Making Your Golf Swing Feel Natural w/ Baseball Drill - Live Lesson

Have you ever felt like your golf swing doesn't feel natural? Perhaps you played baseball and hit the baseball fine but consistent ball striking in golf is eluding you? Then this is the video for you! Learn how to tame your arms and tap into your hips for a near limitless supply of power in your golf swing.

Speaker 1:
All right. So you tell me I'm a 90% arms, 10% body guy. Okay. So I've been working for the past month to try and reverse it. Okay. And I think it's better, but I can't really hit a golf ball yet. Like, it looks better to me. I'm sticking with it, but it's hard for me to to hit it, solid doing that. So, okay. I know, you know, I was at least hoping maybe the arms might clean themselves up a little bit as I fixed the body. And I, I just don't know if mine are cooperating, but I'm just curious to see what you think it looks like.

Speaker 2:
Okay. Typically when that happens, when you're making these adjustments and you're starting to feel stuff in your body and trying to take the arms out when, when that breaks down and you're not able to make really good contact or something just feels wonky. You can typically one of two things, 90% of the time, one, you're just thinking about so much stuff that, you know, it's hard to get your brain out of the way and be able to make contact, because you're thinking about using your body, which obviously isn't directly connected immediately to the clubs. So you, you kind of get lost. You kind of thinking down here and, and you hit the ball with the club, obviously. So that, that typically happens. And the second thing is if the arms still take over and you don't realize it, then something is not loaded in the body correctly. And it's typically the right hip. So it's one of those two things, nine times out of 10. So that's my first thing to plug in your brain to get you thinking. But let's take a look at it and see where we're at.

Speaker 1:
Okay. All right. I'll try. No worries. Okay. Can you see me okay. There? I can see it. Great. Okay.

Speaker 2:
Can you do one face on for me? Yes. Okay. So let's let me show you what's going on. So we're definitely still using the arms a lot. And so I want to help, help you understand where that's happening and so that you can start to recognize it on video when you're working on your swing. And then I want to show you what we need to do to get the body loaded so that you don't feel like the arms have to do so much and get so worked. So let me show you this.

Speaker 3:
Okay.

Speaker 2:
I see. So as we go back, set up, not too bad there we could stand a little bit taller through the legs and bring the hips in a little bit closer. You know, you stand a little taller through the knees. You can bring your hips forward just a little bit, but that's not like a deal breaker. It's not like you're not gonna be able to play golf from there. You increase the knee flex quite a bit there though. So then as we go back, see how they see how you're gonna go back. Yeah. He's rolling over kind of, yeah. I see how, how bent the right arm is and how inside the club is. So this is always just left side push. Well, not always. You can bend the right arm a little bit too, but in your case, you're swinging the left arm across the body and you see how your Peck, like if you had a logo on your shirt, it'd be gone. Right. You couldn't see it. Okay. So I'm going to help you understand how to fix that because that immediately starts to load up these arms and shoulders, and then it's virtually impossible to break out of that trend on the way down to not fire the arms and hands. Cause we're loading them immediately off the ball. And what we need to do is start loading that right. Hip immediately

Speaker 1:
Off the ball. Okay, great.

Speaker 2:
So yeah, so now we're just really deep and flat.

Speaker 1:
Yeah. I hate that. We're going to

Speaker 2:
Fix that and then, and then you're across the line and then shoulder dive. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So the legs are pretty Placid. I would call it. They're not working nearly as hard as they need to. And this is why you, you have a hard time taking your left shoulder out of it because you don't feel like if you didn't use your arms like this, that you'd have any power. And so that's, what's going on here. So now the arms kind of start to take over because the legs aren't doing, what they need to pretty big hip slide to the right here.

Speaker 1:
Yeah. I mean, that's, I guess that's my attempt to sort of load that leg, but

Speaker 2:
Yeah. I want to give you a completely different way of thinking about it. Cause then we kind of have the strap. Yeah. So the legs are like totally taking a nap here. Okay. So you are going to do some fun stuff. Okay. Give you a different way of thinking about how honestly teaching people, how to use their hips is the most important thing. But one of the most challenging things in all of golf and it's hard because the hips are moving. You know, when you look at yourself on video, you're seeing it in 2d, right? You, you, you're seeing basically this, this simple dimension here, and then you look at it the other way, you try to put those two together. The hips are moving in 3d and it's hard for somebody to understand, well, okay. My hip needs to go back and it needs to go this way and it needs to turn like, how do you get somebody to understand that right now? You said you played baseball, right?

Speaker 1:
Yeah. Reasonable hockey, everything better than this game.

Speaker 2:
Well, let's leverage some baseball stuff. Okay. Because when you think about baseball, the baseball strike the, I, I'm not a hitting coach when it comes to baseball. Okay. But I've taught a lot of major league baseball guys. And for whatever reason, most of these guys that I've taught have worked with rod Carew as a hitting coach. Right. And obviously I think he's a hall of Famer, but you know, and the stuff that they talk about, the way that they talk about is a little bit different, but there's a lot of similarities when it comes to understanding how to put power into the swing. And that's what you're struggling with is when you keep pushing this left arm across, you're doing this in search of power, you're doing this in search of trying to feel like you've got something to hit with and that's why you can't get out of it.

Speaker 2:
Right? And so you have to replace that power source of your arm with something else. Otherwise you'll just kind of keep doing the same thing. And right now, as your legs kind of come through, like this, they're not working. So in baseball, they talk about this thing called squash, the bug. Cause they're hitting more off the back foot, right. And golf. We know that we have to transfer weight, but you can still kind of use that same idea, just not hanging back on it. But the thing I like about the squash, the bug thing is that it's teaching you to pivot, to rotate your pelvis from a loaded hip position. So in baseball, I played ball for a long time. I'd never had a hitting coach, but you know, one thing that I was always doing it set up as I was really loaded on this hip just naturally, right.

Speaker 2:
You're just naturally here. And your arms and shoulders are naturally more relaxed, right? It's not like you're going to be like this. And this is the difficulty with golf. The back swing is generally what sets everything off on the wrong path because we start moving the club. We're so fixated on moving the club first that we start doing that. But I want you to think about this, like a baseball swing and a baseball swing. You start at the top of the backswing, but what are you doing with your arms and bat and hands right there chilled out because you're know that you're going to get all of that initial move from here. Right? It's that hip pivot and golf is tough because one, we have a back swing so that we start to load up our arms too soon. And we don't get the benefit of that step.

Speaker 2:
Right. Right. But I want you to practice. We'll start kind of like this, right? So you're going to be up here and just loading up that right hip and then using that to help you turn and then your arms are going to stay back and then they release, right? That sequence is the same in the golf swing. The left side provides control. The right side, adds power. What I want you to do? What you're just doing there. You're still turning your rib cage, your upper body. I want you to keep your upper body back and just turn your hip, see how my arm is still back. Yeah. Turn them further. So, and use that right hip to drive. There you go. Hey, here it is. Here we go.

Speaker 3:
That is

Speaker 2:
The golf swing. When it comes to adding power to your swing and getting the hips to sequence, getting the hips to lead the swing. Because right now, you know, you're, you're, you're by the time you get halfway back, this arm's already getting loaded. You, you know, it's normal to you. So you won't feel the tension that you're creating. But then by the time it gets to the top, they're really tight. And so that's when they, that's why you have this little right shoulder dive and the hips are just kind of following along. What I want you to do is go to the top and feel relaxed. But you can't do that unless you feel a lot of load in that right. Hip.

Speaker 2:
Yeah. Re even more, go ahead and turn. We're going to exaggerate this a little bit at first. This is where the speed and power is going to come from in the swing. Good. So you can see your arms and shoulders are chilled out, right? Yeah. They're just going along for the ride and that's how they get that initial free fall in the, in the backswing or in the D in the transition. So when you're making your swing, the feeling that you have when you're loaded up like a baseball player on your right hip, that's the same feeling I want you to replicate at the top of your backswing. And that's what you're trying to create immediately off the ball, right? You're right now, immediately off the ball, it's left side push and a big hip slide. That's not loading this hip, right. And this is where it's difficult to understand like the exact position and the way it moves to the hip, because it's moving in 3d.

Speaker 2:
It's kind of difficult to explain and video. But I feel like if you're thinking more baseball where you're going to, you know how you're going to initiate that transition in baseball. If you start trying to achieve that feeling so that you can do that move, that's how you're going to start thinking about the backswing. So the backswing is not what, not this, right? It's not what you were doing. A slide in your hip that doesn't make any sense. You're coiling. This is how you load is as if you were going to hit a baseball, but the baseball just happens to be on the ground there. See how your hips now loading instead of sliding, right?

Speaker 1:
So behind me and taking the weight at the same time, kind of

Speaker 2:
Exactly this is moving in 3d, but without me having to explain to you like the exact positions and angles and stuff, you're loading with a purpose because you know, in the downswing, if you're going to use that to help you pivot your hips, then you know what it needs to feel like in the backswing. And that's really the goal is during that takeaway, and back when you start doing that right away, it's like right now, your hip is fully loaded and what you're demonstrating and your hands are right here, which would be the end of the takeaway. Right? Yeah. But you normally don't feel that loaded up at that point in your swing.

Speaker 1:
I don't, it's hard for me to, sometimes I try and get, I just can't do it once I have the clock, you know, that sort of thing.

Speaker 2:
Right? You have to think about the golf swing. When you think about mechanics positions and things that you're trying to do, it doesn't work unless you're doing those things with the purpose loading my right hip. If I don't know what I'm going to do with it and how I'm going to use on the way down, it doesn't make any sense. But now that you know how to use that, to help you pivot your hips, it starts making sense during the takeaway how you would want to load it.

Speaker 1:
So when I load it, if I'm loaded, I'm trying to open that thing as far as I can almost.

Speaker 2:
Well, there's a balance point here, right? Like you look at like Cameron champ or Justin Thomas, right? Those guys on the tour, their hips are really, really open. And they're, you know, the driver they're like this at impact flits way up in the air. That's extreme. And that's going to start putting you at risk for injury. Right? So you find the balance between the simplest check to keep you from overdoing. It is, if your right heel is still on the ground at impact, you didn't, you didn't go crazy with it. Right. So you can drive hard enough that that still stays down and then let it release naturally. But use it to turn. You're still kind of pushing laterally. Okay. Yeah. So you now you're outside of neutral joint alignment. I want you to think about turn. Yeah. I want you to think about turning or that, not your shoulders. Just your hips, just drive your hips like this. So if you were just going to stand here and just turn your hips,

Speaker 1:
There you go. That's the fuel. I never feel bad. I

Speaker 2:
Know. I know. Right. And that's not true. That's why I think this is going to be fun for you because you're going to start to feel how you can use your legs for power again.

Speaker 1:
So it's more getting more that, that then just driving all the way forward. It really is turning through that way. You

Speaker 2:
Have to get a neutral. So it's doing both. Right. But what you were doing was a lot of lateral drive. And when I told you just to pivot, you still got into neutral or close to it. Right. So you just have to, you have to shift a tiny bit. There you go. It's a little bit more.

Speaker 1:
So it's that kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. So it really is a pivot. I I'm really thinking of light drive as this previously. That's really too much lateral this. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
And this is why, you know, teaching people how to push from the right side for power, especially the higher handicap golfers. That's what they do. Right. They actually go to the top, this knee stays buckled in and they push like this and that doesn't work. So what I'm telling you is to take this hip and push it this way. So from down the line you know, baseball, I'm loaded up as I'm shifting to the left, I'm pushing this hip forward and that's pushing the left hip out of the way back behind me.

Speaker 1:
Yeah. I mean, that is not something that's in my golf swing. As you can tell, I mean, that's, this

Speaker 2:
Is what missing for you to replace your arms as a power source is to start to use your legs.

Speaker 1:
Is that a better pivot?

Speaker 2:
Yes. Much better. So keep doing that. I want a video one, then we're going to compare that to what you're doing before. Show me one where you're going to push really hard off the right leg. Shoulders, relaxed. Just exaggerate one. There you go. All right. That's what I wanted to see. All right. So now let's take a quick look.

Speaker 3:
[Inaudible] Let me go for the last one.

Speaker 2:
So now you can see your hips are open and your shoulders are still, your arms are still back. Your shoulders are still back. So that's where you're going to get that slinging effect of your arms, getting swung through the hitting area, by your hips, but your hips have to lead everything. So now you can see where you would be roughly at impact. This is, this was the one where you really exaggerated, where you really tried to turn as hard as you could. So you can see your, you know, your left hips pretty much in neutral here, the right hips. You know, this is again, this is the big exaggeration. So this is like, you're trying to whale on it driver or something, right? Yeah,

Speaker 1:
Go ahead. So I was really sliding both forward and back instead of really getting the pivoting motion. Correct. Is that fair? You

Speaker 2:
Were it's it's rotational. You can't just rotate and you can't just move lateral. You were 90% lateral and 10% rotation. And now we're kind of making it 70% rotation and 30% lateral

Speaker 1:
Kind of gotcha. Yeah. It's very different field. I was thinking it was kind of trying to do it the wrong way, obviously.

Speaker 2:
Yeah. So this will help dramatically. So let me, so this is where your actual swing was. So now as you watch your hips, all right. So this is where your actual swing, as you watch your hips and use kind of that the tree or the gutter in the background. Yep. As your reference, big, big lateral. Yep. Haven't really, even there, they're not there they're turned, but they're not really loaded. They look pretty soft and weak so that you can't read that. Right. So now you didn't, you made another big lateral shift, but there's not much right. Rotation in there. Yep.

Speaker 2:
And that right leg, the right hip is just kind of chilled out and then it's all arms and shoulders. And then what you, what you're going to start feeling again, this is like the extreme exaggeration where you're just up here and you're pivoting, driving this knee forward. That's going to get your hips open fast. There you go. Try to keep your shoulders shut and just move your hips. There you go. Good. That's it. So now what you're doing in the backswing, can't inhibit that. And what I mean by that is if you're going back and you're starting to swing your arms and shoulders, your hips are going to lose focus. They're going to get out of position. They're going to lose that load. This has to be your priority is thinking about, well, think about it in the whole golf, the transition, the first thing to move is your lower body. Right? You know that if that's your number one priority to get the down swing started, then the back swing should be getting this loaded up first. So that it's ready to go before you finish your backswing. And this is how you get your arms and hands and shoulders to chill out because they're just going to the top to be relaxed. The hips have got to do all of the work to get everything coming down.

Speaker 2:
So as you start making practice swings with the club, you're going to start focusing on getting this loaded up so that I can drive. And my arms and hands are just kind of nice and soft, but I'm focusing on loading up this right hip first. My arms are really relaxed. That's, what's going to get you from taking the club inside anymore because when you're doing this, this is all you're going to start to feel it, that this shoulders loading up right away. And now you're going to feel like my arms, just like when you're going to a baseball swing and your arms are nice and soft and relaxed. That's your goal to get them to the top in that same position. But your hip is loaded.

Speaker 1:
My first thought back is just, yep, exactly. Now what?

Speaker 2:
Swing to the top. Just let them kind of swing naturally, but you're focusing on your hips.

Speaker 1:
Okay. So I'll try to pull that up. Okay. Again, a minimal tension in my arms. Good. Just loading that. Yeah. Relax the arms even more.

Speaker 2:
And then go ahead and come down from there using the hip, the hip load to come down one more time. Get that hit open. Okay. So you're still bringing your arms down there. Let's take a look at that so I can walk real quick.

Speaker 1:
That's all right. I just kind of didn't shift my weight forward either. I just kind of made sure I was trying to make sure I open going down. But yeah,

Speaker 2:
So the left arm is more quiet. They're still working a little bit, but your right arm is not as folded, but this is again, you've been doing the same thing with your arms for a while. So it's going to take a little bit to get the feeling where they don't have to do so much anymore sure. Into a better position at the top, but let's go and look at the actual swing. You maintain your tush line better, which your arms and they were better to start down, but not enough. The hips actually turned really well. There actually that's a lot better, definitely maintain the tush line, but your arms are coming along with it. And so what I want to start to feel to exaggerate this is let that heal come up off the ground. So you're kind of forcing it in there to like stay down the right heel.

Speaker 2:
So while you're practicing what we've got to do, we need to, right now, the pendulum is on the arms swing side and we're going to swing it over here to the hip side. We're going to go to the extreme. We're going to really exaggerate this. And then we're going to let it come back to the middle. So to get it to the extreme so that you can really start to use your legs again. I want you to start to feel where, you know, as, as in baseball, right? Like your arms are here and then you're taking them back while you're going forward. Right. You're loading, driving, and pivoting. And when you pivot, I want your arms and hands to stay back. Your right arms are staying connected. And then you're just moving everything. I'm doing nothing but turning my hips. All right,

Speaker 3:
There you go. Good.

Speaker 1:
Yeah. So my arms are doing nothing, literally nothing, right? Yep. That's

Speaker 2:
What they have to do during that initial part of the downswing and that, and you're doing, you're still adding a lot of arms in your golf swing

Speaker 1:
Because right in the trend transition, I'm adding too much arms.

Speaker 2:
Exactly. Exactly. So as you go to the top and your golf swing, you can do the same thing. Right? Go to the top, just relax your arms, leave them there and just focus on your hip turn. There you go. So that would be the extreme and that's what we're going to feel at first. Good. All right. Let me record just one of those real quick. Go ahead. All right. Let me show you that real quick. And then I'm going to show you, so these again, we're taking this to the extreme first with no arms at all, and they're just totally getting swung around. And this is more just to get you to be able to wake up and feel how to load the hip, going back and how to use that load coming down, the arms going inside there. Still work on that.

Speaker 1:
Yeah. It drafts away inside when I should leave him alone. Right? Yeah.

Speaker 2:
And this, this is, again, this is the big exaggeration we want to get to the point where you're feeling like, okay, now I really am not using my arms at all. And then you can see that they will stay back and you don't have that big before you initiated the downswing with your right shoulder kind of driving down the ball. Yeah. That's what was, he's powering the whole swing. Now it's your hips.

Speaker 1:
Is that what made it go across the line? Shock was sort of my transition move more than the swing itself or

Speaker 2:
No, it's because you're taking it away inside like this, and then just the momentum of the swing arc is going to get it to want to come across the line a little bit. Okay. So this is better. So now obviously we don't want to take it this far where we're actually getting our arms that far deep, but so now then you start to see how this stuff starts to tie together. Okay. So, so if you let your arms swing way around and then you're really aggressive with your hips, then you're going to start coming too far from the inside. Yep. Okay. And that's like, as you transitioned from the mid handicap to the low handicap player, it's typically what happens. Then you start seeing guys who, you know, they learn to use your hips and they're really fast and aggressive with their hips and their arms get really stuck.

Speaker 2:
And that's because you're swinging your arms still deep. Now, as we go back to loading this hip and just feeling like our arms are going to stay more out in front, instead of going around, and this is going to be the key people start swinging their arms really around when they're going to use their arms and shoulders for power, because that gives you a big, long way to load up your arms and shoulders. Now your arms, your shoulders, as you get used to this are going to feel like they're not loaded up at all. Just like in baseball, right. Your arms. You're trying to keep your arms relax at the top, right? Yeah. You're doing the same thing in golf, my arm. Just going to stay out in front and go more up. Yep. That's the exaggeration. Good. Just okay. And

Speaker 1:
I, I can, I can do that. That's too much risk set there. Okay. You got,

Speaker 2:
Let it swing. Yeah. And it's just going to start going up. There you go. Is that better? A million times better do it again.

Speaker 1:
I don't have to risk that. I can just kind of let it swing up there. Exactly. Do it again.

Speaker 2:
All right. Take a quick look at that. So that probably feels pretty, extremely exaggerated, but you'll see. It's not okay.

Speaker 1:
Go to the club in the takeaway. Okay. So not, not a lot of set. Just swing it out there. And from that point. So from that point, where do I go? And that's it. You see about a swing off? Don't think about it.

Speaker 2:
Yeah. Well you did it right here,

Speaker 1:
Right up the forearm there. That looks okay. Right. It looks perfect.

Speaker 2:
This is all just tension related. Right? It's what muscle is. You're trying to load. It's now you're in a perfect backswing position. And this is because your arms and shoulders are more relaxed, but you're that tension in your arms and shoulders with that tension in your hip so that you can use your hips to bring the club down. So you can see that backswing is a billion times better,

Speaker 1:
Never been there before.

Speaker 2:
So the trick to this to keep these arms relaxed and keep the arms from swinging way deep and end up in this sexy position is that you have to load those hips going back so that you can have something to come down with.

Speaker 1:
Otherwise, I'm gonna feel two weeks if I just put it there without lowering the hips.

Speaker 2:
That's why you won't stick with it unless your hips are loaded. Gotcha. Then you'll feel like, oh no, I have to load my arms. Cause that's the only thing I have to power my swing with. And even that, like your arms are still swinging more than they need to. It's going to be very little with the arms. Yeah. That's plenty. Good. Don't don't look out there. Try to keep your shoulders and head back as you start down and just turn the hips there. That was it. Keep turning that right. Don't turn your head and shoulders. Just turn your hips.

Speaker 2:
Keep shifting to the left, to get all the way over there and get that hip out of the way better. All right. So here's what you've got to do. So I want you to practice a little baseball swings, right? Where you're going to be just kind of swinging up here because it's easy when we're, when our bodies are upright to just use our hips to turn exactly and start to feel how that's going to add power and rotate your, your upper torso to bring the club down to the ball for you and pay attention to what you feel in your arms and shoulders, how they're soft to get that dynamic stretch. While, while the club is still going back and your hips are going forward, your arms and shoulders have to be relaxed for that to happen. But as you stretch those muscles, that's what helps them bring them down faster.

Speaker 2:
Without you having to work hard, to bring them down, then just start making swings like that, where you're just going ahead and letting the club release, and then just start tilting it down slowly but surely where you're going to get down to the club being or the ball being down on the ground. So this is just to get you to get your hips to work. Then during the back swing, I want you to start working on your arm. Like you saw there, your arms just going, what they're going to feel like just straight up and down to you rather than swinging them around so much. They're just barely moving. And you'll re you'll be able to stick with that when you feel that your right hip is loaded. Yeah. It's good.

Speaker 1:
So does this make sense? Yeah, totally makes sense. I, I, you know, I see your videos. It makes sense. I'm like, yeah, that's, that's totally it. But until you like, watch me do it, it's like, I can't figure it out. You know? So I really appreciate this. It helps a lot.

Speaker 2:
Sure. So yeah, let's get those hips working, chill out the arms and shoulders start working with that, watching how the club's going to feel very different. It's not going around anymore because you're not trying to load your shoulders, not trying to load your arm. You're trying to load those hips. And so to feel very different, but this is all going to start to be able to chill out and relax. And this is going to wake up and that's where you going to start getting the power that you should have back and your swing.

Speaker 1:
Yeah. I think the rotational part of the hips, I really didn't get not specific numbers or directions, but you know, I was trying to kind of shift laterally without truly getting the pivoting loading and unloading. Cause I think that'll help.

Speaker 2:
Well, I'm glad we did this lesson. It's going to help you understand this a lot to get those hips to work and it's going to be huge for you cause they ha that is the engine of the swing they have to

Speaker 1:
Work. Yeah. Cool. All right. Thanks Jack. I really appreciate it. You bet. Have a good weekend. You too.