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Hello Wayne. I can’t seem to keep my hips deep and clear them on the downswing, and my club releases way too early before impact. I hit it OK if my timing is on, but the ball flight is very high. If the timing is off, it’ll go left or right, or chunk. I look forward to hearing from you.
Stuart Keay
Stuart’s swing gives us another classic example of the overuse of the right upper arm and shoulder to complete the backswing turn. I have always favored a toe up position for the clubhead at P2, but after years of analyzing swings and watching closed face backswings produce multiple right arm positions I can now explain more succinctly why. If you get into a mirror with a club from down the line and take the club back to left arm parallel with little rotation in the forearms you will find that the right palm will continue to face more toward the ground and the right shoulder will begin to stress as it tries to gain height. With non-tour players, what happens next is usually a combination of lifting and pulling back of the entire right shoulder area, precluding any attempt at externally rotating the upper arm. In other words, you can’t produce a side arm throwing motion where the right elbow leads the forearm into an effective delivery position if the back of the shoulder is jammed up and the scapula is contracted back. Stuart does this to such a degree that it even negatively affects his sequence, as the pull back toward the target in the backswing is severe enough to cause his upper body to lean forward before the pelvis gets a chance to initiate the downswing with lateral left movement. Stuart must learn to stop using his right shoulder to complete what he feels is a “full” turn and instead shoot for a wider top of the swing position where his upper right arm is passive and in a ready position to move in front of the chest when the left arm is pulled by the unwinding of the lower body.
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