Bill Haas & Adam Scott - Control Trajectory

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Bill Haas and Adam Scott show you 2 key moves to controlling your trajectory with your short irons on the course.

  • Lead wrist begins to rotate (supinate) from the top of the swing down. 
  • Lead side is fully stacked just as the lead wrist approaches trail thigh. 
  • Control the trajectory with a flat lead wrist and bow the wrist to take more loft off the shot. 


We are back with this week's tour analysis with a specialty shot this week. We just followed up the Presidents' Cup and I know we've had a lot of questions on how do those guys on tv flight their wedges down? How do I hit that shot myself? That's what we're gonna be discussing this week. I'm gonna show you guys Bill Haas and Adam Scott, two key moves in each of their golf swing that allow them to control their trajectory and get a ton of compression at the same time. If this is something you're lacking in your game, you want to pay really close attention to today's review.

                Okay gang, I know a lot of us have had a chance to go to a professional golf tournament in the past or maybe we even seen it on tv, where we see these golf pros really start to control their trajectory, hitting a lot of these boring, penetrating style shots. Some of us have even had the luck to be able to pull that shot off on our own and really never had a good understanding of what the heck we did and how the heck we do it again.

                That's where our focus is gonna be this week. We're gonna talk about two of the really key moves that allow you to control trajectory which is critical for windy conditions and also being able to control the spin on the golf ball, which is a very big part of the game these days. We're gonna be focusing on two really big areas of both Haas and Scott's golf swing. Then we're gonna lay out a good game plan for you moving forward so that you can understand how you're gonna start to work this into your own game.

                Let's get started here, we're gonna back both players up to the top of the swing. We're only looking at it from the top of the swing down the sweep, because we aren't going to look at a lot of the other moving parts here. Our focus is going to be on the lead wrist and our body position. What we're gonna look at here in the first place is the lead wrist is now facing up towards the sky. Bill Haas is a little bit more cupped than Adam Scott at the top. But I want you to pay close attention to how the lead wrist starts to rotate on the way down. The lead wrist is starting to rotate, and as we start to approach the trail thigh, you can see now that the glove logo is gone from being faced up toward the sky to being faced back here at us at home.

                More importantly, what I want you to take notice of is the position of the lead side of the body at this particular junction in the golf swing. What you're gonna notice here is that the lead ankle, the lead knee, the lead hip socket and the lead shoulder are all right on top of one another. That's a really big part of being able to control your trajectory because that's helping you control the bottom of the swing arc. Our lead ankle, our lead knee, our lead hip socket, and our lead shoulder are all right on top of each other as the lead wrist is starting to approach the trail thigh.

                Let's go ahead and take a look at Adam here, you're going to see something very similar. You see him make a shift, then as his hands start to work down in front here, you're gonna see that the glove logo is now facing back towards us at home. The lead side of the body is really stacked up here, very very textbook like move ... To being able to control trajectory. Now, what I want you to understand is that the body movements are getting you set up to control where the bottom of the swing arc is, but what's going to control the trajectory of the shot is the lead wrist. The lead wrist is really responsible for being able to control what the ball is doing. If you were to have a flat left wrist position, that in turn's gonna have a little bit of forward shaft lean, but if you were to try to have a really bowed left wrist, that turn's gonna cause you to have more forward shaft lean which is gonna help the golf ball come off really low. We've got some videos that will help you out with that, we'll get into that here just a little bit further.

                But what I want you to notice here from Adam, as he starts to work down into the hitting area, you're gonna see that this glove logo is facing down the target line. Here we are at impact, we've got just a little bit of forward shaft lean here, probably seven, eight degrees or so. You're gonna see a very similar position here with Bill Haas. You can see, glove logo is now down his target line. You can see that we got a little bit of forward shaft lean here and a good stacked up lead position.

                This is really kind of where the rubber meets the road when it comes to controlling trajectory and being able to flight your golf ball properly. You always want to think body position and lead wrist position. In turn, you'll be able to start to control those wedge shots just like the guys you see on tv.

                A couple videos that are gonna help you out with this whole process, we have penetrating wedge shot, all these videos that I mention are gonna be over here to the right hand side of the video player. Just go ahead and click that recommended videos tab, they'll all populate for you. We have penetrating wedge shot, we've got the knuckles down, logo down. That's another good video that's gonna teach you how to get the club face into a good position down into the hitting area with good forward shaft lean. We also have squaring the face. Those videos are all fantastic and teach you how to get some gradual rotation. It's also right in the midst of the new perfecting your impact position series that we're releasing right now. You can go ahead and start to tie all these together and you're gonna be well on your way to hitting some really good controlled golf shots on the golf course, and never question yourself how you did it. All right gang, that's today's review, get out there and let's control those wedge shots and make it a great day.

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64x64
Mikko-Pekka
"Lead wrist begins to rotate (supinate) from the top of the swing down. " Huh? When I do that, you know what happens Craig! What have I understood incorrectly?
April 1, 2020
64x64
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Mikko. I have played tons with Bill. Good guy. It does, but only fraction of degrees. Not to the violent degree you do.
April 1, 2020
64x64
Brandon
Do the types of irons (blades/cavity back) make a difference? It seems like more pros are going away from blades and going to the lower launching cavity back irons
February 28, 2016
64x64
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Brandon. Equipment plays a big factor. More pros are switching to the newer cavity backs because it gives them the best of both worlds. Forgiveness and now they can work/maneuver the ball easier like it was with the old blades.
February 29, 2016
64x64
James
The lead wrist at the top the logo pointing up at the sky. Question is that position to be used with all clubs? I've been keeping logo facing the camera. After watching this video I tried logo facing the sky seems to have help my sequence and release alot. Club speed increase also.????
October 13, 2015
64x64
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello James. You can see the logo position very well in the Using the Wrist Efficiently and Effectively Video. It shouldn't be pointing at the camera at the top. More towards the sky. It makes sense because you were probably allowing for better face rotation.
October 13, 2015
64x64
joseph
When I get my ankle, knee, hip, and shoulder lined up like Adam Scott, my head has also moved over the ankle and my shoulders are open 45 degree. I find it impossible to get all my weight to the left side at impact without my head moving forward. I think I don't understand something about hitting the ball.
October 13, 2015
64x64
Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Joseph, your head should stay in behind the ball with the secondary axis tilt you create from clearing the hips out. Make sure that you are not driving too hard of the trail foot and you are still working to rotate the hips open a bit down in the hitting area.
October 13, 2015
64x64
joseph
I know the head should stay behind ... it just refuses to! ... I stomp on the left heel to start the downswing and the body starts the tilting action to the left ... when are the hips supposed to clear - hands hip high? hands passing the ball? Right now I'm terrified of turning the hips because I don't want to turn back into a hip spinner (which is worse than being a Red Sox fan)
October 13, 2015
64x64
Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
The hips should be clearing out as you release the club. As long as you keep the trail heel down on the ground and haven't spun your upper body too hard from the top of the swing, then you do not need to worry about hip spinning. You may want to lose the stomp drill and just work on the sitting into the left side drill. Go Red Sox Go Patriots
October 13, 2015
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