Arms

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2-Club Parallel www.dailymotion.com⁠

Arms are good drills to practice if the ball is going right with little or a bunch of slice. If you are hitting the ball thin or too low on the clubface. Also, if you want some effortless power then have a go at lag.

Arms straight - square club face (101)

When I used The Drill to learn the 90-90-90 technique it confirmed to me the value of the Rotwary Swing methodology.

80-90% of ball direction is dictated by the position of club face at impact. Stable arms at impact result in stable, square to target, club face.

Practice a take away until the club shaft is parallel to the ground. Check that club face is square - meaning the toe of the club is pointed to the sky. Now move back to a square club face at contact. Then keep going until you reach the follow through with club shaft parallel to the ground and the club face is square - toe pointing to the sky. Practice club shaft parallel to contact to club shaft parallel follow through. Over and over until you get the feel of a square club face at the three positions: backswing, contact and follow-through.

Take away with both arms straight. Right arm will eventually bend in arm parallel drill. Keeping the arms straight is possibly the biggest “bang for the buck” concept for most amateurs because it will improve on a consistent square club-face at impact.

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Left arm only (201)

Later this drill was transformational when I used this drill with left arm only. Wow! So that’s what contact is supposed to feel like! I suppose to this point I struggled with a few things that this drill imposes on the swing. Anyway, it is magical.

This drill taught me what the “the moment of truth” feels like. Particularly when I let go of my right hand just after contact and allow my left arm to follow through alone. This is a feeling that was previously foreign to me. Since I don’t typically use my left side for any sport, this has helped me get familiar with my left side.

Like a blind squirrel finding a nut - we can make the numerous adjustments to surprisingly overcome bad swing mechanics and have a good hit. We all can happen upon a square club face at impact.

If you start straight, keep left arm straight through out, you will increase percentage of impact with a square club face. A straight left arm also promotes a flattened left wrist which improves club face attitude at contact. That said, left arm strength is required for this drill. Not all have this ability so it is classified as a 200 level drill.

To compress the ball properly, the club face needs to be square or 90 degrees to the target at contact. It follows that the club face should be square in the take away and the follow through.

The advantage of left arm staying straight through backswing will ensure a restricted backswing. For example, one can utilize every joint in the body to bring the club head behind the left ear without even turning the body. But this just complicates matters. The longest possible arc in the swing can increase power but it can also increase complexity in the timing and squaring of the club face. What ever happens in the back swing must be uncoiled in the down swing.

A straight left arm is just the right amount of restriction on the backswing. It answers the question. How far to go back? It is a trigger for me that I have completed the backswing. It also prevents the “chicken wing” or arms from getting loosey-goosey and unpredictable. For me loosey-goosey usually results in hitting the ball “thin”.

We want the wrists to be loose but loose elbows messes up “the moment of truth” - at ball contact. It is a challenge to tell the body to loosen just one set of joints but not all joints.

Left shoulder is the hinge point of the swing. Reduce variability in the distance from the left shoulder and the club face at impact by keeping the elbow straight. This increases predictable results.

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Hands in front of club face (Left wrist flat) (301)

Eventually, I got to the point where I felt good about my mechanics but I was still missing to the right and left of greens and fairways. Not by much but enough to keep my score stagnant. In Rotary Swing’s latest training module, the first drill includes “flat left wrist” drill.

One of the themes is, a descending blow. Almost every shot warrants a descending blow - the exception is for the lofted drive, to catch a big wind.

This drill as helped to stop flipping or scooping the ball.

Lag (302)

Yet another foreign feeling was lag. Rotary Swing terms this “effortless power”.

This may be a challenge to reproduce. The quickest way to get a feel for this is to return to The Drill with loose wrists. Pay particular attention to the force created by the weight of the club-head on the backswing. As you complete the backswing to shaft parallel. Can you feel the weight of the club-head trying to go up past parallel? If you allow the club head weight to continue to propel the club head upwards after you have paused your arms, you can feel lag. It is even more pronounced if you immediately descend when reaching club parallel.The looser the wrists the higher the club will go past parallel. The angle of the shaft with the wrists defines the amount of lag in the swing. This is creating lag.

Once you have found lag in the backswing. Maintaining it in the downswing is another challenge. Typically, our initial thought on the downswing is to leverage our wrists and hands to propel the club at the ball. This thought almost always erases the lag in our swing. However, swinging with lag seems is such a leap of faith. How could we ever feel any kind of control over something that feels so dynamic? My first attempts at swinging with lag on the course were incredibly hard. Every thought and body part wanted to do anything but create lag.

This is partly why many of the concepts of the swing require focus on generating swing movements that depend on weight, on the lower body, on firm elbows, and loose wrists. In the end these elements of the swing are trying to support and encourage lag!

One challenge in lag is squaring the club face at impact. If you add too much lag. It may be more than you can handle and will test your ability to speed up your sequencing. Yes, there is such a thing as too much lag. If it is too much lag, then temper it a bit. You need to find your controllable limit.

Again, other sports have lag only it is termed differently: whip, pop, flick. For example: throwing a ball with speed uses lag at the elbow.

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