externally rotate rear shoulder at top of backswing?

[uttexas]

I've been trying to flatten my backswing. Today, for the first time, I started externally rotating my right (rear) shoulder at the top of the backswing while keeping my right elbow connected to my torso. At first, this felt different, and an added motion, but I was really hitting the ball well.

I've looked at some youtube videos of professional golfers and some externally rotate their rear shoulders a lot (Fowler) at the top of the backswing.

Is this something I should be doing, or is it an added movement?

[westcyderydin]

if you mean turning your shoulders on more of a horizontal axis than turning them straight around the axis of your spine then i agree.

[iacas]

if you mean turning your shoulders on more of a horizontal axis than turning them straight around the axis of your spine then i agree.

And if that's what he means, I 100% disagree.

[uttexas]

Yes, by externally rotating my rear shoulder, I feel that I am able to get my hands in a "deeper" postition at the top of the backswing. After looking at some more youtube professional swings, the trend appears to be that one planers tend to have more of this external rear shoulder rotation move than two planers.

Anthony Kim--another that does a fair amount of rear shoulder external rotation.


With pure external rotation of the rear shoulder, the shoulder plane does not change. In pure external rotation, the shoulder stays fixed in plane, while the bicep and forearm rotate away from the body.