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  • Level Shoulder Turn

    Thought id share a story from a range session last night

    Was asked by a fellow member at my club to have a look at his swing. He's a young guy, flexible and hits the ball OK at times but he's inconsistent. Now im by no means a teacher but I changed 1 thing for him last night and it was like a revelation so i thought I would share it and get y'all comments

    First off setup. He was tilting away from the ball so that his right shoulder was way lower than the left. His elbows were also pointing at each other rather than to the hips (a la Hogan) so we changed that too. From here he had a very hands led takeaway and a lift of the arms to the top. This whole procedure got his right shoulder dropping down bringing the club really flat initally followed by this lift which meant he straightened his right knee and lost all his coil

    So I had him setup with level shoulders and told him the importance of a simple shoulder led coil stressing how VITAL it is for the shoulders to turn level (id never really thought about this myself for a long time until I saw this guy last night) Obviously inn reality, the trail shoulder might be a bit lower, because the trail hand sits lower on the club, but I had him really work hard to ingrain a feeling of level (which felt weird to him)

    Now all I had him do was a level turn of the shoulders to coil into his braced right knee and get his left shoulder behind the ball. No hand movement, no arm movement. No lifting, no concsiois wrist hinging. His backswing immediately looked a world better, triangle maintained until waist height, right elbow and wrists hinging naturally, and even better (as he said himself) it felt far far easier to keep the flex in his right knee and thus his spine angle since as this was a LEVEL turn and not a shoulder dip or arm lift he wasnt moving hios body up or down. He said himeself he now felt the coil into his right side and we could see by simply placing a club across his shoulders how the level turn had been maintained

    From this new top of swing position all he had to do was kick his right knee in a bit and then then turn/swing hard with his hips and chest (following the feeling that the grip end stayed pointing at the belly button through impact)

    Well booom ! Once he had the concept down he was drilling 4 irons 200+ yards. Magical stuff. Needless to say he offered to buy me a few cold ones which I gleefully accepted!

    Im not planning to move into teaching anytime soon but I thought for those people who dont know how to coil properly this would be a good tale

    Appreciate any thoughts on a level shoulder turn and its importance from the resident experts (Ian, Greg etc) .. esp in case the lad shoots 150 in the next medal and comes looking for me
    Last edited by pnearn; 06-07-2006, 10:12 AM.

  • #2
    Re: Level Shoulder Turn

    What you did is just had him keep his spine angle throughout the swing. While I disagree with level shoulders, I believe depending on the club, the right shoulder plays more importance relative to being below the left, I can say if you are talking about driver, 3 wood, long irons, I feel depending upon ball position, it becomes more important to tilt slightly away from the ball at address.
    Like someone said, every swing is different but all good players find some way to arrive at impact square.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Level Shoulder Turn

      Great post.

      Isnt it amazing how it seems to be easier to teach this game rather than play it. Couldnt agree with you more about level shoulders. I think if we can achieve level shoulders, it also helps to stop the over the top error. Also your point about the right knee taking the weight transfer is a good tip to remember. Keep these tips coming.
      Regards,
      Robert

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      • #4
        Re: Level Shoulder Turn

        With all due respect I think the level shoulder turn did more than that for him. Maintaining spine angle was just one of the results

        He had the common 'fake turn' where because of his over tilt at address and the swinging the club back and up with hands/arms where he was dropping the front shoulder and raising the back shoulder high. This raised his right elbow, straightened his spine angle and threw him "off-plane". From there all he could was swing outside to in.

        By having him take the front shoulder back on a more horizontal/level plane (or with only a slight dip) seemend to significantly increase his torso coil becuase he was making a proper body led coil where his arms/wrists simply followed

        Level shoulders at the top also made it far easier on the downswing for his right shoulder to get underneath (down plane) and lower than his front shoulder simply by starting with the right lower body

        Out of interest why do you disagree with a level shoulder turn?

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        • #5
          Re: Level Shoulder Turn

          Originally posted by Robert O' Keeffe
          Great post.

          Isnt it amazing how it seems to be easier to teach this game rather than play it
          Rob, I'll leave the teaching to the guys who do it best ! .. Im not a good enough player to start teaching others but its nice to offer some advice and see someone really take it and make progress

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          • #6
            Re: Level Shoulder Turn

            Originally posted by pnearn
            Rob, I'll leave the teaching to the guys who do it best ! .. Im not a good enough player to start teaching others but its nice to offer some advice and see someone really take it and make progress
            keep it up mate!
            you have never put me wrong yet

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Level Shoulder Turn

              A level shoulder turn means 'level' with the ground, as in horizontal? Or does it mean level with the spine bend (note : not tilt), which means as you are rotating back level with the spine angle, your left shoulder should end up lower than the right shoulder at the top?

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              • #8
                Re: Level Shoulder Turn

                Originally posted by Simon Woo
                A level shoulder turn means 'level' with the ground, as in horizontal? Or does it mean level with the spine bend (note : not tilt), which means as you are rotating back level with the spine angle, your left shoulder should end up lower than the right shoulder at the top?
                Simon. Yes its your lead shoulder that turns level, parallel to the spine angle. Clearly there should be a very slight tilt in your spine angle to the right and also a slight tilt forward in your posture. But neither should be exaggerated since this would put this shoulder axis either steep or flat. This will bring it behind the ball and your right shoulder will go up and behind

                What also happens is people swing away with their hands which pulls the shoulders, rather than the shoulder/chest unit turning the hands (connection) around these spine angles set at address. When this happens your shoulders are often lifted or pulled left which is this 'fake' turn we taked about

                What this guy did was to feel how the shoulder-chest unit turned the arms/hands whilst his lower body resisted (via the kicking in of the right knee). Thus he was on plane, coiled and his arms/body in sync at the top

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                • #9
                  Re: Level Shoulder Turn

                  Originally posted by pnearn
                  Simon. Yes its your lead shoulder that turns level, parallel to the spine angle.
                  Did you mean perpindicular to the spine angle?

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                  • #10
                    Re: Level Shoulder Turn

                    Originally posted by SlicersHell
                    Did you mean perpindicular to the spine angle?
                    Yes, i always get my perpendiculars, parallels and jobbywotsits mixed up

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