Justin Thomas - Left Leg Stability and Power
Justin Thomas - Left Leg Stability and Power
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Description
In this video, Justin Thomas shows you how to use your left leg for a better backswing and a more powerful downswing.
Video Practice Points
- Keep the left knee pointed out side the ball in the backswing.
- Shift into the left side to start the downswing and stabilize.
- Post up by driving the lead heel into the ground and clearing the hips.
WEBVTT
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Hey, what's up, guys? This is RST
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instructor Chris Tyler, and we are back
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with this week's tour analysis with
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Justin Thomas, who just picked up a
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victory on the PGA Tour this past
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weekend, a one-shot victory over Adam
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Scott, so congratulations to Justin.
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This week, We are going to be focusing in
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on how to use your left leg for stability
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in your backswing and how to use it for
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power in your downswing. So if you've
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been looking for a more consistent, more
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stable golf swing, then you want to pay
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close attention to today's review.
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Okay, guys, so as I said in the opener,
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We are going to be focusing in on how to
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use your left leg or your lead leg in
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your golf swing if you are a left-handed
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golfer.
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We're going to focus on how to use that
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as a source of stability in your
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backswing, and how to use it as a source
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of power in your downswing. So if you've
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been noticing that, your golf swing is
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getting a little bit longer and more out
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of control. And you want to develop a lot
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more consistency, and you want to be able
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to develop some good power in your
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midsection, Then we're going to use the
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left leg in your golf swing as a way to
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stabilize it, going back and help you
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give that separation. What I mean there
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is, let's go ahead and just look at the
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position of his left knee at the starting
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point here. I'm going to go ahead and
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mark it straight down here so you can
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see. Okay, so it would be just inside of
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neutral joint alignment here. Go to a
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little bit wider of a base when we have a
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driver's swing.
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Okay, And then you're going to see as he
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works up to the top of his golf swing,
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loading into his right side here, you're
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going to see that the knee has moved a
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little bit.
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It hasn't moved a ton, maybe two, two and
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a half inches or so.
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But the big issue that we see with a lot
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of amateur golfers, and this kind of
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stems back to a lot of the older style
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golf swings where things were very, very
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linky and very free-flowing, is that we
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would see this left knee really start to
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dive down and in here. And what that does
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is it allows the hips to have more
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mobility. It allows your hips, when your
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hips have more mobility, then your torso
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can continue to rotate. When your torso
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can continue to rotate, now your hands
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and arms can go much longer. And it's
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also not allowing you to create that
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separation between the hip line and
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shoulder line, and not allowing you to
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really feel a lot of engagement in your
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midsection, which is really critical for
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power and for speed.
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So, if you've noticed that your left knee
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dives way down and in,
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work on trying to keep your left knee
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pointed outside the golf ball. Yeah, it's
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okay to have some mobility in it, but in
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turn, what you're going to see is you're
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going to feel like your golf swing is
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really shortened up, really tightened up,
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and you're still hitting the golf ball
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just as far, which is great news. And
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Justin is a freak of nature when he
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actually pounds a golf ball, has one of
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the highest launches on the PGA Tour, Has
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an absolutely incredible smash factor as
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far as the way he strikes his golf ball
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with his driver. And that's the reason
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why, at 145 pounds, he just pounds it off
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the tee.
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So without further ado, let's just keep
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looking at what he does now with the lead
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knee. So this first line here was the
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starting point of where the knee was.
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Second line right here is where the knee
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is at the top of the swing. And you're
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going to see, as he starts the downward
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move here, You're going to see that
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external rotation of the lead leg and a
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good fair amount of trail side help here.
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You can actually see that his right foot
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is up off the ground here quite a bit.
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But now that he's gotten his lead knee
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over into neutral joint alignment here,
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where the center of the lead knee is
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right on top of the center of the ankle,
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I want you to pay very, very close
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attention to this because this is where
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he's going to start to use his legs. His
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lead leg is a very big source for
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leverage from the ground.
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I'm going to go ahead and mark his head
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position here. So mark the top of his
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head.
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And let's go ahead and work through these
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frames here. So you can see that lead
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foot is very, very stable on the ground,
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nice and flat, not rolled to the outside
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part. Now watch this.
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You're going to see that his lead foot
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comes up off the ground. Let me get
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through a couple more frames. So now you
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see that that lead foot is way up off the
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ground. So now what he's done is he's,
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now that he's gotten his weight
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transferred into his lead side, he has
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stabilized it. And then he's used it as a
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source of power by properly pushing it
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into the ground. And then clearing it
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with his lead side obliques.
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Now the one other thing that I wanted to
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mention here is the head position.
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You didn't see his head moving up as his
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left leg is moved to this straight
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position. So if you've noticed on camera,
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when you're looking at your golf swing
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from a face on perspective, that your
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head is moving vertically, Then chances
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are you're using too much of your right
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side down in the hitting area, and you're
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bringing your hips forward. And then
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causing some early extension from the
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spine. Which can then in turn make it
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very hard to hit the golf ball solidly.
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So what I would suggest is don't try to
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get so much leverage from the ground at
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that point. Work on just working to
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maintain your posture. Keep your hips
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back.
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And then once you get more control of it,
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then slowly start to ramp your speed up.
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Slowly start to add more ground leverage.
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And you'll be out there pounding the golf
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ball further than you ever have. It's
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really important for swing speed is being
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able to use your legs. Okay guys, so
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that's this week's review. So if you've
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been struggling with backswing stuff and
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getting a little bit longer and out of
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control, keep that lead leg a little bit
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more pointed outside the golf ball. And
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if you've been looking for a way to move
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that left leg to a straight position,
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we've got a great video on the website
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called the Straight Left Legged Impact.
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We also have the Left Knee Laser Beam
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Drill and we also have the Roll of the
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Right Foot. That's another video, you're
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going to hear me really kind of drive
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home with you guys. To make sure that we
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understand how we can use that as a break
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to our bodies in the golf swing. So check
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those videos out and let's get out there
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and play some of your best golf and make
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it a great day.
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