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Arm Shallowing Errors

There are four common mistakes that golfers often make. First, instead of retracting the shoulders, many golfers protract them, which can lead to poor arm positioning. Second, excessive bicep curling during the swing can hinder proper arm rotation and cause the club to steepen. The third mistake is when the lead arm pulls across the chest, disrupting the desired shallow angle. Finally, relying too much on hip movement rather than proper arm rotation can also lead to arm shallowing errors. It's crucial to be aware of these mistakes and focus on maintaining correct arm positioning while minimizing excessive body movement. This will greatly improve your ball control and overall golf swing.

Tags: Poor Contact, Transition, Concept

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This concept video is looking at arm shallowing errors.

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So arm shallowing is one of those important kind of differentiators.

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Most good players, um,

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toros tend to have some arm shallowing to allow for more steeper

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body positions, which helps control, uh, the bottom of swing,

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get a really good flat spot, low point.

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Some of those good things allow you to power the swing more with your body

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instead of the arms. So it's something to strive for,

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but it's also something that I see a lot of, um, students especially, uh,

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the virtual ones here on the site, uh, do incorrectly.

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So I'm gonna talk through a few different ways,

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four different ways that I commonly see, um,

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amateurs applying the arm shallowing incorrectly. Now,

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piece number one I might be guilty of in some of my arm shallowing videos if I'm

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not being careful,

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but ideally good arm shallowing is a blend of some arm rotation as

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well as some shoulder blade shallowing.

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So this right shoulder blade goes into retraction and that left shoulder blade,

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um, goes into protraction elevation. They kind of shift this way. Um,

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so what often I see is golfers demonstrating an arm shallowing,

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but really protracting and pulling that arm in front.

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Now that helps kind of create some space and makes me feel like I'm getting the

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elbow way in front. But what we would prefer,

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what I'd like to see is that the shoulder is actually going backward as I'm

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getting, um, or the shoulder is retracting and depressing.

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As I'm getting that elbow in front,

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that creates more of this feeling of connection where when I do this, um,

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it's a little bit disconnected and when the shoulder goes forward like that,

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that is one of the biggest causes of steepening the club from the down the line.

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So even if you feel like the elbow is going this way,

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that's gonna get over overridden by the shoulder movement,

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where if the shoulder is going back as the elbow's going in front,

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you're gonna see that that's gonna have a much bigger impact on, um,

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laying the shaft down or shallowing, uh, in transition.

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Number two is doing more of a bicep curl. Um,

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so oftentimes golfers will kind of pull the elbow up and

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in and get it really close like this. So, um, if you have the club in hand,

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it'll end up looking like it's really narrow like this and the club would just

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be too high off the ground. Um, if I'm doing that,

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that's where I'm getting some of this rotation,

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more of a feel from the bicep instead of if I keep that arm straight

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and I do the shoulder blade and I let it kind of the elbow rotate in front and

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get some shallowing this way where the arm stays wide,

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I feel that primarily in the backside of the shoulder using the shoulder

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external rotators. Um, where again, doing it here,

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you could see how I would have to have some,

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I would have to have some major compensations either from the body or the timing

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of the arms to account for that. Uh, bicep curl number three.

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So first one we've got shoulder protraction two is too much of a bicep

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curl. Um,

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three is the lead arm pulling across the chest kind of this way.

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So if the, if the shoulder blades shallow correctly,

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then that left arm gets pinned a little bit in transition as that right arm is

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shallowing. Now it doesn't have to be across your body as much as you can, um,

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but oftentimes when I see golfers demonstrating getting the arm to shallow,

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it's not so much like this,

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it's more like this where I'm kind of pulling the club across. Well, again,

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the problem is if that left shoulder pulls this way,

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that has a reflex of making the right shoulder pull more in the

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steep way as well. So that tends to throw the club into a, uh,

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steeper orientation when we actually are doing it dynamically.

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So when you're rehearsing that shallow move, you want your hips to turn,

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but you want your lead shoulder to stay, uh,

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more across your body or still in that closed off position.

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And then the last one is more from the body. So we've got three arm ones.

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We've got the shoulder going into protraction,

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the bicep curling or the lead shoulder pulling too much.

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The fourth one is doing it more from the body. Um,

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and what I mean by that is doing a lot of movement from the hips.

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Now you'll see if I do this movement from the shoulders where I get some

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shallowing, my spine does get some right side bend,

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especially because of what's happening at the shoulder blade level. Um,

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but I maintain my staticness here. Um,

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where what I'll see is some golfers when they're demonstrating the arm

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shallowing,

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they'll keep the arms in an overly steep position kind of up like this.

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So it's not gonna really change or get any width.

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And then what happens is we,

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they do the shallowing more from tilting at the pelvis, kind of like this.

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So now I feel like my arm has rotated down, but really all I did was I,

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I tilted my whole upper body using my pelvis.

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So the club is in a shallower position, but I'm not really in a position to,

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to cover the ball and control low point. Um,

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so that usually causes a block hook combination and oftentimes some shanks. So,

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um, if you're working on arm shallowing,

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which is great compliment to working on body sequencing and low point training,

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um, that's great,

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but I wanna make sure that you hit on a few of these key details.

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Watch out for those big four of the shoulder blade going into protraction

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instead of retraction the arm coming in, doing more of a bicep curl,

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the lead arm,

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pulling too much across your chest kind of like this or going into too much

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pelvis side bend, kinda like that early on.

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There's a big difference between getting a little bit of that Jackson five kind

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of that weight shift and being here versus still being almost behind your right

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foot and getting into some major shallowing and that way.

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So if you pay attention to those when you're working on your shallowing,

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it will definitely help your, uh, overall downswing sequence,

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low point control and consistency. Okay, so quick demo,

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even though this was a concept video, if I do any of those steepening movements,

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so if the shoulder gets up, if the arm kind of curls in,

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if that left shoulder pulls, um, those walls steepen things,

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now oftentimes that will be accompanied with a little bit of that body

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shallowing, which can create the look from the down the line that I am on plane.

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But I'll be way behind the ball and have more of a throw style release in order

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to, to get the club down to the golf ball. Um,

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where on the opposite, if I was to do more of that, uh,

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lead shoulder, uh, kind of staying pin that trail shoulder retraction,

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that's gonna allow me to turn my body and get more of

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a covering feel and more of kind of that lag or that body powered swing.

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So if you're working through the showering,

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just pay attention to a few of the key details.

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