Arm height in finishing position.

[kennay92]

Is there any differences/ bad or good, in where the right arm comes through in the follow through. I looked at a video of my swing and me (right handed player) my right arm comes through very much above my left shoulder in the follow through, should it be coming through at or lower than the left shoulder level? any insight will help.

[senorchipotle]

depends on the shot you were trying to hit. i don't believe there's such a thing as a good or bad follow through.

[saevel25]

Oh yea there is... Your follow through has to match your swing. Arnold Palmer had that funky follow through because it was necessary for him to eliminate a swing fault.

[senorchipotle]

Oh yea there is... Your follow through has to match your swing. Arnold Palmer had that funky follow through because it was necessary for him to eliminate a swing fault.

wrong. he had the weird follow through because his was trying to keep from releasing the club.

[jamo]

Oh yea there is... Your follow through has to match your swing. Arnold Palmer had that funky follow through because it was necessary for him to eliminate a swing fault.

It didn't eliminate it, it was a compensation move.

wrong. he had the weird follow through because his was trying to keep from releasing the club.

And the above post is saying that releasing the club is a swing fault.....(how is that different from what you said?)

To the OP, your follow through arm position is indicative of your swing plane and the steepness of your swing.

[senorchipotle]

It didn't eliminate it, it was a compensation move.

releasing the club is not a swing fault, it's something that happens naturally after you strike the ball. unless of course, you actively try not to release the club, a la arnie/jim 'taxes, what are those' thorpe.

[saevel25]

Thats because Arnies swing produced a low draw. If he didn't hang on he would hook it. So he figured a way to keep his swing consistant, and he was aggressive, so the hangon wasn't like a typical one were you loose speed and the ball goes right, this one was really done well. Its a big funky but it works to stop a certain shot.

[Shanks A Million]

depends on the shot you were trying to hit. i don't believe there's such a thing as a good or bad follow through.

This is, absolutely, positively, 100% flat out wrong. But it has more to do with terminology. What you're trying to say is correct, but what you were trying to say is that there's such a thing as a bad

finish . Followthrough however, is the one thing every good player has in common. Followthrough is the position in the swing in which both arms are fully extended, and the butt of the club is as far from the right shoulder as it will be. Every good player has this position in common, from Nicklaus to Nelson, Hogan to Hagen, Woods to Watson, Palmer to Player. Where you finish is up to you, but around the neck is generally accepted as being the most technically sound. I personally don't think it matters, just as long as the club gets to the followthrough position, you're doing ok.

[iacas]

Where you finish is up to you, but around the neck is generally accepted as being the most technically sound. I personally don't think it matters, just as long as the club gets to the followthrough position, you're doing ok.

There's a principle in sports called the braking principle that can lead to more speed, so "where you finish" is actually somewhat important. And since I don't know if it's actually called the "braking principle" it goes like this.

Throw a punch as fast as you can but don't stop anywhere. Just punch the air, and throw a punch. Now do the same thing but almost recoil and "brake" the punch just about as soon after it starts as you can. If you were to measure the speed of both, you'd find that the maximum speed of the second punch was faster. Why? Because your body doesn't want to let you injure yourself, so with no known braking point in the first punch where you just kind of punch the air and end up hyper-extending your elbow, shoulder, etc. your body won't let you punch as fast. There's more to it than that, but I prefer a swing thought of "hit fast, stop fast." One guy I know says he basically starts actively braking the club at impact. His swing speed is much higher when he does that than when he lets the club finish around his neck.

[Shanks A Million]

There's a principle in sports called the braking principle that can lead to more speed, so "where you finish" is actually somewhat important. And since I don't know if it's actually called the "braking principle" it goes like this.

VERY, VERY good observation!

I have, in fact noticed Erik, and you can confirm or deny this, that in the past, say, 15 years, the finish positions of players on the PGA tour have become vastly more homogeneous. I do, though, 100% agree with you that the finish position is a crucial piece of evidence to let you know what you did through the swing. I find, for example, when I use the "braking" principle as you mention it, I hit it farther. I spent a number of years as an assistant tai-chi and kempo instructor in my teens, and you may notice that martial artists practice making punches in a very rhythmical, shortened fashion. The reason is, we're doing the same thing you do in the golf swing, we're punching with the large muscles. When we break boards and bricks and stuff, we're using our body weight, and often our legs to do so. Here's a cool story for you to ponder. About 14 years ago, I and my best friend got suckered into going to a cowboy bar deep in the heart of Dallas dressed in island attire. Needless to say, we got a lot of dirty looks. They had a punching machine that measured the power with which you punched the bag. Anyway, all these rednecks were getting running starts, and just plowing through this bag, even kicking it, and getting maybe 180-200 lbs of force. I stepped up, and said, "let me try." Needless to say, they were interested to see this. I stepped up, stood calmly, and struck it with a nice, clean blow. I made the needle go off the charts. They were all flabbergasted. Well, my secret was that I didn't hit the bag with my hand, I hit it with my body weight. All I did was keep my arm rigid, and moved my weight from up to down, and let the power of gravity moving me forward and down pull the fist through the bag. No one was too keen on messing with us for the rest of that night!

[saevel25]

But isn't the golf swing more based around being grounded, were we get our power from the feet up through the club. Just like a boxer works on his footwork so that when he punches that he is braced againts the ground and uses that energy through his punch. Is this similar to using your body weight?

[Shanks A Million]

But isn't the golf swing more based around being grounded, were we get our power from the feet up through the club. Just like a boxer works on his footwork so that when he punches that he is braced againts the ground and uses that energy through his punch. Is this similar to using your body weight?

Yes, exactly. The ground is your anchor, and if you lose your connection to it, you're flailing.

[saevel25]

I think that is a key fault with so many. They end up on there toes in the backswing, which in the downswing they will fall to there heels and then back to there toes in the follow through. This will cause them to loose there tush line (as some pro's call it), and almost forward after the swing. Not many people work on there balance. If you can maintain the balance in the feet, alot of things are secured.

[senorchipotle]

This is, absolutely, positively, 100% flat out wrong. But it has more to do with terminology. What you're trying to say is correct, but what you were trying to say is that there's such a thing as a bad

yes, i did mean to say finish. thanks for reading my mind shanks. ;)