August 19, 2019- by Steven E. Greer, MD
Well, it only took me five-months, and about $5,000 in lessons from the finest teachers and rounds of golf, to finally understand what I was doing wrong. I was afraid to release the flexion in my right elbow in the downswing. This caused my spine to tilt badly to the right in the process, throwing off the delicate balance of the stacked gears of the shoulders and hips.
In March, Ryan Crysler with the Harmon school spotted this after 3D analysis. He gave me a tricep-pump drill (see video), where I flex the right tricep, or extend the elbow. But I had too many other things wrong, so this drill alone did not feel right. I abandoned it.
Fast-forward to July when I started to get some learning from Warren Bottke, the man who taught Brooks Koepka, etc. He confirmed my suspicion about how the hips should feel as if they are sliding left toward the target to get posted up onto the left leg. He also taught me to push down with the right arm, straightening it, like a piston rod pushing down.
Then, it hit me. Both drills are doing the same thing. They are getting the right elbow to release in the transition and straighten through impact. That is the secret to the modern swing, like Koepka’s (Ryan and the Harmons coach Koepka now).