Click here and enter your email address to watch the full video
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. Meet your new instructor.

Subscribe now to watch the full video.

Pin The Lead Shoulder

A common problem is pulling too hard, too fast, with the upper body. This results in a feeling of the shoulders spinning. An image that works for some is feeling the lead shoulder staying closer to the target line. This allows the hips and core to turn, but not the shoulder blades. This helps with a shallow angle of attack, a path that is more inside out, and more lag for easier power!

Tags: Transition, Drill, Beginner

WEBVTT - This file was automatically generated by VIMEO

0
00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:08.500
The drill is pin the lead shoulder. So this

1
00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:11.100
is a release drill for helping golfers who

2
00:00:11.100 --> 00:00:14.800
get really dominant with that left arm pull. This can

3
00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:17.300
be useful for golfers who have a chicken wing

4
00:00:17.300 --> 00:00:20.400
or for golfers who have a really kind

5
00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:24.000
of level shoulder plane on the way through you can

6
00:00:23.300 --> 00:00:26.600
have kind of this. Look where the arms locally. They're

7
00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:29.700
rotating more around your body. All those patterns tend

8
00:00:29.700 --> 00:00:32.100
to share in common that the lead arm is

9
00:00:32.100 --> 00:00:35.300
kind of pulling back. Well before impact we're

10
00:00:35.300 --> 00:00:38.300
too soon. So we're gonna use a visual kind

11
00:00:38.300 --> 00:00:41.200
of a spatial awareness thing and we're gonna try and feel like

12
00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:43.300
we pin the left shoulder in place. So,

13
00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:47.200
What we're going to do during the demo, I'll use

14
00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:50.000
a foam noodle, but it blocks the the camera a little

15
00:00:50.100 --> 00:00:51.200
bit. So we'll just talk through it.

16
00:00:52.500 --> 00:00:55.900
First in this little description. So we're gonna make a kind

17
00:00:55.900 --> 00:00:58.600
of a 10 clock backswing and as I come down to delivery

18
00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:01.800
position. I'm now going to try and keep

19
00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:04.100
this shoulder as close to

20
00:01:04.100 --> 00:01:07.200
inline with the target line. So close to the

21
00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:10.500
golf ball there as my body continues to

22
00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:13.300
rotate now. I don't want the right side

23
00:01:13.300 --> 00:01:16.800
to leave behind. So the right side is gonna feel like it works underneath.

24
00:01:16.800 --> 00:01:20.300
This is very similar to kind

25
00:01:19.300 --> 00:01:23.400
of the sidearm throw or this kind

26
00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:25.800
of supported release station. In fact,

27
00:01:25.800 --> 00:01:28.300
I like to have golfers who can do

28
00:01:28.300 --> 00:01:31.600
single arm releases to add this to a single arm

29
00:01:31.600 --> 00:01:34.200
release feel or a trail arm

30
00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:34.700
release feel.

31
00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:38.500
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to feel like that left shoulder

32
00:01:38.500 --> 00:01:41.400
stays there as my body rotates and as the right

33
00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:44.500
side kind of comes through and it's gonna

34
00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:47.100
give me this feel of the back saying to the

35
00:01:47.100 --> 00:01:50.500
Target longer or not spinning from the shoulders rather

36
00:01:50.500 --> 00:01:54.300
getting more of the rotation or spin from the core. So we're

37
00:01:53.300 --> 00:01:56.700
gonna feel we get into that delivery position

38
00:01:56.700 --> 00:01:59.500
and then the shoulder stays close

39
00:01:59.500 --> 00:02:02.400
to the camera as we come down and through

40
00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:04.600
so we'll do one real quick.

41
00:02:06.100 --> 00:02:09.600
Kind of like that where it feels like there's this buildup and then it doesn't

42
00:02:09.600 --> 00:02:12.400
come through until as the club is

43
00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:15.200
coming through impact. It's definitely more of a feeling. If you look on

44
00:02:15.200 --> 00:02:18.400
video it will come through but what it won't look

45
00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:21.500
like is more of this pattern

46
00:02:21.500 --> 00:02:24.700
where golfers tend to have more of the shoulder

47
00:02:24.700 --> 00:02:27.300
kind of pulling early. So if

48
00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:30.200
we put those side by side and we look at it we can kind

49
00:02:30.200 --> 00:02:33.700
of see that second one that shoulder is pulling hard from

50
00:02:33.700 --> 00:02:36.200
right around here. Where in that first one

51
00:02:36.200 --> 00:02:39.500
the shoulder doesn't really start pulling until the club is

52
00:02:39.500 --> 00:02:42.300
well past the golf ball or into that

53
00:02:42.300 --> 00:02:43.100
widest point.

54
00:02:44.100 --> 00:02:47.400
So we'll go through a demo where I'll put how I normally do

55
00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.400
it. We'll do two different versions. That's

56
00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.900
Trail arm drill as well as the pool noodle

57
00:02:53.900 --> 00:02:56.500
version. Okay. So first version with the

58
00:02:56.500 --> 00:02:59.600
pool noodle, I like to create something. I'm usually staining there

59
00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:03.100
holding it. But if you're doing at home, you can use a trusty tripod.

60
00:03:02.100 --> 00:03:05.400
And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna put

61
00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:08.200
it so that it's in the field of view very

62
00:03:08.200 --> 00:03:11.400
close to inline with that shoulder. So now I'm gonna feel

63
00:03:11.400 --> 00:03:14.700
like I get that shoulder as far

64
00:03:14.700 --> 00:03:17.200
as it will be somewhere around here in the delivery

65
00:03:17.200 --> 00:03:20.700
position. And now I'm gonna continue rotating and

66
00:03:20.700 --> 00:03:23.600
I'm gonna try to exaggerate the shoulder staying

67
00:03:23.600 --> 00:03:26.700
that way as that right side is coming through now,

68
00:03:26.700 --> 00:03:29.100
you'll see eventually I get to a point where the tension of

69
00:03:29.100 --> 00:03:32.900
my body turning is pulling that shoulder around but I'm not retracting

70
00:03:32.900 --> 00:03:36.100
or pulling that shoulder in order to do it. So I'm

71
00:03:35.100 --> 00:03:37.600
going to do it as a little bit of a pump.

72
00:03:38.500 --> 00:03:40.600
We're going to feel like that shoulder kind of stays there.

73
00:03:42.100 --> 00:03:46.300
All the way through and it's really gonna have a feel of the

74
00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:48.600
back thing to the Target longer. So

75
00:03:48.600 --> 00:03:51.900
I might want to use video to kind of confirm and look

76
00:03:51.900 --> 00:03:54.700
out for two major issues one would be I still

77
00:03:54.700 --> 00:03:58.200
keep my lower body behind. So issue

78
00:03:57.200 --> 00:04:00.700
number one would be everything stays behind and it

79
00:04:00.700 --> 00:04:03.400
kind of looks like this. I'll I'll tend to get more fat shots.

80
00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:07.400
And the other problem to look

81
00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:10.100
out for is in an attempt to keep

82
00:04:10.100 --> 00:04:13.100
the shoulder there. You'll go into right side Bend, you know

83
00:04:13.100 --> 00:04:17.000
get a lot of access tool. So I

84
00:04:16.200 --> 00:04:19.200
want that left shoulder to still get in

85
00:04:19.200 --> 00:04:22.200
line get over that front foot or get

86
00:04:22.200 --> 00:04:25.500
into that. Good impact Line. It's gonna feel like it stays.

87
00:04:27.900 --> 00:04:30.500
Closer to this longer and then

88
00:04:30.500 --> 00:04:34.100
that right side is kind of working through. So this

89
00:04:33.100 --> 00:04:36.200
works well for a visual this is more of kind

90
00:04:36.200 --> 00:04:40.000
of playing you can do this with Force Fuller swings

91
00:04:39.100 --> 00:04:42.100
to really exaggerate the feel.

92
00:04:43.100 --> 00:04:46.900
I like to do a single arm Trail arm

93
00:04:46.900 --> 00:04:47.400
release.

94
00:04:48.700 --> 00:04:51.700
So now this will help me

95
00:04:51.700 --> 00:04:54.200
feel if that left arm is pulling

96
00:04:54.200 --> 00:04:57.700
my goal here is to keep that shaft vertical and

97
00:04:57.700 --> 00:05:00.800
to actually rotate my hip and

98
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:03.100
my shoulder kind of away from each other.

99
00:05:04.100 --> 00:05:07.900
So the left shoulder feels like it's going towards the camera as the left hip

100
00:05:07.900 --> 00:05:09.900
feels like it's going back towards the road.

101
00:05:11.500 --> 00:05:12.700
all the while

102
00:05:14.200 --> 00:05:17.200
That right arm is coming through now the most

103
00:05:17.200 --> 00:05:20.200
common issue I see here as you can imagine is a

104
00:05:20.200 --> 00:05:23.400
lot of golfers will just kind of stop and just throw the

105
00:05:23.400 --> 00:05:26.300
arm. So it will finish with the Palm facing up.

106
00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:29.500
I still want to finish in a really good trail arm

107
00:05:29.500 --> 00:05:32.600
release position. So I want to finish with

108
00:05:32.600 --> 00:05:35.200
more of a stop sign or more of

109
00:05:35.200 --> 00:05:38.700
that palm palm strike feel Palm facing away. So we'll

110
00:05:38.700 --> 00:05:39.900
do one really good one here.

111
00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:44.200
Kind of like that. And now if I were to let go

112
00:05:44.200 --> 00:05:47.400
of my support and put that arm to me it might

113
00:05:47.400 --> 00:05:51.100
feel like this left arm is a little bit more around and

114
00:05:50.100 --> 00:05:53.500
in front or my body is turned through

115
00:05:53.500 --> 00:05:56.400
my arm so we can use either

116
00:05:56.400 --> 00:05:59.300
of these to get feels for the left side. If

117
00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:02.500
I have a really strong pull of that left shoulder through

118
00:06:02.500 --> 00:06:06.200
the release that can cause pulls and hooks low

119
00:06:05.200 --> 00:06:08.500
Point issues toe contact

120
00:06:08.500 --> 00:06:11.600
all kinds of release problems.

121
00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:14.300
So I highly recommend adding this to

122
00:06:14.300 --> 00:06:17.400
your release protocols. If you're struggling with getting into

123
00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:20.500
a good follow-through position because of too much lead arm pull. So now

124
00:06:20.500 --> 00:06:20.800
let's

125
00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:22.600
throw in a good one.

126
00:06:23.400 --> 00:06:26.000
Where we feel like it stays more closed.

127
00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:29.400
Kind of like that.

Subscribe now for full access to our video library.