Posts

What Opens the Club Face? It Started Square

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Q. I was trying to figure out what was causing me to open my club face on the downswing when I’d had a nice, square face during the shoulder turn. Could it be that I’m starting my body rotation before the club has completed its backswing, causing my body to get ahead of my arms and hands and the club face to open? A. Yes! Sometimes you hit the ball thin or leave the club face open because the arms—usually the back elbow—get stuck behind the back hip. This happens because the hips are rotating before the elbows have returned to the front of the body. You may also have a bit of an arm or hand lift right at the top of the backswing. The fix: Shorten the backswing by using only the shoulders. When they’ve finished turning, start the downswing and visualize your body rotation bringing the arms back in front as you continue all the way to the finish.* The body leads, but it can’t race ahead on its own; it must bring the arms and club along. I will make many references to this in the new vide...
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USING LARGE MUSCLES - Old Audio Tapes

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Old Audio Tapes from My Discovery of the Large Muscle Golf Swing Update: I made these audio-only recordings while working on my method to make it more reliable. Essentially, I was taking audio notes as my method progressed. This post is from 2009. It also mentions a little natural hinge at the top of the swing. I later found that no hinge is the most reliable approach. Any hinging feels powerful, but it gets your back hand involved and creates a “hit” we don’t want. We want to rotate through impact, accelerating all the way to the finish for the most reliable, consistent swing*. After hitting 300 shots a day for over a month to get the hands out of the entire swing… WOW! Listen to how solid this sounds: a 3-wood hit off the floor—no tee, no mat—into a net. Listen Now » Using Large Muscles Only… No Hands Push the takeaway with the front shoulder, and keep pushing with it until it’s under your chin. Do not let the arms and hands take over, lift, or help! Listen Now » When the Left Shoul...
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Irons too flat

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Original topic by BCgolfer — 2025-07-16T20:29:09Z Hi Ross, My driver is working well with your method. Sometimes I skull my irons with this method tho because without a wrist hinge it’s hard for me to get steep on the downswing. I understand the downward blow is caused by the handle leading the club face, but I feel like I’m swing my irons too flat. Any advice? Thanks, Jeff Discussion (4 replies) Reply 1 Ross — 2025-07-16T20:50:30Z Hi Jeff Usually, a skulled shot is caused by the leading edge vs. the club face making contact with the ball. This is usually when the club head has passed the handle before impact... also known as a flip. If you can focus on keeping the front wrist flat or even bowed out a bit, with the back wrist bent in a bit holding this shape, through impact, it will help keep the leading edge in check. This can also be caused by the back hand trying to help by throwing the club head. You also may be playing the ball too far forward, but generally that is not th...
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More Efficient Power = Distance

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Power comes from winding the shoulders first, from the top down, while resisting with the lower body. What I mean is this: on the backswing, use the shoulders to wind the arms and club around the spine as you resist* with the lower body. In other words, hold your lower body still while the shoulders turn first to get a head start. Eventually, the hips are pulled around a little by the shoulder turn. (The hips do not move on their own or slide at all toward the back foot. If you want power, you need resistance.) Now, on the downswing, you unwind from the ground up. Start with the hips, pulling the arms back down in front of the body as you keep turning. The faster you unwind, the farther the ball goes—just like throwing a ball. The above paragraph has a lot of good stuff. Once you’ve learned these movements, you will hit the ball very far with all clubs. There is no magic trick other than practice and repetition. —Ross *One great way to “resist” is to keep the back knee braced inward as...
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No Height on Hybrids & Fairway Woods

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A student asked for help because he was not getting any height on his hybrids and fairway woods. Here was my response:  Hi Todd, Generally, the biggest culprit when you’re not getting height with fairway woods or hybrids is incorrect ball position at setup—usually too far back in the stance. If the ball is played in the middle of your stance or too far back, one or more of the following may apply: You’ve positioned it there because you want to use your hands to hit at the ball, and that feels like the best position to make contact. You won’t be able to rotate and will have to use your hands to save the shot; otherwise, you’ll shank it or block it to the right (for a right-handed golfer). You started with the ball in the correct position, but you didn’t keep your weight forward—60% or more on your front foot—during the backswing. Instead, you moved off the ball, effectively changing its position relative to your body. If you slide onto your back foot during the backswing, you’ll nee...
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More Distance - Golf Swing

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Here is a New video that helps explain how if you resist with the lower body as you start your takeaway using the front shoulder, you WILL hit the ball much farther. Resist on the Takeaway  
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Aspects of Putting

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In a repeatable, productive (ball went in the hole), putting stroke, there are many aspects to pay attention to, prior to, during and after you putt the ball. These aspects collectively add up to your probability of making putts. My objective here is to enlighten the golfer about concerns of a solid and repeatable putting experience. I call it an experience because, it starts way back deciding your approach shot, where the ball actually ended up... around the green, or on the green, what you saw and felt as you were walking up to the green, when you walked across the green, views from behind the ball, views from the side and above the hole (if there is enough time without holding up play). Once you're on the green, imagine your ball rolling up or down hill, taking any breaks and going into the hole. This is much more useful than just picking out some line, without first visualizing the ball rolling and the speed it would be traveling, that will let the ball actually mo...
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Bump? or Not to Bump?

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I received an Email from one of my students: Do I need to bump the hips to the left before I turn them, or do I just turn them after I have completed my backswing?  Regards Eddie Hi Eddie  If you were able to maintain at least 60% of your weight forward, you will be able to just turn with no problem... if you allowed some or a majority of your weight to move to the back foot, or you didn't setup with more weight on the front foot to begin with, you can not just turn.  You will have to bump the hips to the left (as you and many others say an do) ..and what it means is, you will not be very consistent with your ball striking.   If you don't move the point where a pendulum is anchored, the ball at the end swinging, will return exactly over the spot at the bottom of the arc... but if you move, where it is anchored, even a little, then try to return it to the original position while the ball is swinging... there is almost no way to ever return it over the origin...
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