Looking to increase your velocity and power but feeling stymied by limited flexibility? GOLF Top 100 teacher Joe Plecker (@JoePleckerPGA) can help.
If you’re having trouble loading correctly, narrow your stance and flare your front foot. When you swing, twist into your right hip — almost like you’re squatting — and get your left knee over your left toes. Now you’re loaded. Here’s a 30-second breakdown:
NIX YOUR LIFT
In an attempt to add yards, you overreach on your backswing, lifting your arms as high as they can go. Unfortunately, you lift your torso, too. Now you’re off plane. Try this instead. Set up as normal, but with your feet closer together and your left foot flared. Congrats! You have full range of motion. No more need to lift.
ROTATE INTERNALLY
As you take the club back, think “squat” instead of “lift.” Try to twist into the crease created in your trousers near your front right pants pocket as you turn back, keeping your right foot firmly planted on the ground. It should feel like you’re rotating internally into your right hip, not upward. And, yes, it should feel like a squat.
FLEX AND JUMP
To make this internal rotation even easier to execute, smoothly bend your left leg as you rotate back. Try to get your left knee moving out toward the toes of your left foot. It’ll feel like you’re tilting slightly toward the target. That’s good! Now you can spring up from the ground at impact, clearing space for your arms to fire through impact with increased velocity and power.
