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I recently received a question related to shallowing in transition. Specifically, I was asked what angle or amount of club shallowing is ideal? Before we move on to the answer though, it is good to clarify what we mean by "shallowing". To be exact, shallowing occurs when the club's center of mass drops below the golfer's hand path. Or in layman's terms, it is when the height of the clubhead drops relative to the height of our hands. This move is a hallmark of great ball-strikers, with one notable study by Dr. Sasho MacKenzie showing that 39 out of 40 touring professionals exhibit some amount of shallowing in transition. As many amateurs tend to pull with the arms and become very steep, this move can be a "missing piece" for a lot of my students.
Now, to answer our question, there is not one ideal amount or angle for shallowing. Or in other words, we want to simply make sure that some shallowing IS occuring in transition. However, for those who want a goal in mind, a rough guideline would be the clubshaft pointing at the target line half-way down. But, this may be different for you depending on your body-type and swing-style, so it is best to not worry about an exact or "ideal" amount.
Tags: Fundamentals, Transition, Release, Concept
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This content video is discussing club height to hand height.
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So I had a member question about what angle is shallow enough during the downswing,
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basically if you're looking from the down the line view, where should the club be during
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the downswing?
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And I wanted to take this as an opportunity to discuss shallowing, which is one of the
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hallmarks of good ball strikers, Sasha McKenzie, with some of his research, a show that
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in one sample size 39 out of 40 Tor pros had a shallowing movement during transition.
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We're basically the center of mass of the club drop below the hand path, where the majority
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of amateurs tend to have more of a steepening movement.
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So one simple way that you can look at shallowing is looking at the hand height compared
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to the club height.
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If you shallow the club, then the club head drops more than the handle.
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If I drop everything down together, then I didn't actually shallow.
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So I could be on a really flat angle like this, drop it down like that, and I wouldn't
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have been, I didn't actually shallow the club.
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Or I could have it on a steep angle like this.
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Whereas I come down, the club head is dropping lower than the hands compared to this
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camera angle.
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That would indicate a shallowing movement.
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So the shallowing movement is the key, not necessarily how shallow.
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There's too many factors when you look at different clubs, length of arms, power sources,
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but you'll tend to have an easier job squaring the club face down at the bottom, and you'll
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tend to have an easier job controlling the width of the club.
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If you have some of the shallowing movement during transition, in order to shallow it,
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you've got to make sure that your arms are nice and soft and that they're working in the
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proper ways.
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I've got videos on how the left arm as well as the right arm shallows, or you can get
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the shallowness happening a little bit more from the body, but the early shallow movements
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are typically all for arm and shoulder issues, all arms.
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So don't worry about getting some magic reference, but if you did want to have a ballpark,
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somewhere where it's pointing around the golf ball is not a bad area to focus on.
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If it's pointing straight down at the ground, that's probably a little too steep, even
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if it's shallowed to get there, it might be challenging to control the path and the low
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point that way.
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Conversely, if it's completely horizontal, it might be hard to control the low point,
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you might struggle with more thins and tops.
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Somewhere around the golf ball, but really the most important thing is that the club
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height or the club head is dropping more than your hands.
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That's a good indicator that you're shallowing and making one of the key homers to a solid
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torsoing.
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Okay, so I'll try to exaggerate.
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There are the hands are staying a little bit higher as the club comes down.
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Should give me good shallow turf contact.
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Two bad, just to touch behind it, but 2030 feet.
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Try one more.
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It's pretty good in shallow, I'll just give a little bit more left tilt.
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And there we go.
