You nailed this one Paul. Startling is a perfect description because you literally can’t believe how the ball rockets off the club with such little effort. You know how heavy and noodle like your arm/s feel in the middle of the night when you wake up and they are asleep? It’s like dead weight…I often have to pick my arm up with my other hand to wake it up..lol. My point is that I envision and feel my arms and club this loose and heavy when I swing. When you do your swing right I actually feel the entire right side of my body (especially right hip) hitting the ball as I fire it through. Startling….and addictive once you get it. It just takes time & persistence.
Bryan, great description. I think you are really latching onto the feeling. It does get addictive because you no longer have to swing out of your shoes to hit the ball as far if not farther. This means no more pain.
Howard, Glad you liked it. Thanks. It is easy to control it and hard to lose control. This is totally the opposite to what you would think but it is necessary to develop the right feeling. Keep at it.
Hi Paul. This is a very effective description of relaxing the arms and wrists. I recall some instructors actually having beginners throw their clubs to teach this feeling of release. It brings up a question regarding grip pressure. On a scale of 1 to 10, how loose a pressure do you recommend? From watching your videos, I get the feeling the pressure is very low.
Ron, Yes, the throwing of the clubs was from Extraordinary Golf. Everyone looks great when they throw a club. The problem is the ball and human nature. You need to overcome it and tell yourself what to do in a golf swing as opposed to it happening naturally in other sports.
The grip pressure starts out at 2 our of 10 and increases to about 8 out of 10 at the top. This means you are holding on securely but your wrists remain loose. This is a fine line but it can be done. Also, at address make sure your arms are just handing there at 0 out of 10.
One aspect of the swing that I may be slightly confused involves the extension of the right arm. You talked in detail about when both arms are fully extended (2 feet for irons and 3 feet for woods after impact), but when you swing, when do you feel that arm starting to extend, and is there any (slight) involvement in the right Triceps?
The reason I ask is that I think I may be focusing so hard on not using my arms, I may be inhibiting the right arm extension as the lower body cranks hard to the left. Does the right arm extend solely by the rotary forces created from the lower body? When I watch your down swing, I
If your arms are powerless the forces would be fully extending the arms due to the forces acting on the mass that is set in motion. Most people are hitting with the arms. Some are using them a little some are using them a lot. In doing so the muscles contract at varying degrees thus stopping the arms from fully extending.
To get this extension I need people to stop hitting. Just not hitting will not get the arms to fully extend. This is because people do not know the correct feeling. If they do not know the feeling they will not keep doing this feeling due to human nature. Why would you want to let your arms go if someone did not tell you to let them go. Human nature wants you in control. This is a feeling of no control. In need people to manually extend the arms. As they manually extend the arms they get used to the feeling of letting go. Once they know the correct feeling they have a chance to get used to it.
So you are not feeling this extension in the downswing. You are feeling it more through and past impact to the 3/4 through point.
Here are the various drills/videos you should be following:
Yup…as a student of this new method I can honestly say now that I know when I have let the power out of my arms. I have even had some surprising responses when I thought I was totally out of control but the ball just flew long and straight. Was a weird feeling for sure, but I am able to repeat pretty well now. The best feeling for
me is when that club feels so heavy, that is when I really know I am where I need to be. Still haven’t broken 75 just yet, but hitting some just amazing shots.
Yes, it feels out of control if you have never done it before. This is one of the things people have to get used to. There is a trust factor but when everyone I talk to has hit amazing shots with a feeling of nothing you would think that would be incentive enough to keep this out of control feeling.
You’ll get to 75 or better soon enough. Patience grasshopper.
I don’t make it a habit of looking at other golf swings and advice, as I totally buy in to your approach, but sometimes I get stuff via email that I look at, and when I saw this, I thought this is similiar to what Paul has been saying all along regarding not sliding the hips, but turning them. Thanks again, Paul.
I watched his first video. This video conflicts with that in that his first video he said “some teachers teach turn (me) so you need to shift in the downswing. Now he says to turn into the left leg. The shift occurs when going to my touch the legs position so I do teach shift. I just don’t want the person thinking shift if it’s going to happen anyway. You only have 1/4 a second from the top to impact. You think shift and you will slide.
There is some good stuff here though. Circular is good. Club coming out of tip of shoulder (this would occur due to the club being on plane and a circular swing). Feeling effortless – good.
He is somewhat comparable to what I teach. Some differences too.
great tip! good thought to keep in my swing. I recently went to my pro shop to demo a new driver. As I was swinging, using the powerless arm methods, the pro stopped me. He said set up to the ball again, so as I did he took a golf club and tried to wedge it between my arms at set up. He said we should be able to see your left arm at set up, need to relax right arm more. He was looking at this from behind down the target line. I was confused. So I swung with this adjustment, and straightened my drive with a consistency of 260- 270 yards. I was stoked! I came back to your site to look at your set up to see if I could see that left arm with a slightly bent relax right arm. Could you help understand what he saw with my arms. I was just letting them hang down at a relax point. Is it something in my shoulders? I want that consistent set up for a better game, can you help me here? Also, I was fitted awhile back to have “extra stiff” shafts, have been struggling to square the face with slowing my swing down using your method, went back found out that same day I should have been in a “stiff” shaft the whole time. I love golf ALOT, but it is frustrating sometimes. I gave you a lot of info Paul, sorry about that, hope you can help me understand.
From down the line your arms are extended. You would see a sliver of the left arm above the right. Tucking too much is not necessary as you don’t hit the ball going back. This just got you to relax your right arm. If you were forcing it too straight at address you may have been too tight.
This will be my main thought going forward. I have a pretty decent swing but have been struggling with tightening the arms when im on the course resulting in toed shots, push fades, some thin shots even. I was practicing yesterday only foucusing on a wide backswing and letting the arms stretch towards the target by the heavy club in the throughswing. It helped a lot and It was way easier to hit the sweetspot 🙂
That’s great. You need the right thoughts but you need the right thoughts at the right time. If you are working on swing position then you would be working on perfecting them. As you do, you may feel arms. Once you get the swing and the positions you whole focus shifts to not hitting or helping the shot with your arms.
I think you are close so just keep going through each position to make them perfect.
The feeling series tips are so good. I really like them. One question about feeling clubs heavy in the downswing. I can really feel heavy of irons but the woods seem to be light not heavy like irons. You said you feel all clubs are mistakenly heavy. So am I doing wrong with woods?
Usually with woods, we are trying to swing too hard. I would start to go a little slower and then you will start to feel them lighter. Everyone is trying to swing their driver as fast as possible, this is when you start to tighten up, or top fairway woods.
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21 Responses to “It is a Letting Go Experience”
November 7, 2012
ERIABBERAHi Paul,
I like the ”letting go experience”. It explains it all,
I have already started advertising this web sight. Thanks.
November 8, 2012
Paul WilsonEriab, Yes, keep this thought in mind. As you keep doing it it will feel great. Thanks for the promotion.
November 7, 2012
BryanRhoadesYou nailed this one Paul. Startling is a perfect description because you literally can’t believe how the ball rockets off the club with such little effort. You know how heavy and noodle like your arm/s feel in the middle of the night when you wake up and they are asleep? It’s like dead weight…I often have to pick my arm up with my other hand to wake it up..lol. My point is that I envision and feel my arms and club this loose and heavy when I swing. When you do your swing right I actually feel the entire right side of my body (especially right hip) hitting the ball as I fire it through. Startling….and addictive once you get it. It just takes time & persistence.
November 8, 2012
Paul WilsonBryan, great description. I think you are really latching onto the feeling. It does get addictive because you no longer have to swing out of your shoes to hit the ball as far if not farther. This means no more pain.
November 7, 2012
HowardMillerGreat tip! Great mental thought to be unthinking as I continue to untrain my arms who love to tense up and control the activity.
November 8, 2012
Paul WilsonHoward, Glad you liked it. Thanks. It is easy to control it and hard to lose control. This is totally the opposite to what you would think but it is necessary to develop the right feeling. Keep at it.
November 7, 2012
RonCalabreseHi Paul. This is a very effective description of relaxing the arms and wrists. I recall some instructors actually having beginners throw their clubs to teach this feeling of release. It brings up a question regarding grip pressure. On a scale of 1 to 10, how loose a pressure do you recommend? From watching your videos, I get the feeling the pressure is very low.
Thanks, Ron
November 8, 2012
Paul WilsonRon, Yes, the throwing of the clubs was from Extraordinary Golf. Everyone looks great when they throw a club. The problem is the ball and human nature. You need to overcome it and tell yourself what to do in a golf swing as opposed to it happening naturally in other sports.
The grip pressure starts out at 2 our of 10 and increases to about 8 out of 10 at the top. This means you are holding on securely but your wrists remain loose. This is a fine line but it can be done. Also, at address make sure your arms are just handing there at 0 out of 10.
June 26, 2013
JaySchwarzPaul,
One aspect of the swing that I may be slightly confused involves the extension of the right arm. You talked in detail about when both arms are fully extended (2 feet for irons and 3 feet for woods after impact), but when you swing, when do you feel that arm starting to extend, and is there any (slight) involvement in the right Triceps?
The reason I ask is that I think I may be focusing so hard on not using my arms, I may be inhibiting the right arm extension as the lower body cranks hard to the left. Does the right arm extend solely by the rotary forces created from the lower body? When I watch your down swing, I
June 26, 2013
Paul WilsonJay,
If your arms are powerless the forces would be fully extending the arms due to the forces acting on the mass that is set in motion. Most people are hitting with the arms. Some are using them a little some are using them a lot. In doing so the muscles contract at varying degrees thus stopping the arms from fully extending.
To get this extension I need people to stop hitting. Just not hitting will not get the arms to fully extend. This is because people do not know the correct feeling. If they do not know the feeling they will not keep doing this feeling due to human nature. Why would you want to let your arms go if someone did not tell you to let them go. Human nature wants you in control. This is a feeling of no control. In need people to manually extend the arms. As they manually extend the arms they get used to the feeling of letting go. Once they know the correct feeling they have a chance to get used to it.
So you are not feeling this extension in the downswing. You are feeling it more through and past impact to the 3/4 through point.
Here are the various drills/videos you should be following:
DRILL: Arm Extension: https://ignitiongolf.com/drill-stretch-out-arms
DRILL: Extend the Back Arm for Power and Consistency: https://ignitiongolf.com/drill-extend-back-arm/
How To Maintain Arm Extension for Power and Consistency: https://ignitiongolf.com/arm-extension-power-consistency
It is a Letting Go Experience: https://ignitiongolf.com/letting-go-experience/
June 13, 2015
KimBozikPaul,
Yup…as a student of this new method I can honestly say now that I know when I have let the power out of my arms. I have even had some surprising responses when I thought I was totally out of control but the ball just flew long and straight. Was a weird feeling for sure, but I am able to repeat pretty well now. The best feeling for
me is when that club feels so heavy, that is when I really know I am where I need to be. Still haven’t broken 75 just yet, but hitting some just amazing shots.
Thanks,
Kimbo
June 14, 2015
Paul WilsonKim,
Yes, it feels out of control if you have never done it before. This is one of the things people have to get used to. There is a trust factor but when everyone I talk to has hit amazing shots with a feeling of nothing you would think that would be incentive enough to keep this out of control feeling.
You’ll get to 75 or better soon enough. Patience grasshopper.
June 13, 2015
tedvernonHi Paul,
I don’t make it a habit of looking at other golf swings and advice, as I totally buy in to your approach, but sometimes I get stuff via email that I look at, and when I saw this, I thought this is similiar to what Paul has been saying all along regarding not sliding the hips, but turning them. Thanks again, Paul.
http://ricksmithgolfmatrix.com/freetips/?tip=5
June 14, 2015
Paul WilsonTed,
I watched his first video. This video conflicts with that in that his first video he said “some teachers teach turn (me) so you need to shift in the downswing. Now he says to turn into the left leg. The shift occurs when going to my touch the legs position so I do teach shift. I just don’t want the person thinking shift if it’s going to happen anyway. You only have 1/4 a second from the top to impact. You think shift and you will slide.
There is some good stuff here though. Circular is good. Club coming out of tip of shoulder (this would occur due to the club being on plane and a circular swing). Feeling effortless – good.
He is somewhat comparable to what I teach. Some differences too.
June 14, 2015
AnthonyAdairHey Paul,
great tip! good thought to keep in my swing. I recently went to my pro shop to demo a new driver. As I was swinging, using the powerless arm methods, the pro stopped me. He said set up to the ball again, so as I did he took a golf club and tried to wedge it between my arms at set up. He said we should be able to see your left arm at set up, need to relax right arm more. He was looking at this from behind down the target line. I was confused. So I swung with this adjustment, and straightened my drive with a consistency of 260- 270 yards. I was stoked! I came back to your site to look at your set up to see if I could see that left arm with a slightly bent relax right arm. Could you help understand what he saw with my arms. I was just letting them hang down at a relax point. Is it something in my shoulders? I want that consistent set up for a better game, can you help me here? Also, I was fitted awhile back to have “extra stiff” shafts, have been struggling to square the face with slowing my swing down using your method, went back found out that same day I should have been in a “stiff” shaft the whole time. I love golf ALOT, but it is frustrating sometimes. I gave you a lot of info Paul, sorry about that, hope you can help me understand.
Tony
June 14, 2015
Paul WilsonTony,
From down the line your arms are extended. You would see a sliver of the left arm above the right. Tucking too much is not necessary as you don’t hit the ball going back. This just got you to relax your right arm. If you were forcing it too straight at address you may have been too tight.
Arms should be extended but not locked.
Arms Extended: https://ignitiongolf.com/extend-arms-fully
Arms Extended Follow Up/distance from body: https://ignitiongolf.com/arms-extention-follow-up
I would think x shafts are too much as I only use stiff myself. Glad you caught that.
June 15, 2015
AnthonyAdairThanks for you input Paul, it is valued tremendously
Tony
January 28, 2018
StianOttersenThis will be my main thought going forward. I have a pretty decent swing but have been struggling with tightening the arms when im on the course resulting in toed shots, push fades, some thin shots even. I was practicing yesterday only foucusing on a wide backswing and letting the arms stretch towards the target by the heavy club in the throughswing. It helped a lot and It was way easier to hit the sweetspot 🙂
January 29, 2018
Paul WilsonStian,
That’s great. You need the right thoughts but you need the right thoughts at the right time. If you are working on swing position then you would be working on perfecting them. As you do, you may feel arms. Once you get the swing and the positions you whole focus shifts to not hitting or helping the shot with your arms.
I think you are close so just keep going through each position to make them perfect.
January 7, 2022
LennyPaul,
The feeling series tips are so good. I really like them. One question about feeling clubs heavy in the downswing. I can really feel heavy of irons but the woods seem to be light not heavy like irons. You said you feel all clubs are mistakenly heavy. So am I doing wrong with woods?
Thanks for advice,
January 15, 2022
Paul WilsonUsually with woods, we are trying to swing too hard. I would start to go a little slower and then you will start to feel them lighter. Everyone is trying to swing their driver as fast as possible, this is when you start to tighten up, or top fairway woods.