That's a bit misleading of a title but it was the reason someone came to me for a lesson.
A couple weeks ago I helped out a college player who is currently at an under-grad school. After this year he plans on going to a 4 year to play at the collegate level. I just helped him for 10 minutes on advising him of alignment. Something I'll do for anyone at no cost. He then went out and shot 4 under for 9 holes.
Then he went to go see a top teaching professional in the area. I won't say who, but they used to also play on the PGA Tour.
The instructor was trying to get him to turn his shoulders more because he has a tendency to use a lot of arms. He basically had no pivot other than what was required to get his arms back away from the ball. It's a very powerful swing from a strong kid. He could knock it 320 pretty consistently with it. But the instructor saw this "arms" swing and insisted on increasing shoulder turn.
A few weeks ago we had a few threads on axis tilt, shoulder turn, and how the right shoulder operates in the forward swing. And folks, this +3 handicap was running into a teacher who doesn't understand. As is very common with this kind of advise, I could clearly see the same thing happening to him as what Leadbetter is doing to Michelle Wie. Almost vertical spine angle at the top, leaning to the left before even reaching the top.
Sure he was turning his shoulders, but he was lost... and his shot pattern was starting to show it.
A +3 handicap suddenly couldn't break par. Sound like anyone you know with the initials MW?
The fix was simple. Set up with some axis tilt. Get your left shoulder OVER your right toe in the backswing. Then fire hard with your right side toward the target. Hello pivot! He could not believe what he was missing all his life.
He started clearing the end of the range with a 3 Wood off the ground. About a 290 yard carry.
Bottom line... his shoulder turn wasn't a problem... despite many people telling him it was. At least 2 others at the course I teach told him he needed more shoulder turn. Giving him the simple thought of left shoulder over right toe fixed his axis tilt (reverse pivot), gave him much more loading on his right leg to spring off of, and put his right shoulder in the perfect position to go downplane without even thinking about it. But all he knew was, tilt, left over right, and FIRE!!
A couple weeks ago I helped out a college player who is currently at an under-grad school. After this year he plans on going to a 4 year to play at the collegate level. I just helped him for 10 minutes on advising him of alignment. Something I'll do for anyone at no cost. He then went out and shot 4 under for 9 holes.
Then he went to go see a top teaching professional in the area. I won't say who, but they used to also play on the PGA Tour.
The instructor was trying to get him to turn his shoulders more because he has a tendency to use a lot of arms. He basically had no pivot other than what was required to get his arms back away from the ball. It's a very powerful swing from a strong kid. He could knock it 320 pretty consistently with it. But the instructor saw this "arms" swing and insisted on increasing shoulder turn.
A few weeks ago we had a few threads on axis tilt, shoulder turn, and how the right shoulder operates in the forward swing. And folks, this +3 handicap was running into a teacher who doesn't understand. As is very common with this kind of advise, I could clearly see the same thing happening to him as what Leadbetter is doing to Michelle Wie. Almost vertical spine angle at the top, leaning to the left before even reaching the top.
Sure he was turning his shoulders, but he was lost... and his shot pattern was starting to show it.
A +3 handicap suddenly couldn't break par. Sound like anyone you know with the initials MW?
The fix was simple. Set up with some axis tilt. Get your left shoulder OVER your right toe in the backswing. Then fire hard with your right side toward the target. Hello pivot! He could not believe what he was missing all his life.
He started clearing the end of the range with a 3 Wood off the ground. About a 290 yard carry.
Bottom line... his shoulder turn wasn't a problem... despite many people telling him it was. At least 2 others at the course I teach told him he needed more shoulder turn. Giving him the simple thought of left shoulder over right toe fixed his axis tilt (reverse pivot), gave him much more loading on his right leg to spring off of, and put his right shoulder in the perfect position to go downplane without even thinking about it. But all he knew was, tilt, left over right, and FIRE!!