Technique Terminology

Obviously this section could be 100 pages long but I only touch upon the words I use in my texts. If you miss something, email me at petter@snoleo.com and propose what to add.

Body Related Terms

Forearm Supination and Pronation

Hold your arms out in front of you with the thumbs facing towards the sky.

Turn your forearm (not your elbow) so that the thumbs aim straight left (90 degrees turn).

You have now supinated your left forearm and you have pronated your right forearm. This is also called forearm rotation.

Wrist Bowing (Flexion) / Cupping (Extension)

Place your right arm in front of you and make the palm of your hand face the sky.

Keep your arm still and angle the palm of your hand towards your face - > you have now bowed your wrist (also called flexion)

Do the opposite, You have now cupped your hand (also called extension)

More details here

Wrist Radial and Ulnar Deviation

Put your right hand out in front of you. Make a pistol out the fingers where the thumb point towards the sky and the index finger towards a target straight ahead of you.

Keep your arms still and point the gun to the ground. This is ulnar deviation.

Do the opposite. This is radial deviation.

again, link here

Shoulder External Rotation

Stand with your arms hanging in front of you.

Rotate your right elbow to your belly button. This is external rotation for the right shoulder (a great position for many frameworks for a right handed person).

This video goes deep and is a great watch

Crossing Forearms

When the trail arm (right for right handed players) is extended in after impact. After the extension the wrist collapses and more often that not the forearms cross. Happens prematurely for non efficient techniques.

Right Lateral Bend

Stand straight up and try to do this - get your right shoulder closter to your right hip without moving left hip forward

Also called right side bend.

Great video from Eric Cogorno here

Swing Related Terms

Transition

This is when you change between backswing and downswing.

It can be for a millisecond or much longer based on which framework you are pursuing. Either way it's a good term to know

Sink into the Ground

Basically it means that you actively lower yourself to create ground pressure.

In the top of the backswing many players "sit down" to achieve the purpose of building ground pressure.

It's a term commonly used in the modern slingshot framework

Open Body at Impact

This means that you have opened your hips and shoulders in the downswing more than they were at address. The belt buckle that started pointing at the ball before the swing is now more aimed towards the target.

You normally say this in degrees, e.g. 20 degrees open hips etc.

Address (start of swing) you can see as the comparison number.

Face On View

You stand opposite of the player hitting shots so your faces are aimed at each other.

Down The Line View

You stand behind the other person in an extension of the target line.

Lag Angle

From a Face On Angle for a right handed player this is the angle, in the downswing, that is created between the clubshaft and the left forearm. The more the angle, the more the lag.

Please see image 3 and image 4 of Ben Hogan on this page

The Arc of the Swing

Do a backswing and think about how the hands and the club draw a circle with the path it is taking.

If you make a really small circle, you have a narrow arc.

If you make a really big circle, you have a big arc

Releasing the Club

Depends on which framework you use but basically like this.

The release is how you transfer the power that you have actively stored. Different frameworks have different release styles.

From my point of view functional release styles are within the frameworks I describe:

Can be a delayed slap hinge, a whipping motion, a underarm rotation motion or a long slap hinge. It needs to be matched to the correct framework.

Non functional: Rolling wrists release and Casting too early due to over the top release..

Please read all the frameworks to understand more.

Shaft lean

Stand face on and make a freeze frame of the impact. If the hands are in front of the clubhead at impact (more towards the target) then you have what is called shaft lean.

Different Golf Shots

Draw and Fade Curve

For a right handed golfer.

Draw is a curve that takes your ball in from right to left. The bigger version is called hook.

Fade is curving the ball from left to right. Often called a cut. The bigger version is often called slice.

Push and Pull Direction

Right handed golfers

Start it to the right of the target line in a straight line. This is a push

Start the ball left of the target line in a straight line. This is a pull

Push Draw

Start it to the right of the target line and make the draw curve take it back to the target

Pull Fade

Start it to the left of the target line and make it come back to it with a fade curve.

Pull Hook

A common miss that creates all kinds of trouble.

Start the ball way left of target line and make the ball curve to the left

Push Fade

A common miss that creates all kinds of trouble.

Start the ball way right of the target line with a fade curve.

Stock Shot

The shot you are most comfortable hitting. A good idea to practice this alot..

Over Hooking

Presenting a more shut face than intended. Often the result of a club face that closes to fast in the impact zone (this due to the body reacting to a face that is too open too late -> the body panics and closes it super fast = chaos)