With so much golf “instruction” out there on the internet, how can a person tell what will or will not work for them? The danger of the advice from someone who says “DO THIS ONE THING AND YOU WILL NEVER SLICE AGAIN”, is that, what they are fixing may not be the cause of your slice.
I have seen thousands of slices in my career, and let me tell you, they do not all have the same root cause. With this knowledge, I watch some of these online experts and feel bad for the hundreds, or thousands of people who are taking their advice to the course, only to have their slice remain, or in some cases, get worse.
Let me take on one of the most egregious offenders, in my opinion, the Arm Swing Illusion
Recently, I have been working with many students through different online platforms. This has led to some interesting questions and comments. By far the most common question I have gotten about online video lessons is asking about the Arm Swing Illusion. It is an older philosophy, but seems to have gained some steam lately.
With the permission of the poster, Ihave taken the most-well worded version of this question and will share it with you. Here is how it goes:
I am wondering if you could shed some light on some conflicting ideas I have been hearing. Of course, you always hear about “keeping the club/arms in front of you”, so it doesn’t get stuck behind or around you. And, we are all familiar with the “arm swing illusion” video, but all of this seems to conflict with the ideas of left arm adduction across the chest. Here is a video recently talking about how Max Homa has been working on getting the right arm across his body at the top of his backswing-and two follow-ups, depending on whether this left arm adduction across the chest is permissible:
If yes: What are the mechanics for getting the arms/club back out in front of the body for impact? If the left arm stays fully across the chest, the shoulders would need to be almost 90* open at impact.
If no: Is there any trail-to-lead movement of the arms across the body that are permissible/desirable?
Let me know if I can clarify anything.
First off, what a very well-worded and researched question. The video he linked to is a great example of a Tour Player who is attempting to find a position, but creating a whole host of other problems in the mean-time. Namely, he is connecting his arms to his body, but over-rotating his arms in the process.
This is a really complicated question but great to understand the mechanics of what is going on. **Here’s my disclaimer: everyone’s feel is different, so what someone says they feel, can be completely different from someone else but it produces the same result.
I watched the video and disagree with the commentary on Max’s swing. He is laid off and the club is closed at the top. This will work great when he times it well and it’ll generate a ton of power, but it will be inconsistent when he doesn’t “have it”.
I do think the left arm can go across the chest if it is in plane with the arc set at address. (Max’s shoulders are too flat for that arm plane in the example provided). When the shoulders turn in a proper plane set by a good address position, the arm can go across the chest and move within that plane. So many people look at the swing and don’t understand how the arm rotation effects plane in a golf swing, not the arm swing itself. So, I am all for the arms folding across the body, as long as they are moving in-sync with the proper plane and in sequence with the body. They have to because they are part of moving the club in the vertical. You cannot move the club well without letting your arms fold, at least a little. What people get suckered with is arm rotation, especially in the takeaway. When the forearms rotate and the right arm drops behind the left am compared to the plane of the swing, that’s when people get in trouble. It completely changes your plane because it drops your right shoulder and flattens out your shoulder plane, so to compensate you either lay the club off and play from the inside, or come over the top to try to get back on-plane. This is what being stuck is. This is so different than arm ‘swing’; Think swing don’t rotate. When I swing my best, my right arm folding pullsmy left arm slightly across my chest, but because my forearms don’t have excessive rotation, the only move I need to make to hit the ball is my right arm extending down into the ball.
Again, the rotation is what gets you off plane, not the swinging. What Max is doing there is raising his left arm in comparison to his plane, dropping his right arm, and laying the club off.
Look at Freddy Couples swing. He pulled his arm all the way to touch his right shoulder, but it is in plane because there was zero forearm rotation, so it was never stuck. There are countless examples of this throughout golf history, and far less examples of people truly not “swinging”, their arms. Steve Stricker and Bryson are really the only examples I can think of for this extreme. Again, this is my feel, but I really like the feel of the folding of my right arm creating the vertical movement in my swing, not the rotational movement. This does cause it to swing slightly across my chest, which is ok if I am on-plane. It almost feels like a lift with my bicep. I’d never teach it that way, but that’s how I must feel to get the right depth and not have excessive rotation.
At the end of the day a good swing is a dance, it’s art. The more important thing is the sequencing of the movement. Getting each piece to move at the correct time. I try to say the same thing a lot of different ways, so my students find their own feel to get the sequence right. You can compensate for a lot of bad things, with amazing sequencing (Bubba Watson).So try to think about not rotating those arms as much, getting the club higher with your right arm folding, your shoulder plane not getting too flat, and then sequence the downswing properly to allow your right arm to piston into the back of the ball. Do this consistently and you’ll stripe it more times than not.
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