 --> 00:00:58.040
seven iron.
23
00:00:58.040 --> 00:01:03.200
With wedges, it will tend to look a little bit sooner.
24
00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:08.330
So the timing of it is the later we can get the timing of that arm extension,
25
00:01:08.330 --> 00:01:09.040
the more
26
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.840
that we're using our body to power the swing and the more that we're going to
27
00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:13.680
have a lengthy
28
00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:19.710
flat spot at the bottom because the more that my arms are extending through the
29
00:01:19.710 --> 00:01:20.280
hit, that's
30
00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:22.920
going to keep that club head low to the ground.
31
00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.200
My arms have already extended, the only way that club could stay low to the
32
00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:26.760
ground is
33
00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:31.430
if my upper body drifted forward like that which wouldn't be very powerful or
34
00:01:31.430 --> 00:01:32.080
consistent
35
00:01:32.080 --> 00:01:33.980
or easy for me to balance with.
36
00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:38.060
So the only way for me to get a really good flat spot is to delay the timing of
37
00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:38.560
those
38
00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:43.230
arms extending and working on getting those arms to extend down through the hit
39
00:01:43.230 --> 00:01:43.440
instead
40
00:01:43.440 --> 00:01:45.480
of into the hit.
41
00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:49.680
So the timing piece is a little bit pretty cut and dry.
42
00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.280
We can look on video and see when that right arm is starting to extend.
43
00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:55.640
The second piece is going to be the direction.
44
00:01:55.640 --> 00:02:00.440
So I really break it down because there's only two real options.
45
00:02:00.440 --> 00:02:03.830
The arms could either extend straight out away from me kind of like so or
46
00:02:03.830 --> 00:02:04.560
straight out
47
00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:08.280
in front of my right shoulder or they could extend more across my body in the
48
00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:08.720
head of
49
00:02:08.720 --> 00:02:10.160
my left shoulder.
50
00:02:10.160 --> 00:02:15.520
So the more that my arms extend across my body, the more that they're going to
51
00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:16.120
go across
52
00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:20.300
kind of like so which is similar to that white movement, similar to what we
53
00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:21.040
teach with
54
00:02:21.040 --> 00:02:24.200
the open trail hand.
55
00:02:24.200 --> 00:02:28.130
That's going to get the bottom of the swing further forward and give me a more
56
00:02:28.130 --> 00:02:28.640
shallow
57
00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:33.310
contact but it's typically also going to open the face so it allows me to be
58
00:02:33.310 --> 00:02:34.000
more aggressive
59
00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.050
with both the supination of the lead arm as well as the motorcycle movement
60
00:02:39.050 --> 00:02:41.520
during transition.
61
00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:46.690
So a lot of golfers what they struggle with is using this arm release in order
62
00:02:46.690 --> 00:02:47.280
to get the
63
00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:50.200
club pointed in the general direction of the target.
64
00:02:50.200 --> 00:02:55.320
Now this can be fine for wedges when I'm releasing to get the club pointed in
65
00:02:55.320 --> 00:02:56.160
the direction of
66
00:02:56.160 --> 00:03:00.240
the target like so because I don't really need a really long flat spot there, I
67
00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:00.760
'm actually
68
00:03:00.760 --> 00:03:03.960
trying to get the bottom of the swing pretty close to where the golf wall is.
69
00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:08.680
But with the full swing of the irons, with the full swing of the driver, if the
70
00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:09.240
arms are
71
00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:13.950
extending too soon like so then the club is going to come start working its way
72
00:03:13.950 --> 00:03:14.240
back
73
00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:16.160
up relatively quickly.
74
00:03:16.160 --> 00:03:21.810
If the arms working more across my body like so, that's going to encourage that
75
00:03:21.810 --> 00:03:23.600
body rotation.
76
00:03:23.600 --> 00:03:29.150
In fact, if you look at a down the line camera and you see that you can, you
77
00:03:29.150 --> 00:03:30.200
kind of look
78
00:03:30.200 --> 00:03:33.900
like this an impact where you're not seeing a whole lot of body rotation, then
79
00:03:33.900 --> 00:03:34.320
trying
80
00:03:34.320 --> 00:03:39.700
to get that elbow to lead that wrist and trying to get that arm to work more
81
00:03:39.700 --> 00:03:40.160
across
82
00:03:40.160 --> 00:03:45.480
your body will almost force the look of rotation at impact.
83
00:03:45.480 --> 00:03:49.290
In fact, that's part of my contention as to why golfers, toward golfers tend to
84
00:03:49.290 --> 00:03:49.880
look like
85
00:03:49.880 --> 00:03:53.770
they're more rotated is because of the direction that they're releasing their
86
00:03:53.770 --> 00:03:54.680
arms more across
87
00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:58.620
their body through the release as opposed to straight out away the way we would
88
00:03:58.620 --> 00:03:59.000
do in
89
00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:00.760
kind of a short game shot.
90
00:04:00.760 --> 00:04:05.780
So if you're struggling with either getting body rotation or arms releasing too
91
00:04:05.780 --> 00:04:06.280
soon or
92
00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:11.000
you're struggling with really consistent contact, typically working on the
93
00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:12.360
timing and the direction
94
00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:17.740
that the arms are starting to extend can be very helpful for lengthening your
95
00:04:17.740 --> 00:04:18.440
flat spot
96
00:04:18.440 --> 00:04:21.440
and working on your consistent strike.
97
00:04:21.440 --> 00:04:26.450
Now one last little piece about this arm timing and direction is that
98
00:04:26.450 --> 00:04:28.080
ultimately the timing
99
00:04:28.080 --> 00:04:33.090
of the arm extension should be driven more from the body movements, especially
100
00:04:33.090 --> 00:04:33.480
how my
101
00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:38.860
left leg is interacting with the ground rather than a force movement of the
102
00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:39.440
arms.
103
00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:45.580
So if I get to our delivery position and then I really push with that front
104
00:04:45.580 --> 00:04:46.800
foot through
105
00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:53.120
the ground to cause my side bend that will help trigger those arms extending.
106
00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:58.490
In addition, if my arms are working out away from me kind of like so when that
107
00:04:58.490 --> 00:04:59.160
leg tends
108
00:04:59.160 --> 00:05:03.240
to push that can cause me to hit behind it.
109
00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:08.850
So the more that I get my arms working more across my body than when it allows
110
00:05:08.850 --> 00:05:09.680
me to create
111
00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:11.240
this body side bend.
112
00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:17.090
So again the timing of when the arms should be starting to fire is driven by
113
00:05:17.090 --> 00:05:18.040
this brace
114
00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:24.000
of that lead leg not a forced or conscious action of the arms.
115
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.710
If you're able to connect everything to the body and what the arms are trying
116
00:05:28.710 --> 00:05:29.120
to do in
117
00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:32.840
conjunction with how the body gets them to do it, ultimately that will lead to
118
00:05:32.840 --> 00:05:33.360
the most
119
00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:34.920
consistent version of your swing.
1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.760
This drill is arm extension, timing, and direction.
2
00:00:04.760 --> 00:00:07.840
So there's two major things that you can look at when you're watching a video
3
00:00:07.840 --> 00:00:08.200
and you're
4
00:00:08.200 --> 00:00:13.280
seeing when the arms are releasing and kind of what direction.
5
00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:18.330
Now we can't see on video the intention and necessarily why your arms are
6
00:00:18.330 --> 00:00:19.320
extending when
7
00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:20.320
they are.
8
00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.390
But simply put, the more that your body stops, the more that your body kind of
9
00:00:24.390 --> 00:00:25.320
braces, that's
10
00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:28.910
going to cause your arms to extend, the more that your body continues rotating,
11
00:00:28.910 --> 00:00:29.320
that's
12
00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:32.280
going to delay the timing of those arm extension.
13
00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:36.950
So if you videotape yourself and you look at your swing or you submit it and we
14
00:00:36.950 --> 00:00:37.040
talk
15
00:00:37.040 --> 00:00:42.770
about the timing of when the arms extend, this is roughly what we're looking at
16
00:00:42.770 --> 00:00:43.120
.
17
00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:47.790
What should happen is right about here my arms are going to start extending,
18
00:00:47.790 --> 00:00:48.440
but my body
19
00:00:48.440 --> 00:00:52.150
is going to continue turning so it looks on video like they're going to be
20
00:00:52.150 --> 00:00:52.840
extending
21
00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:57.510
more or less down through this hitting area with everything say longer than a
22
00:00:57.510 --> 00:00:58.040
seven iron.
23
00:00:58.040 --> 00:01:03.200
With wedges, it will tend to look a little bit sooner.
24
00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:08.330
So the timing of it is the later we can get the timing of that arm extension,
25
00:01:08.330 --> 00:01:09.040
the more
26
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.840
that we're using our body to power the swing and the more that we're going to
27
00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:13.680
have a lengthy
28
00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:19.710
flat spot at the bottom because the more that my arms are extending through the
29
00:01:19.710 --> 00:01:20.280
hit, that's
30
00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:22.920
going to keep that club head low to the ground.
31
00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.200
My arms have already extended, the only way that club could stay low to the
32
00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:26.760
ground is
33
00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:31.430
if my upper body drifted forward like that which wouldn't be very powerful or
34
00:01:31.430 --> 00:01:32.080
consistent
35
00:01:32.080 --> 00:01:33.980
or easy for me to balance with.
36
00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:38.060
So the only way for me to get a really good flat spot is to delay the timing of
37
00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:38.560
those
38
00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:43.230
arms extending and working on getting those arms to extend down through the hit
39
00:01:43.230 --> 00:01:43.440
instead
40
00:01:43.440 --> 00:01:45.480
of into the hit.
41
00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:49.680
So the timing piece is a little bit pretty cut and dry.
42
00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.280
We can look on video and see when that right arm is starting to extend.
43
00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:55.640
The second piece is going to be the direction.
44
00:01:55.640 --> 00:02:00.440
So I really break it down because there's only two real options.
45
00:02:00.440 --> 00:02:03.830
The arms could either extend straight out away from me kind of like so or
46
00:02:03.830 --> 00:02:04.560
straight out
47
00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:08.280
in front of my right shoulder or they could extend more across my body in the
48
00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:08.720
head of
49
00:02:08.720 --> 00:02:10.160
my left shoulder.
50
00:02:10.160 --> 00:02:15.520
So the more that my arms extend across my body, the more that they're going to
51
00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:16.120
go across
52
00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:20.300
kind of like so which is similar to that white movement, similar to what we
53
00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:21.040
teach with
54
00:02:21.040 --> 00:02:24.200
the open trail hand.
55
00:02:24.200 --> 00:02:28.130
That's going to get the bottom of the swing further forward and give me a more
56
00:02:28.130 --> 00:02:28.640
shallow
57
00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:33.310
contact but it's typically also going to open the face so it allows me to be
58
00:02:33.310 --> 00:02:34.000
more aggressive
59
00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.050
with both the supination of the lead arm as well as the motorcycle movement
60
00:02:39.050 --> 00:02:41.520
during transition.
61
00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:46.690
So a lot of golfers what they struggle with is using this arm release in order
62
00:02:46.690 --> 00:02:47.280
to get the
63
00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:50.200
club pointed in the general direction of the target.
64
00:02:50.200 --> 00:02:55.320
Now this can be fine for wedges when I'm releasing to get the club pointed in
65
00:02:55.320 --> 00:02:56.160
the direction of
66
00:02:56.160 --> 00:03:00.240
the target like so because I don't really need a really long flat spot there, I
67
00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:00.760
'm actually
68
00:03:00.760 --> 00:03:03.960
trying to get the bottom of the swing pretty close to where the golf wall is.
69
00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:08.680
But with the full swing of the irons, with the full swing of the driver, if the
70
00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:09.240
arms are
71
00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:13.950
extending too soon like so then the club is going to come start working its way
72
00:03:13.950 --> 00:03:14.240
back
73
00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:16.160
up relatively quickly.
74
00:03:16.160 --> 00:03:21.810
If the arms working more across my body like so, that's going to encourage that
75
00:03:21.810 --> 00:03:23.600
body rotation.
76
00:03:23.600 --> 00:03:29.150
In fact, if you look at a down the line camera and you see that you can, you
77
00:03:29.150 --> 00:03:30.200
kind of look
78
00:03:30.200 --> 00:03:33.900
like this an impact where you're not seeing a whole lot of body rotation, then
79
00:03:33.900 --> 00:03:34.320
trying
80
00:03:34.320 --> 00:03:39.700
to get that elbow to lead that wrist and trying to get that arm to work more
81
00:03:39.700 --> 00:03:40.160
across
82
00:03:40.160 --> 00:03:45.480
your body will almost force the look of rotation at impact.
83
00:03:45.480 --> 00:03:49.290
In fact, that's part of my contention as to why golfers, toward golfers tend to
84
00:03:49.290 --> 00:03:49.880
look like
85
00:03:49.880 --> 00:03:53.770
they're more rotated is because of the direction that they're releasing their
86
00:03:53.770 --> 00:03:54.680
arms more across
87
00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:58.620
their body through the release as opposed to straight out away the way we would
88
00:03:58.620 --> 00:03:59.000
do in
89
00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:00.760
kind of a short game shot.
90
00:04:00.760 --> 00:04:05.780
So if you're struggling with either getting body rotation or arms releasing too
91
00:04:05.780 --> 00:04:06.280
soon or
92
00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:11.000
you're struggling with really consistent contact, typically working on the
93
00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:12.360
timing and the direction
94
00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:17.740
that the arms are starting to extend can be very helpful for lengthening your
95
00:04:17.740 --> 00:04:18.440
flat spot
96
00:04:18.440 --> 00:04:21.440
and working on your consistent strike.
97
00:04:21.440 --> 00:04:26.450
Now one last little piece about this arm timing and direction is that
98
00:04:26.450 --> 00:04:28.080
ultimately the timing
99
00:04:28.080 --> 00:04:33.090
of the arm extension should be driven more from the body movements, especially
100
00:04:33.090 --> 00:04:33.480
how my
101
00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:38.860
left leg is interacting with the ground rather than a force movement of the
102
00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:39.440
arms.
103
00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:45.580
So if I get to our delivery position and then I really push with that front
104
00:04:45.580 --> 00:04:46.800
foot through
105
00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:53.120
the ground to cause my side bend that will help trigger those arms extending.
106
00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:58.490
In addition, if my arms are working out away from me kind of like so when that
107
00:04:58.490 --> 00:04:59.160
leg tends
108
00:04:59.160 --> 00:05:03.240
to push that can cause me to hit behind it.
109
00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:08.850
So the more that I get my arms working more across my body than when it allows
110
00:05:08.850 --> 00:05:09.680
me to create
111
00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:11.240
this body side bend.
112
00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:17.090
So again the timing of when the arms should be starting to fire is driven by
113
00:05:17.090 --> 00:05:18.040
this brace
114
00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:24.000
of that lead leg not a forced or conscious action of the arms.
115
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.710
If you're able to connect everything to the body and what the arms are trying
116
00:05:28.710 --> 00:05:29.120
to do in
117
00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:32.840
conjunction with how the body gets them to do it, ultimately that will lead to
118
00:05:32.840 --> 00:05:33.360
the most
119
00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:34.920
consistent version of your swing.
Have questions?
Ask Mulligan for help
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.
Arm Extension - Timing And Direction
During the downswing, your goal is to build speed in your hands and then transfer that speed to the club head. This process involves a team approach of the body and the arms. When it comes to the arms, there are two general issues that can show up. One is the timing of when the arms fire (almost always too soon) and the second is the direction (or the positions of the arms). For a full swing, the arms should work more across the body than down toward the golf ball. If they work more down toward the golf ball, then it will be almost impossible for your body to rotate and side bend as much as you would like.
During the downswing, your goal is to build speed in your hands and then transfer that speed to the club head. This process involves a team approach of the body and the arms. When it comes to the arms, there are two general issues that can show up. One is the timing of when the arms fire (almost always too soon) and the second is the direction (or the positions of the arms). For a full swing, the arms should work more across the body than down toward the golf ball. If they work more down toward the golf ball, then it will be almost impossible for your body to rotate and side bend as much as you would like.
Hide
Video Transcript
WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.760
This drill is arm extension, timing, and direction.
2
00:00:04.760 --> 00:00:07.840
So there's two major things that you can look at when you're watching a video
3
00:00:07.840 --> 00:00:08.200
and you're
4
00:00:08.200 --> 00:00:13.280
seeing when the arms are releasing and kind of what direction.
5
00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:18.330
Now we can't see on video the intention and necessarily why your arms are
6
00:00:18.330 --> 00:00:19.320
extending when
7
00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:20.320
they are.
8
00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.390
But simply put, the more that your body stops, the more that your body kind of
9
00:00:24.390 --> 00:00:25.320
braces, that's
10
00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:28.910
going to cause your arms to extend, the more that your body continues rotating,
11
00:00:28.910 --> 00:00:29.320
that's
12
00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:32.280
going to delay the timing of those arm extension.
13
00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:36.950
So if you videotape yourself and you look at your swing or you submit it and we
14
00:00:36.950 --> 00:00:37.040
talk
15
00:00:37.040 --> 00:00:42.770
about the timing of when the arms extend, this is roughly what we're looking at
16
00:00:42.770 --> 00:00:43.120
.
17
00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:47.790
What should happen is right about here my arms are going to start extending,
18
00:00:47.790 --> 00:00:48.440
but my body
19
00:00:48.440 --> 00:00:52.150
is going to continue turning so it looks on video like they're going to be
20
00:00:52.150 --> 00:00:52.840
extending
21
00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:57.510
more or less down through this hitting area with everything say longer than a
22
00:00:57.510 --> 00:00:58.040
seven iron.
23
00:00:58.040 --> 00:01:03.200
With wedges, it will tend to look a little bit sooner.
24
00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:08.330
So the timing of it is the later we can get the timing of that arm extension,
25
00:01:08.330 --> 00:01:09.040
the more
26
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.840
that we're using our body to power the swing and the more that we're going to
27
00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:13.680
have a lengthy
28
00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:19.710
flat spot at the bottom because the more that my arms are extending through the
29
00:01:19.710 --> 00:01:20.280
hit, that's
30
00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:22.920
going to keep that club head low to the ground.
31
00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.200
My arms have already extended, the only way that club could stay low to the
32
00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:26.760
ground is
33
00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:31.430
if my upper body drifted forward like that which wouldn't be very powerful or
34
00:01:31.430 --> 00:01:32.080
consistent
35
00:01:32.080 --> 00:01:33.980
or easy for me to balance with.
36
00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:38.060
So the only way for me to get a really good flat spot is to delay the timing of
37
00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:38.560
those
38
00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:43.230
arms extending and working on getting those arms to extend down through the hit
39
00:01:43.230 --> 00:01:43.440
instead
40
00:01:43.440 --> 00:01:45.480
of into the hit.
41
00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:49.680
So the timing piece is a little bit pretty cut and dry.
42
00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.280
We can look on video and see when that right arm is starting to extend.
43
00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:55.640
The second piece is going to be the direction.
44
00:01:55.640 --> 00:02:00.440
So I really break it down because there's only two real options.
45
00:02:00.440 --> 00:02:03.830
The arms could either extend straight out away from me kind of like so or
46
00:02:03.830 --> 00:02:04.560
straight out
47
00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:08.280
in front of my right shoulder or they could extend more across my body in the
48
00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:08.720
head of
49
00:02:08.720 --> 00:02:10.160
my left shoulder.
50
00:02:10.160 --> 00:02:15.520
So the more that my arms extend across my body, the more that they're going to
51
00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:16.120
go across
52
00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:20.300
kind of like so which is similar to that white movement, similar to what we
53
00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:21.040
teach with
54
00:02:21.040 --> 00:02:24.200
the open trail hand.
55
00:02:24.200 --> 00:02:28.130
That's going to get the bottom of the swing further forward and give me a more
56
00:02:28.130 --> 00:02:28.640
shallow
57
00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:33.310
contact but it's typically also going to open the face so it allows me to be
58
00:02:33.310 --> 00:02:34.000
more aggressive
59
00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.050
with both the supination of the lead arm as well as the motorcycle movement
60
00:02:39.050 --> 00:02:41.520
during transition.
61
00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:46.690
So a lot of golfers what they struggle with is using this arm release in order
62
00:02:46.690 --> 00:02:47.280
to get the
63
00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:50.200
club pointed in the general direction of the target.
64
00:02:50.200 --> 00:02:55.320
Now this can be fine for wedges when I'm releasing to get the club pointed in
65
00:02:55.320 --> 00:02:56.160
the direction of
66
00:02:56.160 --> 00:03:00.240
the target like so because I don't really need a really long flat spot there, I
67
00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:00.760
'm actually
68
00:03:00.760 --> 00:03:03.960
trying to get the bottom of the swing pretty close to where the golf wall is.
69
00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:08.680
But with the full swing of the irons, with the full swing of the driver, if the
70
00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:09.240
arms are
71
00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:13.950
extending too soon like so then the club is going to come start working its way
72
00:03:13.950 --> 00:03:14.240
back
73
00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:16.160
up relatively quickly.
74
00:03:16.160 --> 00:03:21.810
If the arms working more across my body like so, that's going to encourage that
75
00:03:21.810 --> 00:03:23.600
body rotation.
76
00:03:23.600 --> 00:03:29.150
In fact, if you look at a down the line camera and you see that you can, you
77
00:03:29.150 --> 00:03:30.200
kind of look
78
00:03:30.200 --> 00:03:33.900
like this an impact where you're not seeing a whole lot of body rotation, then
79
00:03:33.900 --> 00:03:34.320
trying
80
00:03:34.320 --> 00:03:39.700
to get that elbow to lead that wrist and trying to get that arm to work more
81
00:03:39.700 --> 00:03:40.160
across
82
00:03:40.160 --> 00:03:45.480
your body will almost force the look of rotation at impact.
83
00:03:45.480 --> 00:03:49.290
In fact, that's part of my contention as to why golfers, toward golfers tend to
84
00:03:49.290 --> 00:03:49.880
look like
85
00:03:49.880 --> 00:03:53.770
they're more rotated is because of the direction that they're releasing their
86
00:03:53.770 --> 00:03:54.680
arms more across
87
00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:58.620
their body through the release as opposed to straight out away the way we would
88
00:03:58.620 --> 00:03:59.000
do in
89
00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:00.760
kind of a short game shot.
90
00:04:00.760 --> 00:04:05.780
So if you're struggling with either getting body rotation or arms releasing too
91
00:04:05.780 --> 00:04:06.280
soon or
92
00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:11.000
you're struggling with really consistent contact, typically working on the
93
00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:12.360
timing and the direction
94
00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:17.740
that the arms are starting to extend can be very helpful for lengthening your
95
00:04:17.740 --> 00:04:18.440
flat spot
96
00:04:18.440 --> 00:04:21.440
and working on your consistent strike.
97
00:04:21.440 --> 00:04:26.450
Now one last little piece about this arm timing and direction is that
98
00:04:26.450 --> 00:04:28.080
ultimately the timing
99
00:04:28.080 --> 00:04:33.090
of the arm extension should be driven more from the body movements, especially
100
00:04:33.090 --> 00:04:33.480
how my
101
00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:38.860
left leg is interacting with the ground rather than a force movement of the
102
00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:39.440
arms.
103
00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:45.580
So if I get to our delivery position and then I really push with that front
104
00:04:45.580 --> 00:04:46.800
foot through
105
00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:53.120
the ground to cause my side bend that will help trigger those arms extending.
106
00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:58.490
In addition, if my arms are working out away from me kind of like so when that
107
00:04:58.490 --> 00:04:59.160
leg tends
108
00:04:59.160 --> 00:05:03.240
to push that can cause me to hit behind it.
109
00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:08.850
So the more that I get my arms working more across my body than when it allows
110
00:05:08.850 --> 00:05:09.680
me to create
111
00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:11.240
this body side bend.
112
00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:17.090
So again the timing of when the arms should be starting to fire is driven by
113
00:05:17.090 --> 00:05:18.040
this brace
114
00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:24.000
of that lead leg not a forced or conscious action of the arms.
115
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.710
If you're able to connect everything to the body and what the arms are trying
116
00:05:28.710 --> 00:05:29.120
to do in
117
00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:32.840
conjunction with how the body gets them to do it, ultimately that will lead to
118
00:05:32.840 --> 00:05:33.360
the most
119
00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:34.920
consistent version of your swing.
1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.760
This drill is arm extension, timing, and direction.
2
00:00:04.760 --> 00:00:07.840
So there's two major things that you can look at when you're watching a video
3
00:00:07.840 --> 00:00:08.200
and you're
4
00:00:08.200 --> 00:00:13.280
seeing when the arms are releasing and kind of what direction.
5
00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:18.330
Now we can't see on video the intention and necessarily why your arms are
6
00:00:18.330 --> 00:00:19.320
extending when
7
00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:20.320
they are.
8
00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.390
But simply put, the more that your body stops, the more that your body kind of
9
00:00:24.390 --> 00:00:25.320
braces, that's
10
00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:28.910
going to cause your arms to extend, the more that your body continues rotating,
11
00:00:28.910 --> 00:00:29.320
that's
12
00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:32.280
going to delay the timing of those arm extension.
13
00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:36.950
So if you videotape yourself and you look at your swing or you submit it and we
14
00:00:36.950 --> 00:00:37.040
talk
15
00:00:37.040 --> 00:00:42.770
about the timing of when the arms extend, this is roughly what we're looking at
16
00:00:42.770 --> 00:00:43.120
.
17
00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:47.790
What should happen is right about here my arms are going to start extending,
18
00:00:47.790 --> 00:00:48.440
but my body
19
00:00:48.440 --> 00:00:52.150
is going to continue turning so it looks on video like they're going to be
20
00:00:52.150 --> 00:00:52.840
extending
21
00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:57.510
more or less down through this hitting area with everything say longer than a
22
00:00:57.510 --> 00:00:58.040
seven iron.
23
00:00:58.040 --> 00:01:03.200
With wedges, it will tend to look a little bit sooner.
24
00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:08.330
So the timing of it is the later we can get the timing of that arm extension,
25
00:01:08.330 --> 00:01:09.040
the more
26
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.840
that we're using our body to power the swing and the more that we're going to
27
00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:13.680
have a lengthy
28
00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:19.710
flat spot at the bottom because the more that my arms are extending through the
29
00:01:19.710 --> 00:01:20.280
hit, that's
30
00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:22.920
going to keep that club head low to the ground.
31
00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.200
My arms have already extended, the only way that club could stay low to the
32
00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:26.760
ground is
33
00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:31.430
if my upper body drifted forward like that which wouldn't be very powerful or
34
00:01:31.430 --> 00:01:32.080
consistent
35
00:01:32.080 --> 00:01:33.980
or easy for me to balance with.
36
00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:38.060
So the only way for me to get a really good flat spot is to delay the timing of
37
00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:38.560
those
38
00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:43.230
arms extending and working on getting those arms to extend down through the hit
39
00:01:43.230 --> 00:01:43.440
instead
40
00:01:43.440 --> 00:01:45.480
of into the hit.
41
00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:49.680
So the timing piece is a little bit pretty cut and dry.
42
00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.280
We can look on video and see when that right arm is starting to extend.
43
00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:55.640
The second piece is going to be the direction.
44
00:01:55.640 --> 00:02:00.440
So I really break it down because there's only two real options.
45
00:02:00.440 --> 00:02:03.830
The arms could either extend straight out away from me kind of like so or
46
00:02:03.830 --> 00:02:04.560
straight out
47
00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:08.280
in front of my right shoulder or they could extend more across my body in the
48
00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:08.720
head of
49
00:02:08.720 --> 00:02:10.160
my left shoulder.
50
00:02:10.160 --> 00:02:15.520
So the more that my arms extend across my body, the more that they're going to
51
00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:16.120
go across
52
00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:20.300
kind of like so which is similar to that white movement, similar to what we
53
00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:21.040
teach with
54
00:02:21.040 --> 00:02:24.200
the open trail hand.
55
00:02:24.200 --> 00:02:28.130
That's going to get the bottom of the swing further forward and give me a more
56
00:02:28.130 --> 00:02:28.640
shallow
57
00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:33.310
contact but it's typically also going to open the face so it allows me to be
58
00:02:33.310 --> 00:02:34.000
more aggressive
59
00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.050
with both the supination of the lead arm as well as the motorcycle movement
60
00:02:39.050 --> 00:02:41.520
during transition.
61
00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:46.690
So a lot of golfers what they struggle with is using this arm release in order
62
00:02:46.690 --> 00:02:47.280
to get the
63
00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:50.200
club pointed in the general direction of the target.
64
00:02:50.200 --> 00:02:55.320
Now this can be fine for wedges when I'm releasing to get the club pointed in
65
00:02:55.320 --> 00:02:56.160
the direction of
66
00:02:56.160 --> 00:03:00.240
the target like so because I don't really need a really long flat spot there, I
67
00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:00.760
'm actually
68
00:03:00.760 --> 00:03:03.960
trying to get the bottom of the swing pretty close to where the golf wall is.
69
00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:08.680
But with the full swing of the irons, with the full swing of the driver, if the
70
00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:09.240
arms are
71
00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:13.950
extending too soon like so then the club is going to come start working its way
72
00:03:13.950 --> 00:03:14.240
back
73
00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:16.160
up relatively quickly.
74
00:03:16.160 --> 00:03:21.810
If the arms working more across my body like so, that's going to encourage that
75
00:03:21.810 --> 00:03:23.600
body rotation.
76
00:03:23.600 --> 00:03:29.150
In fact, if you look at a down the line camera and you see that you can, you
77
00:03:29.150 --> 00:03:30.200
kind of look
78
00:03:30.200 --> 00:03:33.900
like this an impact where you're not seeing a whole lot of body rotation, then
79
00:03:33.900 --> 00:03:34.320
trying
80
00:03:34.320 --> 00:03:39.700
to get that elbow to lead that wrist and trying to get that arm to work more
81
00:03:39.700 --> 00:03:40.160
across
82
00:03:40.160 --> 00:03:45.480
your body will almost force the look of rotation at impact.
83
00:03:45.480 --> 00:03:49.290
In fact, that's part of my contention as to why golfers, toward golfers tend to
84
00:03:49.290 --> 00:03:49.880
look like
85
00:03:49.880 --> 00:03:53.770
they're more rotated is because of the direction that they're releasing their
86
00:03:53.770 --> 00:03:54.680
arms more across
87
00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:58.620
their body through the release as opposed to straight out away the way we would
88
00:03:58.620 --> 00:03:59.000
do in
89
00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:00.760
kind of a short game shot.
90
00:04:00.760 --> 00:04:05.780
So if you're struggling with either getting body rotation or arms releasing too
91
00:04:05.780 --> 00:04:06.280
soon or
92
00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:11.000
you're struggling with really consistent contact, typically working on the
93
00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:12.360
timing and the direction
94
00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:17.740
that the arms are starting to extend can be very helpful for lengthening your
95
00:04:17.740 --> 00:04:18.440
flat spot
96
00:04:18.440 --> 00:04:21.440
and working on your consistent strike.
97
00:04:21.440 --> 00:04:26.450
Now one last little piece about this arm timing and direction is that
98
00:04:26.450 --> 00:04:28.080
ultimately the timing
99
00:04:28.080 --> 00:04:33.090
of the arm extension should be driven more from the body movements, especially
100
00:04:33.090 --> 00:04:33.480
how my
101
00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:38.860
left leg is interacting with the ground rather than a force movement of the
102
00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:39.440
arms.
103
00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:45.580
So if I get to our delivery position and then I really push with that front
104
00:04:45.580 --> 00:04:46.800
foot through
105
00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:53.120
the ground to cause my side bend that will help trigger those arms extending.
106
00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:58.490
In addition, if my arms are working out away from me kind of like so when that
107
00:04:58.490 --> 00:04:59.160
leg tends
108
00:04:59.160 --> 00:05:03.240
to push that can cause me to hit behind it.
109
00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:08.850
So the more that I get my arms working more across my body than when it allows
110
00:05:08.850 --> 00:05:09.680
me to create
111
00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:11.240
this body side bend.
112
00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:17.090
So again the timing of when the arms should be starting to fire is driven by
113
00:05:17.090 --> 00:05:18.040
this brace
114
00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:24.000
of that lead leg not a forced or conscious action of the arms.
115
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.710
If you're able to connect everything to the body and what the arms are trying
116
00:05:28.710 --> 00:05:29.120
to do in
117
00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:32.840
conjunction with how the body gets them to do it, ultimately that will lead to
118
00:05:32.840 --> 00:05:33.360
the most
119
00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:34.920
consistent version of your swing.
Have questions about this video?
Ask Mulligan for personalized guidance on technique, drills, or how to apply what you've learned.
Ask Mulligan
Related topics