Troy Merritt - Downswing Sequence

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Troy Merritt get his first PGA Tour victory of his career. In this video, I'll show you the secret to using your lower body for effortless power in the golf downswing.

  • Load the trail side leg first to ensure your downswing can start with the lower body
  • Shift your lead him socket entirely until it is directly in line with the lead ankle. 


Hey, hey, what's up, guys? This is RST instructor, Chris Tyler, and we are back again with this week's tour analysis on Troy Merritt, who just picked up his first PGA Tour victory, so congratulations to him.

We're going to be focusing in on downswing sequence and the kinematic sequence this week.

I'm going to show you guys a great way to get your golf swing motoring from the ground up.

So, if you're looking for a way to get more power in your golf swing, then you want to pay close attention to today's review.

All right, guys, so as I said in the opener, We're going to be focusing in on downswing sequence this week.

And talk to you a little bit about how to use your lower body and give you guys a couple of reference points.

That's going to help you get enough weight shift into your lead side.

When we talk about downswing sequencing, You'll hear us a lot of times talk about building the swing from the ground up and using the lower body to really kind of drive things.

The reason why I have a baseball player over here on the right-hand side of the screen, this is actually Mike Trout, who's one of the youngest players to reach 100 stolen bases and 100 home runs, so congratulations to him.

When you start to look at the way, the similarities between these two moves as far as the golf swing and a good, powerful baseball swing, you're going to see the lower body make the hands and arms do a lot of the moving early on, all right? So, what we want to focus on is we want to get our lower body loaded up first, okay? So, the first thing that we're going to do is we're going to shift our weight.

We're going to try to shift and transfer our weight into our lead side, or I'm sorry, our trail side.

We're going to shift our weight into our trail side.

We're going to help start to load our lower body up first, and that's what Troy does really well here.

You're going to see him shift into this right hip line.

If you're unfamiliar with what the right hip line is, we've got a great video that we'll talk about here.

It's called the right hip line video.

These will be over in the recommended videos tab to the right-hand side of the video player.

Just click that.

Not all the videos that I ever mentioned during a tour analysis will be over here.

All right.

So, over here on the right -hand side of the screen, you will notice a very similar style move.

Okay? You see him kind of sitting back into his right leg.

Okay? So, now I'm going to mark the position of the hands here.

So, you're going to see the position of his hands.

Let's go ahead and mark the position of his lead leg here because they actually, obviously in baseball, they're not planted to the ground like we are in golf.

But you're going to see this big move here, this big lateral shift into this lead side.

So, he's getting planted here.

So, his hands have moved probably a good six inches or so, but his foot's moved a good six inches or so, Giving you the appearance that his lower body has really kind of pulled his hands and his shoulders into this position.

Very similar style to golf.

Okay? What we're going to be looking for, it's hard to see, but there's a little bit of a, there's a belt loop right here.

And you can use that as a reference point on the front of you.

Or you can find the, The pointy pelvic bone on the front of your body and about two finger widths inside of that's the center of the hip socket.

And what our goal is in golf is to be able to shift the center of our hip socket all the way over on top of the, the lead ankle.

We want to have that right over the top of it.

We would call that neutral joint alignment.

All right? And that's what Troy does really well.

And this is one of the big mistakes that a lot of amateur golfers makes is that they don't get a lot of shift here.

They get a lot of rotation.

So you're going to see here a big old shift right into his lead side.

So the movement from his hands and his arms and his shoulders have been derived from the lower body movement.

So if I were to pause him right here and then just wind his hips and shift his hips back up, that's going to give you the appearance to where he is now at the top of the golf swing.

Very similar to the, To what Mike Trout does over here and a lot of baseball players.

That hit for power is that we want our lower body to help us drive and start the kinematic sequence.

Okay guys.

So if you've been looking for a solution to do that, Then you've got to make sure that you get muscle groups loaded up first, and you want to make sure that you transfer and shift and load into that trail side.

We've got some videos that help you out with that.

I know that we harp a lot on lower body, so you want to check out perfecting lower body stability video.

You also want to take a good close look at how to build the swing from the ground up.

That's a great video that Chuck just released, probably one of our premium members' favorite videos out there.

A lot of, A lot of members are starting to get some great results from the drill that Chuck has set up for you guys there.

Also the load the right glute, shorten swing, start transition video.

It's another good video to help get things started off in the right foot.

Do very little with your smaller muscles in the golf swing.

And in turn, you're going to have more power just by using your big lower, your big half, your lower body, getting things really kind of pulled down in the hitting area.

And then you can go ahead and unload, you can post up, and then you can start to release here.

Okay, so if you're looking for a good way to post up properly, then check out the straight left legged impact video.

That's another good video.

And I also, to kind of finalize things here, I wanted to show you this hip work and Mike Trout's swing here.

So he almost has this Rory McIlroy kind of move where his hips go backwards.

Okay, so that is actually kinematic sequence to the finest.

So take a look at these video guys.

Make sure you take and load up your trail side first, get a good old shift into that lead side, use that belt loop as a reference point.

Make sure you're getting enough of your weight out into that side, and you'll be well on your way to having much more power in your golf swing.

Good luck guys and make it a great day.

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Mads
Hi I notice that the angle between his right forearm and the clubshaft never gets less than 90 degrees. He has a takeaway with a late wrist set very much like I do, but when I get to the end of my backswing, my club head continues, which results in my shaft going past parallel with an angle much less than 90 degrees. His clubs haft doesn't do that. I can't figure out what causes this continuing of my clubshaft. It's like the downcock motion begins to early, in the end of the backswing/in the transition between backswing/downswing. Any clues on how to solve this problem or what might causse it?
August 9, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Mads. I know you have been struggling with this issue for awhile. It is more than likely due to your external humeral rotation and/or lack of control on the club. If you would like me to take a look at your next review for some more advice. Please feel free to email me at: craig@rotaryswing.com and I will be happy to take a look if you want when you upload.
August 10, 2015
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Mads
Hi Craig That would be great. I'll make some videos today and submit them for a review tonight. Hopefully Aaron won't be offended with you taking a look at them.
August 11, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Mads. No problem and no worries about Aaron.
August 11, 2015
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Mads
Good to hear, cause I really appreciate his comments/reviews
August 11, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Yes. Aaron is a very good instructor! We are lucky to have him.
August 11, 2015
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Richard
I am unable to view this video using Windows 10. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 4, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello. Please contact Customer Support is you are still dealing with the error. I apologize for the inconvenience.
August 7, 2015
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Anthony
Is moving the lead hip socket over the lead ankle not only provides the power but the main reason you hit down on the ball, compress the ball and take a divot in front of the ball? Is this the key move in the downswing and maybe the most important?
August 3, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Anthony. Moving the lead hip into NJA over the ankle is very important. You have to shift the weight properly if you want good shaft lean, compression and hitting down on the ball.
August 7, 2015
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Anthony
Craig, thanks for the response to my question. One follow up question, after I shift my lead hip into NJA I need to post up, can you explain what you mean by posting up. Is that straighten the lead leg and turning the lead oblique posting up? Also, is posting up the way you stall the body?
August 7, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Anthony. Posting up is the straightening of the lead leg and you as you drive the weight into impact. Posting up properly will help stall the body if you keep the glutes engaged.
August 7, 2015
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Dale
what is the secret?
August 3, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Dale. To load the trail leg first to help ensure you start the lower body first in the downswing. Also, to get a good shift into the lead side for proper posting up.
August 7, 2015
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Thomas
This is definitely what I need to do. Get the belt buckle over the left ankle--not so easy. His right heel is up off he ground a lot at impact===is he pushing off the right side a little?. His backswing is interesting as the club going back gets really flat, the club face looks a little closed at the top and his right elbow is well behind his chest. Sorry for the diversion but I am a retired engineer so I can't help myself. What happens at impact is the only thing that matters and I wish
August 3, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Tom. Yes, he tends to push a little off the trail side. A little bit of the late wrist set and floating right arm lead him to getting a little deep in the backswing.
August 7, 2015
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sambhu
Troy missed five cuts in a row last year as per the commentators on tv yesterday....so what changed? I am sure he always was a great technical swinger of the golf club...it would be nice to analyze the changes that went from missing five cuts to winning for the first time on the PGA tour.
August 3, 2015
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Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Sam -- I am not sure that anything drastically changed with Troy's mechanics. There are so many variables that can contribute to a change of this nature. Did he have a better mindset, did he feel more at peace with his game etc. We can work on a video like this in the future. The hard part is finding videos that we can use to accurately showcase something like this properly.
August 3, 2015
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Kyle
I believe in an interview, Troy attributed his success to a couple of changes he made in his putting. It was something to do with alignment of the putter and his shoulders if I remember correctly.
August 4, 2015
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Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Yeah, I did not see the interview but that makes sense. Players can change there mindset by making a subtle adjustment that can give them confidence for their entire game. It's very much a mental thing at that level.
August 4, 2015
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Kyle
BTW Chris ...are you doing lessons in Orlando over the summer or do you go up North?
August 4, 2015
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Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Kyle, I am here in Orlando all hot and rainy summer long.
August 4, 2015
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Kyle
Great. I am going to be getting in touch.
August 4, 2015
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Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Sounds good.
August 4, 2015
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joseph
Just for info ... saw Michael Breed on Golf Channel tonight. He analyzed Troy Merritt's swing also. He took a different approach - highlighting Troy's right shoulder movement through the downswing and impact. It's a bit contrary to Rotary Swing.
August 3, 2015
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Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Yeah, I saw it and I am not overly impressed with the info that he spoke on. The shoulder and arm movement should be mostly dependent on what the lower half is doing.
August 3, 2015
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David
I really like this video. While most of us cannot get into such an athletic position as pro players, we can get closer to making our swing an athletic one by learning from such videos. when I'm at the practice range, I use the word athletic to concentrate on making a more dynamic swing. and that reminds me to shift my weight properly on the back and down swings.
August 3, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello David. Those are some good topics to concentrate on while practicing.
August 7, 2015
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Robert
Hi Chris, Great video. You and Chuck have really helped me understand the importance of getting the weight over to the left as the first move to start the downswing. This is a revelation. Wow! It really works. Based on reading Hogan's Five Fundamentals, I had been trying to rotate my hips and move left at the same time. This does not work. I remember Hogan stating in his book that the first move in the downswing is to rotate the hips, but there must be enough lateral movement to accompany this move (said almost as an aside). He almost underplayed the move left and overplayed the hip turn. What I have found is that if I move left first in my downswing, I will AUTOMATICALLY turn my hips. I cannot help but turn my hips. In fact, it is better for me to think ONLY of shifting my hips left and forget about the hip turn. The hip turn will happen instinctively. Does this all make sense, or am I off base here?
August 3, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Robert. You aren't off base. However, not all players will turn the hips automatically. It sounds like you have already trained them pretty well. Get that weight shift first and allow them to rotate.
August 7, 2015
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Robert
Do you have a drill to relax the shoulders and torso while the hips move left? It seems to be a bit of a tricky move sometimes to move the hips left, but relax the upper body at the same time. Kinda like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. In this regard, a pause at the top and coming down slow with the arms is very important for me. Otherwise my timing is compromised. I can't do a Ricky Fowler in my downswing. It's almost a trust thing where no extra effort is put into the upper body. Sometimes everything clicks, other times I have to be very careful not to get ahead of myself.
August 8, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Robert. Swinging from the Ground Up, Sitting Into the Left Side, Proper Muscle Activation, How the Lower Body Works, and Re-Shaping Your Swing for Lag. If you want to turn off some trail shoulder push the LADD Video and Over the Top Stick Drill will help as well.
August 9, 2015

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