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The role of the lead arm: Rotate, don’t pull for consistent contact

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Many golfers who come to me for swing help (especially golfers who struggle with distance) have been told that by someone that they “release the club too soon.”

The theory behind the advice is not bad, because the hands need to stay in front of the club head to create the downward angle of attack at impact required for every club in the bag besides the driver. However, if the hands are not moving correctly during the downswing (which happens quite a bit when golfers tries to delay their release) golfers will have no choice but to release their hands early to square the club face.

Learning the correct way to bring the hands into the golf ball by rotating the lead arm makes it very difficult to release the club too early, which allows golfers to achieve a desired impact position with a square club face.

Many of my students describe the start of their downswing as a “pull” of the handle from the top. In theory, this move makes sense. If golfers pull the handle down (from the top of the backswing), then the club head will stay behind the hands. That should create the desired position of having the hands ahead of the club and the club shaft leaning forward at impact, right? Maybe, but most golfers who try to execute such a movement see inconsistent results.

The issue with trying to “pull” the club handle down in the downswing is that the club face remains open for too long. That means that golfers will need to get their hands involved late in the downswing to square the club face.

Not Rotated

After pulling the club handle down, the club head is too open heading into impact. That means the hands must be used to square the club.

When I teach students the transition (the change from the backswing to the downswing), I emphasise the proper “release” of the club and the role the lead arm plays. At the start of the downswing, the lead arm has to begin to rotate as it moves down and around the body. By rotating the lead arm, the hands can still lead the club head into the golf ball, but the club face can also be squared without having to to get the hands too involved.

Rotated

The lead arm has rotated so the lead wrist is pointing at the target. In the photo above, not only are our hands leading into impact, but the club face is square as well.

The easiest way to illustrate the feeling is to make swings with a wristwatch on your lead wrist. From the top of the swing, feel as if you are rotating the face of the watch down and through the golf ball so at impact the face points to the target with a flat leading wrist. When most golfers begin the downswing by pulling the handle of club down from the top of the swing, the watch points too far to the right (for a right-handed player).

Trying to not release the golf club too early is a great thought to have for consistent contact and longer shots, but it is important to learn the proper lead arm rotation to avoid having to make last-minute compensations at impact.

Scott Hogan is a PGA Certified Teaching Professional in Teaching and Coaching based out of Chicago, Illinois. He is the Head Coach at Mother McAuley High School and the Director of Player Development at Governor's State University. He is also a Top 50 Instructor as named by the GRAA and TPI Certified. Scott teaches a variety of players from professionals, competitive juniors to weekend warriors from all around the country. To contact Scott about in person or online lessons, email scott@scotthogangolf.com. **Follow on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/scotthogangolf/

14 Comments

14 Comments

  1. Dani

    Sep 1, 2019 at 5:09 pm

    I love golfwrx.com
    I think it’s a great site!

  2. Jeremy

    Aug 19, 2016 at 11:05 am

    Thanks for the article. It’s awesome to – as somebody like me whose swing drifts out of whack every couple of weeks with too little practice – feel the difference in the impact when contacting the ball before and after this correction.

    It actually makes the swing feel easier, so lasts longer all day for consistent power, but the ball feels like butter more often and even sounds better. More of a clean click on contact rather than a struggly whap!. Ball flight too is way more piercing.

  3. Josh McKinley

    Oct 21, 2013 at 1:09 pm

    Hey Scott,

    Good article on the correct way to square the clubface through impact. Turning the watch is a good image to give to students to simplify this move. THanks!

    Josh

  4. blopar

    Oct 10, 2013 at 8:54 am

    go to http://www.rotarygolf.com and learn the biomechanics of a correct swing from “the lag doctor”

  5. craig@tourimpactgolf.com

    Oct 7, 2013 at 12:23 pm

    Thanks for this article. My swing provides me feedback to when I’m pulling instead of rotating. Loss of distance and the shanks. Rotating the left arm through the ball has been the only reliable remedy for both..but I never really understood why. Thanks for the article.

    regards……craig

  6. TheLegend

    Oct 6, 2013 at 11:01 am

    +3 hdy. Hmmmmm I think we should get something strait. Your first move should be your shoulders turning followed by a great weight transfer, followed by your lead arm (so your left if your right handed)at the last 2 feet. You should be pulling with your left arm but only the last 2 feet. Your arms should only actually swing 2 feet at the bottom. Lag is created by the body not the arms. jack nicklaus and jhonny miller both pulled with the left arm but only at the last sec. The best players in the world use there big muscles to get the swing started and small muscles just to get a little bit of feel.

    • Josh McKinley

      Oct 21, 2013 at 1:06 pm

      Legend –

      I agree that the big muscles should control the swing, but you are describing an incorrect sequence. The very first move from the top to start the downswing should be a weight transfer to the left side. This causes the hips to bump forward and begin turning toward the target. THEN the shoulders start to turn, following the hips, and finally the arms get PULLED down by the body. Scott is correct that, if you follow the proper sequence, you must rotate the left arm to square the clubface.

      If you start the downswing by turning your shoulders first, you will get the club steep and, without some major compensating moves, have an outside – in swing path.

    • Joe Blow

      Feb 10, 2019 at 6:12 am

      Are you hot in a bikini?

  7. Todd

    Oct 6, 2013 at 9:46 am

    Scott, Do you differentiate between arm rotation and wrist rotation?

  8. Raymond Rapcavage

    Oct 5, 2013 at 8:08 am

    Scott,

    Very good article by you and It is a relief that someone is talking IMPACT rather than droning on about making a perfect backswing. In our demo day clinics and my time with Jimmy Ballard we see 90% of golfers pulling down the handle, throwing their hands and arms, and rotating their forearms over each other to execute what they believe to be “releasing the club head”. When a golfer does this they miss in both directions and they rarely find the sweetspot of the clubface which is paramount to good ball striking .

    Simply put you must lean the shaft forward at impact with a supinated or flat left wrist.

    Consistant with your article is found on page 101 in Ben Hogan’s book “Five Lessons”… “AT IMPACT THE BACK OF THE LEFT HAND FACES TOWARDS THE TARGET ” and then on the following page there is an image of the left wrist supinating at impact and two frames after. If an amateur wants to know why the pros hit it so well then they should hone in on these two pages. Yes the backswing is important and other elements of the swing BUT you can do everything else perfect and IMPACT position wrong (cupping the left wrist) and you are doomed to being a bad ball striker.

    Cheers,

    Raymond Rapcavage
    The Golf Swing Shirt Company
    http://www.golfswingshirt.com

  9. naflack

    Oct 5, 2013 at 4:04 am

    the old pull the handle bit…
    i was its victim at one point as well.

    the illustrations really convey the message.

  10. Bill Shooter

    Oct 4, 2013 at 12:10 pm

    8000 lessons in 9 years is quite a bit!! I bet you really increased that lesson total at Royal Hawk CC.

    • Scott Hogan

      Oct 4, 2013 at 7:05 pm

      You know it, can I ask what you happen to shoot when you play golf Bill???

  11. Mr Ted Cronk

    Oct 4, 2013 at 10:55 am

    Scott, I’ve been struggling mightily with the concept of late release, pulling the handle down from the top and executing my interpretation of creating ‘lag’. In fact, I’ve often wondered if I shouldn’t be doing just the opposite. When I just relax everything and allow the lead arm to rotate, I hit my best shots. Unfortunately, I didn’t trust that this was the way to swing the club or that I was getting the maximum distance I could achieve.

    Now I look forward to the next session at the range and allowing the rotation to happen naturally. I should have trusted my inner voice and now, thanks to your article, I will.

    I’ll let you know how it goes.

    Ted

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: Beating the yips into submission

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There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.

And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.

But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.

When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.

Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.

For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!

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Instruction

Looking for a good golf instructor? Use this checklist

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Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.

Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.

If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.

1. Cultural mindset

What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!

It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.

2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling

Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.

3. Learning theory basics

It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.

As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.

So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!

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What Lottie Woad’s stunning debut win teaches every golfer

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Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.

The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).

But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.

Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)

Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.

What Woad did:

• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances

• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins

• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets

• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”

Why most golfers mess this up:

• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”

• Distance becomes more important than accuracy

• They try to be heroic instead of smart

ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.

The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire

Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.

How she responded to pressure:

• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th

• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys

• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th

• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked

What amateurs do wrong:

• Get conservative when they should be aggressive

• Try to force magic when steady play would win

• Panic when someone else makes a move

ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.

Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game

Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.

Her mental approach:

• Focused on her process, not the competition

• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)

• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”

Her physical execution:

• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)

• Methodical iron play

• Steady putting

• Everything effective, nothing spectacular

ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.

Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built

The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”

Her winning mindset:

• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself

• Focused on playing well and contending

• Made winning a byproduct of a good process

• Built confidence through recent experiences:

  • Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
  • Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
  • Each experience prepared her for the next

What this means for you:

• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up

• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine

• Commit to every shot

• Stay present in the moment

ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.

The Real Lesson

Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.

The fundamentals that won:

• Hit more fairways

• Find more greens

• Make the putts you should make

• Stay patient under pressure

That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.

FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.

 

PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.

 

Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!

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