Scottish Golf Courses

How to stay better connected


This is something I do to try and get the feeling of staying connected at the start of the swing.

Put a finger on your sternum with your left hand, and the idea is to keep the same distance between your right elbow and the centre of your chest as you turn. This encourages the body and the arms to work as one.

You don’t want the arms to get away from the body at this point, because that reduces your shoulder turn, so the drill keeps the same distance between your right elbow and sternum.

If your right elbow gets away from that position, you’re not going to turn your shoulders. What you’re doing is basically just lifting the club up. Then, you’ll either come down from the inside, or drop it from the outside. The idea is to try and keep it all as one.

I do this quite a lot when I’m teaching, as a lot of guys will just pick it up as they start their takeaway. All of a sudden their arms are away from their body. They pick it up on the outside, so it’s all arms, while their shoulders haven’t turned.

By the time they get it back, they’re out of sync. You obviously wouldn’t hit a ball doing this drill. You just want to try and get that feeling of being connected.

Make use of 50 balls

If you’ve just got time for 50 balls at the driving range, make it count.

I would work on wedges and start off doing distance control. Start with five-yard increments and work your way up, ten yards, 15 yards, 20 yards and so on. Work on your length of swing and your rhythm.

I’ve talked about this before, but as long as you can get the ball in play off the tee, 100 yards in is where you’re going to score. So if you can get the ball onto the green, you’re moving forward. Don’t just thrash 50 balls. Think about specifics to work on.


Steve Johnston is the PGA professional at Peebles GC. For lessons, call Steve on 01721 720197. Follow him on Twitter @mrstevejohnston

Originally published on bunkered on May 19, 2015.

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