Shoulder turn, how important?

[Robert O' Keeffe]

I have a swing which works well for me and gets me what I consider proper distance from all irons and driver. Last week I played a friendly round with a mate who commented to me that I should " move the left shoulder and arms together, rather than the shoulder following the arms." I wondered about it and tried it a few times during the round. I found that when a clean connection was made, the ball certainly went a few yards more, but not so much as to convince me that there was much wrong with my swing. Having looked at my own swing I feel that i get the shoulder under my chin anyway, though not maybe as instant as with the advice i was given. i am curious to get opinions on this and wonder if I should bring this adjustment into my swing. The last thing I want to do is make corrections which may not be a help or way for an improvement

Regards,
Robert

[Jeff Mann]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

Are you referring to the backswing or downswing?

Jeff.

[BrianW]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

Hi Robert,

Are you referring to the shoulder and arms during the take away?

(Good game of rugby by Ireland against Wales last Sunday)

[Robert O' Keeffe]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

Yes guys, takeaway.

P.S. We will win the grand slam

[BrianW]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

I prefer to take away both shoulders and the arms together retaining the triangle formed between the shoulders, chest and arms.

(Johnnies back and is he on form )

[Robert O' Keeffe]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

Brian, is this just a personal preference with you, or do you think it is something which I should introduce in my swing?

[jbrunk]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

I don't think it matters Robert, especially of you are striking it well now and were only talking a couple of yards.

[slater170]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

I prefer to take away both shoulders and the arms together retaining the triangle formed between the shoulders, chest and arms.

(Johnnies back and is he on form )

thats my preference as well.
i find i am more consistent with this method and i am satisfied with the distance

[Robert O' Keeffe]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

Thanks J,

Wwhat i really found with this was a feeling of more power coming from the torso. Maybe this is a fundamental which I did not experience before?

[BrianW]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

Brian, is this just a personal preference with you, or do you think it is something which I should introduce in my swing?

Robert,

Some rotate the hands and arms a short distance (6 inches or so) before rotating the shoulders, some like me prefer to rotate the shoulders, arms and hands together, I guess it is a matter of what you find natural. What is important is that the club face is kept square in relation to the body and the arms are neither rolled away inside or lagging outside the plane set at address through the takeaway.

[Scragger63]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

I don't think about turning anything on the takeaway, all I try to think about is taking the clubhead straight back along the target line for as long as is possible.

If I think about this logically, the only way this seems possible is for shoulders and arms to go together...

I could be wrong though...

Cheers

[Jeff Mann]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

Brian writes-: "Some rotate the hands and arms a short distance (6 inches or so) before rotating the shoulders, some like me prefer to rotate the shoulders, arms and hands together".

I think that is a major mistake to rotate the hands, or arms, deliberately during the takeaway. I am so fixated on the correct takeaway, that I discuss it at great length in the backswing section of my golf swing review at http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/backswing.htm

Make sure that you also read question number 9 where I discuss Leslie King's concept of the "one piece takeaway" versus an "arm takeaway".

Jeff.

[jambalaya]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

It seems to me to be fundamental to bring the arms/hands and shoulders back together on the rotation but so many people have grooved a swing with various degress of compliance. Even if you do work to bring the shoulders and hands/arms back together I think most people will experience letting the hands and arms get ahead of the shouldersin the backswing or in the throughswing leaving them back. If you have had no thought about bringing them back in unison you probably let the arms swing freely and your shoulder turn and arms/hands are not sychronized. You make up for this in various ways in getting the club back square to the ball but with less power than you could have and less consistency when compared to a good fundamental swihg. However, if you've grooved a pretty good swing (what is your scoring like) as you said it might not be worth it. In my experience it is never only one thing to work on. Others may disagree but if you really worked hard on working the shoulders and arms/hands together some other flaw in your swing it not going to match the change causing you to have to adjust some other part.

[BrianW]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

Brian writes-: "Some rotate the hands and arms a short distance (6 inches or so) before rotating the shoulders, some like me prefer to rotate the shoulders, arms and hands together".

I think that is a major mistake to rotate the hands, or arms, deliberately during the takeaway. I am so fixated on the correct takeaway, that I discuss it at great length in the backswing section of my golf swing review at http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/backswing.htm

Make sure that you also read question number 9 where I discuss Leslie King's concept of the "one piece takeaway" versus an "arm takeaway".

Jeff.

Jeff

You have quoted me here but not representative of my opinion.

I explained in my original post that personally I take the club away by rotation of my shoulders arms and hands, retaining the triangular relationship between them. I quote myself: "I prefer to take away both shoulders and the arms together retaining the triangle formed between the shoulders, chest and arms."

I went on, when questioned if this was personal preference or something Robert should introduce into his swing.

"Some rotate the hands and arms a short distance (6 inches or so) before rotating the shoulders, some like me prefer to rotate the shoulders, arms and hands together, I guess it is a matter of what you find natural. What is important is that the club face is kept square in relation to the body and the arms are neither rolled away inside or lagging outside the plane set at address through the takeaway."

I would also clarify that I am not suggesting the hands or arms are rotated or rolled, when I say rotated I refer to rotation as a complete unit around the spine.

[Jeff Mann]

Re: Shoulder turn, how important?

Brian - I realised, from your post, that you prefer the one piece takeaway and I wasn't referring to you in my comments. I was referring to those other (anonymous) people who prefer to rotate their forearms during the first 6" of the takeaway - which is, I think, a problematic move.

Jeff.