Women golfers don’t have the luxury of muscle power or being able to use brute force when swinging a golf club. A swing that uses the arms alone, for ladies, will not create a powerful swing. Women need to use more than just their arms to create distance and accuracy, as we physically do not have the same strength as men do.

If during your backswing you only lift your arms, you are limiting the amount of power you can produce to literally just the strength you have in your arms. A further issue with using only your arms during your golf swing is that you will not create a consistent connection either. In lifting your arms, your swing will become very steep which means the club head will drop downwards very vertically towards the golf ball and more often than not produce a connection where the club head strikes the top of the ball and this will produce very low shots. In just using your arms during the swing, the lifting and dropping action that this will cause also results in all of your energy moving downwards at the floor as you are striking the golf ball, rather than moving your energy through the ball and then at the target.

To progress your swing movement away from arms only, take a balanced set up position. Work on keeping your left shoulder (for right handed golfers), left hand and club head all in a straight line as you move the club head away from the ball on your backswing. This will allow you to begin your backswing from the turn of your shoulders and you can then continue this turning action until your shoulders complete a 90 degree rotation to the right from their start position. At the top of your backswing, a good check point to ensure you have used your shoulders correctly is that your upper back should be facing the target. This will create a much more rotational movement in your swing and will allow you to now rotate during your downswing.

Turn your knees and hips towards the target to start your downswing and then allow your upper body to uncoil and fire the club head through the ball and at the target. The movement that this will produce in the club head will allow the club head to approach the ball on a much shallower angle, allowing you to more consistently connect with the side of the ball, rather than the top and your energy will now move through the ball and towards the target, to produce more consistent and longer golf shots.