Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best Young Teachers in
America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America.
Meet your new instructor.
Find Your Best Swing Quickly
Subscribe now to watch the full video.
Many golfers have a hard time balancing torso rotation and side-bend in the backswing. This can lead to a few common swing faults, most notably a loss of posture or a flat shoulder plane. For players that fall into this category, it can be helpful to focus on side-bending immediately at the start of the take-away. This will help create more of a 1-to-1 ratio of side-bend to rotation. It will also prevent the need for any additional compensations at the top. Too often, players will start their take-away with a very flat shoulder turn and then try to excessively side-bend as they work to the top of the swing. This can really throw off the timing and load of the upper body and cause a number of issues in the downswing.
Tags: Standing Up, Backswing, Drill, Beginner
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,000
This drill is side bend first.
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:08,000
So many golfers struggle with loss of posture or standing up and they're told to keep
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,000
their head down or you've probably thought about just trying to keep your chest over the
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:13,000
golf ball.
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:18,000
What usually happens is when your head is raising in the backswing is because you don't
00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:19,000
have enough of side bend.
00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:23,000
So in this drill we're going to talk a little bit more about the timing and how to practice
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:25,000
that during your takeaway.
00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:31,000
We know that when we get up to the top of the swing we roughly want the shoulders pointing
00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:32,000
down at the golf ball.
00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,000
We don't want them pointing at the horizon.
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:39,000
And you can see the difference between me standing up and staying in my posture is actually
00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:45,000
side bend because this camera I'm now I've turned from where I was at start and now I'm
00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:46,000
facing this camera.
00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:52,000
So if I lower my left shoulder that's actually tilting to the side.
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,000
Everything happens in the follow through where if I've stood up here it's not so much
00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:04,000
that I've extended my spine so that I don't have enough side tilt of my hips and my pelvis.
00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:08,000
But this drill is focusing on the takeaway and focusing on the backswing because what I
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:14,000
tend to find is that many golfers who lose their posture they start with a very level
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:19,000
shoulder turn and then try to correct it from there but by then everything's kind of
00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:25,000
got sucked inside the shoulders have already started on a very flat plane you've probably
00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,000
shifted off the ball it's hard to play catch up.
00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:34,000
What's better is to have a pretty even ratio of a little bit of side bend for every little
00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:39,000
bit of rotation almost a one to one relationship.
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:44,000
So if you fall into that more flat shoulder takeaway what I want you to feel is you're
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:50,000
going to feel like you're a straight side bend to start the backswing.
00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:55,000
Very few golfers actually do that when I ask them to straight side bend it looks more
00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:59,000
neutral more like that but they'll often feel like they're just bringing this shoulder
00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:06,000
down towards this foot and the hip is actually going out that way so they'll feel just
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:10,000
kind of a little side bend and then that movement.
00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:14,000
If I get to about halfway I can double check and just make sure that the shoulders are
00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:19,000
pointing closer to the golf ball instead of to the horizon.
00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:25,000
So working through the drill you're going to do first just a little side bend extra
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:31,000
side bend during the takeaway and just do a little nine to three action from a little
00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:38,000
pause position exaggerating that shoulder going down before it rotates so I'm feeling like
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:43,000
I'm going like this and then rotating in reality I'm probably blending them together.
00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:48,000
The next one I'll try is a hip from the top so I'm going to do a little side bend
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,000
get up to the top of the swing.
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:54,000
Just kind of check that shoulder angle and then from here.
00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:02,000
Well, transition and just extend those arms and then lastly I'll do the side bend movement
00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:11,000
without any pause without any gimmicks just trying to feel it in my takeaway.
00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,000
So if you struggle with getting proper tilt or you look like you stand up in your
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,000
backswing, you're early extend.
00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:24,000
You can focus on getting that side bend before the rotation that often helps create the
00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:28,000
kind of the proper spine angle when we're making the backswing and if you are struggling
00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:32,000
with the stand up in the follow-through you could focus on the right shoulder down too
00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:36,000
but in this particular one I'm usually just focusing on one side at a time.
00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,000
This is focusing on the takeaway and the backswing pivot.
