One year dedicated to improving impact position and killing my early extension

I've been working with a coach in the Boston area for about a year to make improvements to my swing, specifically reducing the amount of early extension that was present in my swing and improving my impact position. While it's certainly still not perfect, I've made a lot of progress and thought I'd show where I'm at today.

I'd LOVE any thoughts or feedback!

Things I _think_ I still want to improve on:

- Right hip is still too high at impact, I'd like to see it lower.

- Right foot and knee are still a bit more active than I want. Would like to be quieter.

- I don't post up on my left leg quite as much as I think I'd ideally want to (it's flexed at impact).

Looks pretty good coming into impact I'd say but your hip turn in the backswing is really restricted.

What are you looking to change by fixing those 3 things?

> @dlanerie said:

> Looks pretty good coming into impact I'd say but your hip turn in the backswing is really restricted.

>

> What are you looking to change by fixing those 3 things?

Yeah, hip turn is almost nonexistent but it seems to be working. I'll let instructors tell us why.

> @dlanerie said:

> Looks pretty good coming into impact I'd say but your hip turn in the backswing is really restricted.

>

> What are you looking to change by fixing those 3 things?

> @chigolfer1 said:

> > @dlanerie said:

> > Looks pretty good coming into impact I'd say but your hip turn in the backswing is really restricted.

> >

> > What are you looking to change by fixing those 3 things?

>

> Yeah, hip turn is almost nonexistent but it seems to be working. I'll let instructors tell us why.

It's interesting you both noticed that, one of the things I've struggled with is my overall flexibility/mobility in my lower body. Now am I physically capable of more hip turn? Yes, absolutely. That said, I do struggle with a lack of consistency in my ball striking, so in my mind the less moving parts the better. I generate a lot of speed and hit the ball "far enough" that I can't really justify the additional movement. That said, I'd love to hear why that could be wrong.

So far, the only thing that's really helped reduce my early extension is actually the image/thought of getting my right hip lower at impact. The whole "move your left hip back" idea just hasn't done the trick. If you look at most pros, their right hip is still lower than mine at impact, and it's generally just a sign of better rotation through the ball (my opinion, not meant to be stated as fact).

Quieter lower body/feet goes back to the whole "I struggle with consistency" thing and wanting less moving parts.

The posting up on my left leg is something that I notice in almost all the modern golf swings on tour. Guess I don't have as much of a good reason for wanting that right now other than, mostly, I'm trying to imitate what seems to be working for the best players in the world.

The extra movement (when done properly) should actually increase consistency, not decrease it. The more restricted your hip turn, the harder it is (because you have less time) it is to sync up your arms and body. Your desire to post up on the left side is also a byproduct of the pivot/pressure shift, which likely also get's easier when you aren't trying to restrict the hips.

With that being said, lots of good things going on.

The issue with your restricted hip turn is that it doesn't give you enough time to get your arms down and out - your hips get back to square before your arms get to parallel - and then they are still too deep - you have a version of Monte's ballerina 68 going on where arms trail hips. More hip depth would allow your arms more time to get down and your rotation to bring them more out. It's not extra motion, it's needed motion. Sequencing as noted by Krt22.

As others have said, restricted hip turn and keeping the right knee too flexed isn’t allowing the right hip to get high enough in the backswing.

You're swinging way too slowly.

Awesome, this is really great to hear such a consensus on the hip turn on the way back. As a follow up question, would an expected consequence of added hip turn on the way back mean I can/should actually reduce the amount of upper body turn? As you can see I'm already getting to parallel at the top without it, I just wonder if it means I should have less shoulder turn as a result of a bigger hip turn.

@MonteScheinblum In your view, my right leg should be straighter (less flexed) at the top of my swing than it is currently?

> @JakeW13 said:

> Awesome, this is really great to hear such a consensus on the hip turn on the way back. As a follow up question, would an expected consequence of added hip turn on the way back mean I can/should actually reduce the amount of upper body turn? As you can see I'm already getting to parallel at the top without it, I just wonder if it means I should have less shoulder turn as a result of a bigger hip turn.

>

> @MonteScheinblum In your view, my right leg should be straighter (less flexed) at the top of my swing than it is currently?

Yes

...and not less shoulder turn, less wrist set.

For me, my arms stop as I feel a stretch in my core/hips - somewhere around 10:30 or so - been using the gravitfit the last two weeks and it gives great feedback cause attempt to swing too far then it is difficult to keep the bands taunt - ditto the downswing, it promotes you feeling like you are pushing the hands away from you on the way back and down - super for width and synching arms with pivot. Parallel is not as important as full turn and width - Rahm is the poster boy for not needing to get the club to parallel.

Ok, so not that I'm going to fix this overnight, but I tried incorporating what I felt to be more hip turn. In this swing, my right leg gets straighter and right hip is higher at the top. But I don't like my move to the ball from here _at all_. I've basically revert back to my old "hump the ball" position at impact. I was consciously trying to think about getting my right hip low at impact but you can clearly see it moving out towards the ball.

Just to give you guys an idea of what my swing looks like face on when I'm making little to no hip turn (worse quality because I was using SwingReplay app):

You look reasonably fit, so may not be worth mentioning, but it’s the only thing I know about early extension. TPI web site has a test for early extension; if you can’t do a deep squat with your butt going all the way to the floor, heels on the floor, toes pointed straight ahead, hands behind your head, then physical limitations (strength, joint mobility) are likely contributing to early extension.

If your BS changes your downswing intent will need to change to match up as well. Perhaps trying to keep left hip lower for longer will help.

> @"HackerD " said:

> You look reasonably fit, so may not be worth mentioning, but it’s the only thing I know about early extension. TPI web site has a test for early extension; if you can’t do a deep squat with your butt going all the way to the floor, heels on the floor, toes pointed straight ahead, hands behind your head, then physical limitations (strength, joint mobility) are likely contributing to early extension.

I used to be in much better shape, but something I know quite well from about 4 years of significant weight training is that body makeup/anatomy can massively affect one's ability to perform that kind of squat. I have mobility issues (sit in a desk all day) but even when I was at my peak physical shape I have never been able to squat unassisted without falling backwards. This is due to my longer than average femurs, which means the weight of my butt is much further back than most when doing a squat.

Excuses aside, I need to strengthen my lower body and core and improve my overall mobility to aid me in reducing early extension, so point well taken.

you don't have much if any lateral bump/ shift/surf in transition - and can’t see it but probably poor pressure shift. It’s all rotation. Given how deep you get your arms it’s no wonder why you cant get them down and out early enough. That lateral bump before rotation takes over is when you get your arms down and out to parallel and before rotation dominates. And you don’t get enough knee flex in transition to allow you to extend that lead leg thru release - the knees need more flex in them in transition than they had at address. Your right hip doesn’t get lower cause you don’t get the left hip higher thru release. Hip turn still important but I think your transition and how the lower body work is an issue. If I was you I’d take a online lesson from Monte or iteach or if you see a really good local teaching pro.

Check out how much lateral movement (of both upper and lower centers) happens by arm parallel.

Can really see if this view and how as krt22 said the left hips stays low along time before the the lead leg extends up and back.

@glk That lateral move is definitely absent. I've watched a lot of videos trying to describe what should be happening in that transition. The problem for me hasn't been that I can't do it (I can), it's that _when_ I do it, I absolutely can not stop myself from smashing my club into the ground. In fact, I remember specifically working on this this winter and snapping my 6 iron when working on the movement described here:

> @JakeW13 said:

> @glk That lateral move is definitely absent. I've watched a lot of videos trying to describe what should be happening in that transition. The problem for me hasn't been that I can't do it (I can), it's that _when_ I do it, I absolutely can not stop myself from smashing my club into the ground. In fact, I remember specifically working on this this winter and snapping my 6 iron when working on the movement described here:

>

>

Ouch. It is a tough move to get. Me I never focused on EE but rather a good transition - it is a downhill move , left side stays low until delivery position - step drills help but these two things got it for me. A Sheftic board and a drill Monte did with ebrasmus.

Here is the board.

And the drill.

Amg youtube has good videos on it too.

Just tried that drill from Monte, first swing felt great with a ton of power. Second one, felt like I could have just about broke my club with how hard it bounced off the mat.

:s

> @"HackerD " said:

> You look reasonably fit, so may not be worth mentioning, but it’s the only thing I know about early extension. TPI web site has a test for early extension; if you can’t do a deep squat with your butt going all the way to the floor, heels on the floor, toes pointed straight ahead, hands behind your head, then physical limitations (strength, joint mobility) are likely contributing to early extension.

thats total BS. lots of people who cant squat deep with toes pointed straight ahead. without going into an depth discussion about femur morphology and stuff, it's just BS.

> @JakeW13 said:

> Just tried that drill from Monte, first swing felt great with a ton of power. Second one, felt like I could have just about broke my club with how hard it bounced off the mat.

>

> :s

Do it slower. Lol. Going to take time to get the timing of that lead knee flexing more then pushing up and back. I hit plenty of fats but flinched before I ever broke a club or slammed it into a mat. Good video on it.

Just get that right hip back and high and force yourself to keep it back in transition. In my experience that’s the only way to fix early extension and to get better at golf assuming that you have a somewhat decent back swing. It feels horrible and powerless if you are used to throw that right hip out, but for many months you should just focus on that. For the longest time I thought I could just ignore EE and thought that shallowing my arms and changing my hand path would fix everything, Not so.

I like this drill a lot.

> @JakeW13 said:

> Just to give you guys an idea of what my swing looks like face on when I'm making little to no hip turn

Your lack of hip turn really is evident in your face on view. I too suffered from lack of hip turn or turn in general. My instructor worked with me on that by having me feel like I was reaching around myself on the backswing instead of swinging back and up. Feel like you are turning more with your body than lifting your arms. Basically once you get to parallel in the backswing focus on turning to get your arms to the top. Not only will it help with the body turn but it should help with shallowing out the club. Just be careful it doesn't lead to coming across your target line at the top. That's what happened with me. Luckily that was an easy fix once my instructor pointed it out to me.

In my opinion, your early extension is really not that bad. Sure you need to work on it, but it’s not like you’ve violated a bunch of goats.

I've worked on the same thing for a little more than a year too. While I've made progress, I feel like the hardest thing is to change the intent of going from goat humping to using the pivot correctly. I can still see some parts of your swing where although you're doing the hip turn, you still have old habits that are admittedly hard to break. Try doing shots with left arm only. You'll see a ton more hip rotation because you need to use your body to swing the club unless your left arm is super strong and the club is like a toothpick to you. The problem is once I get my right arm back on it I'm still going back to old habits. Then I realized the intent is totally different. Maybe I'm wrong I don't know but it's a different feeling for me that I'm trying.

Ok, been working on this a bit this week. My hip turn here I _think_ is better, right hip is higher at the top.

Hire a carpenter to pound 2, 60d, nails through your trail foot, right through to the ground to feel the difference that will start to make for an overall sequence. Only kidding of course about steel through skin, but am assuming you can read between the lines. Power comes from the trail side if it's stable.

Have you tried the thought left hip low or left shoulder low into your transition to the ball?

> @JakeW13 said:

> Ok, been working on this a bit this week. My hip turn here I _think_ is better, right hip is higher at the top.

I dont see any issues honestly, other than a steep takeaway, which isnt really an issue. Rotation looks ok to me, the early extension is so small i wouldnt worry about it.