In the 1960s underground world of dancing in the Catskills, pelvic thrusting was both tolerated and encouraged, but has no place in your golf swing.
Like a doomed moth to a flame, early extension draws your hips to the ball
Early extension is when your lower body moves towards the golf ball during your swing – more specifically, as you’re getting ready to attack the ball (your downswing).
Extension is very important, but not too early.
The proper sequence of events is that you stay in your posture, then extend as you’re finishing your swing.
Your body is in arm’s way
When you move forward towards the ball on your downswing, it changes the dynamic of where and when you’re hitting the ball.
Namely, it changes what your hands are doing.
Your arms get stuck behind your body and force you to stand-up (extend) too early. Essentially, your body is getting in the way of your arms and they’re forced to do unnatural things to get to the ball.
Don’t believe the hip
Typically, the simple explanation for early extension is that many golfers don’t use their hips and pelvis properly.
Seems a bit counter-intuitive, but the problem lies with the FRONT hip and its lack of mobility, not your back hip.
They keep pulling us back in
There are two typical miss hits if you are moving forward in your swing:
- Hook to the left (for a right-handed swing)
- Curve-less, block shot to the right (also for a right-handed swing)
Yes, early extension causes misses in both directions. Remind me again why we play this game?
If you are one of the many golfers who do have the early extension characteristic in your swing, I’ll show you the prescription to fix it in the video above.
The important thing is to not overthink it during your swing because, until you increase your mobility, there’s nothing you can do about.
Increase your mobility and the rest will take care of itself.