Billy Horschel vs Ricky Fowler - Downswing Sequence

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Properly sequencing your downswing can be one of the most difficult concepts for amateur golfers. In this video, I'll show you how Billy Horschel and Ricky Fowler use their lower bodies in the downswing sequence for speed and stability.

  • Get seated left before you start down with the hands and arms. 
  • Use the lead side of the body to stabilize and control the speed of the hips in the hitting area. 
  • Move the left leg to a straight position and release the club for max speed at impact.


Billy Horschel goes back to back in the FedExCUP playoffs this season with a great win at the Tour Championships.

Hi guys, I'm Rotary Swing Instructor Chris Tyler, and this week I'm going to be focusing in on two of the Tour's young guns themselves, Ricky Fowler and Billy Horschel.

I'm going to show you how these guys use their lower body to sequence their downswing for a lot of club head speed and a lot of consistency.

Let's go ahead and get started.

I think it's pretty safe to say that sequencing a downswing can be one of the most difficult concepts for amateur golfers to really grab a hold of.

This week, we've got two of the Tour's elite going to show us how they sequence their downswing with the lower half.

And I'm going to outline a process for you amateur golfers out there that are looking to put more power in your golf swing.

And also learn how to be able to maintain consistency in the hitting area.

That's really kind of the name of the game.

I know last week we focused in on Billy Horschel's three keys to consistency, and this week we're going to talk about how both players really unload the lower half properly.

And this is going to kind of tie hands with that squat to square video that Chuck put out last week as well.

So let's go ahead and get started here.

We're going to get both players up to the top part of their golf swing.

Both players have a very different look.

You can see that Ricky has his hands much deeper here, where they're behind his right shoulder, where Billy's got his hands up above the right shoulder.

But we're going to be focusing on what the lower half of the body is doing in the downward move so that you can understand how you're going to use this.

To number one, pull power out of the ground and then, in turn, make maximum speed at impact.

So if you watch here both players are going to start to sit left.

Okay, so Billy Horschel starting to sit left here really not doing much with the hands and the arms.

It's giving you the appearance that he's doing a lot with his hands and arms.

But he's really just trying to use the lower body to start to clear out.

So you can see his hands are starting to drop as his hips get back to a square position.

And a very similar move here with Ricky.

You're going to see that he starts to clear that lower half out, gets the hips back to a square position.

And now the hands are starting to drop.

Now, from here, what we're going to be focusing on is because we're starting to sit into that left side.

We should start to feel the weight over that lead foot.

Okay, so we've got the weight over to the left side.

Now we can start to control the speed of the hips through the hitting area.

If the weight is hung back, you're going to rely more on your trail side to push the weight through.

And you can run into a lot of timing mistakes.

So from here, he's got the weight seated left.

And he's going to start to drive that left heel under the ground and then use his left obliques to pull that left hip away from the target.

All right, So you can see that that weight's left starting to pull that left hip away from the target, which is helping him maintain posture in the hitting area, not allowing the hips to move forward.

And then as the hands are working in front of his right thigh, his hips are coming to almost a complete stalling point.

So you can see as he's starting to release this golf club, the hips are not moving at all.

So that's a classic.

Way to be able to control the speed of the hips is by getting the weight seated left, driving that left heel under the ground, and then using your left obliques to pull that left hip away from the target.

And a very similar move from Billy Horschel as well.

He's got his weight seated left.

He's going to start to pull that left hip away from the target.

Hands are approaching in front of the right thigh and you're going to see as he starts to release the golf club.

There's very little hip rotation here, and both players have a very similar look at impact, where they've got the hips open about 40, 45 degrees.

Shoulder line is nice and square to where they had it at a dress.

And at this point they're releasing the golf club.

So if you've ever had questions on how to sequence your downswing, we have a great video on the website called sitting into the left side.

It's a video that Chuck has done that shows you how to get seated properly left.

And once you feel that weight in the left side, There's another good video that's going to give you some really good awareness of what muscle groups you're looking to use.

Between the left obliques and then the left glute muscles in order to control the speed of the hips through the hitting area.

And then you can just release the golf club once you've stabilized.

And you can build a lot of club head speed, and you can maintain a lot of consistency as well.

So, and kind of a prioritized list for you to understand how to sequence your downswing.

The best thing to do is to check out the sitting in the left side video, learn how to get that weight seated over to the left side.

Then have some awareness of those muscle groups, The glutes and the left obliques to start to control the speed of the hips so you can stall them properly.

And then in turn, you're going to be able to maintain posture.

And then the final bit of that prioritize list is making sure that you have the release really kind of fine tuned.

And you'll hear us talk a lot about that on the website is making sure that you watch five minutes to a perfect release all the time.

So you can release the golf club with a lot of speed and a lot of control.

All right, guys.

So that's how you're going to sequence your downswing.

So get over there.

Make sure you get seated left to start your downward move.

Don't allow the hands and the arms to start the downswing.

Let the hands and arms just feel like they're doing not much of anything.

Let the lower half really start to clear out of the way.

The hands and arms will move back into the hitting area, to where you release it.

And then you're going to be able to play a lot of good golf, a lot of consistent golf and be able to blow it past your friends.

All right.

So let's not make downswing sequencing harder than it really needs to be.

Let's make sure that we learn how to use that lower body to effectively get out of the way, stall it and then release it and you'll be playing some great golf.

I look forward to working more with you guys in the future and I hope you have a great day.

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Justin
I understand the squat to square principle and can execute it in pieces, the problem I am having is letting the arms remain passive and dropping them into the hitting area. My tendency is to come over the top which I know means that I am starting the down swing with my upper vs. lower body. Do you have any tips to help me with this? When I do allow the lower body to initiate the down swing the results are excellent. I guess that properly executed reps are a key to getting this right?
September 16, 2014
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Justin. It takes a lot of reps to get over the upper body drive "hump". Use the RST Tempo Drill in the Weight Shift Section and the "Stomp Drill" in the How the Lower Body Works Video Downswing Section to initiate the downswing with the lower body and weight transfer.
September 16, 2014
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Denys
It seems on my videos that I can achieve a fairly good delivry position, with glutes engaged and hips square, but after that, I rotate my shoulders too much (or too early) and my shoulders are open at impact, producing a lot of pull draws. Any suggestions or drills to help me maintain them square at impact?
September 16, 2014
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Denys. Use the Increase Your Swing Speed by Deceleration in the Advanced Downswing Section to practice the hips open, but shoulders square at impact. Also, the 5 Minutes to a Perfect Release in the Downswing Section to release the club instead of push with the trail shoulder and open too soon.
September 16, 2014
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Jed
The ability to pull through, rotate and engage the left hip/glute is made possible by straightning the left leg almost like a snap function......i.e. like we make a jump shot in basketball..... right? Jed DuBreuil P.S. a very good video of THE most important aspect of the swing.....and I quote your boss. Thanks so much for this.....please try to find a couple of senior players (and I am serious about this) to illustrate this with their form. Remember most of your paying membership is over 50......need to keep the instruction real - this is not as easy as it looks or sounds.
September 16, 2014
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello John. Thanks for the input of what you would like to see. Yes, using the leverage from the ground is a natural motion to transport the energy as in a jump shot.
September 16, 2014
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Alan
OK, clarify something for me. In the jumpshot (I was a shooting guard in another lifetime), the energy is going up(we called it up force). In the golf swing, the energy is going...where? Not up, but down through impact. I can visualize squatting left to route the arms/club to the inside, but not down. Squatting down lowers head, shoulders and everything else. Squatting left would only seem to lower the hands/arms/club. I'm only trying to understand the principle. Thanks!
September 17, 2014
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Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Alan - Great question, the squat and shift to the left side allows a few different things to happen. Yes, it does lower the head a bit, in some players more than others. This is allowing you to get the weight fully seated left while keeping the hips back. Once the weight is shifted to the lead side, the pushing of the lead heel into the ground and pulling the lead hip away from the target with the lead obliques is causing the lead leg to move to a straight position. This acts as a major source of leverage as you are pulling power out of the ground and moving the power up the chain and then turning it into speed through the release. You are lowering in transition to be able to pull more and more power out of the ground. Hope that helps.
September 17, 2014
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Alan
It does! Thanks.
September 17, 2014
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Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
My pleasure.
September 17, 2014
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ilan
Clay said in other videos that most of the speed comes from the hands and arms.in the explanations here it is not mentioned , it seems that they (hand and arms) are passive through out the swing. Can you explain why ?
September 16, 2014
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Ilan. Both players release the heck out of the club. That is how we expend all that good energy into the ball. Use the Acceleration Profile Sequence Video in the Advanced Downswing Section and the Martin Kaymer Releasing For Distance Video in the Videos for You - Latest Video Tab for more information.
September 16, 2014
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pat
Cool to see the similarities between 2 great young players, I feel like the sitting in the left side and the hip action is starting to fall into place( after 2 years of practice) but I seem to lose width in the downswing proces, is that a common thing or should I do drills to avoid getting narrow with the arms in the downswing?
September 16, 2014
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Pat. You want to increase the angle between the arms and wrist on the way down. Creating more lag is a good thing to a certain extent. You shouldn't have an issue with a wide-narrow-wide swing shape.
September 16, 2014
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Alan
I feel a little better about the squat move after watching these two. They do squat the lower body into impact, but their heads don't move down much. Billy's remains virtually level. Ricky's head is maybe 3/4's of an inch lower at impact than when he transitions. Their "squats" don't seem to have a huge Tiger like drop, which I find very uncomfortable and hard to repeat. I am working on the left leg and glute squat and I'm starting to see really good contact and higher, longer ball flight. Great video and good call on Billy and his current success.
September 16, 2014
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Thanks Alan for the post. Yes, you don't require a massive drop to get the glutes loaded and use proper leverage from the ground.
September 16, 2014
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Glenn
The lag doctor is no longer with rotary swing
September 16, 2014
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Glenn. Yes, Clay is no longer with Rotary Swing.
September 16, 2014
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fionn
Where is the lag doctor?
September 16, 2014
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Fionn. Clay has left the golf business and no longer affiliated with Rotary Swing. All of us here are wishing him the best with his new endeavors.
September 16, 2014
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Vince
Very sad to see Clay leave - with all due respect to the rest of you guys, I got much more out of his videos and commentary. Please find a way to leave his videos up on the site !!!! Sure he'll do well wherever he winds up.
September 17, 2014
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Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Vince -- We were sad to see him go as well and as Craig said, we wish him all of the best. I am certainly all ears for any suggestions in which we can make our commentary more enjoyable for you while you are a member here at RotarySwing.com. We work very hard to make sure we put the best product out possible for our entire user base and make the experience as high quality as possible. Let me know and we will work on it for sure. Just do not request a southern accent
September 17, 2014

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