Keys To Transition
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Recent winner of 2017 US Open, Brooks Koepka, is featured in this analysis video. Tyler discusses a key movement of the arms for helping maximize power. However, with a significantly steep angle of attack and a leftward path, you want to be careful copying his release. If you struggle with slices or a chicken wing seeing Brooks tour version of a steep release could help you understand why you struggle with those moves.
Tags: Not Enough Distance, Draw vs Fade, Transition, Release, Analysis, Intermediate
WEBVTT
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in this analysis video we're going to
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take a look at the swing of Brookes
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Kepco the recent US Open champion is
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known for being a really long hitter
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he's currently ranked fifth in driving
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distance and fourth in club head speed
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we're going to take a look at what he
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does at the top of the swing and in
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transition in order to help him achieve
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that feat when it comes to hitting the
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ball a long way one of the goals is to
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use your total body to create speed now
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a sign that you're using more your body
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in transition is going to be having this
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good look of leg we're going to break
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down that look a leg just a little bit
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more because most people think that leg
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either comes from starting your lower
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body or having really good sequencing or
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from hinging your wrists a lot in
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transition but lag can really happen
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from anywhere from the feet all the way
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to the club it's a sign of good
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sequencing of using the legs first and
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then the the knees and the hips and then
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the core and then the shoulders and then
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the elbows and then the wrist the better
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that you have that sequencing the more
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you're going to achieve a powerful look
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just like Brookes now one of the places
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that I find amateurs really miss out on
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this lag is in the shoulders so what
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we'll see is Brooks does a really good
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job of getting that right arm in front
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and letting that left arm kind of drift
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a little bit across his body as he works
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in transition that's a sign that there's
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not a lot of tension in his arms and
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that his body is really pulling through
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his arms so as we look at it one more
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time you'll see that that right arm gets
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in front of his body very quickly this
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is a similar elbow look to another long
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hitter Dustin Johnson
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and one of the keys to making sure that
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that move works is to make sure that
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when the arm gets in front of you your
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forearms have enough relaxation in them
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so that the club shallows during that
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phase many amateurs that I've taught
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trying to get that arm in front of their
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body tend to steep in the club early in
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the downswing
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and that can lead to a whole host of
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contact path problems you name it there
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are two things that Brooks does in order
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to help make it easier for him to get
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that right elbow in front of his body if
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we back him up to the top of the swing
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you'll see that while he has a big full
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shoulder turn he has a lot of arm height
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you can see that that right elbow stays
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more or less in front of his PEC from
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this down the line you can see again
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looking at either the elbow space or
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just the relationship of the right arm
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to that pack you can see that it stays
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pretty much in front of body so that
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gives him a little bit more or that
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requires less of an adjustment move in
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order to get that right elbow back in
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front because it's already there it
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basically has to just drop and come in
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front a little many amateurs get that
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right elbow in that flying position or
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more behind their body that can work but
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it requires a larger movement of the
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right arm to get in front of the body
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and many amateurs don't like feeling
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that waiting during transition if you're
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going to go earlier if you're going to
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swing more aggressively from the top of
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the swing it's much easier to do that
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with the arms with that right elbow more
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in front of your body the other thing
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you'll see is that he has really good
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sequencing and pulls through his arms
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with his core so whether this feels like
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a rotation or this feels like a push
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from the ground or this feels like more
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of a spine tilt that's up to the
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individual but what we can see
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objectively is that there's not a lot of
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activity in straightening those arms
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until the left leg starts to straighten
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so he's pulling through and along the
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shaft of the club and then right around
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here you'll see that that left leg
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starts to brace and starts to straighten
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and it's that bracing and straightening
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of the leg that triggers the force going
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up this way and into the arms to get the
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club to start to release many amateurs
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trigger the release straightaway just
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from the arms instead of doing so from
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the body and that definitely costs you a
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lot of speed over here on the left is a
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great view for seeing that transition
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sequence as well as one as well as that
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trigger of the leg that left leg pushing
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to cause his arms to start to extend and
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they'll extend in the direction out in
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front of the golf ball instead of at the
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golf ball this trait of using his body
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as his main power source in transition
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and then using the arms later during the
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release is a trademark of most long
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hitters lining up to a big deal - for me
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I have to line up left for the target
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because I like to add a fade so Brooks
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likes to hit a fade if you're trying to
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get out of hitting a fade there are some
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things that you might want to not copy
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about his swing as you can see from
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these track command statistics he's got
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a downward angle of attack of over 3
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degrees with the driver almost 10
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degrees with the iron those could be
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problematic numbers for a lot of
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amateurs especially if you're have lower
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club head speed but what we'll talk
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about is how he actually creates that
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downward angle of attack you can see
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from this body position that his upper
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body is far enough behind the golf ball
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he could have a touch more tilt but he's
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got a good amount of access tilt to
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where a lot of players with this body
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position would have a flat worried or
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possibly even positive angle of attack
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so that tells us that the way he
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steepens the club must be coming more
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from the release what you can see is he
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gets his leftward path in his fade more
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from the lack of ulnar deviation or
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having a little bit more of a steeper
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pattern during his release where
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basically that left wrist doesn't fully
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unhinge he gets a little bit more of a
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roll movement in order to help him
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Square the face
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roll movement does move the path left
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and frequently causes downward angle of
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attack one other thing to note that role
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release tends to create a look in the
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follow-through has a bit more arm Bend
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so if you really hate the look of having
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a chicken wing then having a steeper
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movement of your wrist during the
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release might not be a move that you
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want to try to copy but if one of your
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goals is to create more speed then
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modeling what Brooks does at the top of
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swing and in transition will definitely
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help you accomplish that if you like the
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way we broke down
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Brooks's swing then please like
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subscribe or share this video if you
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want to learn more about transition and
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how to maximize power I've included a
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playlist to a series of transition
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videos you can head over to golf smart
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academy and sign up for a free
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membership there you can watch any of
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the transition videos they're organized
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so you can create a deeper understanding
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of how guys like Brooks are able to hit
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it as far as they do