How to Get Unstuck in the Golf Swing

Adam Bazalgette here, founder of Scratch Golf Academy. Today, we’ll discuss how to get unstuck in the golf swing. Do you ever feel stuck, jammed, can’t quite get the club on the ball with freedom and ease? We’ll examine two areas that I believe are the most common points of confusion for people.

Where Golfers Get Stuck

Well, the two areas I most commonly see people get stuck: this trail arm, right arm for the right-handed golfer, gets stuck behind them here, gets stuck coming into impact, it will cause quite a flip, quite a bit of compensation to hit the ball. And the other one’s related to that, the inability to control and manage body angles. And when that’s changing, your arms are most likely going to get stuck. Let’s have a quick look in slow motion at me, then we’ll get out and start to tackle these two one at a time. Body angles first, let’s have a look.

Consistent Body Angles and Balance

Look at the angle between my upper and lower body, the general location of the lower body, very consistent there. Balance isn’t going way into the heels or toes, and that’s providing consistent balance, consistent space for that arm to get underneath me to hit the golf ball. Now, certainly through impact, I’m getting into my left heel a little bit, but it’s pretty balanced, good consistent body angles.

So here we are, right arm, nice and extended there. You’ll notice the right elbow doesn’t travel behind my ribs, it stays more out to the side of my torso and ribcage. You’ll also notice a certain look in my lower back and hips. We’ll touch on that just a little later in this video when we get ready to do our indoor drills. But down she comes, there’s plenty of room from there to get that right arm back in front of me to hit the golf ball, get the shaft leaning a little bit there and get through without being stuck. So body angles, let’s tackle that first.

Setup and Posture: Foundation for Staying Unstuck

Towards the end of this video, which is not going to be an overly long video, we’re going to show you a drill at home that will touch both of these. Some really good ways to feel this, but let’s at least, this is the boring part, touch on setup. Because if you don’t get a reasonable setup, your odds of keeping your body angles aren’t good.

I see most people back in their heels, that may be fine, they’re not going to fall over. Once that club starts to whip around them at high speed, the subconscious naturally tries to correct balance, things start to move around, it’s not good. So just remember this is a tip again, then we’ll move on and we’ll get to that drill at the end.

Always ground the club by bending forward from the hips. When I stand up, the club doesn’t reach the ground by this much or so. Don’t put it on the ground. Don’t stick your hips back. Tilt forward from the hips, that’s what you’ll see the top players do. And the feelings you should have, the balance should be about under where you tie your shoes.

I can tap my heels, my toes aren’t digging into my shoes. I feel engaged, I feel lively. Athletic feel will help you keep your balance.

Addressing the Trail Arm Getting Stuck

Okay, now to deal with getting stuck with that trail arm. The two most common errors I see, number one, just taking the club away. And when that happens, that right arm folds, the club starts to get behind you, and gets jammed up right at the outset.

You don’t want that. So this triangle forming your arms and hands, put your right hand in front of your left hand if you’re a right-handed golfer, and just practice that just to the point where you get past your thigh. There should be almost no folding of that arm at that point.

I’m not gapping my arms away from me, but the integrity of that triangle is kept there. And it’s from about here that the right wrist and right arm should follow. And to touch on that, if you picture, say, a Frisbee toss, this is more of a swivel.

Useful Images and Drills

This is more of a fulcrum. The elbow doesn’t travel that far, and that’s what you’ll see with great golfers. The arm travels a bit here with the turn, and then it sets the club, so it’s more in front of the golfer.

These are things you want to practice. If you get that down and marry it with the pivot, you’re going to be in great shape. Now let’s have a quick look at a video of a great player, and then we’ll do our at-home drills that will encompass both of these two issues.

Lessons from Tour Pros

So Justin Rose on the left there, Rory McIlroy on the right. Let’s have a look at a couple of features before we go to our indoor drills. If I may, just a very quick plug.

There’s a link below for scratchgolfacademy.com. No tricks, a free 14-day trial, no sticking credit cards in there. Browse the whole library of videos. See if it’s helpful for you. We’d love you to consider joining us. Okay, Justin Rose.

So there’s the… Okay, there’s a very slight fold in that trail arm, but round numbers. There’s the triangle. Now I want you to notice, if I draw a line on his elbow, a little circle there, for all the distance this club is now going to travel, his right elbow doesn’t travel very far.

Have a look. It’s travelled, I don’t know, 8, 10 inches, maybe a foot at the tops. Let’s have a look at Rory. Same sort of look. Now watch his right elbow from there. Nice, firm right arm. Really sets it there. Again, not too much travel of the arm.

Hip and Glute Pivot

One other feature, and then we’ll get to our indoor drill. In both cases, in every case of the great player pretty much, if you look at the right hip pocket, we’ll draw it there. It doesn’t just stay back as in towards the camera. It pivots. It goes behind him towards the target.

His head’s still, but his right rib cage and right side is going that way. So you can see his pockets over here, whereas it started there. Let’s have a look at Rory. Again, right hip getting a lot, right glute getting a lot nearer the target.

At-Home Drill for Getting Unstuck

Everybody’s got a wall in their house, if they have a house. So I’m feeling light and lively in my balance. I’m not sitting on the wall. There’s my little rehearsal. And then I’m going to get the feeling I was tossing a Frisbee or setting that.

And while I do that, I feel very gently, my right glute not just stay on the wall, but go back towards the target a little bit. As that moves and coils well and stays deep, it creates more space for this. So back I go, I can do it a few ways. Set that. Now I feel loaded here. I feel loaded there. And wow, it’s pretty easy to get that right arm pushing and back in front of me to hit the ball.

Let’s try that again. Set. I feel my glutes that way. I feel a little contact with the wall and drive that arm up to that front leg. Let’s have a look down the line. Again, lively posture. I’m not sitting back against the wall. Nice, nice structure. And as I set that again, I’m feeling contact here. I’m not feeling in my heels or pushing into the wall. My rear end slid slightly there.

I’ve got contact with my right glute. And as I come down, I’ve got all the space I need now with a little slide along the wall to drive that arm to the back of the golf ball. Let’s try it again. And the whole time I’m sensing my balance is more in the middle of my feet.

Certainly as you get near impact, your weight will go back towards that front heel a bit, but generally more in the middle of the feet. Getting unstuck in your golf swing, easy to rehearse at the house, will be magic for you. I hope this helps.

End Note

Working on these fundamentals and drills will help anyone get unstuck in golf swing, streamline their trail arm in golf, and elevate their overall performance. For more detailed golf swing tips and visual demonstrations, watch the full Scratch Golf Academy lesson here: