Why You Need This:

In this instruction video we talk about the scapula and how it aids and moves in shoulder rotation and allows the arms to swing in the golf swing. When we use the spine and the shoulders correctly, the scapula helps by sliding towards the middle of the back allowing for more arm rotation. Mix this with spin rotation and you have the workings for some power to come out. The flexibility of these movements of the muscles and bones allows for full capacity when loading up.

What's Covered: How to use the scapula to get a full shoulder turn.

Golf Pros Featured:

Instructors Featured: Clay Ballard    

Video Duration: 4:34

Video Transcription:

Hey guys, and welcome back. In this video we’re going to talk about your scapula, and how that works to create shoulder rotation, how that works to allow your arms to swing throughout the golf swing.

A lot of times people don’t realize just how much your back moves in the golf swing, and how you should be feeling this.

So a very common thing that I see time and time again is we’ve got players that set up to the golf ball, imagine I’m going this way now, and they just pick up the club, swing through, and kind of all arms like that.

Very low distance, low speed, they’re really struggling getting that maximum club head speed and maximum distance on the golf ball. We’ve got to use our spine and our shoulders properly.

So our scapula, we have one for the right side which is here, one for the left side of the body, and as I come into my backswing, what I’m going to do is I’m going to flex the muscles, your rhomboid is important for that.

I’m not going to go over the muscles that use this exactly, but I’m going to feel like I slide my scapula back toward the center of my body with my right arm. So this would be retraction of my right shoulder.

So what I want you to do to feel this, take your shoulder socket here and round it forward until you, don’t rotate your chest, keep your chest facing forward, I’m going to round my shoulder as far forward toward the center of my chest as I can, and then I’m going to pull it back away.

My scapula is helping me to do that. In my backswing I’m pulling my right shoulder back which is called retraction, and my left shoulder is protracting or coming forward.

So when we put those two together, that’s starts to get the shoulders to move even more than the spine and the chest itself.

So if we’re looking at PGA tour players, in the backswing they’re retracting their right shoulder, protracting their left shoulder, and as they do this together the shoulders are going to rotate about 128° according to Taylormade’s measurements, with their body mapping measurements they’ve done on tour players.

They’re going to get really a lot of rotation in there. Now as I come into the downswing, my left shoulder’s going to stay protracted, so as I’m coming through my left shoulder’s going to say protracted and you can see this because my shoulder isn’t as open as my chest.

So if I go ahead and contact here, and you’re going to look at my shoulders from this way, you’re going to see that my shoulders are basically square to the target at contact.

Well if I was to drop, let’s exactly go this way. If I was to drop my left arm out of protraction, look how my chest is actually open. Your chest shouldn’t be open at contact, but your shoulders will be square because your left shoulder is protracted.

So there’s a range in there, you can be either square with the shoulders, so my shoulders can be anywhere from square to a little bit open, that’s going to be fine. But that wants to stay protracted in there.

Our right shoulder is going to start working forward because we’re actually throwing the right arm. So I’m in full retraction going back, as I start forward now I’m really going to let that right arm release to get the club to catch up.

So my right shoulder’s pretty much neutral, and then as I come all the way on around to my good, full finish, now my left shoulder is retracted back, and my right shoulder is protracted all the way on through.

That’s why when you watch players finish on the PGA Tour, as they come all the way on around now a lot of times you’ll see their chest facing well into the left rough.

So that’s completely normal, a lot of times what I see people doing, so realize that they’re going to move throughout the swing to get this rotation and speed, but one of the biggest things that I see people doing that are struggling, is as the go to the top of the backswing, no protraction, retraction of the shoulders.

They don’t get a good full turn because they’re coming through, they don’t really use the shoulders, and they don’t get a good, full turn.

So we want to have it almost like you’re twisting your towel, your spine, you’re retracting and protracting those shoulders to get that wound up, and then as you’re coming through doing the same thing to get all the way on around.

So that’s really going to help you guys out, if you have a student that’s struggling with speed, they’re not getting the shoulder turn. Grab them by the shoulders, pull this one back, push this one forward as you’re going back, to get them to really feel that rotation.

Then do the same thing, go to contact, and then do the same thing as your coming on through as they stand up. They’ll get tons more rotation, they’ll feel the free-flowingness of the swing, it’s really going to help them out to get more distance.

So good luck to you guys, good luck with your lessons, and I’ll see you all soon.