Common causes of Early Extension Too steep in the back swing – When the golf club gets too steep in the back swing, we often see that golfers Early Extend in order to move the club towards the swing plane. Poor lower body mobility – When we start the downswing with the lower body, we often go in to a squatting motion.
Full Answer
Are You struggling with early extension in your golf swing?
Lots of golfers struggling with early extension think this way. They look at their swing on video, see lots of good things up to a point, and then: the hips move toward the ball, they lose their spine angle, and they curse this stupid game. They try hitting balls with their backside against a wall.
Why do golfers early extend their spine?
If they could hold everything else in their golf swing constant and simply maintain their spine angle, they’d be lucky to hit the ball. And the reason is actually pretty simple: early extension is a symptom, and not a swing flaw. If you early extend, it’s because you have to.
Why does my head lift with early extension in golf?
Your head will lift with early extension, but only in an effort to maintain your balance – the root cause of loss of posture is poor hip movement. Even better golfers often suffer from early extension, usually because they have the wrong concept of how to use their lower body in the golf swing.
What is early extension in the golf downswing?
Draw a vertical line on the backside of the golfer at address and see if they move off the line in the downswing: For those new to this problem, this is early extension. It’s also described as loss of spine angle, moving off the tush line, hip thrusting, standing up into impact, and some other things.
What causes early extension golf swing?
2:037:04How to Fix Early Extension Golf Swing - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipMight be pulling your head but the reason you're doing it is because you're extending early theMoreMight be pulling your head but the reason you're doing it is because you're extending early the other way you might know if you got too early extension is you're topping the golf ball.
What is causing my early extension?
Early extension, in a nutshell, is when your pelvis moves towards the ball during your downswing, which you can see GOLF Top 100 Teacher Dave Phillips demonstrate below: The cause of early extension is caused by a physical limitation. Your hips may be inflexible, for instance, or you may have weak core muscles.
How do I stop early extension in my golf swing?
A common drill used by our GOLF Top 100 Teachers to prevent early extension is to make swings with your rear end against a wall. Keep your rear against the wall as you swing and you'll feel what it's like to stay in your posture and not extend early.
Does standing too close cause early extension?
Early extension, Phillips explains is often an effect caused by an unbalanced setup. Specifically, standing too far from the golf ball. “If you're close to the golf ball, that actually puts you in position where you need to move [your trail hip] out of the way and work the club out in front of you.” he says.
Does early extension cause thin shots?
Early Extension is one of the most common swing faults. It can cause heavy shots, thin shots, pushed shots, hooked shots, high ball flight and inconsistency.
Does early extension cause shanks?
Early extension can certainly cause shanks. When you early extend, you thrust your pelvis towards the ball, often dropping the club way under the swing plane. This severe in-to-out club path may cause the hosel to make contact with the ball first, rather than the club face, resulting in a shank.
Can early extension cause a slice?
One of the most disruptive tendencies in golf is the dreaded two-way miss. Golfers who have a tendency to hook OR slice the ball can manage their game, but golfers who have a tendency to slice AND hook are in trouble. One of the most common swing inhibitors associated with a two-way miss is called Early Extension.
How can I improve my golf swing extension?
3:1212:573 Keys to Better Extension - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAs we start the downswing. I want to keep those legs flexed. And as I go straight through to theMoreAs we start the downswing. I want to keep those legs flexed. And as I go straight through to the straight line release or releasing this club where it's fully released 45 degrees in front.
Why do pro golfers stand so close to the ball?
Standing close to the ball helps players have a slightly Upright swing path and can help with being able to get the ball to stop on the green. In addition, a higher ball flight helps ensure that you get the ideal distance with each of your shots.
What happens if you stand too far away from the golf ball?
Standing too far from the golf ball will result in poor posture, which could result in inconsistent shots and no control over the ball. Standing too far can result in less distance, heel shots, and can cause you to lose balance easily. Standing too far from the ball is pretty common for beginner players.
What is the second issue in golf?
The second main issue is when you don’t complete the turn in the backswing. This leaves you in a bad position where you will more than likely start to come out over the shot and order to stay to the inside and have a fighting chance to hit the ball you will early extend to keep the club more to the inside.
How to get a 90 degree turn?
Go ahead and try to make a 90 degree turn with the shoulders and at least 45 degrees with the hips. Make sure you turn and don’t slide back. It is ok to extend or straighten your trail leg to allow the hips to turn. This will put you in an ideal backswing position.
What causes early extension in golf?
Because early extension is such a common swing fault among golfers, there are many, many different factors that can cause it.
Why do golfers extend their arms?
Often, the root cause of this type of early extending is the club position at the top of their backswing – especially when they are ‘flying their elbow’ out from their body.
Can you play good golf with early extension?
Many golfers still hit the ball well, and score well, despite having early extension in their swing – however, most of these players likely have excellent hand-eye coordination or have made their technique work for them through lots of repetition and practice over time.
Does early extension cause shanks?
Early extension can certainly cause shanks. When you early extend, you thrust your pelvis towards the ball, often dropping the club way under the swing plane. This severe in-to-out club path may cause the hosel to make contact with the ball first, rather than the club face, resulting in a shank.
Why do amateur golfers tend to extend their arms out?
One of the most common problems amateurs have is they tend to bring their arms out in front of them as they start their swing, steepening the shaft as they arrive at impact and causing them to early extend in order to make contact with the ball.
What happens if you set up too far forward on your toes?
If you set-up too far forward on your toes, or too far back on your heels, your body will want to try and re-establish balance as soon as you start your golf swing. Often, this will cause you to ‘stand up’ out of your posture subconsciously and move your pelvis closer to the ball, resulting in early extension.
What is the most important thing in golf?
Poor posture at address. Balance is arguably the most important, fundamental element of your golf swing. Without balance , it becomes virtually impossible to strike the ball consistently. And, as you may or may not know, a bad set-up position can attribute to awful balance, and as a result lead to you early extending.
How do you fix early extension in the golf swing?
Strategies for correcting early extension will vary from person to person.
What is the cause of early extension?
For most, the cause of early extension is an inability to control their pelvic tilt due to a lack of mobility in the lumbar spine (lower back), weak core/glute muscles, and/or poor coordination.
Early Extension
Beginners may think this has something to do with the wrists on the downswing when we “uncock” the wrists too early and lose power! No!
How to Overcome Early Extension
As with many swing problems, it all starts at Address. I like to use an analogy from the great Johnny Miller, who said, “if you don’t aim the rifle at the target how can you expect to hit it?”
Some Swing Thoughts for Countering Early Extension
It is never a good idea to have too many swing thoughts in your head while attempting to play a shot. Most of the swing thoughts should be cleared when you address the ball. Don’t overcomplicate this process as it will leave you standing over the ball too long and negative thoughts will prevail. Use an Acronym and do a quick check at set up.
What is early extension golf?
It’s the silent swing killer you didn’t know you have. Early extension is any movement of your hips toward the ball in your downswing. Seventy percent of all golfers suffer from early extension, but 99% of Tour players don’t according to the Titleist Performance Institute. That should tell you something about just how big ...
What does it mean when your swing is extended?
When early extension is a physical issue, it usually means you have limited mobility in your ankles, knees, hips and/or spine.
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Why do people struggle with early extension in golf?
The reason why so many people struggle with early extension in golf is because they don’t understand the problem. They think the primary issue is the early extension itself. But early extension is not a swing fault! It’s actually a swing solution. Let me explain.
What is early extension golf?
Early extension is like lag’s negative counterpart. Golfers know they shouldn’t early extend. So when they do it, they try to stop it by trying to maintain their spine angle. But like lag, early extension is a result of something else. It’s not something you can eliminate by focusing on it directly.
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Do early extenders hurt?
And the reason is actually pretty simple: early extension is a symptom, and not a swing flaw.
Why do some golfers early extend?
Some golfers early extend because of a technical inefficiency, others early extend because it's the most effective way for them to swing based on their physical tools. Either way, your student can be a good golfer with early extension, but it might prevent others from reaching their power potential.
Why is early extension not a swing fault?
We're careful to refer to early extension as a swing characteristic and not a swing fault because it doesn't preclude players from playing great golf. Early extension hasn't stopped Zach Johnson and Jimmy Walker from winning major championships, flying private and paying cash for large homes. That said, early extension requires golfers ...
Why do golfers extend their swings?
We didn't create TPI to get golfers in the gym, we created TPI so that a coach could identify their student's needs and make an appropriate recommendation. As a coach, it's important to understand how your technical recommendations are contributing to speed in the swing. Some golfers early extend because of a technical inefficiency, others early extend because it's the most effective way for them to swing based on their physical tools. Either way, your student can be a good golfer with early extension, but it might prevent others from reaching their power potential.
What is early extension in golf?
We define early extension as excessive movement of the pelvis towards the ball (target line) during the swing. Though we often associate early extension with a loss of consistency, the loss of power is just as significant. Here's Dr. Greg Rose describing the relationship between early extension, centripetal force and power in the golf swing:
Why do golfers thrust their hips forward?
They thrust their hips forwards in an attempt to rotate their pelvis hard and to drop the club under the plane to attack the ball more from the inside – see Figure 1 .
What happens if you extend your hips too early?
If you extend your hips too early, your right thigh will strike the alignment stick on the way down, and your chest will face more upwards through impact.
Why does my right thigh strike the stick in the follow through?
This move will also cause your right thigh to strike the stick in the follow-through, because you didn’t stay left as you turned your pelvis through.
How to increase distance between right thigh and alignment stick?
As you move down from the top, feel he angles in your body increase, your hips moving more into flexion – see Figure 4 . Feel your chest working down, facing more towards the target line behind the ball, as you pull your hips back to increase the distance between your right thigh and the alignment stick.
How to address a golf ball with a stick?
Start by sticking an alignment stick into the ground at an angle, such that when you address the golf ball the end of the stick will be just in front of the top of your right thigh – see Figure 2.
Should you extend through impact?
While you should avoid extending too early, you must extend through impact in order to turn through safely and powerfully.
What Is Early Extension in Golf?
Should We Try to Fix Our Early Extension?
- Sorry, but the answer is kind of: Yes and no. Because the thing is, extension isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’ve already explained that we early extend because we have to in order to hit the ball. And guess what: That extension also creates speed, and speed in golf is good right? Extending through the hitting zone can add some serious zing to your strikes. In fact, it’s what most of the …
Wrapping This Up
- Early extension is probably something that you’re never going to completely eliminate. At least on camera. And without it, you might even play worse golf with your current swing. But less thrusting towards the ball, and hips that are more open at impact is definitely something you should strive for. The 5 drills above are highly recommended, and should help you get there. Here’s a side-by-s…
Recommended Reading
- Early Extension (Goat Humping) [Monte Scheinblum]
- Early Extension Discussion [GolfWRX]
- Early Extension [Adam Young Golf]