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In this concept video we're going to talk about the core concepts of the

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GolfSmart Academy system. So the core concepts are basically a review or a

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preview of the key movements that you're going to learn in each section and it

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's

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really to help us establish a more consistent vocabulary, right? So instead

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of having to use the technical terms, my students have really come up with

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phrases over the last decade that have stuck with me. So in this video I'm

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going

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to help go through what are some of the common phrases like the motorcycle move

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that you're going to learn in this site and kind of create some clear

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definitions so that we're at least starting on the same page and that way

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we'll be able to communicate a whole lot easier as you ask questions and

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experiment with the different videos in this site. So I'll go through kind of

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each of the different phases and what some of the core fundamentals are. But

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the

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major kind of global picture is there's three major skills that we're trying to

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do when we're swinging in golf club. We're trying to create speed in the club

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head. We're trying to coordinate the path of the club head so that it strikes

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the

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golf ball and we're trying to organize the face-to-path relationship so that

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when that club head strikes the golf ball it flies and curves the way that we

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want it to. Now we can simplify that into saying that we want to power the

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swing or we want to create most of the speed by using our whole body and then

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we're going to organize this face-to-path relationship by using some body but

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mostly the arms. When I talk about powering the swing it's very easy to get

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confused and think that it needs to be really explosive movements. While using

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as much of your body as you can to create speed is important. It doesn't have

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to

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look very violent on video. So one of the great analogies that I've heard was

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from Bend Oil which is looking at let's say instead of a golf club let's look

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at pushing a shopping cart right. I could push the shopping cart with just my

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wrists. I could push the shopping cart with my arms and shoulders. I could not

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really use my arms and push with just my legs or I could use my whole body to

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push the shopping cart. Well that fits very nicely into the analogy of using

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your whole body or the metaphor rather for using your whole body to swing the

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golf club. I want to use my legs and my hips and my core in order to swing the

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golf club and then I'm going to do some simple movements to help coordinate the

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face-to-path relationship and that movement pattern tends to hold up best

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under pressure. So the 3D motion that I've used for the last 10 years helps

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give

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parameters as far as how tour pros are using each part of their body during

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these different phases. So when we're trying to build this body-powered swing

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there's some key things that we're going to come up against. So the core

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concepts when we look at setup, setup is really simple. We're trying to keep

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our

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spine in a position where we're going to be able to use it for power and we're

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going to grip the club in a way that is going to give our wrist freedom of

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movement and give us a head start on coordinating that face-to-path

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relationship.

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There's really only two ways that I can coordinate that face-to-path

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relationship.

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One is with how I orient my hands on the grip to start and two is the

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movements of the wrists and forearms that I make during the swing. The back

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swing can be simplified into the goal is to use the body to swing the arms in

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the place rather than positioning the club with the arms. So I could have a

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good

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swing plane but if I'm picking up my arms and not using a whole lot of body

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that probably wasn't a great swing plane but if I'm just using my arms I'm

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going to have a hard time with low-point control. I'm going to have a hard time

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with dynamic loft and I'm not going to be able to really create a whole lot of

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speed. So when I say that the body is driving the swing we know that we want to

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keep the club moving on a relatively planar path as we do it. But most of the

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things that you're going to hear from not just my site but in in golf

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instruction everywhere is things like a low and slow or smooth or wide takeaway

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.

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All those things are all those descriptions are ways of looking at a

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body driven swing. Wide at the top extending the spine not swaying off the

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ball not standing up those are all ways to look at making this somewhat

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centered

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pivot which is one of the core concepts of the golf smart academy system is a

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somewhat centered pivot revolved around the body movements. So in the backswing

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section you'll see lots of videos to help you coordinate the face-to-path

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relationship and get ready for transition but most of it is ways to stop

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yourself from not using your body to swing the club in the backswing. So while

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the core concepts in the backswing are great it's really the downswing that I

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think separates elite golfers from average golfers and part of the reason

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why I think many elite golfers benefit from thinking about setup and posture

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and simple things during the backswing is they've already built for the most

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part a really functional downswing. Well many amateurs struggle with their

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downswing have much more inconsistent contact and just having a good setup

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usually doesn't cut it. In my coaching experience working on the downswing can

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have some of the biggest impacts into amateur golfers ball striking ability.

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Now when I'm looking at the downswing I tend to talk about two different

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phases. One is transition and two is the release. Transition is kind of like

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the

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the weight shift and the early part of the throwing motion and then the release

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is the second half of the throwing motion. In the golf swing transition is

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roughly until about shaft 45 so there's a bit of a weight shift which I tend to

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refer to as the Jackson 5 or a little bit of the hip bump. There's a regaining

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in

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my posture and my what I typically refer to as the left tilt or transition

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crunch

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sometimes so the body regaining it's flex as it helps with that weight shift

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and then there's two things that the arms are doing they're going to shallow

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that

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allows me to make some of the steeper body movements so the arms shallowing

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during transition is one of the core concepts that you're likely going to

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work on and then earlier face rotation or what I refer to as the motorcycle

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movement. So the arm shallow is basically the arms rotating away from the

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target

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to help shallow out the club so that my body can rotate and regain its flex and

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the club doesn't get too steep and the motorcycle movement starts the club

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rotating so I'll talk a lot about whether the club face is getting

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squared by in-plane shaft movement or the club passing your hands kind of like

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this or if the club is getting squared by shaft rotation. That pattern starts

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during transition and then continues hopefully during the release. The last

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movement during transition is kind of a bridge movement it works between both

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transition and the release and it's called the wipe and it's basically

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working the arms across your body like so. Many golf instructors and many golf

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ers

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have talked about playing well when they get their arms in front of you or

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arms back in front of their chest. I think that that's that's when I'm

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describing the wipe that's essentially looking at the same thing it's the

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direction and the timing of where the arms are moving at the end of transition

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and through the release. If you tend to struggle with that white move you'll

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tend to have the arms back behind your body which could either be an outside in

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kind of getting into a chicken wing move or a kind of stuck look which will

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give you a big rightward path so it could either be behind my body like so

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to help control low point and help control club face or it could be more

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behind my body like so to really help control path and club face but the

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white movement is essentially getting the arms in front of your body when you

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have a good white movement your arm your swing your contact will be relatively

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solid and your swing will tend to have a look of rhythm or fluidity to it. When

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you lack that move you'll typically have more of a kind of a stalling look when

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you get down towards the bottom of the swing. So the white movement bridges

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because

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it kind of starts just as we're getting to the end of transition and then

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continues all the way until the end of a release and the release ends for me at

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about shaft parallel or what I call follow-through position. So during the

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release we're going to continue the shaft rotation of the motorcycle

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movement we're going to worry about shallowing by using unhinge instead of

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arm rotation and then where you're going to work on those arms working across

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your

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body with more of that white movement. That creates shaft lean body rotation at

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impact the flat left wrist a lot of the things that you've probably read about

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and are familiar with will break down the different ways that you can train it.

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We focus on left arm or right arm or body all those key movements. Now the

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main body movement that we work on during the release I call bracing. So at

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this

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stage I'm using my body really to get the speed into the club head and then

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just after impact my body now has to worry about decelerating or

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stabilizing all the speed that I create in the club head. So if I were to get

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way

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up on my toes and kind of get off balance if I had a lot of speed in the

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club head it would pull me even more off balance. So being kind of down and

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keeping my spine angle or keeping my posture as I go through using my hips

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having my hips a little bit more ahead of my body or my lower body puts me in a

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position where if this club was going to get yanked out of my arms I'm in a

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position where I can use the the big muscles of my core the big muscles of my

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hips and my trunk in order to stabilize that speed. So it brings us full circle

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to where we want to use the body to control the backswing we want to use the

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body to help control the downswing we're going to use arm movements to

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coordinate

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that face-to-path relationship but we're primarily going to use our body for

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speed control and our body to safely decelerate all the speed that we've

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created. By going through each section you'll figure out which one or two of

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these core fundamentals or core concepts you struggle the most with and you can

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put in most of your time with that. Now you will see that these fundamentals

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build off of each other so if I don't or if I don't shallow my arms if I get

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steep then I'm probably not going to have a big transition crunch and I'm

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probably not going to have a big white movement but if I if I gradually work

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on each of these pieces I'll find the one or two that will help tie all the

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other ones together and I'll instantly notice better contact better feedback

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which is why it's important to know how to read the feedback but better

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contact better ball flight and it'll usually look better on video as well.

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So we'll see if we can throw a swing together that utilize all of those core

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concepts.