HOW TO ROTATE YOUR LEFT SIDE – PGA Professional Robin Symes show a fun drill to help you gain the feeling of rotation your left side in a golf swing.
Transcript
Hi, Robin here with a quick tip for anybody who's struggling to release their left side through the ball. To get their left side out of the way through the impact zone and then to the follow through. And I've seen many times players spending many hours on the range. They're looking good at set up, they're making good back swings and good transitions, they're into a good position here coming into the ball. But they spoil all their hard work with the pre-release of their left side through the impact zone.
When you don't release your left side through the ball, many things can happen. Just a couple of those common things would be quickly. The left shoulder would work up, rather than working behind you. Causing a sort of tilting back and a hanging back on your right foot. Obviously this causing per contact, high weak ball flights. The left side gets blocked. Causes the shoulders to stop moving, club releases early. Causes that early release scooping. Again per contact, high weak ball flights, loss of distance.
Another one of the most common ones actually with a pre-release of the left side through impact and into the follow through would be the chicken wing. Because the left shoulder not getting out of the way, the left arm's not rotating. There's really no other option than the elbows to separate. Often that goes together with high ball flights, weak slices to the right.
So the feeling I'm about to give you, I won't claim it as mine. Actually I spent a little time with David Leadbetter during the summer. And one of the things he was suggesting, which I really liked the kind of concept of was to get some frisbees.
And basically if you imagine you're on the beach with your friends and you were throwing some Frisbee left-handed, not right-handed. How would you through them? Now it would be quite instinct if you'd move your lower body first just the way we'd want to in a swing. You'd start rotating your chest. You'd certainly get your left shoulder out of the way, and your left arm would rotate. So you could get that flight parallel to the ground with a little bit of par. You would never throw it like this. Left shoulder going up or getting blocked.
So if you do have a chance, a couple of hoops or frisbees. Give it a try. I've got a bunker behind the camera here, so I'm not going to through these particularly hard. But give a feeling of how you would throw the Frisbee. Even if you can't through the Frisbee, I think you can imagine how that would feel. Certainly when David said it to me without throwing the Frisbee. I could sort of visualize how that would feel. And then try to take that into your golf swing.
That same left shoulder getting out of the way, left arm rotating. And then try to apply that same feeling through the impact zone and into your follow through. I say it'd be great if you could give it a try with some frisbees. But maybe you don't even need to. Maybe you can sort of imagine how that would feel and then put that into your own swing.
So getting your left side out of the way through the impact zone, it's a crucial factor in being able to hit good solid contacts. Control the direction of your shots. So if you think you have some fault anywhere within what I've talked about. Try to picture yourself throwing a frisbee left-handed, take that feeling into your swing and see what happens.
Hope it helps. And as always, thanks for watching.
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Right handed golfers naturally want to control the swing with the right side of their body and when they do the left shoulder resists causing flipping and a collapse of the left arm. This might be why right handed players play well left handed and vice versa – because now their dominant side is leading or pulling the submissive side.
Great video! The frisbee is a great illustration.
Are you saying use left arm dominant over right arm in downswing?
Great drill…I can relate to this and I've got frisbee's! Thanks much. UPDATE: I just went out to my net in the backyard to give this a try and it feels to me like what I've been looking for to help me get back into form. I used to be a PGA pro and worked with Ben Doyle for a lot of years. During those lessons, he used to tell me to use my glutes to get my hips through. Throwing the frisbee into my net left handed gives me that feeling without thinking about it. I have to check the urge to step into the direction of the target though when I throw it but the feeling is the same otherwise. The club feels like the handle is coming in well ahead of the clubhead and is traveling around my body rather than up and down. The truly beneficial thing is the immediate feedback I got in that when I threw the frisbee once and hit a 7 iron back to back. On the 7 iron swing, I could feel my right side shoving it's way through. I couldn't feel that before. The contrast in feels is very important to retention of the latter vs. the former or visa versa. lol. Thanks again for the drill. I'll use it often.
I’ve always wondered what the frisbee drill was. Cheers, hope it fixes my stuck left arm.
Still confused!! Been working on a better "release" from one of your other videos where the right hand stays more "under" and not rolling over the left…..this drill and your practice swings clearly show "rotation" and cross-over of the forearms, wrists, and hands…..this is very confusing …..we are trying to not do this but every demonstration , not just here but everywhere clearly show a predominate rotation thru and beyond the strike…..what are we missing in trying to stop this movement and get a more"under" release?????
thanks, Gary
41 seconds. could you make a video on that shoulder working behind you please. Thanks
Since moving to a more left side initiated swing my game has gone to a new level. Being so Rt hand dominate led to OTT, steep, pulls, weak slices, you name it. I still have to get my right side through the shot, but the overall feel is just like your left hand frisbee throw or a left hand tennis backhand , Thx!
This definitely is the last piece of the puzzle
Nice drill!
I watch a lot of golf tutorials on UTUBE, but You are the one of best teacher!