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TJ is now 9 years old and has performed well in the U.S. Kids championships for his age group the past two years, finishing in the top 30-40 both times. TJ’s father watched some of my videos, liked my ideas and methodology, and sent in TJ’s swings to get some ideas and a direction for what to work on. At TJ’s age I don’t think it’s a good idea to get into too much in the way of mechanics, so here I address what I see as two major items that are common among thin, young players, the grip and the tendency to swing the arms back too far behind the head. Taylor’s re-grip is easy to fix: just remind him to hold the club firmly enough so that he doesn’t have to grab it to get the clubhead to move into the backswing motion. When the hands are too loose on the club in preparation for the swing to start they have to add grip pressure to get the club moving together with the body turn, and in Taylor’s case when he re-grips he turns his hands to the right, making his grip much stronger than it looked before he grabs it, and probably stronger than intended. As for the arm swing and upper body turn, I am not a fan of trying to shorten a youngster’s swing, but I would like him to get the feeling of better structure in the left arm by widening the top of swing via extensor action, which is the feeling of the right palm pushing out into the left thumb while the wrists cock, thus making the end of the backswing feel like it is moving away from the head instead of behind it. This will take a while to get under control, but with TJ’s obvious talent he should be able to improve this aspect of his swing once he gets the picture in his mind.
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