Proper rotation in the golf swing requires a specific sequence of body movements. In this video tip, Stuart Clark of the Steve Dresser Golf Academy at True Blue Golf Club in Pawleys Island, S.C. is here to talk “load,” “shift” and “open” in that pursuit.
How are you doing guys? My name’s Stuart Clark. I am one of the instructors here at Steve Dresser Golf Academy at beautiful True Blue and Caledonia.
Today I’m going to talk about some misconceptions we see on the lesson tee every day from “I have a baseball swing” to “keep your head down.” All this nonsense. Let’s face it, golf is an athletic sport. You have to move and you have to rotate. So in baseball, as you see, I’ve got a long baseball bat here. But as in baseball, you see guys load up on their trail side, they step in and they turn and they hit a baseball. That’s rotation. So we see a lot of guys on our lesson tee every day that when they set up an address and they get back to impact, they look identical. So we play a game in there saying, set up or address every day because people look like they’ve set up and they look the same when they hit it.
So what I’m going to talk about today is learning how to kind of fire the body in the right sequence. So that being said, I’ve got a little three-quarter inch nylon rope right here. Okay? Seven feet long, nothing fancy. All this is to do is talk about sequencing and rotation. So you can take this rope and let it kind of slap you in the back, and you’re going to notice I am just turning my body. Not a lot of arm movement, not a lot anything. And if I want to increase that speed, you’re going to see the rotation of loading and moving through with my body. This is a rotational sport.
So that being said, we’re learning how to kind of load and shift our weight. That’s why you’ll see a lot on the internet and everywhere, these pressure boards. I hear all the time people talk about sliding. It’s not sliding, it’s pressuring. When we load, we recenter and pressure left so we have somewhere we can push off the ground. So we’re always talking about load, shift and open. That’s how the golf game is played with rotation.
That being said, once we have all that, most people have pretty good structure at the top. Their sequencing is just not in the right order. They start with their arms, which makes them throw and come over the top. I want you to start that from the lower body opening and moving through. If we do the right sequencing, that’s why the club will shallow, pitch more behind us so we can rotate into that.
So that being said, if I sit up here, I’m going to feel a baseball swing where I step and open. I’m going to get up and do the same thing here. Going to feel that big turn, open my body and try to go send this thing down range. So here’s the load. Big turn back, turn through it. And that’s your Tip Tuesday!