3 Golf Swing Mistakes That Limit Your True Potential

Not all golf swing tips are created equal, and not all golf advice is good.

In this golf lesson, Todd Kolb of VLS Golf shows you how some golf tips might actually be hurting your senior golf swing, and gives some great golf drills to help you hit the ball better!

Today we’re going to talk about three common suggestions that I hear a lot of amateurs get that in my opinion are just bad advice so we’re going to talk about those today and we’re going to help you play some better golf so let’s get into this right away now keep your head down

This this tip has been around for years and I have to be honest I probably told somebody that at some point early in my career now let’s first of all differentiate between keep your head down and looking at the ball I think that’s what people are trying to say

When they give this tip keep your head down but when you tell tell somebody to keep their head down what do you think happens well typically it creates kind of stress or tension because they’re trying to lock their head in on the golf ball and what that does is it restricts

Body movement and if you look at some of the great players of all time their head moves through the Impact Zone and their head starts to almost swivel and look towards the Target now why is that important well because it allows their body to rotate and most of us we need

More rotation in the golf swing so my suggestion here is you should look at the ball but look at the ball and don’t be afraid though to let your head swivel and your head move that is not a bad thing and quite honestly I think a little bit of head movement through the

Strike is something that can help a lot of people play better golf so that’s the number one thing I want to tell you is not keep your head down but look at the ball but do not be afraid to let your head move a little bit and I think

That’s a great way to play the game now the second tip are suggestion I hear a lot of people talk about is keep your lead arm straight so I’m a right-handed golfer so for me that’s my left arm now once again when we hear the word straight it implies tension okay and you

Do not want tension in the golf sing so when my lead arm is straight people tend to lock it out they get a lot of tension in their grip that’s just bad for their golf swing now should the left arm be ex extended yes I think it should be

Extended now where is it at in the swing well hey some people play a lot of great golf from maybe their swings a little bit lower more like on a flat or lower angle some are a little bit more upright I’d be curious for you out there where

Do you play your best golf do you feel like it’s a little bit lower or do you like it a little bit higher and you look at the PJ tour the lpj tour you’ll see lead arms in all kinds of different angles but very seldom will you see one

That’s super straight or super locked it’s extended but it’s not locked now what’s the difference between straight and extended well if I’m just a stand here this is test you can do at home if I’m just a stand here and I let my arms just kind of hang there’s a natural Bend

In my arm okay now everybody’s is a little different I have had some students who when they kind of stand here their arm Falls relatively straight what I want to look for is I want whatever their natural Bend is here I want to see that same Bend at the top of

Their back swing or in their back stroke so that’s a good way and a simple way for you to kind of test that out so I’d be curious to kind of see what you have to say like where do you like your lead arm to be in the back swing now I I

Didn’t plan on talking about this but it just came to me so I want I I think this is important so uh I want to I want to visit this real quick the angle that it should be at this is General okay like I

Said some are up some are down I like to see the lead arm on an angle that’s kind of relative to like my shoulder angle so if my shoulders are at this angle all right not this way not that way okay they’re at this angle as you can see the

Kind of pointing I like my lead arm to be kind of in a similar spot I think that’s where most people play their best golf and and before we’re done here at the very end I’m going to give you a tip to get your arm in that position so be

Sure to stay tuned to the end cuz I’m going to give you that little tip so all right so that’s the second one keep that lead arm extended not straight now the third one and this is the one I’m the most passionate about because uh I’m not getting any younger all right I’m

Pushing 50 now my body does not move like it used to and so um I need to be able to move and pivot so I hear a lot of coffers say hey and I even hear sometimes instructors say this restrict your hip turn or keep your Trail leg

Which for me is my right leg my right knee bent keep it bent restrict the hip turn once again I’m not saying that there’s nobody who plays golf like that but I just think that’s bad advice especially for you out there who are maybe even over 30 35 years old that’s

Just bad advice now why is that well because when you restrict your hip turn okay whether it be just restricting it or keeping your Trail leg your right knee locked up you’re not able to rotate your shoulders in turn okay so then what happens is is that people complete their

Back swing with their arms and their wrist so this is very common they’ll get set up like ah I got to keep my hips I want to hit the ball further so I got to restrict my hip turn so they restrict their hip turn and then based on their

Flexibility they’re not allow they’re not able to to turn their upper body so then they complete their back swing with just their arms and their wrists just a bad position for you to be in so I’m going to suggest that you let your Trail leg okay let it release a little bit

Release that’s the key word doesn’t lock it releases and that allows your hips to turn and as your hips turn then your shoulders will turn your upper body your torso will turn and you’ll be able to get that club in a good position so that’s the F third thing now once again

As I said hopefully you subscribed already to our Channel because we got some great information or leave a comment I love the back and forth have you ever been told to keep your hips restrict your hip turned have you ever been told to keep your right knee bent I

Guarantee you probably have so those are the three things that we want to make sure that I talk about today I’m not saying that they’re terrible I’m not saying that nobody does them all right some of my fellow golf instructors out there I know you’re probably disagreeing

With me but that’s okay all right but keeping your head down creates tension don’t be afraid to let the head move a little bit all right keep the lead arm straight creates tension have it be extended all right just whatever your natural Bend is and then third and

Finally make sure you let the hips turn a little bit do not restrict that hip turn okay unless you’re super flexible you’ve got to let that hip turn a little bit now I promised you here at the end I would give you a tip for getting that

Lead arm in a good back swing position so here’s what it is what I want you to do uh you can do this with really any club I’ve got uh I got my 7 iron right here so what I’m going to do is I’m

Going to grip it in my lead hand my left hand only and I’m going to just take it and I’m going to put it kind of on top of my left Peck muscle so notice how I’m taking it I’m kind of going on top I’ll do it from this angle here taking my

Lead arm and I’m connecting it right up here so I feel like my lead arm is on top of my kind of my rib cage my pec muscle right here and that creates a connection Point okay so this would be not connected connected now when you

Make your back swing feel like you keep that connected feel like that stays connected and what that’ll do is that’ll get your lead arm at the same angle of your shoulders now if you’re still not feeling that you could do something as simple I’m going to show you right here

Okay I’m going to take my glove I’m going to put it kind of underneath my lead arm put it on top put it underneath there and then I can make some Swings with that under there that will also give me that feel and get that lead arm

In a good spot so let’s recap what we’ve learned here today I’m not saying okay that nobody can play golf because they can’t keep their head down what I’m saying is that creates tension there’s a difference between head down all right and looking at the ball you need to see

The ball but you can see the ball and let your head swivel quite honestly I think some of the best ball strike of all time their heads have rotated through the strike zone while they’re still looking my eyes are looking but my head’s rotating and moving that’s number

One number two create some get your left arm extended not straight whatever your natural Bend is let it do that number three let the hips turn okay let the hips turn so you can get that club nice and in good back swing position okay and those three things are going to

Definitely help you out so hey be sure to subscribe be sure to leave a comment whether you agree or disagree be sure to check out some of our other videos we got here and be sure to check back because we’re going to continue to provide you with good information that’s

Going to help you play better golf