River Ridge Golf Club - West Houston, Katy Texas

Tips From Our PGA Pro, Trey Birchum:

Turn or over-turn…

One of the things you hear a lot of instructors and TV commentators talk about is making a big shoulder turn. A large shoulder turn is one of the factors that will increase your distance off the tee and with all your clubs. But there is one factor everyone seems to leave out when they are discussing a large shoulder turn…

A big shoulder turn does no good if your hips are turning that far with it; the trick is to have a large shoulder turn with a small hip turn. The coiling action in your muscles because of the lack of rotation of your hips in relation to your shoulders is what produces distance. If you are making a huge turn with your shoulders and your hips both, my money is that you are not hitting it a great distance. In fact, I’m willing to bet you’re hitting it short and all over the place. If you are moving that much of your body away from the ball at once, then it only figures that you have to move all those body parts back toward the ball to even be able to hit it. Too many moving parts equals no distance and no accuracy. Plus, if you are over-rotating your shoulders and hips, you likely have quite a bit of lateral or side-to-side movement in your swing, which is another distance killer. You want to have your shoulders rotated further than your hips; you want to feel those muscles on the side of your hips, backs and ribs pulling tighter. That’s contraction, that’s power. That’s rotation, not sliding. Know the difference. Feel the difference. Take a club, lay it across your chest, crossing your arms to hold the club in place. Look in a mirror and rotate your shoulders just like a backswing. Can you bring the butt of the club back even with your belly button? Now look at your belt buckle when you turn your shoulders back. Did it turn all the way back with your shoulders? If it did, that’s wrong. You want it to be about half as far back as your shoulders, and you want to be feeling those muscle groups in your back, ribs and shoulders getting tighter. Now turn back and through, just like a swing and follow-through. Did you rotate back to where the butt end of the club is now perpendicular to your target line? Is your belly button facing the target? Work on this little drill in the mirror, and learn how to properly rotate your shoulders and hips. It will add distance and increase accuracy. And it will let you know immediately if you are making a big enough turn, not big enough, or not one at all. If you are having trouble figuring it out, come by the pro shop some time and see us. We’ll get you fixed up in no time.

Fairways, greens and one putts.....

Trey Birchum
PGA Head Professional, River Ridge Golf Club
email: tbirchum AT riverridgegolfclub.com