This was my first on course lesson from Dan Cullen senior in Australia. He had a range at St Michael's and was a member at NSW as well. He got me to hold club out in front and said pretend your taking someone's head off. At first I wafted through the ball then he said hit it harder. I pumped next shot down the fairway. Never will forget that lesson and the great man he was as a golfer. And a gentleman of the game. His son Dan Junior was a great golfer too . Great memories and thanks for your lesson. Keep it simple
Chris, really like your explanation of the trail arm movements in conjunction with the getting the body rotation for free concept. It’s refreshing to see you also explaining the how the trail arm also rotates in the backswing so must by definition re-rotate to come back to square in the downswing. This re-rotation of the trail forearm is what Pete Cowan describes as spinning the trail arm down. He also explains by doing this your body gets out of the way naturally you get the lead side clearing / opening up to the target for free. So consistent teaching across two great golfing coaches. I also really like the way your trail arm movement is very much tied in with the body pivot back to the ball and lead by the trail elbow. Just like throwing a stone. This external rotation of the trail shoulder. I have watched other videos you have created on the “Release” where you succeed in explaining the need for amateurs to avoid rolling / flipping the arms over rapidly through the impact zone. Again reinforcing this concept of a relative passive hand and arm release through the hitting area, provided you put back what you had taken out in the backswing during the downswing. The only thing you’re missing in this video, which you do cover in other Release videos is the working of the lead wrist post impact as it moves into Extension. This is such a massively misunderstood concept and you are one of the few teaching professionals who get it. Myles
Great video Chris, i've always been fine when practicing lead arm only, most of my issues come when i add my trail arm into the swing and i don't get my elbow in front enough causing a scope. Looking forward to giving this a go!
The trail arm drill, is definitely something I’ll be trying, I have been fighting an early release for years and it’s driving me nuts.. it looks like a fix if I can do it…. 🙏
Brilliant insights to help our understanding of the rotation of the arms & relationship to the body rotation. A key takeaway for me was the fact that you can’t simply use your arms in the downswing, especially not given the trail arm function & the way it has folded in the backswing. Yes you lead with the trail elbow but by pivoting back down to the ball.
Chris super helpful amplifying what has got to happen with the trail arm (supination) blending the body rotation and adding some bowing of the lead wrist. Thus helping to achieve the hands forward position at impact. Big favour to ask please can you do a follow on video where you explore the release post impact for both hands? I start to see exciting Korean players use a tennis forehand release in the right hand. I see those same players then add in lots of lead arm pronation and naturally adding lead arm fold in the through swing. In particular please can you then relate these hand / wrist & arm movements to the golf club / actual release and emphasise when you reach crossover (trail hand overtakes lead hand). That’s a lot I know. Myles
Chris what I was wondering was with your trail hand only swing (brilliant backswing and downswing analysis, love the clarity on requiring body rotation to support the arm movement). Can you explain the different / alternative release patterns having arrived into impact with that lovely trail wrist in flexion / bent back? I’m guessing one option would be to adopt a more passive body rotation based release, almost simply turning through to face the target. Another option I guess would be a more active trail wrist motion like in a forehand tennis shot, whilst retaining the set condition. Another option I guess would be a flap style release with the trail wrist in a throwing under release motion, trail wrist going into flexion as lead wrist moves into extension. Lots of options? I’m sure different situations require / call for alternative release patterns (like specialist shots e.g. bunker shots, flop shots etc.). But what about the standard iron or driver release pattern? When does your right hand cross over your left / lead hand in the follow through? Logically if the forward swing followed the backswing it would happen after 4 o’clock as you began re-hinging your wrists and rotating your arms / folding your lead arm. Could you please do a new TH-cam video on this topic but make it a sequel follow on to this video, just placing the emphasis on the release / follow through post impact. Including wrist conditions. Myles
Yes agree for good golfers rotating the lead/left arm to supination is great for shaft lean but unless youre 7 hcp or below dont make it your priority,just rotate it back to square, why you will get far more benefit from working on your natural arm ie right/trail. Im a self taught 5 hcp, i turned myself almost ambidextrous working on my left lead arm! a lot of time and effort for relatively little reward tho i find low shots easy and long trouble shots under trees etc Most golfers would be far better, as this good video shows, on hinging and releasing the right hand/arm/shoulder,Dont worry thinking youre Flipping/releasing early as it is mainly your body action getting to your left side that helps you release through the ball Drill is to hinge right hand elbow arm shoulder But Starting Loading from way in front of the ball! ie hips/chest 45, pressure on left side I only realised this from teaching my new GF golf! this right arm hinge/throw drill produced a massive almost instant improvement Only worry about shaft lean,compression and yes even maybe early extension if you hit high draws that become hooks under pressure All the many bad golfers i play with never get to their left side, never extend through the ball and chop at the ball from the top rather than release through it
That makes a lot of sense. Recently I finally managed to figure out why pulls occasionally happen. In my case it's the body that is too slow in relation to the arms. Or the arms being too fast, whichever way you put it. Rhythm is the key for proper impact (given the technique is ok)
I have followed you for a number of years and have found your insights very useful. However, I was confused/ concerned when you rotated your “tennis racket” to indicate the face pointing up to the sky and thus highlighted the need to un-rotate your forearm to square to club face at impact. Why is this rotation necessary? You are able to keep the face square with the swing path without rotation. The rotation would seem unnecessary. I understand that people teach in different ways and that others teach no rotation ( face pointing away from the target rather than up to the sky) but I am interested in why you think this rotation is a good idea. I can accept that it can feel a little “ wooden” to keep the face “on plane” but it would seem sensible to minimise moving parts. I enjoy your videos and appreciate that there are many ways to swing a club but this one got me wondering.
Have you ever tried doing a backswing and setting your wrists having started with a bowed left wrist? I think you will find it’s much more difficult, almost impossible to set / vertically cock your wrists having started this way. In the backswing it’s so much easier to straighten your lead wrist because you are actively hinging your trail wrist which gives you a straight wrist for free.
@@digitalshapes9501 Yes, I do. I found that my accuracy went up. The fewer swing thoughts improved my consistency. Although my distance went down a bit, the accuracy more than made up for it.
Good video, Chris. Its interesting regards to how some talks about pulling and pushing the club. I have some what of a speed issue. I´m 15 hcp and I´m extremely right hand/arm dominat and have no feeling of my left/lead arm what so ever during my swing. I get a feeling that my right/trail arm/side dominance causese issues during the downswing since thats where I feel Ill get all my power from, with my shoulder movment that moves upp to early and gets me out of posture and that I never realy get that "flick" at the ball (beacause my trail arm is more focused on pushing and infact slowing me down) Does your lead arm "lead"? Are you aware of your lead side driving your swing?
Having broken my trail wrist 6 years ago in three places on the joint, I needed to develop a left side orientation to compensate for a weak trail wrist. Chris has released a number of excellent videos explaining the concept of effortless power and the speed boat drill / exit left drill. It revolves around achieving the correct Last Parallel position/ conditions, then your lead hip rotates open to leaver your shoulders to pivot downwards and your lead arm is supinated as your lead hip opens onto the target & your core & chest rotates open. Chris demonstrates the effectiveness/ effortless power aspect by explaining the key is the bending of the hand path to accelerate the club moving down and out to strike the ball. As the handle moves upwards and inwards from the Delivery Position it propels the club out to the ball. Really liked Chris example using the impact bag.
Nice explanation and video but unfortunately it's incorrect. The engineering and design of the golf club actually produce this action because it's not center/face balanced like a tennis racket. Yes, they can make a center balanced golf club and the reason we don't use them today is because it wouldn't work. It's the fact that the golf club is NOT balanced that is the reason it DOES work. Therefore, teaching active control of the face is a bad idea because then the player is manipulating the club rather than the other way around, which is how the club is designed to work.
The engineering of the golf club produces this action? Can you explain that a little more, which part do the club produces the closing action of the face?
@@ChrisRyanGolf I just did. It's the unbalanced face that is the unseen genius of the golf club. The reason the golf club's general design hasn't changed in ~1000 years is because it works so well. If it didn't we'd design something else that does, but there literally is no design that works better than the current golf club. The key is it must be swung properly or it won't work and almost no one is swinging it properly.
@ sorry I’m not understanding your view point, you said the club is designed to create this action, but it’s a lump of metal, it doesn’t do anything unless we input some forces through the handle, which is what my vidoe was about. Lead arm supinates as I demonstrated wit the tennis racket, that’s fact, it’s measurable and proven. In fact, with the club head being off centre to the club shaft the club during the downswing naturally wants to fall open, so we have to work pretty hard to close the face, nothing automatic is happening in the club, all down to the golfer
Chris is explaining fundamental elements of what David Leadbetter tried to get across in the late 90’s in his fantastic video “The Golf Swing”. The one piece move away being all body rotation to 8 o’clock . followed by this forearm rotation and setting / hinging of the wrists ( a natural rotation of the arms, ) with the trail arm folding as the lead arm pronates and trail arm supinates. In a normal golf swing, which Chris simulates by first starting in a normal address position. Then Chris retains these arm and wrist address conditions and extends / removes his forward bend to allow him to swing on a horizontal swing plane. The main purpose of this video is to is to explain the main movement of the body (rotation) in relation to blending in forearm rotation. There is a little extra in his explanation of the benefits of being in flexion / bowed lead wrist as you approach impact (helps achieve hands forward/ shaft lean to compress the golf ball). You will also notice Chris has further opened his hips and his chest to partly face the target by the time of impact. Having pronated the lead arm post 8 o’clock, you must at some point reverse this to bring the club back into the ball with a square club face. This is clearly explained by Chris. This is plainly and simply a fact. What you add into your backswing you must take out by impact. Chris also explains how the trail arm also must fold and supinate in the backswing. So once again Chris explains the need to re-rotate the trail forearm as you move into impact. These re-rotation arm moves generally take plane from the “Delivery Position” / Last Parallel. Remember this is only intended to be a short video covering these key aspects of arm rotation with body rotation. Chris can’t cover every last item. If Chris were to do this demo with a real golf club it would be more difficult to see & understand the face orientation. But it would include additional elements relative to the fact that the hands would then be visibly lower at address than the club head and ball. In the post 8 o’clock lead arm rotation the hands move would move further away / move up to join the plane of the golf ball. But you can’t see this aspect as the tennis racket is more of a table tennis racket with a short shaft. Try and get your head around what Chris is teaching. I think it will really benefit your game.
@@ChrisRyanGolf I'm surprised that you, as a golf professional, have no idea how the golf club actually works. I know that sounds crazy and I mean no offense. You view it as a stupid stick that must be manipulated in order for it to work - the same as most everyone does. If that were true every engineer and R&D person at every golf club company for the past 500 years has been doing nothing and should be fired. If they haven't been making it work automatically, what the hell have they been doing? Also, the force that you view as causing it to "fall open" is actually the force that causes it to close - but again, only when used properly and almost no one does. The interesting part of this is that you know how to use it without actually knowing what it is that you're doing when you do. Again, I know that sounds crazy but it's true. You've learned to perform an action you're unaware of. This is why it's so hard for most people to learn golf - because the instructor can't teach the move or action that he doesn't know he's doing. One more thing, if the golf club didn't work on it's own a 5 year old child would not be able to pick up a club and be hitting shots within 15 minutes, but we've all seen them do it. And everyone always says the same thing, "I've been playing for 40 years and his swing is better than mine and he just started 15 minutes ago." How can that be if the child has no idea of how to actively manipulate the club? Are these children geniuses? No, the fact that they don't have a preconceived superficial knowledge of how the golf club works is what allows them to swing it so that IT teaches them how it works.
This was my first on course lesson from Dan Cullen senior in Australia. He had a range at St Michael's and was a member at NSW as well. He got me to hold club out in front and said pretend your taking someone's head off. At first I wafted through the ball then he said hit it harder. I pumped next shot down the fairway. Never will forget that lesson and the great man he was as a golfer. And a gentleman of the game. His son Dan Junior was a great golfer too . Great memories and thanks for your lesson. Keep it simple
Chris, really like your explanation of the trail arm movements in conjunction with the getting the body rotation for free concept. It’s refreshing to see you also explaining the how the trail arm also rotates in the backswing so must by definition re-rotate to come back to square in the downswing. This re-rotation of the trail forearm is what Pete Cowan describes as spinning the trail arm down. He also explains by doing this your body gets out of the way naturally you get the lead side clearing / opening up to the target for free. So consistent teaching across two great golfing coaches. I also really like the way your trail arm movement is very much tied in with the body pivot back to the ball and lead by the trail elbow. Just like throwing a stone. This external rotation of the trail shoulder. I have watched other videos you have created on the “Release” where you succeed in explaining the need for amateurs to avoid rolling / flipping the arms over rapidly through the impact zone. Again reinforcing this concept of a relative passive hand and arm release through the hitting area, provided you put back what you had taken out in the backswing during the downswing.
The only thing you’re missing in this video, which you do cover in other Release videos is the working of the lead wrist post impact as it moves into Extension. This is such a massively misunderstood concept and you are one of the few teaching professionals who get it. Myles
Great visuals. Your instructions are top notch. 👍
Chris, I really appreciate your creativity in your teaching
Thanks Jeff
Great video Chris, i've always been fine when practicing lead arm only, most of my issues come when i add my trail arm into the swing and i don't get my elbow in front enough causing a scope. Looking forward to giving this a go!
Best way to help us to know the golf impact position
The trail arm drill, is definitely something I’ll be trying, I have been fighting an early release for years and it’s driving me nuts.. it looks like a fix if I can do it…. 🙏
Brilliant insights to help our understanding of the rotation of the arms & relationship to the body rotation. A key takeaway for me was the fact that you can’t simply use your arms in the downswing, especially not given the trail arm function & the way it has folded in the backswing. Yes you lead with the trail elbow but by pivoting back down to the ball.
Brilliant Chris, just brilliant demonstration and explanation. Well done and thank you.
Cheers Socks in NZ
Thanks 🙌
Fantastic simple explination.
Chris super helpful amplifying what has got to happen with the trail arm (supination) blending the body rotation and adding some bowing of the lead wrist. Thus helping to achieve the hands forward position at impact. Big favour to ask please can you do a follow on video where you explore the release post impact for both hands? I start to see exciting Korean players use a tennis forehand release in the right hand. I see those same players then add in lots of lead arm pronation and naturally adding lead arm fold in the through swing. In particular please can you then relate these hand / wrist & arm movements to the golf club / actual release and emphasise when you reach crossover (trail hand overtakes lead hand). That’s a lot I know. Myles
Chris what I was wondering was with your trail hand only swing (brilliant backswing and downswing analysis, love the clarity on requiring body rotation to support the arm movement). Can you explain the different / alternative release patterns having arrived into impact with that lovely trail wrist in flexion / bent back?
I’m guessing one option would be to adopt a more passive body rotation based release, almost simply turning through to face the target. Another option I guess would be a more active trail wrist motion like in a forehand tennis shot, whilst retaining the set condition. Another option I guess would be a flap style release with the trail wrist in a throwing under release motion, trail wrist going into flexion as lead wrist moves into extension. Lots of options? I’m sure different situations require / call for alternative release patterns (like specialist shots e.g. bunker shots, flop shots etc.). But what about the standard iron or driver release pattern? When does your right hand cross over your left / lead hand in the follow through? Logically if the forward swing followed the backswing it would happen after 4 o’clock as you began re-hinging your wrists and rotating your arms / folding your lead arm. Could you please do a new TH-cam video on this topic but make it a sequel follow on to this video, just placing the emphasis on the release / follow through post impact. Including wrist conditions. Myles
Yes agree for good golfers rotating the lead/left arm to supination is great for shaft lean but unless youre 7 hcp or below dont make it your priority,just rotate it back to square, why you will get far more benefit from working on your natural arm ie right/trail.
Im a self taught 5 hcp, i turned myself almost ambidextrous working on my left lead arm! a lot of time and effort for relatively little reward tho i find low shots easy and long trouble shots under trees etc
Most golfers would be far better, as this good video shows, on hinging and releasing the right hand/arm/shoulder,Dont worry thinking youre Flipping/releasing early as it is mainly your body action getting to your left side that helps you release through the ball
Drill is to hinge right hand elbow arm shoulder But Starting Loading from way in front of the ball! ie hips/chest 45, pressure on left side
I only realised this from teaching my new GF golf! this right arm hinge/throw drill produced a massive almost instant improvement
Only worry about shaft lean,compression and yes even maybe early extension if you hit high draws that become hooks under pressure
All the many bad golfers i play with never get to their left side, never extend through the ball and chop at the ball from the top rather than release through it
That was a great way of communicating this phenomenon in the golf swing show your brilliant as a professional golf teacher. Thanks
Thanks for watching
Well done Chris 👏 😊
Thanks Roy
That makes a lot of sense. Recently I finally managed to figure out why pulls occasionally happen. In my case it's the body that is too slow in relation to the arms. Or the arms being too fast, whichever way you put it. Rhythm is the key for proper impact (given the technique is ok)
Yeah timing those two is tough, but key
Great video, Chris. Thanks
Thanks Dave hope you are well
I have followed you for a number of years and have found your insights very useful. However, I was confused/ concerned when you rotated your “tennis racket” to indicate the face pointing up to the sky and thus highlighted the need to un-rotate your forearm to square to club face at impact. Why is this rotation necessary? You are able to keep the face square with the swing path without rotation. The rotation would seem unnecessary. I understand that people teach in different ways and that others teach no rotation ( face pointing away from the target rather than up to the sky) but I am interested in why you think this rotation is a good idea. I can accept that it can feel a little “ wooden” to keep the face “on plane” but it would seem sensible to minimise moving parts. I enjoy your videos and appreciate that there are many ways to swing a club but this one got me wondering.
So, why bow the wrist at impact, but Not at setup? Is it not easier to setup wrist in impact position at setup? Less moving parts?
Have you ever tried doing a backswing and setting your wrists having started with a bowed left wrist? I think you will find it’s much more difficult, almost impossible to set / vertically cock your wrists having started this way. In the backswing it’s so much easier to straighten your lead wrist because you are actively hinging your trail wrist which gives you a straight wrist for free.
@@digitalshapes9501 Yes, I do. I found that my accuracy went up. The fewer swing thoughts improved my consistency. Although my distance went down a bit, the accuracy more than made up for it.
Good video, Chris. Its interesting regards to how some talks about pulling and pushing the club. I have some what of a speed issue.
I´m 15 hcp and I´m extremely right hand/arm dominat and have no feeling of my left/lead arm what so ever during my swing. I get a feeling that my right/trail arm/side dominance causese issues during the downswing since thats where I feel Ill get all my power from, with my shoulder movment that moves upp to early and gets me out of posture and that I never realy get that "flick" at the ball (beacause my trail arm is more focused on pushing and infact slowing me down) Does your lead arm "lead"? Are you aware of your lead side driving your swing?
Having broken my trail wrist 6 years ago in three places on the joint, I needed to develop a left side orientation to compensate for a weak trail wrist. Chris has released a number of excellent videos explaining the concept of effortless power and the speed boat drill / exit left drill. It revolves around achieving the correct Last Parallel position/ conditions, then your lead hip rotates open to leaver your shoulders to pivot downwards and your lead arm is supinated as your lead hip opens onto the target & your core & chest rotates open. Chris demonstrates the effectiveness/ effortless power aspect by explaining the key is the bending of the hand path to accelerate the club moving down and out to strike the ball. As the handle moves upwards and inwards from the Delivery Position it propels the club out to the ball. Really liked Chris example using the impact bag.
Nice explanation and video but unfortunately it's incorrect. The engineering and design of the golf club actually produce this action because it's not center/face balanced like a tennis racket. Yes, they can make a center balanced golf club and the reason we don't use them today is because it wouldn't work. It's the fact that the golf club is NOT balanced that is the reason it DOES work. Therefore, teaching active control of the face is a bad idea because then the player is manipulating the club rather than the other way around, which is how the club is designed to work.
The engineering of the golf club produces this action? Can you explain that a little more, which part do the club produces the closing action of the face?
@@ChrisRyanGolf I just did. It's the unbalanced face that is the unseen genius of the golf club. The reason the golf club's general design hasn't changed in ~1000 years is because it works so well. If it didn't we'd design something else that does, but there literally is no design that works better than the current golf club. The key is it must be swung properly or it won't work and almost no one is swinging it properly.
@ sorry I’m not understanding your view point, you said the club is designed to create this action, but it’s a lump of metal, it doesn’t do anything unless we input some forces through the handle, which is what my vidoe was about. Lead arm supinates as I demonstrated wit the tennis racket, that’s fact, it’s measurable and proven. In fact, with the club head being off centre to the club shaft the club during the downswing naturally wants to fall open, so we have to work pretty hard to close the face, nothing automatic is happening in the club, all down to the golfer
Chris is explaining fundamental elements of what David Leadbetter tried to get across in the late 90’s in his fantastic video “The Golf Swing”.
The one piece move away being all body rotation to 8 o’clock . followed by this forearm rotation and setting / hinging of the wrists ( a natural rotation of the arms, ) with the trail arm folding as the lead arm pronates and trail arm supinates. In a normal golf swing, which Chris simulates by first starting in a normal address position.
Then Chris retains these arm and wrist address conditions and extends / removes his forward bend to allow him to swing on a horizontal swing plane. The main purpose of this video is to is to explain the main movement of the body (rotation) in relation to blending in forearm rotation. There is a little extra in his explanation of the benefits of being in flexion / bowed lead wrist as you approach impact (helps achieve hands forward/ shaft lean to compress the golf ball). You will also notice Chris has further opened his hips and his chest to partly face the target by the time of impact. Having pronated the lead arm post 8 o’clock, you must at some point reverse this to bring the club back into the ball with a square club face. This is clearly explained by Chris. This is plainly and simply a fact. What you add into your backswing you must take out by impact. Chris also explains how the trail arm also must fold and supinate in the backswing. So once again Chris explains the need to re-rotate the trail forearm as you move into impact. These re-rotation arm moves generally take plane from the “Delivery Position” / Last Parallel. Remember this is only intended to be a short video covering these key aspects of arm rotation with body rotation. Chris can’t cover every last item. If Chris were to do this demo with a real golf club it would be more difficult to see & understand the face orientation. But it would include additional elements relative to the fact that the hands would then be visibly lower at address than the club head and ball. In the post 8 o’clock lead arm rotation the hands move would move further away / move up to join the plane of the golf ball. But you can’t see this aspect as the tennis racket is more of a table tennis racket with a short shaft. Try and get your head around what Chris is teaching. I think it will really benefit your game.
@@ChrisRyanGolf I'm surprised that you, as a golf professional, have no idea how the golf club actually works. I know that sounds crazy and I mean no offense. You view it as a stupid stick that must be manipulated in order for it to work - the same as most everyone does. If that were true every engineer and R&D person at every golf club company for the past 500 years has been doing nothing and should be fired. If they haven't been making it work automatically, what the hell have they been doing? Also, the force that you view as causing it to "fall open" is actually the force that causes it to close - but again, only when used properly and almost no one does.
The interesting part of this is that you know how to use it without actually knowing what it is that you're doing when you do. Again, I know that sounds crazy but it's true. You've learned to perform an action you're unaware of. This is why it's so hard for most people to learn golf - because the instructor can't teach the move or action that he doesn't know he's doing.
One more thing, if the golf club didn't work on it's own a 5 year old child would not be able to pick up a club and be hitting shots within 15 minutes, but we've all seen them do it. And everyone always says the same thing, "I've been playing for 40 years and his swing is better than mine and he just started 15 minutes ago." How can that be if the child has no idea of how to actively manipulate the club? Are these children geniuses? No, the fact that they don't have a preconceived superficial knowledge of how the golf club works is what allows them to swing it so that IT teaches them how it works.
Sorry lead arm supination…..
Confirmation why even with strong grip my driver still pushing right!😂..poor released
Very much so, grip helps but there needs to be the release to match
Pickle ball