Josh’s Tips & Tricks: Arms Lift, Body Rotates

Introduction

Hello golfers, welcome to this week’s tips & tricks. The autumn is pretty much here and therefore the golfing season is coming to an end. This means the cold winter months, grinding away at the swing, are coming. I will be doing some bits and pieces for winter packages over the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled.

This week I want to look at the golf swing as a whole and a possible different view of it. The golf swing is very difficult to understand and everyone is different but the overall concept has never really changed. We are going to look at how the body and arms are supposed to work in the most simple way possible.

Lets get started.

Arms Lift, Body Rotates

Lots of the swing faults I see on a daily bases are from a lack of understanding regarding how either the arms or body operate. If we have a concept of what moves where we can understand the movements better and hopefully make the golf swing easier to understand.

Firstly take a look at the following video to get an idea of what we are talking about.

Faults

If the arms start to pull around the body or lift too soon to start the backswing it can lead to numerous swing faults. The arms get disconnected from the body and therefore lead to compensation to get to the top of the backswing. This leads to faults in dynamic posture (lifting up), high right elbow and open or closed clubface. All of these can be disastrous when it comes to ball striking and direction.

Body Rotates

Practice putting your hands on your hips and allow your hips to fully turn away from the target and back through. Try to stay centered with the head and turn your hips and shoulders as much as you can. Allow the feet and knees to move to maximise range of movement. Feel the weight shifting from one foot to the other as you rotate. This is how the body needs to be moving in the golf swing.

Arms Lift

All the arms need to do in the golf swing is lift the club in the air. The hands control the angle of the clubface so this needs to be understood but if the wrist angles don’t change the clubface angle shouldn’t change much. In some of the practice swings I practiced allowing the weight of the club to drop away from the target before rotating. This can be a good way of setting the wrist angles in the backswing.

Combine Both

Practice doing both in isolation without a club and then add a club. Practice turning to the top of the backswing by setting the club with lift and rotate and then swing through. If you have rotated effectively to the top and set the club in a neutral position, swinging through should feel a lot easier and possibly more powerful.

Summary

The arms lift and the body rotates. Understanding the simplicity of this could really help the dynamics of your golf swing. If you suffer with poor striking and sporadic directional misses this could be the cause of your problems. Turning the body and swinging the club with good rhythm and timing are key. The winter months are for working on this and making it feel much more natural.

If you would like any help with your golf swing you know where I am. If you would like to book a lesson CLICK HERE NOW.

Cheers,

Josh