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Trail Leg Push Vs Upper Body Fall

In transition, moving your body laterally is a key component to a good swing. For some, moving laterally will feel like an active push, while for others transition will feel like a passive fall. If you have more of an upper body swing, it is likely that you will feel more of the passive fall. If you have more of an lower body dominant swing, it is likely that you will feel more of an active push.

Playlists: Pivot Drills, Trail Leg Understanding, Beginner Program

Tags: Not Enough Distance, Early Extension, Transition, Intermediate

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This video is trail leg push first upper body fall.

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So I talk a lot about the lateral movement, whether it's three to six inches, but the lateral

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movement of the pelvis during transition for most full stock swings.

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Now I describe it a lot as a push of the lead foot, or sorry, a push of the trail foot

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kind of pushing away from the golf ball in that general direction with this little twisting.

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So whether it's the trail leg push or step drills, that kind of helps get the feeling

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of this push.

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Some golfers will describe it as a little bit more of a free fall where the upper body

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just kind of falls onto the left foot before it starts rotating.

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The truth is it's more of a perception for you than it is an actual mechanical thing.

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As long as there is a shift to this side, I'm going to be pushing through that trail

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leg.

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The general tendency that we're trying to avoid is we're trying to avoid just spinning

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from the top with both the upper body and the lower body like so.

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So by getting either a feeling of that body falling onto that front leg before the

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body rotates, we're a feeling of pushing the trail leg to get the upper body or the upper

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body and lower body over that front foot before it rotates.

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The important thing is to see that it's this shift of the pelvis, it's this interaction

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with the ground in the feet before the upper body starts spinning.

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Similar to a pitching or throwing motion, if some people will feel a big push off that trail

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leg before they fall or before they throw, others will feel just kind of a, almost like

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I'm falling forward and then I throw.

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They could relate to whether you're more connected to the ground or more connected to

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your hands appropriately, but it's important to kind of experiment with both.

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What can happen is some golfers who think push do more of an explosive almost early extension

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move because they have trouble feeling kind of that subtle push of the lower body so it

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becomes more of an overpowering move and kind of messes up the whole sequencing.

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So if you're working on kind of this trail leg push, experiment with feeling more of a fall

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into the lead leg.

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You'll see that it's virtually the same movement, it's just a different perception for a

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lot of golfers.

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So to experiment with the fall, what you'll do is you'll go up to the top of the swing,

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you can even raise that heel and then feel yourself fall into that left foot to start

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that move down.

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It's a sequencing move, it's a timing move and it doesn't really matter if I'm feeling

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that push that I just did there through the trail leg or if I feel like I just fall.

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The mechanics are the same, it's ultimately which one is going to connect more to your swing

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and your power sources.

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So if you're upper body dominant, you may feel better with more of just this fall move.

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If you're lower body dominant or sensitive, you may feel like you have to have a little bit more

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of that trail leg push, but know that it's but ultimately doing the same movement, getting

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that linear movement before you get that rotary, they do happen kind of very close together

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and almost simultaneously, but the feeling that a lot of golfers describe is having that

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linear move before you get rotationally.

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So if you're struggling with your transition and you're struggling with how your feet are

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interacting through the ground in transition, experiment with both a trail leg push, more of an

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active movement or an upper body fall or a pelvis fall into the front foot, more of what would

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feel like a passive movement, either one may open up the keys to your consistency in transition

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of the lower body.

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