I see so many right arms trailing the body and left arms working away from the body too much. Thought this simple explanation would help some of you.
How the arms work together
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Thanks. I’ve been for some time to work this out for myself and your video is timely and explains it for me. I’ve been puzzled by the “right elbow should seek the navel” maxim because I thought that the greats (like Hogan) seemed to have their left elbow “seeking the navel” at and just past impact.
I couldn’t reconcile it because it never occurred to me that both elbows might “seek the navel”. Maybe there is some degree of sequencing involved?
Thanks, Monte. You are a swing genius and I’m grateful.
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I am mildly shocked that this video doesn’t get more interest.
It solves something that I have pondered over for a long time
but I’m guessing that most people already knew it.
I recall an illustration in Hogan’s “five lessons” where he had his forearms roped closely together to emphasize this point. There are people who dispute Hogan’s book. I think it’s genius. He wrote about the hips turning through impact and he inadvertently taught lag and forward shaft lean before anyone had coined the terms.
This may be a dumb question, but:
Do the arms work together, but the opposite way, in the backswing?
Left arm yes, right arm, not so much.
I thought my head was going to explode checking in on the wrx thread on your posted video of this. If people would just read the first sentence in your post above…and do the opposite, problem solved.
I also went on defcon1 status when you mentioned Hogan in the video and then the thread started blowing up. You seem to enjoy entering the room once in awhile with a gas can and matches. lol.
This video is a brilliant “translation” of the Hogan/Ed Sullivan video. Keep that rosetta stone polished and ready for future use.
I’m not a member of GolfWRX but, I just read the thread on this. I think the point that is missing on Hogan steepening is that his hips keep driving and pulling the trail shoulder out and not down. Most people who try to chase the naval with their trail elbow will dip the shoulder instead of just letting it work more horizontal and follow the hips through impact.
I think that’s a valid point and observation. The swing is such a right-sided affair for me as soon as I think of the left hip pulling the arms to start the ds, I’m toast. It can be as simple as realizing that if the ds starts by pressuring down into the right leg, the left hip will move laterally and open. It seems to me also there has to be some shallowing and steeping of the shaft in the ds. If you retain a bit of cup in the left wrist coming down coming from a shallow, even underplane place, that might accomplish a lot.
Is there a sequence to how the arms are used? For example… Shallow the club head with the right elbow move and then close the club face with the left. Or do they work together at the same time?
Some people need ying and others yang to balance things out. Good video Monte. Got to love the semantic game on Golfwrx for the sole purpose of being devils advocate.
Golfwrx – OMG!!
I don’t know how Rory and Tiger ever won a tournament with some of these people on the same planet. They all speak Golf Klingon and obviously shoot in the 50’s. LOL. Thank goodness we have Monte to put golf into layman’s terms.
OK. Worked on this today and found that thinking only of the left arm (steepening) helped my striking and score a lot.
You betcha. Remember what Trevino said about wanting to have the ball stay on the clubface a little bit longer? Monte has a video somewhere, can’t find it now, about faults and fixes for hooks and slices and for hooks if you work the left arm in closer to the body through impact, you’ll get the ball moving right.
Try rotating the release this way, opening way up and moving the left arm in not dtl. If anything, it will give you a go-to shot if you’re having problems finding your swing on the course.
What I found was that my right elbow was working in toward my navel already. My left elbow was separating from my body. Rotating the left upper arm to work the left elbow toward my navel improved my striking markedly. I also found that I can do this and move the ball with draws or fades by orienting alignment, ball placement and grip slightly.
Is this why Martin Kaymer does his drills with the tennis ball between his forearms?
Yes