Left shoulder in transition

[mbg36]

Struggling with thin iron shots, and blocks/hooks. Pro told me the issue is my attack angle is too shallow due to left shoulder pulling up at the start of the downswing - at impact my left shoulder is very tense and at even height with my head. He told me to work on the “pump” drill to feel a softer left shoulder and let the arms work more down / get my hands deeper on downswing.

 

Despite working on this for months I still cannot stop my left shoulder from working way up / getting tense to start my downswing (keeping my plane way too shallow). Are there any other “feels” to focus on, to get left shoulder away from chin, arms drop deeper in front of me on downswing? I’ve also tried to move the top of my left arm down my chest in transition etc. Any help appreciated.

[Golfbeat]

Hard to say without seeing your swing. Usually, you would have to go back the chain to see if anything else would be hindering you to keep the left shoulder down. Could be a less optimal back swing, open club face  in transition, pivot motion etc 

[Zitlow]

Your shoulders, arms and hands are conduits and should be tension free to allow energy to flow from the ground up into the club head like water whooshing through a garden hose. 

[glk]

As noted can’t say this will solve your issue however often times folks forget that arms can work independent of shoulders turning with torso..     Left shoulder low is a combo of regaining hip flex ion and adding a bit more of left side bend while not overly spinning the shoulders.   
 

this may enlighten or the Justin rose drill too

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGmuhgbArVF/?hl=en

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEZhC3uqmR_/?hl=en

 

 

Edited January 15, 2021 by glk

[DShepley]

This is a decent video here to describe the left shoulder movement. 

 

[dcl5dcl5]

I have been struggling with this one for several months. Agree with all of the above - I suggest getting some help (maybe consider someone else if your current pro is not working out) since there are a host of sources of the problem and a host of potential solutions. Many times the issues start well before the transition move down. It also will take time as your natural tendency is probably like me, spin shoulders and dump the right shoulder.

 

Can you do this move?

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ8_MALFDGE/

 

Might be a good starting point. I would video yourself and make sure your club is actually staying below the line. A good test/feel to try. For me, I've needed to feel adding more left side bend to already being in left tilt at the start of transition given my tendency to want to raise the left shoulder and then add the Justin Rose video from glk above.

Edited January 15, 2021 by dcl5dcl5

[Hilts1969]

On 1/15/2021 at 2:57 AM, Max Bryan said:

Struggling with thin iron shots, and blocks/hooks. Pro told me the issue is my attack angle is too shallow due to left shoulder pulling up at the start of the downswing - at impact my left shoulder is very tense and at even height with my head. He told me to work on the “pump” drill to feel a softer left shoulder and let the arms work more down / get my hands deeper on downswing.

 

Despite working on this for months I still cannot stop my left shoulder from working way up / getting tense to start my downswing (keeping my plane way too shallow). Are there any other “feels” to focus on, to get left shoulder away from chin, arms drop deeper in front of me on downswing? I’ve also tried to move the top of my left arm down my chest in transition etc. Any help appreciated.

 

This may or may not help you but sometimes you have to see why you are trying to do something and trust it. It also gives you a checkpoint when looking at your own swing. I have picked Adam Scott but could have chosen many others.

 

 

In a mirror(don’t even need a club)

Set yourself up in a decent impact position hips open, bit of shaft lean, maybe shoulders a tad open. Now Turn everything back together arms and chest until left arm is parallel. You should be something similar to this, left shoulder lower than right, right shoulder upper arm forearm almost in line with each other. 

 

I would spend ages trying to look like this in transition but couldn’t get it.  His elbow looks pretty bent and that was the killer. I could get my left shoulder down but I thought I had to keep that elbow bent and lead with it but it always gave way to the dreaded steep winning the arm wrestle look. I then started dropping my right shoulder(or lifting the left shoulder as you put it) and I could get my  arm structure to look like that.  But lots of fat shots, blocks etc..

 

Problem was it it was a 2d illusion his right arm isn’t bent anything like it looks. When you do that impact to left arm parallel move look at your right arm. In the mirror it looks like it is very bent but you can see it isn’t really. I thought I was just not very flexible.

 

The elbow works in front if you widen it and keep the left shoulder low.  If you widen the right arm the hands have to work down and stay deeper, however if you pull them down bad things can happen. 

 

Not using your right right shoulder to help you is hard.  Left shoulder down and towards target while right arm widens in the opposite direction. Feels weird for sure.

[mikpga]

 

[amir169]

Something that I had previously. Turns out it was a setup issue where my path was 6° in to out (7iron) with a GCQuad. 

 

For irons.. I'd say from wedge up to 6/7 iron, you can stand slightly closer to the ball, have the shaft stand taller. Works wonders and I get great "compression" whereas previously with a shallow swing it was very swipey.

 

This video was my light bulb.

 

 

[Arthur_Vandelay]

On 1/16/2021 at 6:38 PM, Hilts1969 said:

Left shoulder down and towards target while right arm widens in the opposite direction. Feels weird for sure.

Been working on this as I work on trying to get a little shallower in transition. Combo of left shoulder down and keeping in mind that the right arm needs to unbend sooner rather than later in the downswing creates a big lead lat stretch which can be a big power source.

 

My understanding is that left shoulder coming up or right shoulder dipping is how you can cheat to get shallow.

Edited January 18, 2021 by Arthur_Vandelay

[Hilts1969]

43 minutes ago, Arthur_Vandelay said:

Been working on this as I work on trying to get a little shallower in transition. Combo of left shoulder down and keeping in mind that the right arm needs to unbend sooner rather than later in the downswing creates a big lead lat stretch which can be a big power source.

 

My understanding is that left shoulder coming up or right shoulder dipping is how you can cheat to get shallow.

 

Yeah sending the club head away from the ball is just an odd feeling, at the moment it doesn’t feel very powerful so trying to do it at anything like normal speed without a pause is tough. I think I will have to write of this year, if it ever starts, on the golf course and accept some bad shots and not worry about looking daft.

 

I know what i am doing  is right I just need the patience part. 

[golfarb1]

Part of the problem is your mis understanding of how to shallow in transition.

Raising the left shoulder and lowering the right  shoulder is a BODY shallowing move , which among other things moves your low point backwards.This makes it impossible to take a proper divot after the ball(with irons) and virtually guarantees thin and topped shots

The correct shallowing move in transition is an arm shallowing move ,driven by rear shoulder external rotation . This will flatten the shaft as the rear elbow rotates towards the target line .

[FairwaysToHeaven]

Dealt with thin shots for a while as I focus on trying to shallow... Until few months ago noticing the same issue... High left shoulder. Thinking down and around during downswing has helped significantly. Better compression and an actual divot. Was so tired of hitting great drive and thinning a 9 iron over the green. 

[IronWolf]

Would it be wonderful if it would fix itself if you had a better set up. I was struggling after a little bit of a layoff to figure out why my shoulders were so out of position at impact. These two videos really helped me,

my instructor confirmed I did not have enough weight on the balls of my feet I simply fixed, I tried to put 60/40 at set up 60 on the balls 40 on the heels. I was the opposite coming in, I was about 60 to 70% on my heels.  That allowed me to drop my arms straight down at set up. And I could feel that my butt was staying in contact with the pane of glass. And I could feel that my arms were moving down across my chest I was able to hold my shoulders back a little bit before starting the downswing. Seven iron went from 82 to 90 miles an hour. pure contact. They're long and in-depth Scientific, but very insightful.  See if these help at all.

how left shoulder should move:

 

 

 

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