Touch Forearms for Proper Release Through Impact - Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Touch Forearms for Proper Release Through Impact - Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

I think if you took a freeze frame of a tall player's golf swing and a high handicapper's golf's swing, one of the key areas that would actually look different within those two swings is going to be the movement and the follow-through. There's always a sign for me when I see someone playing that if they get into the right position through the ball, that's a sign to me that this person either is a good player or has a potential to be a very good player even if they haven't achieved their potential yet and that position there is through the golf ball where their arms are extended and one thing we look for is the arms should actually be touching each other. So, any good player that you'd see would be in this position.

One exception I've just thought from Lee Westwood is one of the only players I can think of that has a little separation, a little chicken wings through impact and that's just something he's done for years and years, that when he does draw the ball, he tries to get his arms closer together with more rotations. Every other golfer barring Westwood that I can think of is going to have their arms touching in a good extension through the golf ball.

So if you're actually struggling with slicing the golf ball, sometimes fatting the ball or topping the ball and pulling up into a chicken wing, have a few practice shots where you're trying to get your forearm to physically touch each other in the follow-through. So from this way around as I swing through, I'm trying to get my arms to crossover and touch rather than stay separate this way and you'll feel more extension because your arms have to be straight to touch. More extension, more release of the right hand coming over the top and less flicking and scooping underneath. That's not what we want. We want good extension and good rotation.

And if you want to just start off by just having some gentle pitch shots and stopping in your followthrough position and just seeing where your hands are as you extend through the ball, they should be touching together then take that drill and develop it to a longer and fuller swing and if you can stop yourself here and feel like they're touching, any separation is going to be bad, any touching and good extension is going to be a good thing. Practice crossing your forearms, touching your forearms for a better extension and better release and to look more like a tall player.

 2013-01-16

I think if you took a freeze frame of a tall player's golf swing and a high handicapper's golf's swing, one of the key areas that would actually look different within those two swings is going to be the movement and the follow-through. There's always a sign for me when I see someone playing that if they get into the right position through the ball, that's a sign to me that this person either is a good player or has a potential to be a very good player even if they haven't achieved their potential yet and that position there is through the golf ball where their arms are extended and one thing we look for is the arms should actually be touching each other. So, any good player that you'd see would be in this position.

One exception I've just thought from Lee Westwood is one of the only players I can think of that has a little separation, a little chicken wings through impact and that's just something he's done for years and years, that when he does draw the ball, he tries to get his arms closer together with more rotations. Every other golfer barring Westwood that I can think of is going to have their arms touching in a good extension through the golf ball.

So if you're actually struggling with slicing the golf ball, sometimes fatting the ball or topping the ball and pulling up into a chicken wing, have a few practice shots where you're trying to get your forearm to physically touch each other in the follow-through. So from this way around as I swing through, I'm trying to get my arms to crossover and touch rather than stay separate this way and you'll feel more extension because your arms have to be straight to touch. More extension, more release of the right hand coming over the top and less flicking and scooping underneath. That's not what we want. We want good extension and good rotation.

And if you want to just start off by just having some gentle pitch shots and stopping in your followthrough position and just seeing where your hands are as you extend through the ball, they should be touching together then take that drill and develop it to a longer and fuller swing and if you can stop yourself here and feel like they're touching, any separation is going to be bad, any touching and good extension is going to be a good thing. Practice crossing your forearms, touching your forearms for a better extension and better release and to look more like a tall player.