WEBVTT

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In this concept video, we're going to discuss two factors that limit your back

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swing.

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So I had a question come in from a member about length of backswing

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specifically kind

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of getting this arm height.

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So a lot of longer hitters when they make their backswing and they go up to the

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top,

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this left arm looks like it's almost vertical compared to the horizon.

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A lot of older golfers tend to look kind of more like this where the arm is

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well down

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and it's a lot harder to hit it far from that short position compared to a

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longer position.

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You've got more time and space muscles are typically on a bigger stretch.

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There's lots of advantages to having that arm height, but some golfers struggle

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with

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trying to get the arm height.

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I'm going to talk about the two main things that you want to look at physically

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if you're

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working on that arm height.

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So one is neck rotation and two is spine extension.

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So those are going to have a big impact.

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I have another video where we talk about the actual like lat flexibility or

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shoulder movement.

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But the two other pieces that I just highlighted are neck rotation and spine

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extension.

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So let's discuss them in that order.

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So neck rotation first.

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If I'm sitting in a chair kind of like this so that I make sure that my lower

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body is

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not moving and I take a club and place it across my shoulders and I just go

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ahead and

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try to look over my shoulder.

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I've got the club here so that I'm not making sure that I'm not doing this.

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I'd say facing a mirror kind of like this.

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I want to see if I can get my chin in line with my shoulder or if I were to

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rotate and

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then flex down it should be able to touch kind of the mid collarbone.

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So here's your collarbone I should be able to touch right around there with my

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chin.

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In both directions but for the backswing the one that really matters is your

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lead shoulder.

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So when I make a backswing if I'm going to make a full turn this shoulder if I

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now stand

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up I'm in that full neck range of motion.

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If I'm going to make a full turn a lot of golfers describe it as the shoulder

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turning

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under the chin that's kind of a sign that I've fully turned my rib cage my

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shoulder

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blade but my head is stayed looking at the ball.

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I've had a number of golfers especially older golfers who tend to get limited

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in their backswing

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because of this neck range of motion where I'll test them and they can rotate

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their

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body but they do it like this and so they're like look when I do these practice

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swings

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I can make a full turn but their head is no longer looking even close to the

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golf ball.

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If that's the case if you find that's what you're doing you either have to

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train yourself

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to be able to spot the ball out of the corner of your eye kind of like this and

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then refocus

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so you'll learn to feel solid contact more by feeling where your body is

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instead of visually

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seeing it or you would have to work with a therapist of some kind to clean up

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and work

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on that neck range of motion.

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There's too many factors that limit the neck range of motion for me to just say

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hey do

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this stretch but if you work with somebody you should be able to get a little

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bit more

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neck range of motion and that can help clean up the backswing that way.

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So neck rotation that's physical factor number one physical factor number two

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is looking

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at the spine extension.

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So a lot of golfers stay in this kind of rounded position like this and then

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they'll turn their

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body and their chest will be pointing kind of down at the ground here.

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So now if I go and try to raise my arms or keep my arms out in front of my

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chest that's

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about as high as I can lift them before I start to feel either a little pinch

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in the

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top of the shoulder or a stretch in the the lat.

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So the difference between there and then if I were to extend my spine now I can

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if I extend

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that upper spine that points my chest higher up that now moves where my

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shoulders would

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be if they stay in front of my chest from down here to up here.

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So this is usually an easier one I have some drills on here to feel that spine

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extension.

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Most of the time this is more of a habit and a coordination pattern where in

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order to try

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to make solid contact a lot of golfers have kind of locked their chest in a

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certain position

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and they just kind of make an arm swing and make a little hip turn but they don

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't really

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get any upper spine rotation and movement kind of like this.

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So that one I tend to find is less of a of a pure physical factor that's more

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of a coordination

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pattern or the neck rotation I tend to find is a more of a physical factor.

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So if you're breaking down this backswing you can check your neck rotation you

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can check

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your spine upper body rotation and you can make sure that you're extending the

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spine

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kind of like this.

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If you combine them I've got one classic drill that I use is you're going to

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reach that right

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arm away this kind of gets this rotation and extension of the spine so I'm

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reaching this

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away from the golf ball and then bringing that left arm up to the right.

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Now if my neck rotation is good I should be able to look over that left

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shoulder if it's

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limited then usually what will happen is let's say I can only turn it 40-50

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degrees

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like this.

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I will usually stop my rotation when I get to that end range of motion you can

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see how

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much that would shorten my swing.

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So double check these two factors if you analyze your video and you don't like

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the height or

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the length of the backswing but if you do find that you have either a

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limitation in your

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neck rotation or your spine extension then you want to adjust kind of your

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mental model

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of what you think the top of your backswing should look like.

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You might have to get a little bit more movement from the hips or a little bit

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more movement

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from the wrist because if you really running into a physical barrier it's going

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to be hard

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to overcome that for lengthening your backswing.

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So hopefully this helps clean up why you might not look exactly like Dustin

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Johnson at the

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top of the swing and how you could work a little bit more in that direction

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either with some

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the backswing.