Headcover under trail arm - Porzak

[Kuuuch]

I’ve seen Porzak posted a couple times recently on here so figured I’d start a discussion on the headcover under trail arm drill that he’s a fan of. Been following him for awhile on IG and have always been a fan of his students swings. Very textbook and vanilla for the most part.  

 

As for the drill, it’s interesting most instructors are against it except for him. I’ll start the discussion with my opinion fwiw - I really like it for the same reasons as Porzak but I think it’s important it doesn’t affect your width. If you look at nearly all his players who do this drill, they all have a good amount of width in their backswing. 
 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsbTDnKNR9P/?igshid=MmJiY2I4NDBkZg==

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cohnt0jODgz/?igshid=MmJiY2I4NDBkZg==

[iacas]

Generally not a fan of this kind of drill because it's too easy to let the trail elbow go "around" you and stay too low.

 

It can be useful occasionally. But… I generally don't use it/need it.

[MonteScheinblum]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

Generally not a fan of this kind of drill because it's too easy to let the trail elbow go "around" you and stay too low.

 

It can be useful occasionally. But… I generally don't use it/need it.

Yep

[me05501]

I've seen him recommend three different versions of this. For some players it's the headcover under one pit or the other. Other times it's the towel under both arms and occasionally an alignment stick under both arms. The point seems to be helping players feel connection. 

 

Seems like a dangerous thing to self-prescribe without supervision. 

[Habitual Flipper]

16 hours ago, Kuuuch said:

I’ve seen Porzak posted a couple times recently on here so figured I’d start a discussion on the headcover under trail arm drill that he’s a fan of. Been following him for awhile on IG and have always been a fan of his students swings. Very textbook and vanilla for the most part.  

 

As for the drill, it’s interesting most instructors are against it except for him. I’ll start the discussion with my opinion fwiw - I really like it for the same reasons as Porzak but I think it’s important it doesn’t affect your width. If you look at nearly all his players who do this drill, they all have a good amount of width in their backswing. 
 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsbTDnKNR9P/?igshid=MmJiY2I4NDBkZg==

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cohnt0jODgz/?igshid=MmJiY2I4NDBkZg==

 

I have been diving into the Porzak stuff lately, as I'm looking for ways to get my hands back out in front of me. Some advice I've gotten from Monte/Erik was to not let the hands get behind me in the first place, which makes sense. The drill you mention seems to be a way to help with this feel but I also feel like it destroys my width. If I keep my hands just right of my chest Centre (minimizing lead shoulder adduction or in other words minimizing pinning against the chest) and rotate back as much as possible, my lead arm barely gets past parallel. This actually feels pretty good for wedge to about 7 iron, but any longer clubs it feels too compact.  

[RichieHunt]

I agree with Erik.  Alan Terrell had me do this drill a couple of years ago, but that's because I was getting too much internal rotation at p4 with the trail shoulder.  Not that you can't have internal rotation at p4, but it was giving me a lot of problems and my arms were getting too far behind me.

This drill helped me fold the trail arm more quickly so I could get more external rotation of the trail shoulder.  But I still had issues and the arm swing wasn't really where I wanted it.  I think there's better drills and techniques to help with that.  

 

For starts it helps to get the inside elbow of the trail arm to point more towards the ball at p1 (instead of pointing more toward the lead arm).  The split hand drill helped more with this drill as well as the Phil Ritson drill (addressing the ball, take your left arm and put it under your right elbow and swing back).  Also the visual of getting the trail elbow to point down to the ground early in the backswing.  Repeat these motions numerous times while in the mirror and you'll start to notice how soon you in the backswing you need to fold the trail elbow and how that elbow works more like a lever.  

 

The GEM training aid also helps convey this, but I think it opens the clubface too much for my tastes.

 

 

 

 

 

RH