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Factors of Low Point

There is a common assumption that the left shoulder controls the low-point. This is based on a double pendulum model of the golf swing. A model that has some challenges explaining some of the normal movements we see with elite golfers. A better way of looking at low-point is monitoring 2 key locations. What is the sternum doing? What are the arms doing? If you identify these two movement centers, you will have a good chance of understanding your individual low-point strategy.

Tags: Poor Contact, Iron, Release, Concept, Intermediate

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This video is factors of low point. So, I had a question about controlling low point and

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hitting behind the ball and talking about the left shoulder. And so I thought it'd be a

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good video to help clarify what are the factors that actually control where low point

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is going to occur and what are some more kind of visual things that people have used

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that may or may not have a direct correlation. So, one of the common ones that a lot of

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people tend to use is the left shoulder. And it's largely based on this double pendulum

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model of left armistrate and the wrist acts as pretty much a pendulum joint, shoulder acts

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as a pendulum joint. So, you have these two pendulum joints and essentially when it's

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straight in line with that left shoulder, that's going to be when it's the furthest away,

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which is therefore going to be the low point. So, based on that theory, as long as the left

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shoulder is ahead of the golf ball like so, then it should be very difficult for me to

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bottom out behind the golf ball. In practical, we know that the left arm does not act as a

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pendulum. The elbow bends a significant amount. There's some linear movement happening at the

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shoulder. So, conceptually, it doesn't quite make total sense to me. And the other thing is

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I've seen lots of golfers who struggle with low point control, who still have the left shoulder

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ahead of the golf ball. So, I can see where trying to kind of keep that left shoulder ahead of

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the golf ball can help maintain weight on the front foot or pressure on the front foot, which could

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potentially affect low point. But I think they're easier ways to look at it. So, the two major

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pieces that I look for when I'm looking at how you're controlling low point is what is the

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sternum doing and what are the arms doing. So, the sternum I want to look at the whole orientation.

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So, not just from this 2D camera, like, where is it in space, but at what kind of side

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till, that what kind of rotational till the distance away, so how much it is backed up, all those

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are going to have factors or influence the factors that control low point. The arms are a little

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bit trickier and probably more relevant and more important. Because basically, when this thing

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gets swinging at a really fast speed, my arms are just going to want to extend out in front of

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kind of my sternum, roughly at about a level as if I was playing tug of war. So, not completely

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out in front of the shoulder girdle, but more just below kind of the bottom of your rib gauges,

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life-wide process. So, when those arms want to extend out, that's why if the sternum is pointed

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kind of in this rotational angle, 30 degrees or so out in front of the golf ball, then my arms

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are going to want to extend out that way as well. If my sternum is pointing more at the golf ball

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kind of like this, then my arms will want to reach their maximum in front of sternum and then they

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won't want to bend as they pass my body. Part of the reason why Torpros tend to have a really

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good low point control and they tend to have this really good kind of wide point where those hands

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are passing the chest is because the body is had enough rotation inside bend that the arms are

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slightly behind. So, then they don't catch up until somewhere out here in the follow-through

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and that's why the arms bend later in the swing. Where a lot of amateurs will tend to face the golf

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ball or pretty close to it at impact. So, there's no real room for the arms to stay straight.

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They're going to have to start absorbing that force much sooner and therefore that lead arm is

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going to bend. But overall, the sternum location is going to have a pretty big impact on the low point

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control and then the other factor is going to be the wrist. So, sorry the arms, the arms are going to

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include the wrist which have a huge impact. The elbows which have a pretty big impact and the shoulders

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both the shoulder sockets as well as the shoulder blades. So, I like to kind of group them

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into one general category of kind of the timing of that arm extension and it could be a wrist timing

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that gets it moving sooner. It could be an elbow timing that gets it moving sooner and it could be

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a shoulder movement that gets it activating sooner. But there's a big relationship between where the

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sternum is that impact or during the downswing and the timing of those arms extended. So, that's why

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usually when you're getting out of a pattern where you look more like this an impact and then that

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afterward to try to get more like this you will have to work on a combo of things being the

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location of the body as well as the timing of the arms and it could be the wrist, it could be the

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elbows, it could be the shoulders so I just kind of categorize it as the timing of the arms.

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The earlier that the arms tend to fire the more the low point is going to move back and the

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later that the arms tend to fire the more that the low point is going to move forward. So, if I got to

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the top even if I do a good job of spinning my body like so if I really extend that trail arm you

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could see that the bottom of that swing is going to be back behind the golf ball even though my

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left shoulder was out in front. You'd also see if your pain intention of my sternum isn't quite

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far enough forward because it's very hard to have the sternum far forward and release. It is possible

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or sorry and release early, it is possible but it's harder to do. So, pain intention to both the timing

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of the arm extension and the location of sternum will help you control your low point. A little

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tip, if you struggle with the timing of the arm extension so if you're you tend to delay this and

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you have trouble making contact there's a very good chance that you're using that trail arm

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straining and moving the low point back to help get the club face pointed in the general

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direction of the target and so you need to work on some shaft rotation or the motorcycle movement

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before the timing of that trail arm is really going to factor in. Also, if you start working on

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the motorcycle movement getting some shaft rotation and you still have early timing in the arm

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so the shaft is more vertical and impact you're almost always going to struggle with big hooks

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because of the shaft being more vertical and impact not because of the amount of motor cycle that you're

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doing. Guys like Dustin Johnson do a ton of motorcycle but because of the delayed timing of their

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arms it works out. I find that it's very hard to overdo the motorcycle if you have a good

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control of where your body is and good control or more importantly good control of the timing of

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your arm extension. So if you're struggling with your low point control check the sternum, check the timing

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of the arm straining. If one of those two seems more out than the other take a look at some of the

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details so you can figure out exactly what you need to do to help your correct your low point control.

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