Left arm in the golf swing

[ozzyollie]

I had a lesson with a new golf pro (trying to find someone to fix my dreaded slice!) and his method intrigued me. He said that I should focus on the left arm on both the back swing and downswing.

For the backswing I'm to focus on leading with the left arm and let it bend up to get me in the right position at the top. While on the downswing, lead with the left arm to stop coming OTT.

I hit a few shots with this swing thought and so far so good, does anyome else use this method and if so any feedback??

Thanks

[o_obrien]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

Hi

Im have the same problem OTT, My swing is becoming like Jim Furyks but without his results, interested in this theory, will try it out, good luck

[ozzyollie]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

Hi

Im have the same problem OTT, My swing is becoming like Jim Furyks but without his results, interested in this theory, will try it out, good luck

thanks, let me know how you go!

[Jimbud]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

The golf pro is your friend. The left arm is the boss. Every once in a while the right arm will want to say let me swing that club, I can do it better then the left. Don't listen to it. It took me a half a season to fulling adjust to the swingers swing and I wish I would have learned these simple fundamentals 20 years ago. I'm playing the best golf of my life with this swing.

[ozzyollie]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

The golf pro is your friend. The left arm is the boss. Every once in a while the right arm will want to say let me swing that club, I can do it better then the left. Don't listen to it. It took me a half a season to fulling adjust to the swingers swing and I wish I would have learned these simple fundamentals 20 years ago. I'm playing the best golf of my life with this swing.

What do you mean, the 'swingers swing'??

[Jimbud]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

What do you mean, the 'swingers swing'??

A swinger is a golfer who depends exclusively on centrifugal force for club head speed, and adds no wrist torque during the downswing except that needed to hold a 90º wrist cock. On this type of swing a right handed golfers left hand and arm are dominate.
A hitter is a golfer who depends to some extent on torque applied to the club's grip via the hands and the wrists. This type of swing the right hand and arm is dominate. Here's a link to more info on this swing theory.

http://www.tutelman.com/golf/design/swing1.php?ref=#What_powers_the_swing__

[ozzyollie]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

A swinger is a golfer who depends exclusively on centrifugal force for club head speed, and adds no wrist torque during the downswing except that needed to hold a 90º wrist cock. On this type of swing a right handed golfers left hand and arm are dominate.
A hitter is a golfer who depends to some extent on torque applied to the club's grip via the hands and the wrists. This type of swing the right hand and arm is dominate. Here's a link to more info on this swing theory.

http://www.tutelman.com/golf/design/swing1.php?ref=#What_powers_the_swing__

Thanks for link, so you have gone from a hitter to a swinger, and by the sounds of it, well worth it.

[Jimbud]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

Yes, After a broken right hand. I decided to make the change.

[ozzyollie]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

Hi

Im have the same problem OTT, My swing is becoming like Jim Furyks but without his results, interested in this theory, will try it out, good luck

Found this on the web, makes interesting reading:

http://www.golftoday.co.uk/proshop/tuition/lesson5.htm

[BrianW]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

I am not sold on this 'Swinging' V 'Hitting' school of thinking, it's vague and the Engineer in me cannot ratify it.

For a golf ball to be propelled forward it needs an amount of force to be applied to it, that force is transmitted through the impact of the clubhead with the ball.
Newton explained that F (Force) = M (Mass) x A(Acceleration). As the clubhead is light then to maximise force you have to accelerate it to as high a speed as possible, if the clubhead was heavy (like a wrecking ball) then you could create the force by using the heavy weight with slower acceleration, the formula would still be true.

The action propelling the golf ball requires 'Swinging' the club and 'Hitting' the ball with it. Both actions.

Acceleration is created by the rotational forces generated by the turning of the body, this includes: legs, hips,torso, shoulders, arms and wrists. All of them working together in a progressive sequence.

Some golfers do in fact use a different kinetic sequence with their body in generating clubhead speed, these fall into two categories: Upper body swingers and Lower body swingers. They all 'swing' the club and 'hit' the ball with it though.

Furthermore, I would strongly recommend that anyone who wishes to play good golf focuses on the clubhead making quality contact with the ball and not fill their heads with the notions of whether they are 'swinging' or 'hitting'

[dant]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

I am not sold on this 'Swinging' V 'Hitting' school of thinking, it's vague and the Engineer in me cannot ratify it.

For a golf ball to be propelled forward it needs an amount of force to be applied to it, that force is transmitted through the impact of the clubhead with the ball.
Newton explained that F (Force) = M (Mass) x A(Acceleration). As the clubhead is light then to maximise force you have to accelerate it to as high a speed as possible, if the clubhead was heavy (like a wrecking ball) then you could create the force by using the heavy weight with slower acceleration, the formula would still be true.

The action propelling the golf ball requires 'Swinging' the club and 'Hitting' the ball with it. Both actions.

Acceleration is created by the rotational forces generated by the turning of the body, this includes: legs, hips,torso, shoulders, arms and wrists. All of them working together in a progressive sequence.

Some golfers do in fact use a different kinetic sequence with their body in generating clubhead speed, these fall into two categories: Upper body swingers and Lower body swingers. They all 'swing' the club and 'hit' the ball with it though.

Furthermore, I would strongly recommend that anyone who wishes to play good golf focuses on the clubhead making quality contact with the ball and not fill their heads with the notions of whether they are 'swinging' or 'hitting'

Brian
What about focusing on using the left arm. Will it stop the OTT swing.
Dant

[BrianW]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

Brian
What about focusing on using the left arm. Will it stop the OTT swing.
Dant

No, It wont.

OTT can happen through a number of actions: Throwing the right shoulder forward out of sequence, casting the club from the top of the back swing losing connection of the arms and torso and poor setup and alignment to name some. Focusing on the left arm is not a cure for them.

[dant]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

No, It wont.

OTT can happen through a number of actions: Throwing the right shoulder forward out of sequence, casting the club from the top of the back swing losing connection of the arms and torso and poor setup and alignment to name some. Focusing on the left arm is not a cure for them.

Brian
I know that my problem with slicing is "Throwing the right shoulder forward out of sequence" because I have seen it on tape (taped my swing). It looks like I am chopping a tree down on my down swing. It also may be casting, I don't know. It sometimes looks like a dull hachet murder . If it's one or the other how do you stop it. I used to be a hooker now I am a slicer.
Thanks Dant

[rotator]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

Hi dant,

This is something I picked up a while back, and I've recently seen two other separate related references to it. I've been working on the idea of that the arms drop onto plane with the shift, then the body, shoulders and arms turn through the swing. It's a gradual acceleration of the clubhead, the first part is almost a freefall of the arms which goes with the coincidental bump of the weight to the front, then you can accelerate the clubhead by the turning of the body, shoulders and arms working together. The shoulders do not take any action, until the shift has taken place and the arms have dropped. The arms are like ropes, and I do not feel I am applying force of the arms and wrists to directly propel the club,

The more I think about it, there may be a simple truth about this concept, in it's applicability to OTT.

The premise is you cannot swing OTT, or it would be very difficult to do so, if you shifted the weight to the front foot first.

The first recent reference was on the Golf Fix show on Golf Channel, which showed this a couple of weeks ago, the idea that if you shift your weight to the front foot, it would be very difficult to swing the club in a OTT with an effective swinging motion, without contriving the effort.

The other recent reference was the video of Shawn Clements which Brian posted recently on another thread. That was for another subject, but when I saw the "fall - fall -swing" downswing sequence, I saw the connection. The first fall he is referring to is the left foot planting in the shift, the second fall is the drop of the arms, the swing then follows. Again, the shift and drop of the arms into the slot first, before you turn the shoulders. The shoulders can't go OTT.

Ted

[BrianW]

Re: Left arm in the golf swing

I use a rotary 'one plane' type swing, I prefer it as it is much simpler and needs less manipulations of the club to stay on plane.

With a one plane swing you stay stacked and rotate around a steady spine, the club goes back and comes down on the same path, this makes it difficult to come OTT unless you lift your spine angle in the downswing.

If you use a 2 plane swing then you have to do as Ted suggests and keep your back turned to the target longer as your arms drop back down and approach the ball from the inside.

Look at this video from Jeff Ritter: