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Keys To Transition
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Many golfers who struggle with a cast pattern or an upper-body dominated transition can benefit from some tempo training. More specifically, improving the rate of acceleration in transition and through impact can offer several benefits for golfers who fall into this category. Not only will it improve low point control and get the lower body more engaged, but it will also help transfer the maximum amount of energy to the ball. A great and unique drill for feeling this "steady" acceleration is to simply dribble a basketball. If done correctly, you should feel a consistent delivery of energy and then a quick release. This is reminiscent of how the arms shallow in transition, gradually pick up speed, and then are released with an explosive move of the lower body and core. Ultimately, if you are struggling with pulls or heavy shots, try a few dribbles or some of the club throw downs and see if you can transition these feels to your golf swing. If done successfully, you should notice yourself moving somewhat slow and then fast; not fast and then slow.
Tags: Cast, Transition, Intermediate, Beginner
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This video is learning tempo from dribbling a basketball.
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So two of the main sports that I played growing up were basketball and tennis.
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And I was actually a late bloomer when it came to golf.
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I didn't start until I was about 15.
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Maybe a little bit before then, but actually taking serious probably about 15.
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So I drew on a lot of my experiences from playing other sports
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and just kind of being aware of movement in general.
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And one of the things that I realized that I learned from basketball
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was rhythm and timing of acceleration.
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I find that many golfers who tend to struggle with more of an upper body swing,
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more of a cast pattern tend to apply force to the club very aggressively,
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very quickly, all at once, right at the top of the swing.
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And then just kind of coast on the way through.
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What I learned from basketball was to get the object moving
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and then gradually build up speed and then apply the force much later
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to the object in this case, the ball instead of the club.
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But you can learn the same thing from bouncing a few balls.
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So I've got my kickball here, not quite as good as a basketball.
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But what you'll see when you get a good dribble of the basketball going,
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is that you're going to stay in contact with the ball for a,
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let's call it transition.
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So stay in contact with the ball while you're speeding it up,
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but it's not really aggressive straight from the top.
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That would have a look, a more of a look of almost like slapping the ball,
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or what we would call more of a Frankenstein dribble.
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You worked a lot on being able to accelerate late,
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so that then you could apply change of direction,
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because you hadn't accelerated it too hard in one direction all at once.
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You still had some room in the tank, if you will.
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So getting that feeling of applying the force late is similar to what it feels like to me when hitting a good golf shot.
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So then what I usually do is I'll take the golf club and I'll say,
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okay, you're used to just kind of pushing on it like this.
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I want you to get a feel of pushing on the golf club,
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or matching its speed and then applying the force kind of late at the bottom.
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So basically a feel of I'm matching and then I'm accelerating it way down late.
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That would be the same as kind of feeling those arms being relaxed through here,
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where I'm not totally relaxed where I have no control,
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but I'm matching the speed all the way down until here,
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at least that's one of the perceived fields that a lot of golfers have.
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And then from here I'm applying that force late through the ball with my lower body and core rotation,
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as well as with my arm extension.
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So if you struggle with having a little bit more of a flash speed,
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where you're really pulling on the club and feel a lot of tension up at the top,
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dribble a ball, or you can even toss a golf ball to kind of get the feel of applying for slowly and then quick at the end.
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Slow and then quick. Slow and then quick.
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This would be slow and then quick.
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Slow and then quick.
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So if you're struggling and you're working on your tempo,
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dribbling a basketball can be a great way for you to uncover the feeling of proper tempo or acceleration late through the ball.
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So what that looks like is I'll try to exaggerate.
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It's a look of slow through here and then quick more late through there as opposed to quick early,
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kind of like this and then slowly.
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So quick.
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And then slow versus slow and then quick.
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It's much easier to have the desired flat spot and low point control if you go slow then quick than if you go quick then slow.
