Subscribe now to watch the full video.

Unhinge Training - Pool Noodle

This is a great visual cue for golfers who tend to get steep at the bottom of the swing. Often times, this pattern can be attributed to a lack of ulnar deviation or "unhinge". If you fall into this category, a simple pool-noodle and tripod can get you to unhinge earlier and create a shallower angle of attack. However, do not be frustrated if you notice a few shots leaking to the right; you may need to train the "motorcycle" to create a more neutral clubface and take full advantage of your improved arm mechanics. Again, our goal is to avoid the flip-style release (and the open club-face that accompanied it) while focusing on creating a shallow movement of the arms that will better compliment our pivot & body-mechanics.

Tags: Poor Contact, Not Straight Enough, Cast, Release, Drill, Intermediate

00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000
This drill is unhinged training with the pool noodle.

00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:11,000
So if you tend to get steep down towards the bottom of the swing, so let's say, or in transition,

00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,000
but because of what's going on in the bottom of the swing, then what will happen is typically

00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,000
the club will get outside here.

00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:23,000
Now, we have a couple different visual ways that you can work on being aware of the path

00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,000
of the club.

00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:31,000
But I find that having a perpendicular pool noodle like this can be quite helpful or effective

00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,000
for helping train that spatial awareness.

00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:39,000
So all I've done is I took an old tripod and stuck half a pool noodle on it.

00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:44,000
So now I've got a nice soft barrier if I were to make contact.

00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:48,000
Then what I'm going to do is I'm going to get set up or I'm going to position the club

00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:49,000
so that I'm set up.

00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:55,000
Basically I'm going to bring the pool noodle so that it just gives me a very small margin

00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,000
of error from the down the line.

00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,000
I'm going to be tough here to make myself swing a little bit more from the inside.

00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:06,000
Now to help myself make sure that I stay at about the same distance in line with the pool

00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:13,000
noodle, I'm just going to put a couple of teas so that I know that the golf ball is roughly

00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,000
in between those teas.

00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:25,000
Now I can do 9 to 3 training or I could do full swing training and I will be able to have

00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:34,000
a little bit of extra spatial awareness if I were to maintain that hinge and not get the club

00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:38,000
down the ground through there then the club would hit into the pool noodle.

00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:44,000
So as long as I have a pretty good pivot and the club swings more from the inside there,

00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:51,000
then I know that I did a good job of owner deviating or unhinging.

00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:57,000
Now if I tend to do this movement and what commonly happens the first few times I'll have students try

00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:04,000
this, if they're used to doing more of a steep mover, a radial deviation mover it's getting

00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,000
on top more like this then what'll happen is the first few times that they get under.

00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:16,000
It'll go like that and the ball will go 30 yards off to the right even on a little half shot.

00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:24,000
So then what that's telling us is that a large reason why you are getting on top of it is to close

00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:31,000
the face and so then you may need to work on that combo of owner deviation and the motorcycle move.

00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:37,000
So you may need to work on getting the club face a little bit more square so that when you

00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:43,000
then owner deviate and come through the club face it or the ball goes straight even though you

00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:48,000
swung from the inside. So this can be a very useful tool for training your path instead of

00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:54,000
necessarily trying to always feel the perfect movements you can use spatial awareness like this

00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:00,000
to help calibrate the movements. This can be very helpful for training that owner deviation path

00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:08,000
and if you tend to get more of steep or poles or slices there's a good chance that you might need

00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:15,000
to do some owner deviation training and putting a little pool noodle right here in line is a great

00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,000
way to establish a good spatial awareness and make sure that you're doing it correctly. So now I've

00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:32,000
done a few nine to three's let's do a little bit more of a full swing. So pretty good there didn't

00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,000
quite get the club face around steeping it a little bit because I'm now hitting out of the

00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:43,000
divots from those nine to three drills. One downside with station training is unless you're using a

00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:54,000
tea you're going to end up hitting out of divots. That's a little bit better there. So use this

00:03:54,000 --> 00:04:00,000
little spatial awareness from down the line to help train the path of the club from the early part

00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:04,000
of the release into impact.