WEBVTT

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

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ikawa.

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Colin is one of the young guys on tour who's already won, and he's doing so

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well because of his elite level ball striking.

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He's actually losing strokes to the field in terms of putting, but he's doing

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exceptionally well in terms of his ball striking,

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both approach into the green as well as off the tee, and he's one of the

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leaders in terms of the number of eagles made.

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So, we're going to take a look at his swing from the context of why it makes

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him such a good, uh, long iron player,

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and we'll talk about two things that you can apply to your own game if long ir

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ons are one of the areas that you're hoping to improve.

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So, we're going to look at his swing from a few different angles, and we're

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going to focus on two main components that will help you with your long iron

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game.

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One, is looking at and visualizing the sequence of his body during transition,

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so how he uses his lower body and his core to power his swing more so than his

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arms,

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and then two, we're going to look at the arm shallowing, or the path of his

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arms in transition.

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But first, let's take a look at the sequencing.

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So, this one over here on the left is a great camera angle for looking at

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sequencing.

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We're going to look at a couple different pieces.

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So, as he starts down, I want you to watch how his lower body starts to rotate

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before his upper body starts coming down.

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And one area that you might not have looked at before is I want you to look at

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his left shoulder and left shoulder blade.

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So, right around here is his spine, and his shoulder blade is some distance

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away from that at the top of the swing.

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Now, what we'll see is as he starts down, that shoulder blade actually gets

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pulled further away from his spine.

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So, if he was using the big muscles in his upper back, he would probably pull

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that shoulder blade in closer to the spine,

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and that would cause him to look like his upper body was firing a little bit

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harder in transition.

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But instead, if we scrub back and forth like this, you'll see that there's

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movement of his ribs going this way,

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there's movement of his hips rotating, there's movement of his legs.

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But as he starts down, that shoulder blade doesn't really go with it.

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So, he's creating a bunch of speed through his legs and through his core,

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and transferring that speed through the shoulder blade into his hands, but he's

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not really generating a whole lot of pull or speed with his upper body in his

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arms.

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From this video over on the right, where it zoomed in on his upper body, you'll

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see that as he starts down,

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there's that lower body leading very nicely, from this view, I want you to take

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a look at his left arm.

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And you'll notice that while his left arm is a little bit bent at the top of

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the swing,

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it basically maintains a lot of that same bend as he starts down.

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So, if he was to really pull with his upper body, if he was going to pull with

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his triceps or if he was going to pull with the lats,

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he would typically straighten that arm much earlier.

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But we know that since the shoulder blade's not moving and that elbow isn't

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straightening very early in the downswing,

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he's not using a lot of the major power generating muscle groups in that left

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shoulder.

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So, if you feel like you're swinging mostly with your arms and shoulders,

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that might be one of the reasons why you're struggling with your long irons.

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But it might not be the only reason.

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So, in the next couple of clips, let's take a look at the arm-shallowing

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component.

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Okay, so we have two swings where we can look at the arm-shallowing component.

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I really like this swing over here on the left because the shirt gives us a

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good horizontal line across his chest

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or perpendicular to his spine.

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Now, what you'll see is on the way in the backswing, the club compared to that

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shirt line is at an angle,

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let's say somewhere around 30 degrees, but it's definitely more vertical than

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the line on his shirt.

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But as he starts down, you'll see compared to the line on his shirt,

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now the back of his hand is basically perpendicular to that, or his elbow is

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pointing basically in the same direction as it.

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So, those are two ways that you can look at how the left arm tends to get into

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this shallow position.

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And then the right arm would just mirror it.

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So, that right palm is facing basically up towards the sky instead of already

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pointing straight up and down.

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And that right elbow is pointing more down towards the ground instead of

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pointing behind.

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Over on the right here, we're gonna see that same thing.

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So, as he starts with his lower body, you'll see that the club gets into that

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nice similar-looking position

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where it's basically perpendicular to his spine, that the hand is pointing

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parallel to his spine, just like that.

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And the left elbow is pointing out away from him.

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So, this is that really good arm-shallowing that can only happen if you're not

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being really active with your arms in transition.

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Okay, now I want you to experience that position.

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So, what you're gonna do is take your hands, place them out in front of you,

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and put your hands together just like this.

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Now, what we're gonna do is we're gonna match the arm position that Colin's

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demonstrating here in transition.

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So, now we're going to rotate our left arm or lead arm if you're a right-handed

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golfer so that the back of your hand is pointing up

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and your elbow is pointing towards the target.

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Your right hand is going to match it so that right elbow is gonna be pointing

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down

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and the back of the right hand is going to be facing the ground just like this.

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Now, to make it a little bit more accurate, we're gonna put it more in front of

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the right shoulder rather than in front of your chest, kind of like this.

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Now, what I want you to do is you're going to close your eyes in this position,

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and if you want to, you can take your golf grip, but you're gonna keep your

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arms in this position.

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I just want you to ask yourself, how do your arms feel compared to the middle

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of your downswing?

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Okay, open your eyes.

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If you're like most people, what you're gonna say is you'll feel a lot more

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normal or comfortable if you turn this left arm so that it's pointing down

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and the left arm thumb up or close to thumb up, and now that right elbow is

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pointing behind you and the right palm is facing towards the target, kind of

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like this.

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So just go back and forth a couple times between the shallow colon position or

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the more vertical, maybe more comfortable position.

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And now what I want you to do is stop when you're in this shallow position, and

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I want you to just kind of imagine what you would have to do in transition in

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order to get into that position during the downswing.

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And you'd probably start to feel that the energy is gonna work more around you,

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which supports what he's doing with his lower body and his core.

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So what Colin is demonstrating here is that good combination of shallow arms

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and a body powered swing that tends to produce a really flat bottom of the

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swing, which tends to create more of a consistent contact.

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As long as you have a club face that's matching the path, you'll typically

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become a really good long iron play with those two characteristics in your

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swing.