WEBVTT

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in this analysis video we're gonna take

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a look at the swing of hideki Matsuyama

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now hideki is consistently a top ball

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striker and like many who can really go

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low he shines with the iron shots

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specifically between 125 and 200 yards

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in this video we're gonna discuss two of

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his keys on how he's able to hit such

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exceptional approach shots Hideki is

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consistently in the top 10 in strokes

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gained approach the green

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he's his proximity the hole is great

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he's really solid iron player he's a

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good driver of the golf ball but he's a

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exceptional iron player he can struggle

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at times with the putting but when he

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gets that rolling he can go really low

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now what's nice for this analysis video

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is we're gonna take a look at what he

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does during the release because right

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now some of the hot concepts are to

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teach a lot of arm shallowing and early

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flexing of the lead wrist and we'll see

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that Hideki doesn't really do either of

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those you can see that early in his

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transition

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he gets the shaft in a more vertical or

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steep position compared to his upper

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body and he doesn't really flex that

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lead wrist so how is it that he's able

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to do these things that typical amateurs

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struggle with yet he is able to

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consistently be a great iron player or

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just a great ball striker well there's

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two keys that he's able to demonstrate

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in his swing one dealing with his arms

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and the way he releases the club and two

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dealing with his upper body and how

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stable he's able to keep his sternum now

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your arms actually connect to the

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sternum so the sternum is the chest bone

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is a great kind of reference for how

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your upper body is going to influence

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low point so what many amateurs would do

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is from this a little bit steep position

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like so they would shallow out the swing

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path by having the sternum go backwards

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away from the golf ball and having the

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sternum go up and probably having the

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sternum go a little bit forward now what

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we'll see is through the release he does

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a great job of keeping the sternum about

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the same distance away from the golf

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ball that helps him provide a really

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consistent reference point for his arm

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extension coming down the line you'll

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see that even though he does a

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tremendous job of pushing with the legs

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and using the legs vertically as well as

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rotationally you'll see that he doesn't

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let that cause his upper body or his

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sternum to move off of the golf ball so

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he stays a pretty consistent distance

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from his golf ball and then what he does

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with his arms allows him to make very

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solid repeatable turf contact what he

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does differently with his arms which is

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kind of that second key is he really

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releases the whole arm and not just the

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hands what many people do from that

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steep position is they would release the

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club outside in and they would reach

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their wrists and bend those arms to help

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square the face hideki rotates the club

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he just does it later than what most

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Tour Pros do currently so he's able to

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rotate the club through this zone here

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which allows him to get some shaft lean

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but still have the clubface pointing at

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the target if you struggle with getting

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shaft lean then know that in order to

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have any amount of shaft lean and have

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the club pointing at the target you're

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going to have to have some face rotation

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now on the way through what he does in

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order to produce more of a wide

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consistent bottom to his swing is he

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straightens his arms and he extends or

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he owner deviates he unhinges his wrist

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which helps keep the club wider longer

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it helps keep the club moving on a more

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shallow path for a longer pair

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of time he does it so long and so late

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that you'll see that by the hands are

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almost belly button height the club is

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still below them he he's one of the best

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at this along with a jordan spieth and

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it's no coincidence that the two of them

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are some of the top iron players in the

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game what many amateurs do is they would

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not really fully release their arms and

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shoulders but instead flip the trail

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wrist and extend the lead wrist and have

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the club head pass very quickly so they

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would have the club working its way

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towards that position compared to the

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hand height where Hideki keeps with the

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unhinging keeps his hands above the club

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head for a long period of time into the

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follow-through that helps him obtain

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this really classic looking what I call

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follow-through position where the arms

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are fully extended the club has pointed

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just slightly right of his target line

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are pretty close to it and the club is

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slightly below the hands his sternum has

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maintained about the same distance it

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was from the golf ball from where it was

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at impact through to that the end of

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that follow-through position so you got

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your two keys for iron play but I want

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to leave you with a tempo thought to

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work with as well one of the things that

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Hideki demonstrates that I've seen in my

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experience is that golfers who have more

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of a vertical or steep arm movement tend

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to do better with a quieter upper body

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so you'll see that Hideki has his famous

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kind of pause at the top where he

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collects himself and what gives him the

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look of more of that slow tempo during

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transition is the fact that his upper

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body doesn't spin out very much if

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you're gonna have more vertical arm

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movement then keeping your chest closed

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or keeping your upper body quiet tends

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to really help balance that out and

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coordinated so you'll see even though he

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goes pretty hard with his lower body his

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upper body is not one of his major power

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sources that combination of

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going harder with his lower body harder

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with his arms but being quiet with his

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upper body not spinning out not creating

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a lot of aggression from his upper body

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helps him control his path his low point

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in his face to be one of the more

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consistent iron players so if you want

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to learn more about how your swing works

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head over to golf smart academy.com sign

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up for a free membership and you can

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check out videos related to transition

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