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AUDIO FROM THE VIDEO
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I’m Ted Norby, Director of Golf Instruction for the National University Golf Academy. What I want to talk about today is the left arm in the short game. I had the opportunity years ago, I happened to play with Seve Ballesteros, known as one of the best short game players ever and after playing a few holes with me, he was nice enough to talk to me and I picked his brain a little bit and the main thing I got out of it was that he’s always trying to keep or he was always trying to keep his left arm soft and bent in the short game up through the pit shots and the main reason for that was he always talked about the handle staying low. If I want to hit a low shot, handle’s low, handle’s low out in front. If I want to hit a high shot where I’m hitting a little flop shot I need the handle to be low so that the club can pass my hands. Now, if I set up with a lot of tension in my left arm, my left shoulder straight up, now as I start moving my body the only thing that can happen is my left shoulder and arm go up which kicks my upper body back, so I’m either going to hit it fat, I’m going to hit it thin, I’m going to blade it, all sorts of stuff can happen.
So, he talked about going in with his right hand, shaking out his left arm almost trying to feel almost kind of level with his shoulders and then bending his elbow to take his grip. He didn’t even care whether his left hand got a little bit in a weaker position. He wasn’t trying to get that left hand way over on top. So he would walk in with his right hand and then shake out his left arm and just kind of lightly put his left hand on the club. With his left arm bent, I can now get my upper body to move to the target and the handle stay low. So, on a low little pitch and run shot, ball back in the stance or a chip where the ball is back in the stance, weight leans forward a little bit. This arm’s soft lets my upper body go forward. When the left arm goes straight, my upper body goes backwards so what I want to do is get my chest and my head a little bit ahead of the ball. We’ve talked about that in the past but to do that, this left arm really has to soften up and then on a low shot I want to keep the handle finishing low with the club head even lower, then on the higher shot, where I want that club to pass my hands now the ball goes forward and I can open up the club face if I want, but if my left arm is soft, now as I hinge and release, as I release, the handle can stay low and the arm can extend down rather than have to pull up. That allows the club to go ahead and pass the hands.
So, as I set up, ball forward, little open club face, now if my arm is soft or bent, now I can let the club pass and the club head can go ahead and slide right underneath there. So, all short game stuff and this is whether you open up your stance, open the club face, ball back, ball forward, work in there a little softer with that left arm. Even to the extent where you set up with your right hand, soften up your left arm, let it hang and then bend your elbow a little bit before you take your grip. Don’t go in there with that left arm so straight. Seve Ballesteros always loved the handle to stay low and to do that, the left arm has to stay soft and bent so that the handle can stay low.
