WEBVTT

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In this analysis video, we're going to take a look at pros demonstrating the

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Como Flatspot.

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So, in the Como Flatspot, I talk about how I like to use 3D to show the arc

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width increasing through impact into the follow-through position.

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And it's doable to kind of get a clue as to what's going on by looking at video

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.

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So, I'm going to give you a few references that you can use.

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So, we're going to really be exploring kind of the wipe and the bracing and

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getting into a really good impact position and typically how pros do it.

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So, first we're going to look over here on the right and we've got Nick Watney.

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Now, I've got a line drawn there.

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This was actually, it appears that it was filmed on a tripod, so everything

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looks like it's pretty stable as far as the video doesn't change much.

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So, what I like to do is I'll take the golfer down to about shaft parallel to

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the ground in the downswing and I'll just draw a line roughly at the top of

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their wrists.

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Now, a couple things I want to look at is where is this in reference to their

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body.

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So, you'll see with most pros, this is going to be well below the belt if I was

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to take.

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It depends definitely on camera angle, but since most camera angles are shot

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from a little bit above, you'll tend to see it kind of in the mid-thigh range.

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Or at least by the crotch.

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And then what you'll see is if we jump back to Nick Watney, as he goes through,

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I want you to, or as he goes through the release, I want you to watch his hands

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and the hand height compared to that line.

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And you'll see that it basically works across the screen and then slowly starts

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working up just before impact and then after impact.

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And as a result of that kind of slow, gentle ascent, like so, you will tend to

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see a very good amount of arm extension on the way through.

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We can jump over to Graham McDowell and look at the same thing.

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He's going to have a little bit more hands working up, but you'll see for the

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most part they are working out towards the golf ball as they are going up as

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they're working into that good extension piece.

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Now, in order to have that, you're going to have to have this axis tilt, you're

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going to have to have the upper body side bent as well as rotated and the upper

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body behind the pelvis as your arms are extending.

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Now, you will also have to have a little bit of that motorcycle movement that

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we teach in transition in order to have the clubface already getting into that

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square position so that when you delay your arm extension piece until this late

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, the golf club does.

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The golf club is still pointed at the direction of the target.

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So, here we'll take a look at two more golfers. We've got Sam Sneed on the

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right and Jordan Spieth on the left.

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So, I like to, that line is drawn when the hands are parallel to the ground. I

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like to see when the club is at about shaft 45 or pointed roughly at the golf

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ball, again, where that height is.

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And you'll tend to see that most of these pros are going to be down around belt

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height or slightly below.

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Now, if we think about, if we want it coming flat, if we want the hand path

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coming more or less flat across as you're going into impact, then the easiest

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way that that's going to happen is the hands are going to have to be slightly

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below where they're going to be at impact.

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That means during transition, they're going to have to get down closer to the

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ground and that's going to come from having that good retention of forward or

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getting back into forward flexion and doing a little bit of that left tilt that

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we teach in transition.

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But we can take a look at a couple more here, so you got Sam Sneed, obviously

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this is a much slower frame rate, but you can see the hands working kind of

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across and then the blur of the hands working really out.

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I actually tend to see, compared to amateurs, the pros who use their body tend

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to have not necessarily faster hands coming up and in.

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In fact, they actually tend to be coming up a little bit less than amateurs,

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but they tend to be moving in the direction of the target at a greater speed

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than amateur is going through that same phase.

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And that's part of the reason why they're going to get that arm extension piece

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.

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So if we jump over here to Jordan's beef, this is a little bit more modern

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camera, so it'll be a little bit more clear.

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And you can see the hands are still going down a little bit, but now they're

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starting to work back up as he's approaching impact, even though the handle is

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going down.

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And that combination with the bracing is going to allow for that really good

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arm extension and those hands working more towards the target through here

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instead of kind of bending, narrowing, or chicken winging.

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So now we can take a look at a few amateurs just to see what the opposite or

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the alternative is going to look like.

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So I'll bring up a handful of examples and we can see what we can learn.

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So now, as this golfer is coming down, he has a little bit of a cast sequence,

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and so you'll see that when I get that line drawn at the top of his hands, you

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can see that it's above the crotch closer to the belt line, so he's a little

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bit higher up.

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And so what you'll see is he balanced that with standing up with his upper body

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instead of really kind of crunching down to use the ground, and as a result,

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those hands are going to be working much more down.

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Now again, the exact height is going to depend on some of the camera angles,

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and that's why I prefer to use the arc width graph in 3D, but this is a good

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rough way of looking at this flat spot.

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And now you'll see that he still gets a little flat spot kind of down through

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there where his hands are working slightly up, and then they'll tend to work up

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actually faster than the pros.

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So his hands will be working more up and less out towards the target, so though

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the distance between himself and the grip will more or less stay the same in

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this particular case.

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This is actually a mid-single digit golfer, so he's figured out how to make

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that cast pattern work, but he struggles with getting his body involved,

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struggles a little bit with the driver, and both of those show up in golfers

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who tend to have the handle working a little bit more down kind of in this V

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pattern down then up instead of having that really good gentle flat spot.

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Now over here on the right, we're going to see another amateur kind of working

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on this pattern, and you'll see that it's got a pretty good transition, and we

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're starting to lose the club in a little bit of a cast.

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And so now if we get down to roughly where that handle would have been, because

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we missed that frame because of this frame weight, frame rate, you can see that

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his hands are back behind his body.

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This is a thing that I didn't necessarily highlight in that first batch of pros

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, but one of the other reference points that I like to look at is when the hands

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get to parallel, what is their relationship to the right shoulder or to the

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body.

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So you'll see that his hands are behind his body like so over here on the right

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.

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What that means is if he was to add any amount of side bend, and if he was to

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get his shoulders more open and rotated, because the hands are behind the body

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and the club is already gone, that would tend to cause really fat shots.

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So this golfer will avoid that. What he'll do instead is the hands will

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continue working down right up until contact, and then they'll start working up

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relatively quickly.

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Now I actually does a pretty good job of getting that arm extension on the way

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through, but you can see that it almost has to change directions a little bit.

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It starts working more up and in before it starts working out.

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That's going to cause toe contact, fat shots, weak shots off to the right. If

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he gets a little bit of early extension, it could potentially cause heel shots,

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but all of that is because the club is too much behind his body here and too

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high compared to the ground to have a really good consistent flat spot.

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And now we have an amateur golfer working his way through an early extension

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early release pattern. So over on the left is from when he first came to see me

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and we can see the handle line closer to where his belt line would be, and

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because his upper body is stood up or worked away from the golf ball.

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We'll tend to see that right arm and left hand working down a little bit more

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as they lengthen and then working relatively up quickly. It's not awful. This

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again is a very good high single digit handicap golfer.

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So gets around the course very, very well, but you can see those hands working

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a little bit more up and in and less kind of out and across.

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So then over here on the right is a video taken from earlier this year where he

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's working on having that white movement and having the upper body stay down.

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And you'll see that if we take a look at where that line is, it's much lower to

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the ground than it was over here with the driver.

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And then as a result, we'll see as he comes through that the hands work much

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more across and are starting to work up a little bit sooner, but on a more

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gentle fashion as they work a little bit out towards the target.

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Okay, so over on the left, we have Roy McElroy on the right. We have one of the

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classic swings of Ben Hogan. You can see that the line that I drew with the top

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of the of the wrist kind of again top of the thighs near the crotch area.

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A lot of amateurs, you'll tend to see it up closer to the belt line. And that's

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partly because they're standing up and they're releasing and powering it more

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with their arms.

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That upper body staying flexed forward allows them to these golfers to use the

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ground to help rotate their bodies and delay the extension of the arms.

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So here he is, it's roughly the top of his wrist and you'll see those hands

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work more or less across and just kind of slightly working up or gently working

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up pretty much from right about here.

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Now most of that up is going to be a result of where their body is pivoting and

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how the upper body is behind the lower body and they're continued to go into

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side bend with that left shoulder and with the rib cage.

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But you'll see the arms gently working up, but also working out towards the

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target. That's what helps keep that club low to the ground through the hitting

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area and help develop that flat spot that we like to measure on 3D with the arc

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with graph.

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Then we can take a look at Rory and we can see him. There's the line roughly at

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the top of the wrist. Again, if any time you're using video, we're looking for

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rough pictures. We're not looking to get any real accurate measurements, but

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you can see those hands, the top of the hands working kind of more across and

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towards the target and slightly working up through the hitting area as they

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continue to work out.

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So if you're struggling with understanding the wipe and trying to be able to

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visualize it, this is a great way to kind of reference it. The two reference

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points would be when that shaft is parallel to the ground.

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Notice how if you were to draw a line from the outside of the shoulders, if

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this is truly face on, the more that the hands are kind of in front of the body

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, the more that you've executed the wipe and the arms have worked across your

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body.

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Because we know that they were not in front of your body up at the top of the

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swing, the more that your hands are in this space, back behind the line, or

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even back there, we know that your arms have worked a little bit too soon and

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more of a cast pattern and kind of getting away from your body.

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Secondly, if we draw that line, the more that the hands are kind of just gently

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working up as they cruise across that line, the more we know that we're going

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to have the arc width continue to increase and we're going to tend to have a

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really good kind of brushing of the ground in good turf contact,

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and the more that those arms extend on the way through, that's going to help us

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with the solidness of our strike as well as our consistency.

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So if you're having any trouble with any of the movements discussed in this

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video, please let us know and we'll point you in the direction of videos or

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film one to clarify what we're talking about.