Wow, you got here lower back! You have to be severe approximately no longer pushing that ball!
A quick note, just to make sure we're all on the same page: Rather than try to use left and right all the time when I have both left-handers and right-handers reading this, I simply use the terms lead and trailing. If you're left-handed, your left side is your trailing side; if you're right-handed, your right side is your trailing side -- and obviously your other side is your lead side. Got that? Good. Let's move on.
The first posts dealt with what I assume is the most common purpose of a pushed shot -- leaning backward all through your downswing. Today we're going to observe the other most not unusual motive of pushes.
That problem is letting your lead elbow drift away from your body during your downswing.
It makes feel in case you simply consider it. When you come back over-the-top, your trailing elbow gets out away from your body at some stage in your downswing. That throws the club out over your target line and also you become pulling the membership again throughout the road toward your frame, which creates a pulled shot.
In a pushed shot you do just the opposite. Your lead elbow drifts out away from your body during your downswing, so the club starts the way you wanted but then it gets farther away from your body instead of curving around it.
There are numerous matters which could make this trouble even worse:
- If you're leaning backward during your downswing, that tilts your shoulders and moves your elbow away from your body even more. If you're leaning backward AND your elbow drifts away from your body, you're probably looking at a huge push-slice.
- If the problem's not real bad, it might just make you "chicken-wing" your followthrough.
- Since this move can also make a slice worse, it might cause you to flip your hands and you end up with a big hook. This is a problem many of the pros fight against. Sometimes this is the problem they're talking about when they say they "got stuck," and you'll see them doing things like practicing with a glove stuck in their lead armpit.
If you've got read my weblog for any period of time, you have heard me hold forth approximately one-piece takeaways till you're sick of it. But a awful takeaway is the region in which this form of push receives began, so allow me quickly provide an explanation for the way it takes place.
Ben Hogan correctly said that your elbows should point down at the ground throughout your swing. Too many people start their backswings by twisting their forearms to the side. In addition to all the other problems this can cause (there's a full technical explanation in my book Stop Coming Over-the-Top, complete with a load of diagrams, if you're interested), twisting your forearms causes your lead elbow to point at the target instead of the ground. When you reach the top of your backswing your lead elbow is still pointed sideways instead of down, and the natural way to start your downswing from that position is to pull sideways... which will cause you to bend that lead elbow and move it away from your side.
Hogan's solution to this was something he called connection, which I've also written about on this blog. When you're connected, your upper arms rest lightly against your chest the way they did at address. Basically, Hogan said that if you kept your elbows close to your side this way during your swing -- at least when your hands are not above your shoulders, because then your trailing arm has to move away a little -- your elbows will point down at the ground all the way through your swing.
That's why professionals from time to time put a glove or a towel beneath their lead armpit. The glove (or towel) will fall to the ground if they get "disconnected." But unless you make a correct takeaway -- a connected one-piece takeaway -- you'll have your elbow inside the incorrect position from the begin. Then you'll be suffering to curve your fingers again into role at the way down. That's simply doing matters the difficult way... Which is a disgrace, because this motive is the very best to repair.
I have a very good rationalization of the way to perform a one-piece takeaway on this put up, complete with drills. You can do the drills with or without a membership so, like the day before today's drill, you may do them anywhere. I'll go away you to work with the ones these days.
Tomorrow I'll try to wrap this all up and fill in any blanks I may additionally have overlooked with the aid of tackling each trouble separately -- such things as why you might lean backward at the downswing and how a dishonest elbow can make it worse. After all, a number of you will be making each errors at the same time!
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