WEBVTT

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In this video we're going to investigate trail arm connection.

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So the connection drills are designed to help you feel kind of a more strong

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link through

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the shoulder.

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There's a couple different times where golfers tend to lose that link and we'll

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talk through

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it in this video.

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The general connection drill that a lot of players tend to use is taking a

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towel and

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place it up in your armpits kind of like so and that forces your shoulders to

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be a little

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bit more connected and we can hit whether it's nine to threes or ten to twos.

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This becomes not just a pivot drill but a drill where you're focusing more on

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what's happening

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at the forearms than at the shoulders.

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There are times where I like to isolate one arm versus the other.

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Now in general you'll see that I tend to isolate more the trail arm and as we

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talk through

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it you'll understand why.

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So there's a couple different ways that I like to use it.

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I will either use an alignment stick.

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I saw this from Scott Cowes, I think it's really good and brilliant.

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I'll use a ruler, there's sometimes where I like this a little bit better and a

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glove.

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This is kind of my least favorite but it's also the most inconspicuous so if

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you're working

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on it on the range nobody's going to look at you funny with a glove stuck in

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your armpit.

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So first we'll talk through the alignment stick version.

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So with the alignment stick version I'm going to place it high up in the armpit

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just like

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so.

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With any of these connection drills I want to make sure that my arm is not

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pinned to my

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side but rather it's pinned to the front side of my body.

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So if my body was a box I want my arm to be on the front side of that box just

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on the

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corner not on the side of the box.

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So now the beautiful thing about the alignment stick is for golfers who tend to

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have a lot

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of arm lift this gives you a little bit more feedback so when you make your

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backswing you

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can start to feel if you're really picking up with the arms the left arm will

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hit into

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the stick pretty early.

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So before we go through it we should talk about the three most common times

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where golfers

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need to feel more of this kind of stiffer or connected shoulder and the first

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few times

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you do it it may feel stiff but eventually it will start to feel connected and

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it will

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help with your rhythm and overall consistency usually.

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So the three times where I find golfers lose this connection would be right off

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the bat.

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Some golfers tend to pull that arm behind so it'll get behind that short seam

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or behind

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that plane right through there.

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So the first place I will feel like it's restricting me or making me stiff is

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there in

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the takeaway.

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The second place would be in transition so whether it's going up to the top of

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the swing

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and letting that arm get behind or more commonly going up to the top of the

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swing and then

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really rotating that shoulder going into internal rotation and steepening it

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just like so.

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And you'd feel it kind of slip around and lose connection there.

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The third place where golfers tend to lose this trail arm connection would be

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through

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the release.

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So instead of getting into a position where the arms are straight and I've had

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that good

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lead arm supination instead of getting into this follow through position they

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will tend

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to get into more of that follow through position where I've reached more with

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the shoulder

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blade instead of just with the arm.

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Now the problem with reaching with the shoulder blade is you can see if I reach

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with the shoulder

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blade that moves the club a good six inches or so away from me.

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So it starts to become really hard to have really good low point control.

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In addition to avoid hitting it fat typically that movement there will be

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accompanied with

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a little bit too much stall and the upper body gets behind kind of like this.

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So it becomes a problem on the shorter clubs it becomes a problem with just

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overall iron

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consistency of contact.

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So the connection drill we're going to take the stick and place it into the ar

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mpit.

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It might limit me a little bit at the top of the swing but it shouldn't limit

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me in transition

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and it shouldn't limit me getting into that full release pattern.

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So I'm going to make a little kind of nine to three until my arm feels like it

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's getting

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blocked by that until my lead arm feels like it's getting blocked by that stick

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and then

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I'm going to do a little nine to three so that was a little bigger in the back

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swing

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than a true nine to three but getting into that good follow through position.

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So keeping that connection I don't like so almost lost that one there because I

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was

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already thinking about the transitioning to the place where I prefer a flatter

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edge.

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So this is great for limiting that arm lift in the backswing but I actually

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prefer a ruler

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or in this case just a paint stir from Home Depot or Lowe's.

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So now I have a little bit broader and a flat edge for golfers who tend to lose

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it in the

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follow through.

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This is a little bit easier to keep the connection.

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In addition it's a little easier in transition but it doesn't give me the same

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you know it's

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not sticking out quite as much so it's a little more inconspicuous but it also

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doesn't give

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quite the same amount of restrictions.

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So you can see as I make a backswing there my left arm actually can get above

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the stick

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where with the alignment stick it was going to I would hit it so it was going

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to restrict

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my backswing movement and help me tidy up some of the forearm rotation in the

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backswing.

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So now with this stick it will allow me to again get a little bit more height

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but it

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also is easier to keep that connection in the armpit there into the follow

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through.

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In order to do this I have to have a little bit more softness in my forearms.

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So many golfers who struggle with these connection drills tend to lock their

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forearms get those

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very stiff and then do more of the swing happening from the shoulder blades.

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I can hit it okay that way but it's limited in terms of the absolute power that

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I can

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create and it requires a little bit more timing.

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So if I lock those forearms and I get it more happening from the shoulders

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again you'll

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see I'll tend to air on a little bit fat thin and it limits how much club speed

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or how strong

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my release can be.

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So the third version would be the most inconspicuous which is just taking an

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old glove folding

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it up and placing it in the armpit there.

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Now the good thing about this is it really doesn't restrict very much of the

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backswing.

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Doesn't restrict the follow through so it's closest to kind of a natural feel

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so sometimes

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I'll walk through that progression.

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The downside is sometimes the fabric will stick to your armpit so I can lose it

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a little bit

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and it will still stay connected.

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It's a little more forgiving in how precise I am compared to the paint store or

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the alignment

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thick is the hardest.

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So now with this I'm just going to focus on kind of that same feel, got a

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little slide

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on that but overall not too bad and as you do these more and more it will feel

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less restricted

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in the backswing.

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The key here again is any of these connection drills it's high up in the armpit

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so you're

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not holding your elbow into your side it's just kind of the shoulder and that

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it's more

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on the front so I'll often say tricep try to cover your nipple as opposed to

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pin your

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arm on the side.

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You see if I pin my arm on the side it will tend to work more around on the way

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through

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and I'll have a hard time getting into that really good follow through position

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but if

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I pin it more on front and I get good action from the forearm I can get into a

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really solid

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follow through position.

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So if you're struggling with too much shoulder activity causing you

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inconsistency and that's

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happening here in the takeaway, top and swing into transition or on the way

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through working

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a little bit on your armpit connection you can sometimes create some real big

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breakthrough

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moments for you.

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So we'll do a quick demo with the hardest version which is the alignment stick.

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This requires the most force to keep it pinned compared to the alignment stick

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and glove and

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as you work through these you're doing some kind of you'll start off with some

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just kind

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of nice and easy tend to choose but then what I want you to get to is where you

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can hit

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this quite hard.

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Hitting it hard requires that I'm getting more of the release from the forearm

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than the

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shoulder and it requires that I'm getting more of the speed from my legs and

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core than

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the shoulder.

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So if I now do a tend to two but with some aggression I might lose it if I go a

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little

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bit too far into the follow through but you can see you can hit it quite hard

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with this

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good connection if you're using a body powered pivot.