YouTube and in fact, golf in general can be a confusing place to be, not least because there are a number of different swing patterns and combinations of patterns that coaches promote. Often there is no recognition of which pattern is being covered and the viewer is left with a collection of separate parts that don't necessarily fit together.   In this 2- part video series below I use a 'lesson with Pete Cowen'recenlty published on Danny Maude's YouTube channel, as a talking point to highlight the difference between the most basic of release pattern that everyone is taught from beginner ..read more

Increased Handle-Lead Hip Stretch When we study elite players' golf swings it is alluring to try and emulate certain aspects that catch the eye. One of the challenges with this (not withstanding the apparent body type and skill factors) is trying to decipher what is happening as the origin (the source movement)  and what is merely the reaction to something else within the swing pattern. A great coach I used to follow, John Erickson, used to call this chasing 'vapour trails'. The idea being that you can copy a vapour trail but it will never give you a jet engine. This is where I find ..read more

How you hold the golf club has an enormous influence on how you can move in the swing. Firstly, a functional grip allows for a full range of motion around the wrist hinge and arm rotation necessary for speed and fluidity. Moreover, the relationship between your hands and the clubface will afford you certain patterns of movement through the ball (I say afford because a solid hold on the club will give you the option of athletic movement, a good grip clearly won't lead to an athletic movement on its own). This blog article outlines the perfect place to start, which is the neutral orthodox grip d ..read more

It is easy to disregard the finer points of taking the club back because as the saying goes in golf. "you don't hit it with your backswing". It is a nice sentiment and it is true that with enough practise you can learn to hit the ball from a variety of backswing body shapes, however, the downswing gets easier and less reliant on coordination and complex self-organisation when the backswing has the correct structure. Other benefits include: A big part of creating a structured backswing is to load the joints correctly so that you can apply maximum force in the downswing and  ..read more

I love this drill for freeing up a golfer's movement. There is a lot of technique involved but I rarely need to give much prompting as it is all highly intuitive. Everybody moves from the ground up and gets their lower half rotating much better than in the actual swing. The need to get the club behind the head and across the eyeballs means that the ribcage has to rotate past the point of facing straight forwards at the end of the swing. You can see in the video how my chest finishes point considerably left of the target at the finish. One of the things that I like about the drill is the l ..read more

The video above was a coaching scenario that occurred at the Monte Rei Coaching Trip 2020 but I am probably faced with this motion at least 4-5 times every week. It is too intuitive to move this way but it's a real strike wrecker. The golfer is too keen to hit the golf ball and in doing so ruins their dynamics and thus, robs themself of speed and hits the ground early.   There is a real temptation in the golf swing to try and get the club to the ball and add power by extending the trail arm ad wrist in a thrusting/hitting motion. This is often perceived as the HIT of the swing and I ..read more

We all need a reliable method for dealing with these kinds of situations. Historically, I would have gone with the aggressive shaft lean approach but I haven't played in that way in a long time now and I would try and move my students more toward using bounce wherever possible. The decision of which option to use here needs to be based on a lot of practise and the scenario that you are faced with. Here are the pros and cons. Option 1: Heavy Shaft Lean While the steep attack with shaft lean method is a relatively easy technique to grasp, you cannot afford to hit at all behind the ..read more

 As you might expect, having absolute clarity as to how the club meets the ball has huge knock-on effects throughout your golf game. Any misunderstanding around this area can come back and bite you way beyond your formative golf years. Early Days From a learning perspective, if a golfer believes, which is quite intuitive, that the club needs to get under the ball in order to lift it into the air then the bottom of the arc will always be behind the ball and either hitting the ground too early or the golfer avoids this and tops their bad shots while hitting the good shots from the bottom ed ..read more

In my experience, fairway bunker shots can be a card wrecker. It is alluring to think that we can just hit a normal full swing with visions of Sandy Lyle's famous shot to win the US Masters.   More often than not this has led to me choosing too much club (not enough loft) and thinning the ball into the face of the bunker for it bounce back at me for another try.  An Alternative Approach Shot Planning Choose plenty of loft to allow for a lower launching shot to clear the front lip of the trap. Execution  I have historically been of the impression that the golf ball should be take ..read more

Attentional Focus I see this concept play out in just about every golf lesson I give. It is amazing how quickly golfers recover their strike when I give them an external focus cue. Here are some of the benefits of external focus that have been supported by over 1000 scientific studies: External Focus Closer links to the task Less cognitive activity More efficient movement (less muscular activity) Faster learning and better retention in learning experiments Better resilience under pressure   There are clearly times when an internal focus is necessary and optimal for improving your m ..read more