Post by imperfectgolfer on Apr 26, 2024 12:20:10 GMT -5
Here is a video where Rory McIlroy describes his favorite drill.
I normally never recommend drills, but I think that this split-hand grip drill is the most important drill that every golfer should perform, especially if they are beginner golfers. I cannot recommend this drill highly enough because it potentially teaches a golfer a number of optimal ways to move the clubshaft in space.
I suspect that Rory learned this drill from Pete Cowen, who calls it the Chinese fighting stick drill. Rory emphasizes certain advantages to performing this drill in his video - i) getting the takeaway to move the clubshaft onto the correct swingplane by P2.5; ii) getting the trail elbow optimally positioned in front of the trail side of the body by P4; ii) getting the clubshaft parallel to the ball-target line by P6 with the trail elbow still in front of the torso, and not trapped behind the trail hip area. I agree with all those points, but neither Rory McIlroy or Pete Cowen talk about the most important golf instructional benefits of this drill, which I will now discuss.
Capture images of Rory McIlroy performing this drill.
I normally never recommend drills, but I think that this split-hand grip drill is the most important drill that every golfer should perform, especially if they are beginner golfers. I cannot recommend this drill highly enough because it potentially teaches a golfer a number of optimal ways to move the clubshaft in space.
I suspect that Rory learned this drill from Pete Cowen, who calls it the Chinese fighting stick drill. Rory emphasizes certain advantages to performing this drill in his video - i) getting the takeaway to move the clubshaft onto the correct swingplane by P2.5; ii) getting the trail elbow optimally positioned in front of the trail side of the body by P4; ii) getting the clubshaft parallel to the ball-target line by P6 with the trail elbow still in front of the torso, and not trapped behind the trail hip area. I agree with all those points, but neither Rory McIlroy or Pete Cowen talk about the most important golf instructional benefits of this drill, which I will now discuss.
Capture images of Rory McIlroy performing this drill.
Image 1 is at P4, image 2 is at P5, image 3 is at P5.5 and image 4 is at P6.
The most important element of this drill that is absolutely critical is the positioning of the trail hand under the club handle. All the benefits of this drill will not exist if the trail hand is not correctly positioned under the clubshaft at address and also at every moment during the performance of the simulated golf swing action between P4 => P7.
Image 1 is at P4. Note that Rory's trail upper arm/elbow is positioned in front of his right upper torso even though he can rotate his upper torso/shoulders ~110 degrees by P4. It is important to not allow the trail elbow to get trapped behind the upper torso at P4. Note that his trail palm is under the clubshaft at P4.
Note that Rory has squared his pelvis by P5, but his upper torso is still closed. In fact, the AMG instructors have demonstrated that Rory has no independent upper thoracic spine rotary motion between P4 => P5 and that any rotary motion of the two shoulder sockets is passively due to the active pelvic rotation happening between P4 => P5. Note how Rory is using his lead-and-trail shoulder girdle muscles to pull the club handle down to the P5 position. The amount of clubshaft shallowing that will happen between P4 => P5 is optional and it will be greater if the trail upper arm adductory motion is very active and if the trail elbow drops below the lead elbow by P5. However, what is really important is that the clubshaft should be on-plane at P5 (where an imaginary line extending out from the butt end of the club should point at the ball-target line). Note that the trail palm is under the clubshaft and parallel to the swingplane.
Image 3 is at P5.5. Note that Rory's upper torso is still closed to a small degree. Note that his trail elbow is positioned alongside his right hip joint area, and not trapped behind his trail hip area. Note that his clubshaft is still on-plane. Note that his trail palm is under the club handle and parallel to his shallowing swingplane.
Note the three-dimensional motion of the clubhead between P4 => P6. Note that the clubhead has zero tendency to move in a "tumbling manner" which is often seen in developing amateur golfers who have a strong tendency to perform an OTT move. To prevent that happening during this drill, a golfer must keep the trail shoulder back and keep the upper torso closed to a variable degree while he performs his arm motion in the correct manner. The most critical biomechanical element that allows the clubhead to follow the optimum path between P4 => P6 is the position of the trail palm under the clubshaft at all times between P4 => P6 while performing an active trail upper arm adductory move. Note that the trail elbow remains significantly bent in the early downswing, which allows a golfer to maintain clubhead lag and that it straightens to a variable degree in the mid-downswing. The degree that the trail palm will become more horizontal relative to the ground between P4 => P6 is optional/variable and it will be greater if a golfer shallows the clubshaft a lot and if one uses a low track stone-skipping trail arm motion between P4 => P6.
When practicing this split-grip drill, it is very important to move the trail arm in the correct manner and to ensure that the trail palm is constantly under the clubshaft and constantly parallel to the swingplane between P4 => P5.5. It is also important to ensure that the upper torso is closed to a variable/optional degree so that one can "feel" that one is pulling the club downwards/groundwards in front of the upper torso. Watch Rory repeating the drill multiple times between the 1:10 - 1:20 minute time point of the video and note how consistently his can bring the clubshaft down from P4 => P6 with no tendency to "tumble" the clubshaft over-the-plane. Try and mimic Rory's drill action about 100x so that you can ingrain the "feel" of how the clubshaft moves in space during the drill, and how it should also move in one's "real life" golf swing action. Try to ingrain the "feel" of the lead hand pulling the club handle down to the P6 position while the correct motion of the trail palm is mainly used to keep the clubshaft on-plane and to avoid any tendency to "tumble" the clubshaft over-the-plane in an OTT manner.
Now, I will discuss the critical biomechanical elements that must happen between P6 => P7.
Capture images of Rory performing the drill as he approaches the P6 position.
Image 1 shows Rory just bypassing the P6 position and image 2 shows Rory approaching the P6 position.
What has to happen between P6 => P7 (during the club release phase = release of PA#2 action) is that the clubshaft must remain continuously parallel to the functional swingplane. In image 2, Rory's clubhead is behind his hands (= further away from the ball-target line than his lead hand) and it will subsequently get in front of his hands (= closer to the ball-target line than his lead hand) after P6. During that critical time period between P5.5 => P6.5, it is important that the clubhead move either across the hands or below the hands (when viewed from a DTL viewing perspective) and never "tumble" over-the-hands. What makes that clubhead motion biomechanically possible is keeping the trail palm continuously under the club handle between P5.5 => P6.5 and that also requires that the trail forearm be continuously supinated between P5.5 => P6.5.
Here is a capture image of Rory at P6.5 in his "real life" driver golf swing action.
I have drawn a red line down the middle of his trail antecubital fossa and a blue line along his trail lower forearm's radial bone, and one can clearly see that his trail forearm is very supinated at P6.5. Note how his trail palm is positioned partly under the club handle, and partly behind the club handle - but it should never face the ground. When performing Rory's favorite drill one should monitor the motion of one's trail forearm/trail palm between P6 => P6.5+ to ensure that the trail palm never faces the ground (as wrongheadedly recommended by Pete Cowen).
Now, consider what should also be happening in the later downswing when performing Rory's favorite drill.
Note that Rory's trail palm is still partly under the club handle through impact and that his trail forearm is still supinated to a small degree.
How should one learn to perform that correct trail forearm/trail palm action?
It is very important to understand that one can only avoid a "running-out-of-trail arm" scenario through impact if one opens the pelvis/upper torso through impact while the lead shoulder socket is simultaneously moving up-and-inside left due to the lead leg straightening action that is combined with a stretching-out of the lead mid-upper torso, which will pull the club handle slightly upwards as the lead hand simultaneously moves inside-left to a variable degree. Note how the correct pivot motion allows the trail shoulder socket to move under the chin through impact. Note that Rory has a steep shoulder turn angle through impact, which requires a finite amount of secondary axis tilt due to moving the pelvis targetwards while keeping the head (and upper swing center) back behind the ball that is simultaneously combined with a finite amount of right lateral bend.
The most interesting part of the Rory McIlroy video from my personal perspective is when Martin Hall asked Rory how often he does his favorite drill. Rory stated that he does it every day and during every golf round. I strongly recommend that every student-golfer should adopt Rory's approach and I also recommend that he should perform this split-hand drill every day.
Jeff.