TRAIN BALANCE AND POSTURE USE A SQUAT TO FEEL GROUND CONNECTION

Good posture at address is fundamental to the creation of a balanced, on-plane golf swing. Now is the perfect time to make sure you are standing to the ball effectively. Follow this drill.

1 SHAFT BEHIND NECK

Take your golfing stance and posture. Make sure your hips are over your ankles and your weight is centred under the laces of both feet. Now place the clubshaft across the back of your shoulders, behind your neck, and hold it in position with both hands.

2 SQUAT DOWN

Now squat down as far as you can go – try to get your hips to knee level – while staying balanced. You can only achieve this by keeping your weight and pressure centred under both feet; if it shifts to your heels or toes you will rock back or forward. Get it right and you will feel balanced, heavy and grounded.

3 BALANCED START

Now straighten up to form your address. After the squat, your awareness of your balance point will be enhanced. Use it, along with that feeling of being grounded, to build your position. Again, check your hips are over your ankles and that your weight is under the laces of both shoes.

REFRESH YOUR ARM POSITION RECREATE GOOD ARM ROTATION AND GET SET FOR IMPACT

One under-examined but important element of address is where your elbows point. Anatomy allows some freedom here; your arms can roll ‘outand-over’, elbows pointing at and away from the target, or ‘in-and-under’, elbows pointing down to the hips. Both can cause major backswing problems. Here’s how to position your arm at address in time for the big restart...

STRONG RESISTANCE

One of the best ways to understand good balance is that you should offer maximum resistance to someone trying to push you over. Work on the squat drill until you begin to have this feeling of great solidity over the ball.

ONE OUT, ONE IN

Instead of thinking about address, focus on impact. In any hitting impact, a strong position sees the lead elbow face the target, with the trail elbow more tucked. So at address, set up impact with your lead elbow facing the target and your trail elbow at your hip. It promotes just the right amount of backswing forearm rotation, while presetting that strong impact.