How To Get Into The Slot In Golf Swing
- That neutral position is the “slot” you hear people refer to as in “dropping the club into the slot” on the down swing. Now, I have shown that I could swing with a flatter or more neutral swing plane as I did last year when I was modeling the MCS Golf Swing in the “E = MCS” video.
- Drop into the slot by letting your knees return to their address position – both flexed – and let your arms drop slightly so your right elbow moves closer to your right side. Although this action.
That was also when I felt the club 'falling into the slot' for the first time in my life. And I hit the ball perfectly over and over again. I also think that despite the slower swing, I gained a lot of clubhead speed, instead of throwing it away at the top. Thanks for writing MyGolfInstructor.com. To drop the club in the slot simply means to let your arms free fall from the top of your swing. What plagues most golfers is that they use their arms and shoulders too early in the downswing often pushing the arms and that forces an early release and/or an over the top swing plane. When your shoulders open up too soon and spin towards the.
Do you struggle slotting your golf club?
A lot of golfers are being told you have to externally rotate your shoulder to get the club into the slot.
Well, I work with some players that are older, and I actually have a Mini Tour player, who struggle with getting that kind of range of motion in their shoulder.
If you get set up and you place your arm like this, and you try and twist that shoulder back, and you try and get as much rotation this way as you possibly can, what you’ll find is, you may not have a lot of range of motion.
You may only be able to go to here. So, if you can’t slot the golf club because you’re trying to get your elbow in front, up to your belly-button, which is kind of the theme to externally rotating your shoulders, trying to get the elbow up, and if you can’t do that, well, you’re never going to slot it. You’re going to be over the top all day.
What we’ve done, and when I was working with one of my Mini guys is, we got to the top, we wanted to feel that right elbow slot back behind the seam of their shirt and getting that elbow to line up. So, if you have a seam in the side of your shirt, use that as your point of reference. And what you’ll want to feel is, let your right elbow soften up, so feel nice and loose, put that elbow on that seam, go to the top, and return that elbow on that seam, then smash the golf ball to the finish. I’ve learned some of these tips through the BioSwing Dynamics group, and what we’ve talked about is, when you have your palms up, and like you’re doing a bicep curl, you’d put your elbows in front and curl up, but if you flipped your grip and went palm-down, you would retract your elbows and put your elbows back.
If you’re a neutral to weaker grip golfer, preferably more on top, right hand or trail hand, then you want to feel that elbow line up a little bit deeper in your downswing as well. It matches up to that trail-arm action on the golf club. So, if we do it all correctly, you feel that right elbow soften going back up to the top.
Again, feel it get back behind your hip like you’re trying to drop your elbow into your butt pocket. Feel that elbow get back, smash it down to the ball, and have an awesome delivery into the impact area. This is a great tip and a great use of your trail arm to slot the golf club if you struggle doing it, because if you can get your hands a little deeper, your elbow a little deeper, especially if you have a hard time doing this, it’ll help push that club from the inside and you can start hitting some tight little draws.
Focus on the right elbow movement is a well-known technique used by PGA and LPGA superstars.
The goal being! Get the right elbow moving tight to your right side or your right hip pocket so to speak to create the triangle effect. See Image below!
Is it a good practice exercise to focus on your right elbow leading the golf downswing?
Right Elbow Leads Golf Downswing
Is The Right Elbow Good To Key On?
Yes!
It can be a fabulous practice exercise and moreover right arm focus can be used as a long-term swing thought to build your entire swing around. When you get your right elbow moving in the right direction leading the downswing. It can have dramatic positive impacts to your swing plane coming in on line.
The right elbow starts the down swing, move it slightly down to start. Then directly in towards your side, the over-the-top effect is effectively eliminated. When the right elbow goes directly into your side you achieve the desired arm positioning the PGA superstars are all trying to create pictured below.
The triangle effect between your arms at the mid downswing position!
Right Elbow Position On Downswing
Notice in the image above at this critical juncture in the downswing. The club shaft has reached approximately parallel to the ground positioning. When the combination of golf club shaft and your arms reach this or very important checkpoint in the golf swing, notice the arm positioning.
During the downswing you’ll notice in the image the triangle effect that is created. The straight left arm and right elbow positioned deep in the player’s right side. Creating this triangle effect can and should be a goal for every player to maximize control and distance.
Use a mirror at home to find this very important position. Take your backswing then look into the mirror to see if you have the triangle effect in place?
Triangle Effect On The Golf Downswing
When the club shaft has reached this parallel position to the ground on the downswing. Let’s analyze exactly what the arms look like at this critical point. You’ll notice the lead or left arm at full extension being virtually perfectly straight. With the right arm notice how the right elbow has worked its way deep into the golfer right side.
The triangle effect gap you can now see between the two arms is what all the PGA superstars are trying to achieve these days to create ultimate power and control. This triangle could not be achieved if that right elbow is working more out or down the line rather than in towards the body.
Golf Right Elbow In Front Of Right Hip
Take a close look at the relationship at this critical point in the swing between the right elbow and the right hip. The right elbow and the right hip from this point moved together through the impact area. There becomes a connection if you will of the right elbow and right hip firing through the impact position.
Golf Downswing Drills
Some great down swing training aids you can find on Amazon to effectively control your elbow joint movement. You’ll see a great pic later in this article of a tour player using an arm sling just prior to teeing off.
Start your downswing drills in slow motion. When the club shaft reaches the end of the back swing start movement with your right elbow directly downward.
After the initial move down with your right elbow, direct your elbow to move towards your right hip as seen in the photo above.
From that point rotate your right hip and right elbow through the impact position as a unit.
It’s important to do these three movements in extreme slow motion to feel the direction of movement and sequence.
Downswing Drill Review
1) From the top of the back swing start your right elbow movement down.
2) Next, direct your right elbow into right side or right hip area.
3) Now you’ve reached club shaft parallel to ground
4) Rotate your right hip and right elbow through impact as a unit.
5) Do these movements in ultra slow motion to develop proper feel.
Right Elbow Golf Swing Drills
It’s very important to establish a feel for the movement of your right elbow. At first you’ll be moving your right elbow a section at a time.
From the top of backswing you’ll be dropping your right elbow straight down.
Then the right elbow movement will continue in, towards your right hip.
From that point forward the hip and right elbow will rotate through to impact and beyond as a unit.
Elbow at Golf Set Up
It can be beneficial to start with your right elbow in your set up position slightly favoring you’re right hip. The connection of right elbow and right hip and set up can help with the idea of the right elbow returning to that hip on the downswing. Be careful however with your right elbow in setup you don’t create too much been in that right elbow joint.
Notice the arm position of this Tour Player at The Web.com qualifier in Arizona.
The right arm nicely folded at the player side directly up on the right hip. Left arm is nice and straight and the right arm has a fold at the elbow joint.
From the images shown above you can see how the right elbow has a nice fold on the backswing. The right elbow does however stay in very close connection with the right side positioned above the right hip.
Notice the orange band above the left elbow and you can see a glimpse above the right elbow. This again is the training strap available on Amazon these high level players use to keep their available positioning connected.
This tour player is moments away from his tee-time. The use of this amazing training aid speaks to the importance of proper elbow joint positioning.
How The Right Arm Works In The Golf Swing
How To Get Into The Slot In Golf Swing Test
Post impact the right arm will straighten at and through the hitting area. Immediately after impact the right arm will be at maximum extension. The right arm will continue to be at maximum extension throughout the entire follow-through to a full finish position.
At the completion of the golf swing you’ll notice this player below allows his right arm to be slightly relaxed. Up to this point however the right arm traveled fully extended at a point just past impact and maintain full extension to a high finish position.
Right Arm Focused Golf Swing
Having good awareness of your right arm and its functions throughout the golf swing can pay huge rewards as far as results go. The function of the right arm in the golf swing is very important and you can certainly build quality golf swing around it. If you were to study and implement the function of the right arm at every point of the swing including set up your knowledge base would be greatly increased.
Arm At Setup
The right arm in your set up position alone when structured properly can put you in a very good position. Many aspects of your setup will be greatly improved with great right arm structure.
Right Arm In Backswing
The right arm movement away from the golf ball and its function throughout and to the finish of the backswing is fundamental to success.
Pay particular attention to the right arm positioning throughout the backswing. Your golf swing will improved greatly if you follow the correct positioning of your right arm as a hole. The right arm in the backswing includes the hinging of your elbow and wrist at certain points. If you follow the images above and maintain relaxation techniques your elbow joint and wrist joint hinging will happen naturally.
Trail Arm Down Swing And Finish
Learning the in-depth movement of your right arm as it descends from the top of the downswing to impact and through to finish. Your right arm alone can guide you to great successes on the golf course. If you focus on proper right arm movement throughout the swing, many improvements throughout your swing will take place. It can also provide you with a more simple point of focus rather than focusing on to much.
Left Arm In Golf Swing
How To Get Into The Slot In Golf Swing Simulator
Once you have mastered knowledge on the right arm function. Take a quick look at the left arm functioning as well. You’ll be amazed at the similarities the left arm, your left arm basically works as a mirror image of the right arm.
You can then combine the right arm and left arm function and join them to work in harmony. Once you have a good grasp on the right arm functioning at set up and during the in motion swing. The left arm you will find a breeze.
Right Arm In Conclusion
Focusing on your right arm function at set up and through out the swing can be an eye-opening endeavour. There is a lot going on with the right arm that can lead to high-level skills.
Having said there’s a lot going on, don’t let that scare you. The right arm function and movement at first may seem complex but in the end right arm function is fairly simple. Be patient and clear on where the right arm should be at set up, backswing, impact and finish.
Having an effective arm position with your right and left will lead you to many successes on the golf course.
Maintain good positioning and movement with both your arms throughout the set up and swing motion.
Effective arm movement is what will keep the golf club on plane!
Maintaining good structure at set up and thru out your swing is crucial.
How To Get In The Slot In Golf Swing
Mix good arm structure with a high-level relaxation technique for golf to maximize your control and distance.
How To Get Into Slot In Golf Swing
Happy golfing friends!