‘Keep the club in front of me on the backswing’
Rory has spoke about the work he’s been doing with his longtime swing coach Michael Bannon, specifically, the feeling that his left arm is “initiating” the backswing as the club extends backwards down the target line. That prevents his arms from getting ‘stuck’ too far behind him on the backswing and a feeling he grooves with a short rehearsal before he swings.
“Any time I keep the club in front of me, it makes the backswing and transition a lot simpler,” he says. “Anytime it gets too far behind me, then it makes it a lot more difficult because the club has to travel a lot further to get back in front of me.”
- Think: "Hands in, Clubhead Out."
The task at hand? Bringing it back to the basics, and rebooting some of the key things that have worked so well for Rory in the past. For Rory, the means employing a swing thought centered around his left arm.
“I felt like I got so right-sided in my thoughts recently,” he says. “I’m trying to have more awareness of what my left arm is doing in the backswing.”
Specifically, Rory says he wants to feel like his left arm is “initiating the backswing” by extending it more out on his takeaway; the feeling of extending your arms wider and outside. You can already see the effects in his swing.
And from that wider, extended position, Rory says he wants to feel like he’s “letting that left arm rotate up onto the plane” before starting down.
upper and lower body. His lower body starts initiating the downswing while his arms are still finishing up the backswing. That sequence creates a stretch between his upper and lower body which creates a huge amount of power for his size, but it can also leave his arms too far “stuck” behind him as they transition from backswing to downswing
Rory’s a bit like Fred Couples, who also has a big pivot... when those arms get lost behind you, it can lead to huge blocks to the right.