SHOULDER BEND IN THE FOLLOW-THROUGH

The difference between shoulder tilt and shoulder bend is direction: Tilt is the movement of each shoulder up or down in relation to the ground, like a teeter-totter, and bend is the amount your upper body is stretched back, away from the target. The easiest way to think about it is how proud you look in your finish position. Good players get very tall through the chest in the follow-through (below, left), with the spine extended and the neck bending a few degrees away from the target. The typical issue amateurs have is staying bent over through impact (below, right). When you do that, you aren't getting the full benefit of the levers in your body or between your body and the club. Longer, taller levers produce more speed. In SwingTRU, the pros average 32 degrees of back bend, and the high-handicappers average 3.2 degrees. How can you get better? As you swing to your finish, try to feel like Superman or Wonder Woman, with an expanded, bulletproof torso and your front leg fully extended as if you just pushed off the ground to jump.