If you want to immediately improve your swing without having to remember about 500 swing thoughts, try this. At the top of your backswing, make are your back elbow is pointing at the ground. That's it. That one little thought and bang, you'll end up square at impact and the ball will sail farther than ever.
Most amateur golfers' back elbow flies away from the body, the good old "chicken wing" move that causes all sorts of problems. But that one, simple thought will keep you on the straight and narrow ... and long.
-- Steve
P.S. Keep an eye out in the next few days for a gift for every golfer on your list. You're going to love it. Hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving. We sure did. Be sure to visit our Face Book page at Mirror Image Golf Swing.
2 comments
Great question Barry. The young man certainly does have a remarkable amount of flexibility and it helps that he’s 14 years old. You may not have the flexibility he has but most folks (even youngsters like you) have more than you think. Without a doubt, the main reason people feel they can’t turn enough is one of the key ingredients in your set up. Many of my tips over the years, and some featured here on this web site discuss what I call the Tilt. At address, make sure your right shoulders is tilted down lower than your left. The right shoulder should be lower because your right hand grips lower down on the club. The key part of the tilt is when you do so, your head will move back behind the ball. You don’t have your head directly over the ball, it’s totally behind the ball. A good checkpoint is that the ball is under your left ear.
Now, here’s the part that will help you. With you head fully behind the ball now, it will be much easier for you to turn behind the ball more. Your left shoulder will now get behind the ball more than ever because your head is behind the ball. The head actually moves back a little during the backswing. Think about this. There’s no way to get your shoulder and body behind the ball if your head isn’t behind the ball too. When you don’t, this inhibits your shoulder turn and this is why your bicep as you say, is sort of in the way.
The more you tilt at address, the more you’ll turn and will get that big full shoulder turn like the youngster. Tilt more, turn more.
Good luck and keep me informed.
I am 67 yrs young and when I try to put my right elbow down I have a tough time physically because I am then looking right at my left bicep and cannot swing my body like the young man with you as he appears to be looking at the ball from the left side of his shoulder. Can I do something which will stop me from being a contortionist and still keep the right elbow down.