The Shoulders

The Shoulders and Arms are the last step in the downswing before impact. It is crucial that they be the last movement in the sequence before impact otherwise you will not be able to maximize your contact and distance.

The hands have no part of the downswing. Golfers confuse the hands with the arms and try and hit the ball with their hands and wrists. This usually makes the club go outside the swing line and generally causes the wrists to break down early eliminating all the power and speed of the golf shot as well as hitting the ball off target. Two helpful swing thoughts to achieve proper shoulder rotation and arm action are:

1. The golfer should feel their back shoulder rotate under their chin. (Note that the golfer’s head never moves backward)
2. The golfer should feel their arms being led down towards the ball by their shoulders with the back arm slowly starting to straighten to join the forward arm until both are completely straight at impact (Figure 4a).

Note how the shoulders are rotating on the same plane as the swing plane (Swing Plane “Red Line” and Shoulder Plane “Orange Line”).