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.

Understanding Shaft Lean for Better Ball Contact

After this video, you'll be able to:

  • Identify the ideal degree of shaft lean for consistent strikes
  • Understand how shaft lean impacts low point control and energy transfer
  • Learn how weight shift and body rotation contribute to effective shaft lean

In this video, you'll learn the importance of shaft lean and how it affects your ball striking. Understand when to apply the right amount of lean to achieve optimal contact and energy transfer.

Video Transcript
WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.240
this video is discussing shaft lean so I had a member question that I thought

2
00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:05.340
was

3
00:00:05.340 --> 00:00:10.040
a pretty good one about shaft lean so like you know what's the what's the deal

4
00:00:10.040 --> 00:00:14.820
with shaft lean when is it too much when is it good when do I know if I need to

5
00:00:14.820 --> 00:00:19.560
try to put more in basically what's this whole concept of shaft lean and why do

6
00:00:19.560 --> 00:00:25.600
we need it okay so this is primarily working on low point control and

7
00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:32.520
primarily working on hitting the ball in the center of the face so if you if

8
00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:36.840
you had a club that was straight up and down and the golf ball was sitting on

9
00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:40.680
the ground kind of like even with the golf with the golf club you would see

10
00:00:40.680 --> 00:00:44.520
that the golf club would make contact with the golf ball with the bottom two

11
00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:49.400
grooves that would be a low lower position on the club than the sweet spot so

12
00:00:49.400 --> 00:00:49.680
one

13
00:00:49.680 --> 00:00:53.080
of the reasons that we want to have the club leaning forward is so that we can

14
00:00:53.080 --> 00:00:56.760
make contact in the center of the club that's why you'll tend to feel the ball

15
00:00:56.760 --> 00:01:00.880
jump off the club or one of the reasons you'll feel the ball jump off the club

16
00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:06.440
when you have shaft lean is because the golf ball will go we have a little bit

17
00:01:06.440 --> 00:01:10.320
more energy transfer because you hit it in the middle of the club now the

18
00:01:10.320 --> 00:01:10.680
problem

19
00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:15.920
is some people take that too far the normal amount that we're looking for is

20
00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:24.280
about 10 to 14 degrees if I have a let's say 36 inch club or we'll say 38 like

21
00:01:24.280 --> 00:01:29.480
this that means that I'm only gonna be about six inches ahead of the golf ball

22
00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:34.160
in order to have that 10 to 14 degrees and it doesn't necessarily take into

23
00:01:34.160 --> 00:01:39.680
account the bend of the shaft so it may actually be less than that but if I was

24
00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:46.760
to just earmark roughly well here's the golf ball then if I go half a pelvis

25
00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:51.520
that's about six inches in front of the golf ball so now where that's gonna

26
00:01:51.520 --> 00:01:51.760
come

27
00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:56.160
from where the shaft lean is going to come from is I'm going to have a bit of

28
00:01:56.160 --> 00:02:03.280
weight shift and then I'm going to have some body rotation and now you can see

29
00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:08.560
that the hand is basically in front of my left thigh and I've got some good

30
00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:08.840
lean

31
00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:14.080
but I didn't do it by really forcing the hands down and forward and that's

32
00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:18.390
when it becomes a problem oftentimes in my lessons I'll put my hands on the

33
00:02:18.390 --> 00:02:18.600
club

34
00:02:18.600 --> 00:02:23.800
on the grip end and just kind of feel and listen to how the golfer is applying

35
00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:29.520
force into the golf club oftentimes what I feel is down through here I will

36
00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:29.880
feel

37
00:02:29.880 --> 00:02:34.920
like the grip is going down into the golf ball kind of like this and you can

38
00:02:34.920 --> 00:02:39.200
see from the face on camera how exaggerated that is and there's no way

39
00:02:39.200 --> 00:02:45.440
that that would work in in producing a nice shallow bottom to the swing club

40
00:02:45.440 --> 00:02:49.960
would slam into the ground very steeply and I would have to do some major

41
00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:53.720
shallowing movements last minute couple common ones would be flipping the wrist

42
00:02:53.720 --> 00:03:00.120
which kills my shaft lean or standing up to then help the wrist flip so most of

43
00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:07.320
the good late shallowing movements aren't that great solutions instead of

44
00:03:07.320 --> 00:03:08.240
driving

45
00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:13.040
the grip down like this we actually want the grip to be coming slightly up so

46
00:03:13.040 --> 00:03:18.200
the grip coming slightly up happens because the body is rotating and now the

47
00:03:18.200 --> 00:03:22.080
left shoulder or the left side of my body is higher than the right side of my

48
00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:28.160
body and that left side is pulled the club up as the arms are extending down

49
00:03:28.160 --> 00:03:34.330
it's getting pulled up more because of what the body is doing so a better way

50
00:03:34.330 --> 00:03:34.400
to

51
00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:39.160
think of that shaft lean is just thinking of getting those hands slightly

52
00:03:39.160 --> 00:03:44.320
ahead or hitting more forward of the golf ball not so much hitting more down

53
00:03:44.320 --> 00:03:49.720
if you have a what I find is that golfers who have more of an emphasis of

54
00:03:49.720 --> 00:03:55.800
really trying to hit down will have more of a look kind of like that as opposed

55
00:03:55.800 --> 00:04:00.760
to golfers trying to hit forward will tend to make sure that they get their

56
00:04:00.760 --> 00:04:05.120
body facing which puts them in the right impact position for having shaft lean

57
00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:10.920
because the main requirements for having shaft lean are the weight shift so the

58
00:04:10.920 --> 00:04:16.760
pressure in that front foot let's say 30 degrees of rotation and side bend and

59
00:04:16.760 --> 00:04:20.640
the hands still in front of the chest but the chest pointing more out in front

60
00:04:20.640 --> 00:04:26.480
of the golf ball to do that the club is going to be slightly behind my body

61
00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:30.920
instead of straight out in front of it and I'm going to still have some

62
00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:35.920
extension in that trail wrist and some bend in that trail elbow so I'm

63
00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:36.480
basically

64
00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:41.600
coming through like this and it's not that I'm trying to hold my arms back but

65
00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:46.960
I've turned my body so that impact happened before I finished extending my

66
00:04:46.960 --> 00:04:52.440
arms closer to when I started extending my arms then it is feel wise to when it

67
00:04:52.440 --> 00:04:59.640
finishes if you get those couple pieces of the body position and the arm timing

68
00:04:59.640 --> 00:05:05.860
then you won't really have to force or manufacture the shaft lean the shaft

69
00:05:05.860 --> 00:05:10.320
lean will simply show up on video and you'll feel a much more solid contact so

70
00:05:10.320 --> 00:05:16.000
hopefully that clarifies why we're trying to get into the body impact

71
00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:20.480
position that we are why we need to shallow in transition so that then we

72
00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:25.320
can keep your body rotating and get into that more steep or open position at

73
00:05:25.320 --> 00:05:30.800
impact and basically how all of these release movements relate to what the

74
00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:35.040
club is trying to do you only want 10 to 14 degrees of shaft lean which is

75
00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:38.720
somewhere around 6 to 8 inches in front of the golf ball if you're really

76
00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:39.320
forcing

77
00:05:39.320 --> 00:05:43.440
trying to get the hands down and trying to get the hands a foot in front of the

78
00:05:43.440 --> 00:05:50.680
golf ball you may be sacrificing some of the consistency pattern or some of the

79
00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:54.160
shallowness to the bottom of your swing and that's gonna mess up your iron play

80
00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:58.800
worse than if you didn't have shaft lean but you did it in a better way so

81
00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:03.320
now we'll do that little impact fix of basically just pre-setting where we're

82
00:06:03.320 --> 00:06:09.000
trying to get to and then we'll go up and do a little 10 to 2 just trying to

83
00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:14.080
get back into that impact position if we go through that impact position

84
00:06:14.080 --> 00:06:18.140
whether it's a short shot or a full shot we'll tend to hit the ball higher up

85
00:06:18.140 --> 00:06:18.240
on

86
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:22.320
the face get more energy chance for that feeling of effortless power in the

87
00:06:22.320 --> 00:06:25.520
ball jumping and that'll let you know that you have the right amount of shaft

88
00:06:25.520 --> 00:06:28.640
lean for this shot

Have questions?

Ask Mulligan for help
Related topics
This video hasn't been assigned to any topics yet. Browse all topics in the sidebar.
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.

Understanding Shaft Lean for Better Ball Contact

After this video, you'll be able to:

  • Identify the ideal degree of shaft lean for consistent strikes
  • Understand how shaft lean impacts low point control and energy transfer
  • Learn how weight shift and body rotation contribute to effective shaft lean

In this video, you'll learn the importance of shaft lean and how it affects your ball striking. Understand when to apply the right amount of lean to achieve optimal contact and energy transfer.

Video Transcript
WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.240
this video is discussing shaft lean so I had a member question that I thought

2
00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:05.340
was

3
00:00:05.340 --> 00:00:10.040
a pretty good one about shaft lean so like you know what's the what's the deal

4
00:00:10.040 --> 00:00:14.820
with shaft lean when is it too much when is it good when do I know if I need to

5
00:00:14.820 --> 00:00:19.560
try to put more in basically what's this whole concept of shaft lean and why do

6
00:00:19.560 --> 00:00:25.600
we need it okay so this is primarily working on low point control and

7
00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:32.520
primarily working on hitting the ball in the center of the face so if you if

8
00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:36.840
you had a club that was straight up and down and the golf ball was sitting on

9
00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:40.680
the ground kind of like even with the golf with the golf club you would see

10
00:00:40.680 --> 00:00:44.520
that the golf club would make contact with the golf ball with the bottom two

11
00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:49.400
grooves that would be a low lower position on the club than the sweet spot so

12
00:00:49.400 --> 00:00:49.680
one

13
00:00:49.680 --> 00:00:53.080
of the reasons that we want to have the club leaning forward is so that we can

14
00:00:53.080 --> 00:00:56.760
make contact in the center of the club that's why you'll tend to feel the ball

15
00:00:56.760 --> 00:01:00.880
jump off the club or one of the reasons you'll feel the ball jump off the club

16
00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:06.440
when you have shaft lean is because the golf ball will go we have a little bit

17
00:01:06.440 --> 00:01:10.320
more energy transfer because you hit it in the middle of the club now the

18
00:01:10.320 --> 00:01:10.680
problem

19
00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:15.920
is some people take that too far the normal amount that we're looking for is

20
00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:24.280
about 10 to 14 degrees if I have a let's say 36 inch club or we'll say 38 like

21
00:01:24.280 --> 00:01:29.480
this that means that I'm only gonna be about six inches ahead of the golf ball

22
00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:34.160
in order to have that 10 to 14 degrees and it doesn't necessarily take into

23
00:01:34.160 --> 00:01:39.680
account the bend of the shaft so it may actually be less than that but if I was

24
00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:46.760
to just earmark roughly well here's the golf ball then if I go half a pelvis

25
00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:51.520
that's about six inches in front of the golf ball so now where that's gonna

26
00:01:51.520 --> 00:01:51.760
come

27
00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:56.160
from where the shaft lean is going to come from is I'm going to have a bit of

28
00:01:56.160 --> 00:02:03.280
weight shift and then I'm going to have some body rotation and now you can see

29
00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:08.560
that the hand is basically in front of my left thigh and I've got some good

30
00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:08.840
lean

31
00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:14.080
but I didn't do it by really forcing the hands down and forward and that's

32
00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:18.390
when it becomes a problem oftentimes in my lessons I'll put my hands on the

33
00:02:18.390 --> 00:02:18.600
club

34
00:02:18.600 --> 00:02:23.800
on the grip end and just kind of feel and listen to how the golfer is applying

35
00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:29.520
force into the golf club oftentimes what I feel is down through here I will

36
00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:29.880
feel

37
00:02:29.880 --> 00:02:34.920
like the grip is going down into the golf ball kind of like this and you can

38
00:02:34.920 --> 00:02:39.200
see from the face on camera how exaggerated that is and there's no way

39
00:02:39.200 --> 00:02:45.440
that that would work in in producing a nice shallow bottom to the swing club

40
00:02:45.440 --> 00:02:49.960
would slam into the ground very steeply and I would have to do some major

41
00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:53.720
shallowing movements last minute couple common ones would be flipping the wrist

42
00:02:53.720 --> 00:03:00.120
which kills my shaft lean or standing up to then help the wrist flip so most of

43
00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:07.320
the good late shallowing movements aren't that great solutions instead of

44
00:03:07.320 --> 00:03:08.240
driving

45
00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:13.040
the grip down like this we actually want the grip to be coming slightly up so

46
00:03:13.040 --> 00:03:18.200
the grip coming slightly up happens because the body is rotating and now the

47
00:03:18.200 --> 00:03:22.080
left shoulder or the left side of my body is higher than the right side of my

48
00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:28.160
body and that left side is pulled the club up as the arms are extending down

49
00:03:28.160 --> 00:03:34.330
it's getting pulled up more because of what the body is doing so a better way

50
00:03:34.330 --> 00:03:34.400
to

51
00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:39.160
think of that shaft lean is just thinking of getting those hands slightly

52
00:03:39.160 --> 00:03:44.320
ahead or hitting more forward of the golf ball not so much hitting more down

53
00:03:44.320 --> 00:03:49.720
if you have a what I find is that golfers who have more of an emphasis of

54
00:03:49.720 --> 00:03:55.800
really trying to hit down will have more of a look kind of like that as opposed

55
00:03:55.800 --> 00:04:00.760
to golfers trying to hit forward will tend to make sure that they get their

56
00:04:00.760 --> 00:04:05.120
body facing which puts them in the right impact position for having shaft lean

57
00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:10.920
because the main requirements for having shaft lean are the weight shift so the

58
00:04:10.920 --> 00:04:16.760
pressure in that front foot let's say 30 degrees of rotation and side bend and

59
00:04:16.760 --> 00:04:20.640
the hands still in front of the chest but the chest pointing more out in front

60
00:04:20.640 --> 00:04:26.480
of the golf ball to do that the club is going to be slightly behind my body

61
00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:30.920
instead of straight out in front of it and I'm going to still have some

62
00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:35.920
extension in that trail wrist and some bend in that trail elbow so I'm

63
00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:36.480
basically

64
00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:41.600
coming through like this and it's not that I'm trying to hold my arms back but

65
00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:46.960
I've turned my body so that impact happened before I finished extending my

66
00:04:46.960 --> 00:04:52.440
arms closer to when I started extending my arms then it is feel wise to when it

67
00:04:52.440 --> 00:04:59.640
finishes if you get those couple pieces of the body position and the arm timing

68
00:04:59.640 --> 00:05:05.860
then you won't really have to force or manufacture the shaft lean the shaft

69
00:05:05.860 --> 00:05:10.320
lean will simply show up on video and you'll feel a much more solid contact so

70
00:05:10.320 --> 00:05:16.000
hopefully that clarifies why we're trying to get into the body impact

71
00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:20.480
position that we are why we need to shallow in transition so that then we

72
00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:25.320
can keep your body rotating and get into that more steep or open position at

73
00:05:25.320 --> 00:05:30.800
impact and basically how all of these release movements relate to what the

74
00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:35.040
club is trying to do you only want 10 to 14 degrees of shaft lean which is

75
00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:38.720
somewhere around 6 to 8 inches in front of the golf ball if you're really

76
00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:39.320
forcing

77
00:05:39.320 --> 00:05:43.440
trying to get the hands down and trying to get the hands a foot in front of the

78
00:05:43.440 --> 00:05:50.680
golf ball you may be sacrificing some of the consistency pattern or some of the

79
00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:54.160
shallowness to the bottom of your swing and that's gonna mess up your iron play

80
00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:58.800
worse than if you didn't have shaft lean but you did it in a better way so

81
00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:03.320
now we'll do that little impact fix of basically just pre-setting where we're

82
00:06:03.320 --> 00:06:09.000
trying to get to and then we'll go up and do a little 10 to 2 just trying to

83
00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:14.080
get back into that impact position if we go through that impact position

84
00:06:14.080 --> 00:06:18.140
whether it's a short shot or a full shot we'll tend to hit the ball higher up

85
00:06:18.140 --> 00:06:18.240
on

86
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:22.320
the face get more energy chance for that feeling of effortless power in the

87
00:06:22.320 --> 00:06:25.520
ball jumping and that'll let you know that you have the right amount of shaft

88
00:06:25.520 --> 00:06:28.640
lean for this shot

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
This video hasn't been assigned to any topics yet. Browse all topics in the sidebar.
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