The Driver Swing Is So Much Easier With This Technique | The Sling Shot Golf Swing (Part 1)

The goal that we want early on in the backswing is to make sure that our rib cage gets some rotation. And when we're pigeonholed like this, the only thing that we can do is pivot our body. What we want is the belt buckle, belly turns, rib cage turns, and that arm stays in front. And now if we just grab that club, and I'm sure we're going to be able to do this, you'll see this looks just like Tiger, Rory, every really good driver of the ball kind of right in here in the I'm kind of like, hey, get the butt of the club working back towards the ball. Feeling that early. And that looks so good with that turn. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Okay. Man, these moves are good for everyone. Everybody. Like literally any kind of golfer. Rib cage and body early. Yeah. Club feels in front and arm feels in front. Yeah. God, that feels good, JT. That is perfect. All right, guys, we're back here with my good friend and coaching partner, Mr. JT Thomas. We're talking all about how to hit the driver better. You guys have hopefully seen some of our videos with JT in the past on driver. Y'all wanted more. We're bringing it to you. This is gonna be video one of a three video series guiding you through how to hit your driver better. I've been coaching with JT probably for seven or eight years now, I think. And while he's great at coaching everything, he's probably the best I've ever seen in terms of getting people to hit the driver better. And so there's really three key distinct areas of the swing, JT, that we're going to go through. This video is about part number one, and then we'll talk about part number two and part number three. So you want to make sure you watch all three of these videos. So JT, if you wouldn't mind starting us off here, and I know you've studied lots of golf swings and different patterns in the slingshot swing that you put together. And the beginning part of the swing is so darn important. And it's one of those things where if you get it right, it can set up a great chain reaction events. But if you get it wrong, then it's tough to fix. It's trouble. And I know there's two big parts in particular, maybe one little add-on we'll put in. The early ribcage rotation and the arm staying in front. Maybe let's talk about the ribcage rotation first. Yeah, great. So oftentimes what we see with poor drivers is that they get off to a bad start right away, not moving their body really at all, not creating any rotation. So the first thing that we want to do, especially with driver, which we turn the most out of all the clubs is to make sure we start getting in that rotation early. And so the best drill that I've found for that is to take the club, put it right underneath your armpits. So just like this, this is like really pigeonholes you. Literally you can't do anything else. The goal that we want early on in the backswing is to make sure that our ribcage gets some rotation. And when we're pigeonholed like this, the only thing that we can do is pivot our body. And you'll see again, as I go back here from the space on view, you'll see my buttons move. You'll see some rotation in this left shoulder. From the down the line, you'll see some rotation in my belly button, maybe rotation in belt buckle. Again, we're just trying to get this rotation set up early. Again, it helps us with also number two. So step one, got to get that rotation of the ribcage early on in the backswing. And I think a lot of golfers maybe are aware that like, hey, I know I don't turn enough in the backswing. I know I need more rotation. And what we see is a lot of them can never get enough because they don't start with enough. Yeah. Let's show us the bad version, JT, if you would, in terms of like, if someone doesn't rotate the ribcage early, what that might look like for the early part of the swing. For sure. So oftentimes when we see that happen, we see like the whole club, the arms move a really long way and we don't see the buttons or belt buckle or anything move at all. So we just see this club go way inside. We see the arms go low underneath the chest. We see the right arm get like behind the body. Yeah. So we see all those things early and the brain's kind of freak out mode. I'm not really sure. I got a long swing left, but I don't have much left in the take. So that's oftentimes what we see. Yeah. And we looked at, you guys will see some of the Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods and lots of great drivers of the ball. You'll see not everyone does exactly the same thing, but a lot of them, especially these two, you'll see, it's amazing how similar they do a lot of the movements in the early part of the swing. You'll see them doing that on the screen here. So obviously you want to get the ribcage rotating early. We'll talk more about that. I want to try that drill out. And the second part, we got the body motions. We also have the arm motion. And so let's talk through what the good version is, the bad version and the drill for that one. Yeah, absolutely. So again, what we see most of the time and the poor golfers with driving is the arms really suck in underneath the chest, both elbows stay really low kind of behind the body. And then we see a chain reaction from that throughout the swing and over the top, right? So we see most of the time people slicing. The reason that's so important is because, you know, in the golf swing, there's a timing aspect of everything. And we only have a certain range of motion that we have. So if we use up all our range of motion early on in the swing, we run out and we have to figure out another place to create some motion. So that's why setting this up is so important and why Tiger and Rory look so similar, even though I'm sure they don't have very many of the same intentions. They're just doing and doing what feels right to them. Two of the best golfers ever early on in the swing. So it just, again, proves to us like, Hey, this is we should probably copy them, right? Yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah. So the good one, what it's going to look like is that your arms are really going to stay really in line with your pivot. Or another good way to think about it is that your pivot almost beats your arms, right? And so the drill that we have for that is taking the club, putting it right in your sternum or in between your sternum and your belly button, taking your trail hand, putting it completely straight lead hand, about six inches off the front of the shaft. And so, again, what we would see for the poor golfers is no turn here. So the club isn't going to move and I'm just going to pull my arm underneath that. So no good against sets up that bad sequence. Instead, what we want is the belt buckle, belly turns, rib cage turns, and that arm stays in front. And now if we just grab that club and I'm sure we're going to be able to do this, you'll see this looks just like Tiger, Rory, every really good driver of the ball, kind of right in here in the swing. And that's just from getting that nice rib cage rotation and keeping the arms really in line with your pivot. Man, if you get this early part right, it just sets up so many good things later on that we'll talk about. And if you get it wrong, it's so difficult to make up for. The big mistake that we can't have is no body turn and arms going in. That's like the big thing we can't have. We want to get the body motion going and keeping the arms in front of us. If you guys are trying to learn this at home in part number one, and JT and I were talking, and again, comment down below if you want to see with a live student, we're like, man, these moves are good for everyone. Everybody, like literally any kind of golfer. Yeah, it's great. That's the best part about, you know, really excited about the series is that we really believe it'll help everyone. No matter if you literally, if you overhook the ball, if you slice the ball, whatever it is, it'll get you on the path to hitting it straight or far. Yeah. And it's like not everything in the golf league, not a lot of things you can say that. So if I take my, am I doing this right here? I got the club just kind of up underneath the armpits. It should feel very pinned. It should feel like you can't do anything, but I feel like when I'm holding my dog, it's just kind of like the arms are hanging out like this. Okay. So the point of this is like, it takes my arm out of play essentially. Is it right? Yes. So I've got to feel like to move back. Um, yeah, this is so good. I immediately have no choice when I go back, but the, and I'm feeling that like rib cage almost in my spine a little bit, like turning back. Okay. So right in the mid section. Yeah. Like if you were wearing a big striped shirt right in there. Yeah. Okay. And JT, as I'm doing this just for general reference, you know, we're talking about doing this drill and having the arms in front. We're going to show those players kind of from here until about the hands are hip highest. Exactly. So the hands are hip high. Yeah. And so as I'm doing this, is there a general checkpoint or does it not matter? Like, Hey, am I kind of trying to get this back? You know, like, I don't know, 30, 45 degrees. Yeah. I would say anything between like 40, 50 degrees is good. 40 to 60 degrees. Let's say. Okay. So if I'm starting with my butt of the club at the target and the ball, let's say we're like 90, I'm trying to get at least halfway between. At least halfway there. Okay. I'm kind of like, Hey, get the butt of the club working back towards the ball. Feeling that early. And that looks so good with that turn. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Okay. And a lot of you guys, when you're doing that and you take the club in and I just start to feel that general motion, like, Whoa, that feels different than normal. I'm used to getting this thing going by sucking the arms and club back. It's like, it takes a long time to actually be able to move the club that far. And so many people struggle with, you know, that's why I think this is so cool about fixing it. Some people are quick, right? You literally can't do that quick. Yeah. It's hard. Maybe I would do this to start with, before we get to the arms, get a feel, just going to have my arms in front of me, get a feel for turning, get a feel for turning. And I'm going to hit and I'm going to feel that same thing here. Yep. So I'll take my normal setup. I feel this rib cage and sternum turning. And again, if you're used to this motion, right? I like that. It's going to feel like it takes a lot longer. It's going to feel like it takes a lot longer. One of the things I really like guys, if you watch the videos with JT and he said to me, that was such a light bulb moment. He's like, you know, Eric, it's not just what you do in a swing. It's when you do it, that matters. And I never really heard someone talk about that. And you really helped me understand that a lot of the, when you do it, how much you do it. It's not just what, what you do. Very, very cool. So I'm going to hit one with that same thing. I'm going to go for like a little cut off that clock, kind of rib cage rotation early for one rib cage. And you see a lot of guys doing that pose there. Let's try that same feel rib cage rotation early. That's 10 out of 10 for me. That's pretty good. A little low cutter kind of right down the middle. So, and I noticed for me, JT, like if anything, my tendency, like a lot of people who have maybe watching, like, you know, me back in when we first started, right? Like, Oh, for sure. I want to get the club head going to my body, not turn in. So it definitely feels like, Hey, I've got to be patient. You know, in the beginning, let my body go and almost be comfortable being uncomfortable with this leading the way. So once I get a general feel for this, this, you said somewhere between belly button and sternum and I'm holding with my right hand. Yep. Trying to be completely straight. And this one goes kind of like in front of it. Yeah. In front of it. Yeah. Okay. Half a foot in front of it there. And I'm trying to feel the same. Exactly. You're feeling the same thing. Exactly. You're just incorporating where your arms are in that space. So you don't want to get your lead arm closer to that shaft, right? So when you do it bad and you would rush it, exactly. So you would get it close. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I would have no turn and just the arms. Exactly. Yep. So I'm allowing, okay. I'm allowing the body to lead the way, keeping the arms in front. The bad would be the under you're saying. Yes. Got it. That would be the under. And again, that's just so important for when we get to phase two, we will, but that's how we set up this early part just to make it very simple for us to get to these next step of the swing. Yeah. And for you guys watching our next video in the next one, we're going to talk about how do you go from here to the top and then in the third one, the downswing and transition. But when, when I'm doing that, I feel in my head, whether I look like it or not, I feel like the Rory and the Tiger and like the Greg Norman and Jack Nix, all these great drivers of the ball, who've got good turn. They've got good width right on the way back. It's really feels good to get the body going and having the arms in front. This feels, there ain't nothing, you know what I mean? There's nothing good about that. That doesn't feel good at all. No. So same thing. I do like one or two rehearsals. Yeah. Get a feel. And that helps so much with a face too. You notice when you're doing that, right? So, so many people struggle with the face early on, get it too open or get it too shut or whatever it may be. Let me see if I can hit with the same feels here, JT. So rib cage and body early club feels in front and arm feels in front. Absolutely. Yeah. God, that feels good, JT. That is perfect. The two biggies are the rib cage rotation early in the arms in front. Okay. If you haven't heard us say that yet, that's the big thing here. And it's easy to overlook that. That can almost sound too simple, but most of the really good things about a golf swing are simple. You just have to get good at the basic stuff, right? Maybe not easy, but simple, simple for sure. Club face is a big thing, right? We talk a lot about that. A lot of golfers, and maybe if you hit like weak, right shots, especially a ball that's curving right, we see a lot of golfers, JT, and you've mentioned, get the club face too open, especially too early, either on the way back or down. And that'd be defined by, let's say the toe behind the heel, club face up towards the sky. One of the nice things, and this should happen for free, right, JT? If you do the moves good, you get this automatically, but kind of a nice thing to just have as a checkpoint. When we're doing these ribcage rotation early, arms in front, notice Rory and Tiger, maybe me, maybe we'll do a triple screen, how all of us, three great drivers of the golf ball, have that club face slightly tilted down, toe in front of the heel, just like square to the arc. It's not rolled way open, it's not tilted way down. So just as you guys are doing this, that's a nice little piece to kind of keep in mind there of the club face kind of slightly tilted down. JT, from the down the line angle when we're doing this, as a general reference, you like to see the club head kind of like in line with the hands-ish? Yeah, in line with the hands-ish is good. Anywhere between like a club head length inside or outside is good, right? So maybe one whole club head slightly there, one whole club head slightly there. Okay. Either, that's good, because you're not, we just don't want a lot of torque on the club early, right? We want the body moving the club. We don't want the hands moving the club. That's what happens early on most of the time, is that we get that scenario. Too much hand action. Getting the swing started correctly matters a lot. And if that's true, how you set up to it also is relevant. Some of the things you guys want to check for, right, from a ball position perspective, I think there's a big three. You know, the ball position is going to be roughly between the logo and the armpit. That's a nice place to put it. Too far forward or back can cause issues. He's going to have some tilt at the setup. So the shirt buttons will be slightly behind the hips. We'll talk more about that in video three. So there's some tilt. And then from a feet width perspective, you'd see the ankles outside of the shoulders. And you'll see the same thing with Rory. JT, I like how you said that. Can you kind of tell them what you told me about the setup? Everything on your lead side is going to be higher than everything on the trail side. So lead shoulder is going to be higher. Lead arm is going to be higher. That lead arm a little bit higher. Lead shoulder a little bit higher. Lead ear a little bit higher. Yeah. And especially again, from this view, which we see so many golfers struggle with from this down the line, is that right arm being lower and the left arm being higher. We always see the left arm even being higher from this angle. Yes, correct. Everything on the left side is higher. Everything on the left side is higher. Very good. That's what we want. We oftentimes see the opposite, right? That that right arm is higher than the left. And that just presets you to swing over. Yeah, you're in big trouble. Pulls and slices. So everything on the lead side higher. I love that. Check you versus the Rory and the Tiger at setup. And then getting the swing started correctly. Early ribcage rotation, arms in front is so good. Now from there, obviously we need to complete the backside, right? So we've got to load things in transition. In the next video that we're going to do, we're going to talk about how you load the arms from there to the top. There's two big keys with that, that we'll talk through in video three, we'll talk about the downswing pieces. So again, guys, let me know in the comments down below, if you want to see some live lessons with this, JT and I are considering doing that. Maybe even if you want to, you want to come do that. If you want to check out JT's info, I can't highly recommend you getting with him. If you can, if you can in person, he's all over the world. We'll put his info down below. If you want to contact him, we do our online coaching through CogornoGolf.com. We are also on the road to 400,000 subscribers, and we would love you to click that subscribe button. I know it's a lot of ass to do, but if you could do that, we would love that. Yeah, let's get ready for video number two, how to finish the backside. Appreciate it. Thanks, bro.