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Connecting Leg Buckle To Release

In this video, I will help you fix a common golf mistake—a leg buckle during the swing. Many golfers struggle with this movement, where the pelvis drops and the lead knee moves forward. It lowers the body and shifts the low point, causing issues with path and contact. The main culprit is excessive arm extension, especially the right shoulder pushing down. To balance it, incorporate a slight side bend with the leg buckle. This combination helps maintain a straighter swing and control the low point. Working on both aspects improves overall contact consistency.

Tags: Poor Contact, Impact, Drill, Intermediate

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This concept video is connecting the leg buckle to the release.

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So many golfers complain and struggle with, uh,

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what looks like kind of this little leg buckle movement on the way through, um,

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where the pelvis is actually going down into the ground. Um,

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and that lead knee is going quite far forward like this. Um,

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so obviously that's gonna do a couple things that's going to lower me down

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towards the ground, and that's going to shift my low point forward. Um,

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so when I'm thinking through this movement and why you might be doing it,

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you want to think about, well,

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what am I doing that's moving the low point backward so that I feel like I need

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to move the low point forward? And what am I doing that's, um,

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kind of raising the low point where I feel like I need to drop it down? Okay,

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so the most common culprit is a little bit too

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much arm extension or throw on the way through,

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especially a feeling of that right shoulder kind of getting on top,

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or, um, winning an arm wrestling or body slamming the club.

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If that right shoulder kind of gets on top like this, well that's a big,

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uh, contributor to moving the low point backward,

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and that tends to cause the path to want to go, um,

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outside in and get very steep. So to balance that out,

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the buckle accompanies a little bit of side bend.

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So now when I do this movement where the club would be going like this if I made

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a pretty good pivot, um, but now by sacrificing that pivot,

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by sliding a little bit forward, tilting a little bit more back, um,

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I can get the club to swing pretty straight, but you'll see that the low point,

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uh, tends to bottom out.

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So oftentimes what'll happen is when this goes this way,

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that lead arm starts pulling and that lead arm starts pulling to avoid going too

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deep with the divot. And what happens is when that lead arm starts pulling,

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you start hitting some thin shots. And so the buckle accompanies the slide.

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Um, so those two kind of match up and they can work pretty well with the longer

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clubs, but they tend to create some real contact problems. Um,

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with the shorter clubs, with the longer clubs, more often than not, they create,

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um, kind of quick hooks or pull hooks. Um, but the,

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usually the bigger issue with that pattern is the low point control on the

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shorter irons and especially wedges. Um,

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so that's kind of the, the geometry of how those two patterns fit together.

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If you're gonna work on one, you kind of have to work on both. Um,

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so if you're gonna work on taking away some of this throw so that the,

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the arms are a little bit more in kind of this classic, um,

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impact position where, you know, the,

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the don't break my arms idea or the feeling of that right shoulder in and that

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left shoulder up and away, um,

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if you did that and tilted and bo you'd bottom out way back here.

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So then you have to feel like your upper body is more on top and

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your legs are straightening to kind of control low point and pull yourself away

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from the golf ball. Now,

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from a kind of body swing connection standpoint,

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these also compliment, compliment each other.

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As I start really trying to extend this, um,

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this right side or extend that right shoulder like this,

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that tends to be more of a front side dominant pattern.

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And it can encourage my body to go into a little bit more of this kind of

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flexion pattern. Like this, almost like I was throwing a punch.

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I wouldn't really throw a punch by going into a extension.

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I would throw a punch by rounding my body and getting my abs and my,

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my pec to all work together with my pelvis. Now, when I do a crunch like that,

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oftentimes one part of it is this hip flexion or basically, um,

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you've probably seen when people do crunches in the gym and they'll start

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kicking their legs to activate their hip flexors and make it easier.

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So if I get into this posture and really start to throw,

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then I'm gonna feel like I activate those hip flexors in order to

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accompany that right arm extension. So it,

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some of the real powerful patterns and some of the kind of tricky patterns to

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change are the ones like this where, um,

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it not just balances each or compliments each other from a muscle standpoint,

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but it compliments each other. From a geometry standpoint,

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it's usually easier to fix it when, um, the,

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the main problem is causing an obvious disconnect from the rest of the body.

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These two compliment each other.

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So you'll have to work on getting a feeling of more covered

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and extending the legs and to support that,

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you'll have to have this arm staying, uh,

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kind of restricted or in close longer.

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And then having that lead arm higher in that follow through. Um,

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if you do that, your shoulders get a little bit more shallow,

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your body is able to cover, which helps control low point,

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and you overall get a much better flat spot in contact consistency.

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So if you struggle with a buckle, a buckle and you hate the way it looks,

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look at the shoulders and look at the core, um,

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you're gonna have to figure out how to rework those two so that they match a

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little bit better. Um, if you're gonna improve your overall contact,

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you can't just work on one of these pieces.

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