The more precise terms are extension and flexion for the hinging / slapping aspect of wrist movement and radial vs ulnar deviation for the cocking up and down movement. Not mentioned but also critical is how the rotation of radius around ulnar in the forearms can pronate (palm down) or supinate (palm up) the hand. Also not mentioned except in the Lob shot is the critical importance of using the Vardon Style Grip correctly. Vardon gets credit for popularizing it but it was first used with great success by Scottish amateur champ Johnny Laidlay in the late 1890s in the era were golfers transitioned from using smooth ‘Feathery’ balls which had little in the way of directional control to the dimpled Gutta Percha balls which generated aerodynamic lift / drag and could be steered in the air and spun sideways after landing by using a swiping blow on the back of the ball that tilted the spin axis causing the same effect as when an airplane wing banks to turn. The reason the Laidlay/Vardon grip works ideally for controlling the face of the club is that it maxes out the travel of the wrist in several direction at impact very much like a swinging door hitting a doorstop IF USED CORRECTLY and allow the club to turn over 180° without being pulled up from the body. Much attention is paid to where the Vs created by thumb and forefinger point when setting up the grip but the underlying cause and effect for doing than is rarely explained. As mentioned in the LOB shot pay careful attention to how Pete overlaps the pad of his trail thumb over the lead thumb. That overlap high up on the lead thumb is what allows the two hands to act as a unit to rotate the club 180° back to front without the club force pulling it further away from the body as it turns over, a swing fault that occurs when the two hands get separated on the grip; e.g., when the hands are placed in a Vardon style grip but the pad of the trail thumb winds up lower over the thumbnail of the lead hand which will cause the butt end of the club to be pulled in an arc and slightly outward by the club forces. Bend elbows 90° and tuck them onto sides so there is no rotation at the shoulder joint then turn forearms only so palms are upward (supinated) and then rotate them as much as possible palms downward (pronation) and you’ll see that with the shoulder joint immobilized the range of motion between maxing out both directions is 180°. If you the hold arms out straight so shoulder joints are engaged you’ll observe it is possible to now pronate the palms of the hand way past 180°, another 90° so palms face forwards and back. By comparison the range of motion from neutral (hand in line with forearm) and maxed out hinging/slapping action extension and flexion is about 45° in each direction for most people and there is a similar 45° range of motion up / down in radial vs ulnar deviation (cock up / down). What the Vardon grip accomplishes, brilliantly, is maxing out extension / flexion and radial-ulnar deviation at key waypoints in the golf swing. In the backswing it is the trail wrist reaching maxed out extension which forces the trail arm to bend elbow down creating the ‘server lifting tray’ leverage with the trail arm that is necessary to keep the lead hand from pronating and swing the club so far inside the force bend the lead elbow instead of keeping it pulled straight and causing the cocking to occur instead at the wrist. What controls when the trail wrist reached maxed out extension is how much it overlaps the lead hand in the grip; i.e. the ‘strength’ of the trail hand. Why is it called ‘strength’? not because of muscular action but rather the incredible control the leverage of the trail wrist extension maxing out and forcing trail elbow down creates, why a sever can lift a tray food over their shoulder and hold it there effortlessly. But if the hands are separate too much in the grip or trail hand supinated (palm up) too much at address the maxing out of extension in the trail wrist and forced hinging of the elbow doesn’t occur at the ideal time. What increasing the pronation of the trail hand for a lob shot does on a cause and effect level is force the trail wrist to reach maxed out extension and force the elbow to bend sooner. A trail hand which is too ‘weak’ (supinated) at address will not cause extension to max out and force the elbow to hinge in consistent manner leading to lack of control of the club and a ‘whack a mole’ club head path up and back down to the ball. PROPER GRIP IS CRITICAL for ideal automatic biomechanics because it is what determines when the range of movement in the wrist maxes out in both directions. What the Vardon grip does without most realizing it is put the ulna and radius bones in the forearm in the middle of their range of motion at address. Try gripping the club this way: 1) Bend elbows 90° and tuck into sides (limiting supination / pronation to 180°). 2) Holding shaft vertically in the trail hand put the lead hand on the handle of the club with thumb and index finger held together 3) Holding club in lead hand overlap pad of the trail hand up over the base lead thumb also with thumb and index finger held together. You should find that with the club up in the air vertically with elbows bent is is very easy to get the trail hand positioned properly. 4) Hinge body at the hips into the address position and allow the arms to straighten, maintaining the grip established up in the air. What will happed as the arms straighten is a rotation of radius bone around the ulna which stretches the muscles as the forearms counter rotate. That counter rotation caused by the lowering of the club will increase the pressure of between the hands forcing them to rotate into a more pronated position with the force exerted by the trail hand controlling how much the lead hand can pronate. 5) DO NOT GROUND THE CLUB - let the ‘dead’ weight of the club pull the lead arm straight, then exert a slight downward pressure on the thumb with the pad of the trail thumb to push any ‘slack’ out of the arms. 6) Waggle the club down until both the wrists are in maxed out ulnar deviation (cocked down) and notice how the extension and supination of the hands will change in response and how firm the hands and arms feel. Repeat that ‘grip in the air’ procedure with thumbs not overlapped optimally at address (trail hand too supinated or hands separated too much) and you’ll understand how critical grip is to successfully executing any golf swing. Also something Pete didn’t mention is that his stance is open to the target by about 45° the same position they wind up in during a full swing which is the reason there isn’t any hip rotation in the backswing and downswing. You need to ‘pre clear’ the lead hip in partial shots.
That's the simplist chipping explanation I've ever heard, and it works!
For me the best coach ! Seeing it again and again ... 😅
Loving Peter the most!!!
The best coach a genius.
Master class by the master
Natural force is wath I will use more thank you!
The more precise terms are extension and flexion for the hinging / slapping aspect of wrist movement and radial vs ulnar deviation for the cocking up and down movement. Not mentioned but also critical is how the rotation of radius around ulnar in the forearms can pronate (palm down) or supinate (palm up) the hand.
Also not mentioned except in the Lob shot is the critical importance of using the Vardon Style Grip correctly. Vardon gets credit for popularizing it but it was first used with great success by Scottish amateur champ Johnny Laidlay in the late 1890s in the era were golfers transitioned from using smooth ‘Feathery’ balls which had little in the way of directional control to the dimpled Gutta Percha balls which generated aerodynamic lift / drag and could be steered in the air and spun sideways after landing by using a swiping blow on the back of the ball that tilted the spin axis causing the same effect as when an airplane wing banks to turn.
The reason the Laidlay/Vardon grip works ideally for controlling the face of the club is that it maxes out the travel of the wrist in several direction at impact very much like a swinging door hitting a doorstop IF USED CORRECTLY and allow the club to turn over 180° without being pulled up from the body.
Much attention is paid to where the Vs created by thumb and forefinger point when setting up the grip but the underlying cause and effect for doing than is rarely explained. As mentioned in the LOB shot pay careful attention to how Pete overlaps the pad of his trail thumb over the lead thumb. That overlap high up on the lead thumb is what allows the two hands to act as a unit to rotate the club 180° back to front without the club force pulling it further away from the body as it turns over, a swing fault that occurs when the two hands get separated on the grip; e.g., when the hands are placed in a Vardon style grip but the pad of the trail thumb winds up lower over the thumbnail of the lead hand which will cause the butt end of the club to be pulled in an arc and slightly outward by the club forces.
Bend elbows 90° and tuck them onto sides so there is no rotation at the shoulder joint then turn forearms only so palms are upward (supinated) and then rotate them as much as possible palms downward (pronation) and you’ll see that with the shoulder joint immobilized the range of motion between maxing out both directions is 180°. If you the hold arms out straight so shoulder joints are engaged you’ll observe it is possible to now pronate the palms of the hand way past 180°, another 90° so palms face forwards and back.
By comparison the range of motion from neutral (hand in line with forearm) and maxed out hinging/slapping action extension and flexion is about 45° in each direction for most people and there is a similar 45° range of motion up / down in radial vs ulnar deviation (cock up / down).
What the Vardon grip accomplishes, brilliantly, is maxing out extension / flexion and radial-ulnar deviation at key waypoints in the golf swing. In the backswing it is the trail wrist reaching maxed out extension which forces the trail arm to bend elbow down creating the ‘server lifting tray’ leverage with the trail arm that is necessary to keep the lead hand from pronating and swing the club so far inside the force bend the lead elbow instead of keeping it pulled straight and causing the cocking to occur instead at the wrist. What controls when the trail wrist reached maxed out extension is how much it overlaps the lead hand in the grip; i.e. the ‘strength’ of the trail hand. Why is it called ‘strength’? not because of muscular action but rather the incredible control the leverage of the trail wrist extension maxing out and forcing trail elbow down creates, why a sever can lift a tray food over their shoulder and hold it there effortlessly. But if the hands are separate too much in the grip or trail hand supinated (palm up) too much at address the maxing out of extension in the trail wrist and forced hinging of the elbow doesn’t occur at the ideal time.
What increasing the pronation of the trail hand for a lob shot does on a cause and effect level is force the trail wrist to reach maxed out extension and force the elbow to bend sooner. A trail hand which is too ‘weak’ (supinated) at address will not cause extension to max out and force the elbow to hinge in consistent manner leading to lack of control of the club and a ‘whack a mole’ club head path up and back down to the ball. PROPER GRIP IS CRITICAL for ideal automatic biomechanics because it is what determines when the range of movement in the wrist maxes out in both directions.
What the Vardon grip does without most realizing it is put the ulna and radius bones in the forearm in the middle of their range of motion at address. Try gripping the club this way:
1) Bend elbows 90° and tuck into sides (limiting supination / pronation to 180°).
2) Holding shaft vertically in the trail hand put the lead hand on the handle of the club with thumb and index finger held together
3) Holding club in lead hand overlap pad of the trail hand up over the base lead thumb also with thumb and index finger held together. You should find that with the club up in the air vertically with elbows bent is is very easy to get the trail hand positioned properly.
4) Hinge body at the hips into the address position and allow the arms to straighten, maintaining the grip established up in the air. What will happed as the arms straighten is a rotation of radius bone around the ulna which stretches the muscles as the forearms counter rotate. That counter rotation caused by the lowering of the club will increase the pressure of between the hands forcing them to rotate into a more pronated position with the force exerted by the trail hand controlling how much the lead hand can pronate.
5) DO NOT GROUND THE CLUB - let the ‘dead’ weight of the club pull the lead arm straight, then exert a slight downward pressure on the thumb with the pad of the trail thumb to push any ‘slack’ out of the arms.
6) Waggle the club down until both the wrists are in maxed out ulnar deviation (cocked down) and notice how the extension and supination of the hands will change in response and how firm the hands and arms feel.
Repeat that ‘grip in the air’ procedure with thumbs not overlapped optimally at address (trail hand too supinated or hands separated too much) and you’ll understand how critical grip is to successfully executing any golf swing.
Also something Pete didn’t mention is that his stance is open to the target by about 45° the same position they wind up in during a full swing which is the reason there isn’t any hip rotation in the backswing and downswing. You need to ‘pre clear’ the lead hip in partial shots.
And yet you still have a 28 handicap
Pure genius.
This is brilliant. What's the ball position for each of these shots
Can you show us left handed?
He talks some waffle
Not as much as you, and he makes big bank
He is spot on
Johnny bravo trained 6 masters winners no less.
A very very basic overview explanation and demonstration of green side chipping and pitching - there’s a lot more to it than what he demonstrated
On the flop you match the right hand with the face? That doesn’t look right.
when he says something he is 100 % sure. Too big a reputation to be spoiled...
Love Pete Cowan but the camera work is awful. Keeps missing key elements of Pete’s hands and the resulting shots.
Very frustrating 😡
He is absolutely great but the filming is meh.
Terrible video. Back the camera so we can see what your doing