As predicted, after an uneventful lesson at PKU yesterday, today was extremely important. Patrick started the lesson by holding my left knee and turning my upper body with the left side. The first few times I did this there was a tremendous pull in my left pectoral muscle. I was shocked how much it was pulling my pec. Patrick said we have to take the next step to get your upper body to turn around your lower body. This exercise was without a club in my hands.
We then words on the same turn with my left knee stable but Patrick turned my upper body and put my arms in the correct position. For the first time I felt my right arm truly tuck and my left were rolling down and soft. My arms really did feel weightless. It also gave me much more time to get to the top of the backswing.
As someone who had a complete arms swing in the past, it is amazing to see how far I have come and just how different it is to feel the shoulder turn without using ams. Patrick encouraged me to hit some balls. I was shocked at how weightless the right side and especially the right leg is when you turn with the shoulders. I did a full Gary Player step through the first swing.
It is hard to explain but the club feels completely different at the top of my backswing as my elbows pinch in and are weightless. There are so many YouTube videos talking about how PGA Tour Pros pinch their elbows in at the top of the swing. They don’t even think about doing this. It may look like it, but they are actually just turning with their body and their right arm naturally tucks and the left elbow falls in. This flattens the club plane at the top and from there they just drop it in the slot and turn back through the ball.
This lesson was one of the most important in terms of feel. I now know that I was getting about 3/4ths of the way to the top of the backswing in the last few months. The only way to truly get to the top is to feel the right arm inside and soft and the club flatten in the last seconds of the top of the swing. It also makes the club so much lighter and takes all hands out of the swing.
