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what is early extension in golf swing

by Amir Keebler Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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According to Monte Scheinblum, 3 of the most common swing flaws which cause early extension are:

  • Arms are stuck behind the turn and you need to stand up to make room
  • The shaft gets steep in transition and you stand up to shallow it out
  • The shaft gets way underneath the correct plane on the way down, which forces your hips to thrust to reach the ball

Early Extension is defined as any forward movement (thrust) of the lower body towards the golf ball during the downswing. This swing characteristic causes the arms and club to get stuck behind your body during the downswing, and forces your torso to raise up and elevate through the hitting zone.

Full Answer

How to eliminate early extension in golf swing?

Jan 08, 2020 · Early extension is any movement of your hips toward the ball in your downswing. Seventy percent of all golfers suffer from early extension, but …

How to stop your early extension golf swing drill?

Jan 10, 2022 · Early extension is often called the “silent swing killer”. It creeps into your game and can destroy confidence. The “dreaded” shank on short pitches and approaches is often caused by moving towards the ball on the downswing. Trying to hit the ball hard with extra spin can force you onto your toes and shank the ball.

Do you early extend in your golf swing?

Early Extension is defined as any forward movement (thrust) of the lower body towards the golf ball during the downswing. This swing characteristic causes the arms and club to get stuck behind your body during the downswing, and forces your torso to raise up and elevate through the hitting zone. Early Extension usually causes two typical miss hits, the block to the right and a …

How to learn the easiest swing in golf?

Mar 14, 2018 · It’s also described as loss of spine angle, moving off the tush line, hip thrusting, standing up into impact, and some other things. Lots of people observe early extension in their golf swing. Many of them fight like hell to make it go away. Most fail, because they don’t understand the problem.

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How do I fix my early extension in my golf swing?

Part of a video titled How to Fix Early Extension Golf Swing - YouTube
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Can you play golf with early extension?

Extension in Golf Swing Summary

But early extension is something that you can fix by working on your posture, lower body flexibility, and the drills above. Just remember, you shouldn't move toward the ball during the downswing. Just keep thinking, rotate first, extend second.

Is early extension bad?

The reason why many teachers think early extension is something to be avoided in your golf swing is simple: By lifting up and out of your body angles, you're decreasing the amount of space your arms have to swing, which can cause inconsistencies.Jun 30, 2020

Does early extension cause hooks?

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.

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.

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 in golf?

Early Extension is defined as any forward movement (thrust) of the lower body towards the golf ball during the downswing. This swing characteristic causes the arms and club to get stuck behind your body during the downswing, and forces your torso to raise up and elevate through the hitting zone.

Can you extend during a downswing?

In order to not early extend during the downswing several physical characteristics must be developed. First and foremost, research has shown that any limitation in performing a full deep squat or full hip bend can force a player to early extend during the downswing.

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.

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.

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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 golfers have early extension?

When early extension is the result of a physical issue, it usually means you have limited mobility in your ankles, knees, hips and/or spine. It’s one of the reasons it’s so common for recreational golfers, because they spend more time sitting behind a desk. Early extension is a problem that plagues 70 percent of all golfers.

How to prevent early extension in golf?

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.

What percentage of golfers don't have early extension?

Seventy percent of all golfers suffer from early extension, but 99 percent of Tour players don’t. That should tell you something about how damaging this swing error really is. Described in simple terms, early extension is any movement of your lower body toward the ball, relative to its starting position at address, during the swing.

How to get an extender in golf?

From there, squat down as far as you can. If you can’t break parallel or get your thighs past your knees without rounding your back or leaning forward , you are likely an early extender. A common drill used by our GOLF Top 100 ...

Why do golfers extend their hips forward?

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. 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 . This problem gets worse with the longer clubs, where the golfer is trying to generate more power and the club is pulling them further off balance.

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.

Where Did It Go?

As you come down into impact, early extension in golf looks like the first photo in the image below.

How Do You Get It Back?

As always, we have a drill to fix the problem. It's very simple, but a lot of people find it challenging at first.

Leverage - An Added Benefit

With the right leg passive, as you sit into the left side you finally engage the glutes, which provide stability and let you use the ground for leverage.

Checkpoints for Practice

Losing the tush line can result from pushing off the right foot in the downswing or rotating without weight shift

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