Forearm tension

[Rainmaker]

I have noticed that excessive forearm tension is a problem for me.  I've always had this issue but working on forearm rotation has made me really notice it.  

When I can really focus on letting go of that tension I'm able to do it . . the clubhead moves much faster and I get a much better strike.   But it's really hard for me to do and it's one of the first things I forget.  

One feel I've latched onto is that, with too much tension, it feels like the energy of my swing comes down from my right shoulder, down my arms and gets stuck at my forearms. 

With less tension it feels like the energy comes down from my right shoulder, down my arms, down the shaft and into the clubhead.  

That's kind of esoteric, though, lol.  That's not something I could feel under pressure.  

Any ideas, thoughts or drills to help reduce the tension in my forearms?  

 

Edited January 15, 2017 by Rainmaker

[iacas]

If you can do it just by thinking about it… think about it until it forms a habit.

[Rainmaker]

35 minutes ago, iacas said:

If you can do it just by thinking about it… think about it until it forms a habit.

Yeah - that makes sense, of course . . but even when I'm thinking about it it's still pretty tough for me to do.  Sometimes I try to do and am not able to . .sometimes, usually, I am.  It will get easier the more I focus on it, though.  

[RandallT]

1 hour ago, Rainmaker said:

Yeah - that makes sense, of course . . but even when I'm thinking about it it's still pretty tough for me to do.  Sometimes I try to do and am not able to . .sometimes, usually, I am.  It will get easier the more I focus on it, though.  

I think this is similar to a challenge I've discussed in various places the past couple weeks after the competence thread. I can do something somewhat well (in my case, flat left wrist) when I stay conscious of it. I think when I do it consciously, there's even some muscle tension, because it must be a deliberate thought. But when I swing at the range or on a course where I might be more target-focused, that piece breaks down.

So far, the solution seems to be just stay at it. Keep doing this:

Edit: once again, you and I are having similar struggles, as you noted recently! 

[Patch]

I might be wrong, but forearm tension, will also cause excessive tension in the wrists, and most likely too much grip pressure. Too much grip pressure can also cause too much wrist, and forearm tension. 

So, my first question to a person with excessive forearm tension would be how strong are you holding on to the club? If the grip is suspect, try relaxing it, and see if the excessive forearm tension relaxes too. 

[Rainmaker]

17 hours ago, Patch said:

I might be wrong, but forearm tension, will also cause excessive tension in the wrists, and most likely too much grip pressure. Too much grip pressure can also cause too much wrist, and forearm tension. 

So, my first question to a person with excessive forearm tension would be how strong are you holding on to the club? If the grip is suspect, try relaxing it, and see if the excessive forearm tension relaxes too. 

I think what I've done is managed to learn to grip the club rather loosely while still maintaining a lot of tension in my forearms and locking my elbows.  I brought it up at my lesson today and I'm  going to work on really having loose arms to start the takeaway . .and try to keep them loose.  In my lesson the difference between tight vs loose was really noticeable...loose is better.  much better.  

edit . .by "loose" . .I mean loose enough to feel the force of my swing pulling them straight(ish).  

Edited January 16, 2017 by Rainmaker

[iacas]

Do the opposite. Grip the club firmly with little tension above your wrists.

[Buckeyebowman]

23 hours ago, Patch said:

I might be wrong, but forearm tension, will also cause excessive tension in the wrists, and most likely too much grip pressure. Too much grip pressure can also cause too much wrist, and forearm tension. 

So, my first question to a person with excessive forearm tension would be how strong are you holding on to the club? If the grip is suspect, try relaxing it, and see if the excessive forearm tension relaxes too. 

For me it works that way. Too much grip pressure produces tension in the wrists which produces tension in the forearms. It all starts in the hands. You only have to hold onto the club "hard" enough to keep it from twisting in your grip or flying away from you. Patch has another point in that if your grip is poor, that can be part of the problem. A good grip helps you keep control of the club.

[Rainmaker]

7 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

For me it works that way. Too much grip pressure produces tension in the wrists which produces tension in the forearms. It all starts in the hands. You only have to hold onto the club "hard" enough to keep it from twisting in your grip or flying away from you. Patch has another point in that if your grip is poor, that can be part of the problem. A good grip helps you keep control of the club.

Yeah...my whole thing was . .and I suppose I've probably always done this . .I grip the club rather lightly but my arms are too tense and stiff and, at address, my elbows tend to be locked.  I also grip it pretty lightly at address . .but actually pretty tightly at impact..sometimes when I've had various swing issues I've had the fingers of one hand dig into the other . .with surprising force.  

My teacher was standing behind me and said "it looks like you're trying to move the clubhead and not the handle" . .and all of a sudden a huge lightbulb went off, lol.  OH man . . how long have I been strangling the speed out of my swing? (long time)

Edited January 17, 2017 by Rainmaker

[Hatchman]

Have you used a swing trainer?  

[Rainmaker]

1 minute ago, Hatchman said:

Have you used a swing trainer?  

No, I haven't - but that would probably be a good thing for me.  I might have it now . .I think I get the idea . .if I still struggle though I might look into it because that's exactly the idea . . 

[boogielicious]

3 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

No, I haven't - but that would probably be a good thing for me.  I might have it now . .I think I get the idea . .if I still struggle though I might look into it because that's exactly the idea . . 

Try this exercise. Take your grip and start swinging the club back and forth in a similar manner to your normal swing, but continuously back and forth. Then gradually, increase grip pressure while actively thinking about keeping your wrist and forearms relaxed. You will start to get the sensation of the different muscle groups interacting and be able to break finger grip pressure from wrist and forearm tension.. Do this as part of your warm up for a while and it will become second nature.

[Rainmaker]

It's funny how you don't realize you're doing something until you realize it, lol.  I really had way too much tension in my arms at address and throughout the backswing.  Somehow, subconsciously or whatever . .it felt like keeping my arms rigid would give me a better chance to stay on plane...even though, if I had stopped to think about it, I know the opposite is true.  And this was really only in my backswing . .from the top I was letting my arms be loose.  Before I realized it . .I probably would not have described my arms as rigid in the backswing . .but they definitely were.    

Now that I've had a few practice sessions with this new feel . . what was I thinking before?   

[Lihu]

On 1/16/2017 at 1:06 PM, iacas said:

Do the opposite. Grip the club firmly with little tension above your wrists.

 

On 1/17/2017 at 6:27 AM, boogielicious said:

Try this exercise. Take your grip and start swinging the club back and forth in a similar manner to your normal swing, but continuously back and forth. Then gradually, increase grip pressure while actively thinking about keeping your wrist and forearms relaxed. You will start to get the sensation of the different muscle groups interacting and be able to break finger grip pressure from wrist and forearm tension.. Do this as part of your warm up for a while and it will become second nature.

 

19 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

It's funny how you don't realize you're doing something until you realize it, lol.  I really had way too much tension in my arms at address and throughout the backswing.  Somehow, subconsciously or whatever . .it felt like keeping my arms rigid would give me a better chance to stay on plane...even though, if I had stopped to think about it, I know the opposite is true.  And this was really only in my backswing . .from the top I was letting my arms be loose.  Before I realized it . .I probably would not have described my arms as rigid in the backswing . .but they definitely were.    

Now that I've had a few practice sessions with this new feel . . what was I thinking before?   

See above. . .

[Rainmaker]

On 1/19/2017 at 10:09 AM, Rainmaker said:

It's funny how you don't realize you're doing something until you realize it, lol.  I really had way too much tension in my arms at address and throughout the backswing.  Somehow, subconsciously or whatever . .it felt like keeping my arms rigid would give me a better chance to stay on plane...even though, if I had stopped to think about it, I know the opposite is true.  And this was really only in my backswing . .from the top I was letting my arms be loose.  Before I realized it . .I probably would not have described my arms as rigid in the backswing . .but they definitely were.    

Now that I've had a few practice sessions with this new feel . . what was I thinking before?   

This has turned out to be an even bigger deal than I realized.  This is kind of an invisible problem but it has really been holding me back. 

Typically I'm a bit of a shanker. I hit it decent sometimes ...a lot of times...but shanks just come out of nowhere. Frequently.  If I hit 100 balls in practice I would typically shank 2 or 3 of them.  

Since making this change I have not shanked a ball in at least 500 shots...and that's thinking mechanical thoughts and whatever else.  My misses, overall, have become far less ugly.  Because...and this is really ironic....when I really wanted/needed to hit a good one I'd tense up even more!

Its just odd to me that something like that ...which I did not think I was doing and it's pretty hard for somebody to see ...could cause such huge issues in my swing.  

Edit - I could have never broken 80 with this flaw....I may still never break 80...but at least it won't be because of this. 

Edited January 21, 2017 by Rainmaker

[Marty2019]

It's funny, I'm trying to do the opposite: I'm trying to grip tighter, especially with my left hand.  I was always kind of loosey-goosey with my grip but I noticed on video that at the top of my back swing, I was losing control of the club, and this was causing a re-grip that caused me to cast the club. 

Gripping tighter gives me much better control of the club in the transition.  Gripping tighter also helps me shorten my back swing and gives me much more consistency. 

I'm pretty weak to begin with, so maybe a tight grip for me equals a loose grip for stronger people. 

Edited January 21, 2017 by Marty2019

[Lihu]

9 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

This has turned out to be an even bigger deal than I realized.  This is kind of an invisible problem but it has really been holding me back. 

It's frustrating, but it might not be the only thing holding you back. There's plenty of other frustrating stuff in golf too.

 

Quote

 

Typically I'm a bit of a shanker. I hit it decent sometimes ...a lot of times...but shanks just come out of nowhere. Frequently.  If I hit 100 balls in practice I would typically shank 2 or 3 of them.  

Since making this change I have not shanked a ball in at least 500 shots...and that's thinking mechanical thoughts and whatever else.  My misses, overall, have become far less ugly.  Because...and this is really ironic....when I really wanted/needed to hit a good one I'd tense up even more!

Its just odd to me that something like that ...which I did not think I was doing and it's pretty hard for somebody to see ...could cause such huge issues in my swing.  

Edit - I could have never broken 80 with this flaw....I may still never break 80...but at least it won't be because of this. 

You might want to consider doing a "loosey-goosey" swing for a while, at least for drills? Just make sure that the club doesn't slip out of your hands. . .

Then, gradually, do what @boogielicious and Erik suggested?

 

4 hours ago, Marty2019 said:

It's funny, I'm trying to do the opposite: I'm trying to grip tighter, especially with my left hand.  I was always kind of loosey-goosey with my grip but I noticed on video that at the top of my back swing, I was losing control of the club, and this was causing a re-grip that caused me to cast the club. 

Gripping tighter gives me much better control of the club in the transition.  Gripping tighter also helps me shorten my back swing and gives me much more consistency. 

I'm pretty weak to begin with, so maybe a tight grip for me equals a loose grip for stronger people. 

It could be the other way as well. . .

[Rainmaker]

9 hours ago, Marty2019 said:

It's funny, I'm trying to do the opposite: I'm trying to grip tighter, especially with my left hand.  I was always kind of loosey-goosey with my grip but I noticed on video that at the top of my back swing, I was losing control of the club, and this was causing a re-grip that caused me to cast the club. 

Gripping tighter gives me much better control of the club in the transition.  Gripping tighter also helps me shorten my back swing and gives me much more consistency. 

I'm pretty weak to begin with, so maybe a tight grip for me equals a loose grip for stronger people. 

After coming full circle a bit on this . .it was really not my grip pressure . .per say.  The locked elbows at address, for sure . . but mostly it was a conceptual error.  What I was doing was sort of shoving the club to the top of the backswing and then swinging it from there.  What I feel I'm doing now is swinging it to the top.  

A concept I've worked a lot on with my teacher is this idea of a "mini tug of war" that happens just after impact . .where the club is pulling away from you and you're resisting.  I worked really hard on finding this feeling...but I never realized until just recently that I need a mini, mini-tug of war in the back swing, too.  Obviously my arms are whats going to lift the club to the top but I want to feel the force of my swing *pulling* it, too.  Then, when we change directions at the top . .wham!   much faster . .and much more on-plane.   

Edited January 21, 2017 by Rainmaker