One of the most confusing terms in golf instruction is "shoulder turn". Personally, I suspect that instructors that talk about shoulder turn to describe the amount of turn in the backswing are wounding their students.
To explain why I feel this way, I will ask you to try a little experiment.
Reach both arms in front of your body and take your right hand and grab your left wrist. Now, without turning your chest, pull your left arm across your chest with your right hand till your left arm is pointing to your right.
Notice how far your left shoulder moved. If your shoulders do this during your backswing and you think you are turning, this is the root of your backswing maladies.
For the club face to come back to the ball square and focused, the geometry and relationship of the arms and chest and shoulders can't change during the swing. Doing this experiment, you see that what might look like a backswing to many golfers, but is actually a major change in the arms / body geometry which may result in an entire lot of wild shots depending on what else the golfer tries to compensate.
Now try a new experiment. Cross your arms across your chest and turn your chest and shoulders till your chest faces away from the target ( make a backswing ). You'll notice that your arms and chest moved together. This is the same movement you should be making during your backswing.
What is the difference between the two turns?
In the first turn, the arms pulled parts of the upper body till the arms looked as if they were ready. The belly and hips didn't turn.
In the 2nd turn, you had to turn your mid-section to make the turn, also turning the hips as needed. Those are the same muscle you should generally use to make your standard backswing turn.
This one change in your swing will create more distance with less effort. It is not the end all the golf swings, as there is more to controlling your movement, however it is one of the commonest mistakes I see that many instructors miss during their lessons. Now you can enhance your backswing and become more consistent.
Rather than pondering turning your shoulders, think about turning your chest.
This can not totally correct your shot pattern, however it may get it more in order and give you more distance also.
Even accomplished golfers sometimes make this mistake but on a much littler scale. It is one of the most typical timing errors in the golf swing.
To explain why I feel this way, I will ask you to try a little experiment.
Reach both arms in front of your body and take your right hand and grab your left wrist. Now, without turning your chest, pull your left arm across your chest with your right hand till your left arm is pointing to your right.
Notice how far your left shoulder moved. If your shoulders do this during your backswing and you think you are turning, this is the root of your backswing maladies.
For the club face to come back to the ball square and focused, the geometry and relationship of the arms and chest and shoulders can't change during the swing. Doing this experiment, you see that what might look like a backswing to many golfers, but is actually a major change in the arms / body geometry which may result in an entire lot of wild shots depending on what else the golfer tries to compensate.
Now try a new experiment. Cross your arms across your chest and turn your chest and shoulders till your chest faces away from the target ( make a backswing ). You'll notice that your arms and chest moved together. This is the same movement you should be making during your backswing.
What is the difference between the two turns?
In the first turn, the arms pulled parts of the upper body till the arms looked as if they were ready. The belly and hips didn't turn.
In the 2nd turn, you had to turn your mid-section to make the turn, also turning the hips as needed. Those are the same muscle you should generally use to make your standard backswing turn.
This one change in your swing will create more distance with less effort. It is not the end all the golf swings, as there is more to controlling your movement, however it is one of the commonest mistakes I see that many instructors miss during their lessons. Now you can enhance your backswing and become more consistent.
Rather than pondering turning your shoulders, think about turning your chest.
This can not totally correct your shot pattern, however it may get it more in order and give you more distance also.
Even accomplished golfers sometimes make this mistake but on a much littler scale. It is one of the most typical timing errors in the golf swing.
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