Jimmy Walker - Load up and rotate

Sorry, you need to be a member to access this video.
You Are Just Seconds Away - Become a member here!
Already a member? Log in now

Congrats to Jimmy Walker for winning the 2015 Valero Texas Open by 4 shots. Walker is now 17th in driving distance on the PGA Tour at 301.4 yards. In this video, I'll show you how important loading your trail leg in the golf swing is for stability and power.

  • Shift your weight to the trail side and push your heel/ankle into the ground for stability.
  • Maintain the stability and rotate around your trail leg. 


Hey Rotary Swing Golfers, this is RST instructor Chris Tyler.

Thanks for checking in with this week's Tour Analysis.

This week, we're going to be focusing in on a great way.

To prioritize your load and your rotation in your golf swing very early on so that you can have proper downswing sequencing, just like Jimmy Walker who's averaging more than 300 yards with his driver right now.

So if you've been lacking a little bit of power and you're looking for a better solution to be able to load that golf swing up, then you want to pay close attention to this review.

Let's go ahead and get started.

Okay guys, So, as I said in the opener, here we have Jimmy Walker, who just won at the Valero Texas Open this past weekend, so congratulations to Jimmy.

If we've been searching for a better way to put more power and more consistency in your golf swing, You want to pay really close attention to these two key moves that we're going to be focusing on this week.

And it really kind of helps set a tone of positive chain reactions of events in the golf swing.

So if you've been struggling with downswing, sequencing, or if you've been struggling with having some really weak power in the move, then pay really close attention to some things here that we're going to talk about.

So I'm going to draw this line straight up from the trail ankle here.

All right, if you haven't seen this before, we have a video on the website called The Right Now, you'll notice that we tend to set up with a much wider base here when we have a driver.

And we do have a video on the site called Driver Setup Adjustments.

And a lot of these modern day drivers are really geared towards high launch with very low spin.

So we do make some adjustments to stance width, ball positions adjusted as well.

But more importantly, What we've got to do is we've got to be able to set things off on the right tone while we start the golf swing.

So if you pay close attention to this right hip line here, you can see a good amount of space between the right thigh and this line.

And when he goes ahead and starts his move here, you're going to see a shift over into that side.

So you see him starting to shift his hips.

Now what he's doing there is he's shifting his weight to load up that trail side glute.

And that's really, really important for you guys at home because if you don't shift enough, chances are you can run into a reverse pivot sort of sense at the top of the swing.

And then in turn you're more apt to use your upper body to start the downward move.

So what we're trying to achieve for a properly sequenced downswing is we want the lower body to go first.

And if we start to get some contraction in those muscle groups first, muscle groups don't want to stay contracted for all that long.

So if you get the tone set off by really starting to load those up first, then they're going to want to fire first.

So we're making a small shift over to that side.

We're pushing that right heel into the ground.

That's a good tip for you guys at home that have been really kind of struggling with.

Stability is push your right heel or ankle into the ground and really try to feel like you're creating a post in that trail leg to rotate around.

That'll help maintain a lot of separation between the hip line and shoulder line.

It'll help get you to have the proper muscles fire, and you'll have a much more stable lower body as you work into the top of your backswing.

So you're going to see here as we work up to the top, The only thing that moves away from the right hip line would be the right hip, because we are looking at this from a two dimensional space and the hip is rotating.

But Jimmy's done a great job here at the top of the swing.

He's got maybe 30, 35 degrees of rotation from the hips.

You can see he's made a giant shoulder turn here, well past 90 degrees.

And if he were to allow his hips to become unstable where he hadn't shifted enough weight over here, Then, in turn, he could run the risk of getting his spine to over rotate and lean more towards the target.

But you can see that he's done a great job of maintaining axis tilt up here.

And now he's set his golf swing up to be sequenced properly.

So you'll see in the downward move here you're going to see a big giant shift to these hips.

So we start out with a small shift right, things are loaded up, and then because that was the first muscle group that we started to get a lot of contraction in, Then we're going to go ahead and start to fire there first back over the lead side.

And he's starting to get himself into a position to where he can start to post up and let the club go.

So if you've been struggling, like I said, With either a reverse pivot or lacking some power.

Or really, in your downswing sequencing, where you've been feeling like you've been using too much of your upper body, then really focus on loading up that trail side.

We've got some good videos on the website.

We've got Load Up the Right Leg for Stability.

These videos are going to be over in the recommended videos to the right of the video player.

The Importance of Axis Tilt and 5 Minutes to Master Rotation.

Those are great videos and this is, because we're starting to get back into golf season now, a lot of us that have been in the colder climates, We want to make sure that we can have that load to the right side.

With proper weight shift and then proper rotation is going to really help a lot of other areas.

Further on in the golf swing, and you'll be well on your way to having much more power and more consistency.

All right, guys, so let's check out those videos and let's get out there and play some great golf this season.

I wish you all the best.

Now make it a great day.

Must be Premium Member to Comment

64x64
Sean
Chris, nice meeting you during our in-person lesson while I was in Florida and thanks again for the help. This video relates nicely to what we worked on.. lower body stability! I have been working to integrate what you said and though it's never as fast as one would like it to happen, I am seeing positive changes already. Went out and shot 82 in a tournament here in Palm Springs which should have been a 77 if I was only putting well.. which is not an issue related to what we worked on My FIR and GIR were very high % and I was 285+ many times off the tee, hitting 3 of my best lifetime drives on the course in that round (mind you, a tournament round where you'd typically play more conservatively on power..). Most importantly, my ironplay was really consistent towards the flag without the issues that were plaguing me before with pushing right or big hooks to the left at times. Thanks again, and keep up the great work.
April 2, 2015
64x64
Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Sean -- Sorry for the delay in response to this. Not sure how I missed the comment. It was great to work with you and I am so pleased to hear you are getting some great results. Keep me posted on how things are going and thanks for the kind words.
April 8, 2015
64x64
Sean
No worries Chris. Latest update is that I shot 77 in my last 18 holes including 38 in league play, so still feeling like I'm definitely moving in the right direction with the latest changes. One of my drives last night was over 300, which is definitely related to the additional power I'm storing in the backswing via the shift + "twist up".
April 10, 2015
64x64
Roger (Certified RST Instructor)
Chris, nice analysis of Jimmy Walker's swing. It appears from the video that Jimmy Walker makes most of his shift right just before he starts his shoulder turn or backswing. He also has some lateral motion of his head as well before his right shoulder starts it's glide. Is this something I could incorporate into my swing to help with my shift right? Thanks, Roger
March 31, 2015
64x64
Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Roger, If you have been struggling with keeping the trail side loaded up, it may be a good idea to shift first before you rotate and create some awareness of the trail side glutes. We generally would be looking for the shift to start and rotation to work together. No big issue if you need to break it apart for a bit. The head can move in the golf swing an inch or inch and a half. That is perfectly normal. You may see a bit more head movement with a driver swing due to the width of the stance.
April 1, 2015
64x64
John (Jack)
Chris, really like your videos and analysis. This one and perfecting lower body stability are very helpful to me. Now to do the drills to really do the learning. Thanks. Jack
March 30, 2015
64x64
Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Thanks very much and glad you are enjoying the videos.
April 1, 2015
64x64
Anthony
Chris, in this video you mention that Jimmy Walker post up and let's the club go. What do you mean by the phrase letting the club go.
March 30, 2015
64x64
Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Anthony, when referencing letting go, I am speaking of the release in the golf swing.
April 1, 2015
64x64
Louis
Walkers hands really work around and look behind his head at the top (obviously due to his flexibility and upper body rotation against that right pivot). If you are loaded onto that right post and can make the full rotation, does it go against what RST teaches to let the hands get that deep? When I am loaded into right side, if I want to really coil against that, my hands tend to end up in a similar place at the top. Many RST videos say the hands should be more away from you at the top, does that just means away from center. If I am fully coiling/rotating against the right leg/cglute, my hands end up in a similar position as Jimmy.....
March 30, 2015
64x64
Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Lou, It is very difficult to see how deep his hands are when looking at the swing from a face on perspective. The golf swing does need some depth which is achieved by rotation. We want to maintain extension at the top of the swing for width. That would be the feeling of having the hands extended away from center. The important thing is to make sure that the position of the trail elbow is not out behind the torso and the total elevation in the swing is a variable that could be different from one person to the next. We use the trail elbow at the base of the chest as a reference point.
April 1, 2015

We're after one thing: Real Results - Real Fast. And that's exactly what our members achieve. And that's why they say the AXIOM is: Mind-blowing. Game changing. Revolutionary.

Check it out ...

Here at RotarySwing, talk is cheap and the proof is always in the pudding. Come see the massive transformations we can achieve together in your swing.

See for yourself ...

From beginner to pro, we have what you need to get you where you want to go.

See how inside ...

RotarySwing was founded out of frustration with the current state of golf instruction. Quinton knew a better way had to exist to learn this game we all love.

Learn more ...