The Bent Trailing Elbow Drill, Part 1

In Sunday's publish approximately HaNa Jang's swing I promised you a drill to help you learn the way gamers like Jang, Cristie Kerr and Inbee Park -- as well as most other excursion players, male or female -- create quite a few clubhead velocity at effect. However, gamers like Jang, Kerr and Park are extra accurate than maximum because of how they make this move.

In today's post I'm going to give you a drill that will help you get the bottom part correct. Next week I'll show you how to add the top part of the downswing. Why am I dividing it up like this? Because this is a different way of thinking about how the club moves during your swing, and it's easier if you take it one small part at a time.

Over 4 years ago I did a submit that protected this Ben Hogan video. We're going to conform a part of this drill to help you understand the movement of your palms, fingers and membership at impact. What we are interested by is the first 28 seconds of this video, the component where Hogan continues his elbows very close to his aspect. Here, take a look:

We're going to try this drill a piece otherwise.

• First, the key part of our drill is how you move your trailing arm. With your trailing elbow kept close to your side, after you take your address position I want you to take the club back by bending your trailing elbow upward 90° so your hands are in front of your trailing hip and your trailing forearm points straight out away from you AND the club shaft is parallel to the floor. I don't want you to turn your body during your 'backswing'. Keep your shoulders in the square position they are at address and keep your lead arm straight. That means I want you to get in the basic position shown in the Jang photo below. Yes, we are exaggerating this move for a reason.

Now this isn't always a one-piece takeaway, and the club shaft won't be parallel for your goal line. In reality, the shaft will angle out faraway from you, almost like an over-the-top swing plane. We are not involved about that due to the fact, in an actual swing, your shoulders wouldn't be completely rectangular due to the fact your body might be turning. We'll contend with that when we upload the second drill next week.

• When you bend your trailing elbow, the upper part of your lead arm is going to ROLL up your chest a little. Many of you think you rotate your forearms during your swing, but the rotation actually happens at your shoulder. This is vital to getting accuracy when you strike the ball because, when you make your downswing, your lead shoulder will roll down the same amount it rolled up on your backswing. Again, I'll show you how that works in the second drill but it's easier to learn it with this smaller drill.

• Finally, while you "swing" backpedal to the effect function, your lead arm will rotate returned to its original role and you may routinely get a little ahead weight shift. Don't fear that it seems like an out-to-in swing; like I stated, we will deal with that with the second drill. The crucial aspect is which you research the texture of your trailing elbow straightening out at impact whilst it remains near your aspect during the downswing.

One very important thing you should learn from this drill is that a large amount of what you've been trying to do during your swing should actually happen automatically. For example, the movement we call a 'release' is actually caused by just bending and straightening your elbows at the right time during your swing.

And yes, I comprehend it feels bizarre. That's because we have taken this small motion out of the entire movement the total swing makes and exaggerated it to learn how it really works. But once we upload the second one drill and you get comfortable with the full swing, you will discover you may open your stance a touch, add a touch body motion and get a very nice chipping motion with this. But with the intention to come later

For now, simply spend some time doing this little drill and getting used to the texture. It's small enough that you will be capable of do it inside. With all of the horrific weather going round, that's an excellent component. And recall, you are studying a brand new way to consider how your swing works.

Do not underestimate the importance of how you think about your swing. How you THINK about your swing determines how it FEELS, and how it feels determines the MECHANICS of your swing. You'll understand what I mean once we get it all together.