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Handcuff Release

The handcuff release combines a few feelings into one. The main focus is separating the movement of the forearms from the movement of the shoulders. A lot of poor golfer issues come from using too much shoulders and not enough forearms.

Tags: Release, Drill

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The drill is the hand cuff release.

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So the hand cuff release is a combo drill to help feel the shoulders working a little bit

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more connected or under and the forearm is going through some of their rotation.

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So basically combining the moneurmen arm connected with the lead arm supination.

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So you'll see quickly why it's called the hand cuff release.

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So first we're going to do it without a club and what you're going to do is you're going

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to take your wrists and hold them together just like this.

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And now we're going to try to get into that good follow-through position.

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So we're going to extend or bring that right elbow underneath kind of like this and then

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we're going to try and get the right hand or right forearm on top like so.

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So we've got right elbow underneath right hand on top.

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So here we're going to go dynamically.

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We're going to bring it back a little bit.

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We're going to go right elbow underneath right hand on top.

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And so this has a feeling of like my wrist starts together and the rotation is happening

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there as opposed to happening more at the shoulders kind of like this.

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A lot of golfers who have more this action or this action kind of that stall chase down

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move.

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Those can be more shoulder driven movements as opposed to doing it more at the forearms.

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In order to do this the forearms have to be soft enough and the shoulder has to be in a

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good position because basically most pro golfers will use one or the other.

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Either going to use the you're going to stiffen the forearms so that they don't really

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move and then you're going to do most of the rotation happening at the shoulders kind

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of like this or your shoulders aren't going to do as much.

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Your arms can straighten but the shoulder stays in until close to impact and so the rotation

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is going to happen more from the forearms.

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You'll either feel that lead arm supination which is I'd say more common or you'll

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feel that trail arm stop sign movement that we talk about in some of the trail arm

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videos as kind of picking up the slack for what the shoulders would want to do.

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So then I can do some nine to three's so we're going to basically just check that follow

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through position against the drill we were just doing.

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So I'm going to bring it back.

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When I get into this position if I drop the club you'll see right elbow underneath

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left and the right hand is just on top.

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So if I face here so we can see this target view if I do that movement as I go through

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you'll see that the arm is still extending but I haven't lost the shoulder.

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So a good little check is how long can I see that elbow pit pointing at the face on camera

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and can I get into this follow-through position where the right hand is on top of the

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glove hand but not by doing it with the shoulders.

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I can't stress that enough.

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One of the biggest complaints or one of the biggest contributors to kind of a mid-level

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handicap player struggle with consistency is doing not enough at the forearms and too much

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at the shoulders.

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So here let's do another nine to three focusing on that follow-through.

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So if I bring it back that's right arm pretty good underneath right hand on top.

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It's a good classic follow-through position.

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As I do this more I can try and add speed and what I'll challenge you to do is as you

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add speed you want most of that speed going through to be absorbed in the forearms first

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and then bring it into the core.

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One good thought that I give to golfers is to feel like the shoulders are maintaining

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their width as the club is smoothly moving around from the forearms.

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It feels that's why I have this kind of hand cuff feel because that keeps those arms

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close and extended and then the softness and the movement is happening more at the forearms.

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So now as I go to add some speed we're going to try and exaggerate.

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I lost the shoulder just a little bit that that wasn't too bad.

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I'm going to try to exaggerate by breaking into that finished position where in the full swing

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the momentum would take us up through that.

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So in the full swing we would tend to see where it goes through that position and momentum

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takes it all the way up into the full finish.

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But as I'm doing this hand cuff drill I want to try and keep that right shoulder kind

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of in and back as the forearms are going around and wide.

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So you can try that if you're really struggling with your follow-through position or if you

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see during the downswing you tend to get this arm a little bit more behind you kind of

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like this.

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Those are two classic signs that I'm doing too much with the shoulders and likely not enough

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with the forearms.

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So practice that hand cuff forearm rotation where the hand cuff release drill in order

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to rebalance what's releasing the club.

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Your forearms or your shoulders.

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