You have to turn your shoulders in the backswing
Rotation vs. Protraction
Does shoulder protraction happen in the golf swing? Yes, absolutely; it has to.
If you see Sadlowski’s TaylorMade numbers and say, “I want to hit the ball farther. I want to be like Sadlowski,” and you start trying to rotate your rib cage 140 or 150 degrees, your hips are going to get ripped all the way around with you.
Nobody has that kind of separation unless you’re just wildly flexible, and if that’s the case, you’re probably not playing golf in the first place; you’re probably in the circus!
If you’re rotating your rib cage as far as you can, you only need 80° or 90° of actual rotation. Shoulder protraction facilitates the rest of it. You can’t keep your arms in the box the whole time and just rotate – you’ll look like a robot, and you’ll never get the free-swinging movement that’s necessary for the arms to generate speed.
It Takes Both
Shoulder protraction
As you rotate back, the left shoulder is also moving out and forward. This helps facilitate width and it helps keep the club and your hands in front of you. It does that by letting the shoulder protract.
If you eliminate the shoulder protraction, that’s where we see a lot of golfers get to the top and then try to make this huge turn. They’re all bound up and they wonder why their hips are turning so much.
They know all the long-hitting Tour pros only turn their hips 35-45°, but they can’t stop their own hips from turning 70°.
Shoulder protraction is the answer. You’ve got to rotate, but then let your arms protract to provide the rest of the appearance of rotation, rather than actually taking your rib cage and rotating it a full 120° or more. It doesn’t work that way.
In short, if you struggle with getting your hips moving with you, you’re probably trying to turn too far instead of letting the shoulder protract to facilitate the rest of the rotation – and the appearance of rotation on camera.
When you correct for this, you’ll start to understand how the drill works, providing a much better position at the top rather than continuing to rotate your torso, hurting your back and putting yourself in a weak position.
Remember that the shoulder has to protract as you’re rotating back, and you’ll get into a much more powerful position with a lot less effort at the top.
