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This drill is the finesse wedge merry-go-round.

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So this is basically breaking down the pivot for the finesse wedge.

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So in the merry-go-round drill, we're going to tend to have this Jackson 5 tilt that

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creates a lot of side bend from the pelvis, and then we're going to have body rotation,

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this leg straightening and bracing so that our upper body is centered and our lower body

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is forward.

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Well, we know with the finesse wedge that we want the club to contact the ground a little

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bit differently, and so the body pivot is going to be different as well.

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We're going to have a narrow stance, so that's going to prevent us hopefully from getting

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a lot of this lateral movement.

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But the ball is still on the ground, so I need to have my shoulders turning and tilting closer

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to pointing down at the golf ball rather than horizontally.

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So I'm still going to have side bend, in fact, at impact, pros are typically going to

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have about 20 degrees of side bend, so we'll just rehearse that part.

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So here I am at setup, and then I'm going to go 20 degrees this way.

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Now you'll notice when I did that, I shifted off the ball.

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What I'm going to try to do instead is I'm just going to curve my spine so that I'm pretty

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straight up and down, but my shoulders are tilted.

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It may feel like more of just a shoulder shrug rather than a big spine movement if you're

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used to controlling the spine movement more from your hips.

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And I go through to the end of my follow-through, that's going to be about 40 degrees,

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so almost pointing down towards the golf ball like this.

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Now at impact, I will have stood up just slightly while having that side bend, and I'll

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have very little some rotation but very little.

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So it's usually roughly in the 10 to 20 degree range for these 30-yard shots at impact.

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So if normally I'm trying to get about 30 degrees open on this shot, I'm really only

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trying to get about 10 degrees open.

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Now the arms are going to be a little bit more in front of my body.

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So if I get into this 20 degree slightly extended, this is about where I want to be

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at impact, right about there.

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And now I'm going to put my arms where they would be.

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This might feel like the club or the handle is a little bit more in front of you compared

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to this way for the full swing merry-go-round version.

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So this is a simple kind of slow motion or position drill that you can do at home or to reinforce

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what's going on here during your practice session.

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So I'm going to get side bend first, then I'm going to get some extension, and then I'm

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going to rotate my upper body.

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So it's just pointing out right about there.

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So this is roughly where I'm trying to get to.

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And you'll see that it's a lot less of a change compared to when I do the impact fix like

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this for the full swing.

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So it's a subtle change but it's an important one.

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So I recommend working on practicing that with a little bit of mirror work.

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Some of the places where golfers tend to go wrong is they get none of the tilt from the

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spine and all of it from the hips.

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So none of this, they tend to get either too open or too close.

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So they'll tend to stay shut and just kind of throw the arms.

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They'll tend to hit it really high.

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So they'll typically have trouble with more of the really short shots.

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They'll tend to spin everything on top and they'll tend to hit.

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They'll be really good out of rough but struggle with the really tight especially the wet

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lies.

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So if you get a combination of the two, if you get slightly open and side bent from the

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spine, it will tend to improve your ability to brush the ground.

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And that's one of the ways that I like to use this drill is I'll have golfers experiment.

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So I'll say, okay, let's get way open.

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And now try to brush the ground and it'll feel a little bit firmer or I'll say get

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down to the ground and try to brush it and they'll see that it starts hitting too far

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behind and I have to really flinch my arms or we'll get them in the good position and

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they'll say, okay, now I can kind of feel the club sliding along the ground instead of

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hitting and striking it.

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So if you struggle with your pivot, the amount of side bend especially on the way through,

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or with the, some of the lateral movements because this helps you stay very centered, then

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I recommend doing this little merry-go-round drill.

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Again, it's about 20 degrees of side bend, not 30 degrees like in the full swing.

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And then it's only about 10 degrees of rotation and it's mostly from the upper body.

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There's not a big straightening of the leg or hip rotation.

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And then there's just a little bit of extension.

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So this tends to keep me very stacked up, but still right side a little bit lower than

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the left.

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That will help get the club to brush and slide on the way through.

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So I'm going to preset that impact position and then just coast it a little bit on the

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way through.

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It is hard to preset that movement because oftentimes by preceding that right side bend

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movement, you will tend to sway off the ball.

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That's part of the reason why I believe that they do it more dynamically in transition

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rather than a preset.

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But it can help your brain figure out about roughly where we're trying to get to, especially

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if you have too much access to it or not enough side bend, not enough rotation.