WEBVTT

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In this analysis video, we're going to take a look at the swing of Charles

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Howell III.

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And in this particular analysis video, we're going to look specifically at his

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iron play.

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Charles was gracious enough to send me a couple swings from a recent practice

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session at

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Eilworth, and I'm going to talk to you about what I think has made him such an

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elite level

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iron player over the last 20 years or so.

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I'll do a second video where we'll talk a little bit about what's going on with

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his

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driver and how it relates to his fitness program.

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But in this particular video, we're going to look at what makes him such a good

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iron

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player.

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Whenever I analyze iron play, I want to start at impact.

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There are a few keys to being a really good iron player, and one of them is

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looking at

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the shape of the swing and the low point control.

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So Charles is really good at creating a lot of lag, and that helps him create a

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lot of

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shaft lean, we can see here from the face on camera angle that there's not much

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going

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on as far as turf contact until after the golf ball.

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So it's right around this frame here that we start to see the scuff of the turf

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and the

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divot form.

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So if we go back to just before impact, the tour average is somewhere around

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four, four

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and a half, five inches in front of the golf ball, having the bottom of the div

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ot or the

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low point, at least with kind of the mid and short irons.

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So what we'll see is that's right around where this divot is forming there.

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Now most golfers get the bottom of the swing forward through a combination of

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their arm

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movements as well as body rotations.

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Charles tends to be a little bit, let's say under rotated as far as his body

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positions,

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so he gets it there more with what he's doing with his wrist and shoulders.

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But when it comes to iron play, as long as you get the bottom of the swing

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forward, which

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happens when you create this shaft lean as long as the club that is still

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traveling down,

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you're going to strike the ball relatively solidly.

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So then as long as you have a club face that's relatively aligned to your

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target and a club

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path that's close to neutral definitely doesn't have to be zero can be I'd say

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I like to give

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a guideline of kind of plus or minus five degrees into outer out to in five

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degrees into out

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with irons can make it really tough to get the bottom of swing forward or that

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far forward.

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But as long as your path is somewhere around neutral, your face is somewhat

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pointed at

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the target and you create the shaft lean, you're going to tend to strike a lot

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of iron

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shots really well.

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In fact, I tell some students that I think it's the geometry of the swing that

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's probably

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more important with the irons.

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But when it comes to the longer clubs and the driver specifically, I'm looking

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a lot

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more at the dynamics.

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I'm looking at how the body is moving in order to get into this position.

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And that's what we're going to focus on in the follow up video when we look at

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his driver

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play.

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So in order to get your hands and the handle further forward, you have to build

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a pretty

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good release pattern.

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And part of that includes letting your arms extend and letting the club bottom

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out with

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still retaining some extension of that trail wrist and more flexion than where

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you started

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at setup in the lead wrist.

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So if I go back to setup, here we can see that that lead wrist has an angle of

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about

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35 degrees.

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It's kind of like this.

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And then when he gets to impact, it's pretty close to flat.

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So he has gone this way about 35 degrees.

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That helps him get his hands more forward.

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Now one of the unique things to Charles's pattern compared to a lot of tour

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pros is in

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transition, he loses that extension and then gets it later in the swing.

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So here we can see at the top of the swing, he's got a little bit of, it's

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pretty close

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to neutral or a little bit flexed.

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And then right around there, it's kind of tricky to see at this particular

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angle, but

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you can see that the wrist has a little bit more cup in that position.

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So between here and the top of the swing, or he's extended that wrist a little

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bit.

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So then from there down to impact is when he's flexing that wrist, which helps

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control

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that low point or get that low point more out in front.

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He golfers flex the wrist just earlier or straight away from the top of the

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swing.

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But it shows you that you don't necessarily have to do it early.

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You can do it late, especially with the iron play, as long as you get the

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geometry that

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allows you to hit ball first contact by having the low point forward and a

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reasonable club

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face and path, you're going to hit a lot of really good iron shots.

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So if you're analyzing your own swing, started impact, look for shaft lean.

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If we don't have shaft lean, look to this position here, follow through

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position.

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And I want you to see, did I stay in my angle?

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Did my arms continue to straighten?

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So did I get with here in the follow through?

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If let's say these arms were bent and I've stood up, then it shows that on the

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way through,

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I'm probably kind of letting the club pass my body and releasing the angles

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more like

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this as opposed to letting the arms extend out more like that.

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I've got lots of videos on the site to help you with your release position or

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your release

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movements and really coordinating this follow through position.

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But if you want to be a pretty good iron player, if you just master what's

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going on here as

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far as the location of your upper body and the timing and the way that you

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straighten

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your arms, you can hit a lot of greens, you can be a really good iron player.

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In the next video, we're going to take a look at his sequencing and we're going

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to talk

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about his power source and how it can sometimes cause a little bit of trouble

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with face control,

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especially with the driver.