Creating a connected golf swing is vital for any senior golfer who is looking to maximize their power, accuracy and consistency when they play.

A connected golf swing has every single independent part of the swing moving together and in unison during the movement of swinging the golf club. A connected golf swing sees all of your larger muscles such as your torso, back and chest, working together with the smaller muscles such as the legs, arms and hands, to swing the golf club away from the ball to the top of the backswing, back down to impact and then through into a well balanced finish position. Each part of the body moves in unison with no parts of the body moving faster and racing ahead, or conversely moving slower and lagging behind other parts.

To keep all of the parts of your body connected throughout your golf swing, you begin your swing from a balanced address position. Have your feet shoulder width apart, keep your back straight and tilt your spine forward from your hips until your hands hang directly under your shoulders. Just relax your knees a little to take the pressure from your hamstrings. From this position, work on maintaining your spine angle as your rotate your upper body to the right (for right handed golfers). As you move the club away from the ball with this upper body movement, your arms will move to the right with your body and you need to hinge your wrist to move the club head at the correct angle around your body. Using your wrist correctly, set the club head on the correct swing plane and as you continue to rotate your left arm, you will reach the top of the backswing across the top of your shoulder plane, showing that you have synchronized your body and arm movement, rather than lifting your arms up and disconnecting your arms from your body's movement.

As you swing back down towards the ball, to achieve a connected downswing, move from the ground upwards. Begin your downswing by turning your knees and then hips towards the target, followed by your torso and arms.

A great drill to help you create a connected movement between your body and arms during your golf swing is 'The Baseball' drill. Stand upright and hold the golf club out in front of you parallel to the floor. Imagine you have a ball out in front of you where your club head is. Swing the club around you horizontally, by turning your upper body to the right and then hinging your wrists to allow the club to move around the back of you. Now swing back and hit the imaginary ball.

This is a great drill to help synchronize all of the parts of your golf swing and get them moving in unison, the only difference is that during your golf swing you tilt forward with your spine, rather than stand upright.

Using this drill, you will get the feel of how to connect your body and arm movement and create a much more connected golf swing.

How to Create a Connected Golf Swing Golf Swing as a Senior Golfer

Despite what some people may have you believe, golf for seniors is about more than just getting out for some fresh air and exercise. Just like their younger counterparts, senior golfers are competitive. Most senior players would love to take strokes off their game, and many love to play in competitions against other golfers at their home club. Don't think that you have to set those competitive juices to the side just because you have entered into the senior category. Competition can be fun at any age, and golf is a great way for seniors to be competitive well into their retirement years.

So, knowing that a senior golfer can still think competitive and work to play better golf, we are going to offer up some valuable instruction in this article. We are going to talk specifically about making a connected golf swing, which is an important concept for players of all ages to understand. When you keep your golf swing connected, can deliver the club to the back of the ball in the same manner time after time. Such consistency will make it far easier to control your golf ball on the course, and your scores should come down as a result.

Of course, as a senior golfer who has some experience in this game, you know things in golf always sound easier in written form than they are in real life. Using a connected swing is great – but building one is not always an easy task. Hopefully, by the time you are finished reading this article, you will have all of the information you need to get to work on creating your own connected swing.

While senior golfers certainly don't have to give up on being competitive, you might need to adjust the way you play the game slightly as you move into your older years. Specifically, you may need to play a game which is based more closely on control than it is on power. That is not to say that you can't hit any long drives as a senior player, but you probably won't hit the ball as far as you used to. Instead of taking your lost distance as a sign that you can't play good golf anymore, look for the positives in this development. Hitting the ball shorter may enable you to have better control, which could lead to fewer penalty shots and more birdie opportunities. There are many different ways to play this great game, and using an arsenal which is based on control rather than raw power is often a smart decision for the senior player.

All of the content in this article is based on a right-handed golfer. If you happen to play left-handed, please take a moment to reverse the directions as necessary.

What is a Connected Swing?

It's going to be tough to build a connected swing if you don't understand the concept behind this term. There are countless different terms used in the game of golf, and there is nothing wrong with admitting that you don't know what some of them mean. Before we get started helping you create a connected swing, we are first going to take a few moments to accurately define this concept. Only when you have a clear mental picture of what a connected swing is and how it can help you play better golf should you move on to practicing this kind of swing for yourself.

The following three points highlight the keys of making a connected golf swing.

• The arms and the torso work together nicely. This might not be something you have thought about previously, but it isn't always easy to match up your arms and your torso during the golf swing. If these two parts of your body aren't working together, trouble will not be far behind. It is okay – and even necessary – for your lower body to get out in front during the downswing, but your arms and torso need to work together properly. When you hear a professional golfer say that he or she is staying connected well, they mean that the arms and the torso are in concert throughout the swing. Should one happen to leave the other behind, it will be hard to make solid contact or strike powerful shots.
• The hands don't have to save the swing. Perhaps the best way to evaluate whether or not you are staying connected during the swing is to feel how the club is working at the moment of impact. Are you needing to quickly roll your hands to the left in order to square the face? If so, you have probably lost connection somewhere along the way, and you're having to work hard to save the shot right at the last moment. Pro golfers get into this habit from time to time, and it usually results in some poor shots under pressure. By learning how to stay connected, it will be easier to swing through the ball without any wild adjustments by your hands and the last moment.
• Your tempo is even from start to finish. In golf, you are free to create your own unique tempo. Some golfers play best when they swing quickly, while others prefer a slow, gradual tempo that builds up to the moment of impact. Both of these options – and everything in between – are perfectly acceptable. What is important, however, is that you do what you can to maintain a smooth tempo from start to finish. You don't want to suddenly accelerate or decelerate the club in an effort to bring the swing together just in time for impact. By using a smooth tempo, you should be able to stay connected and have your body arrive at impact along with the club, resulting in an accurate and powerful hit.

A connected swing looks easy. When you watch a top-level professional swing the club, you will quickly notice that it doesn't look like they are trying very hard. The swing looks simple and effective, producing the same kind of shot time after time. Of course, as a golfer, you already know it isn't easy to achieve these kinds of results. Sure, the swing might look simple and repeatable, but behind that appearance is a lot of hard work and attention to detail. Only those who put effort into building a quality swing are going to come out ahead when all is said and done.

For a senior golfer, the benefits of a connected swing are many. First, you should be able to extract the maximum amount of power from your swing when using this kind of technique. Sure, you might not hit the ball as far as you once did, but that's okay. As long as you are getting as much distance out of the swing as possible, you can then turn your attention to other tasks.

In addition to maximizing distance, staying connected is going to make you an extremely consistent golfer. You should hit a high number of both fairways and greens when you are connected, since you aren't going to miss your target lines by much – if you miss at all. Staying connected is a great way to limit the amount of damage done by your misses, and limiting damage on bad swings is one of the keys to lowering your scores.

Make Your Connection

By now, you should be convinced that a connected swing is something that will take you to a higher level on the course. So, how do you make it happen? We are going to get down to business in this section. If you can successfully follow the tips below, you should be able to make big strides toward a more connected golf swing moving forward.

Take time to review each of the tips below before deciding which are going to be most useful for your game. Depending on the strengths and weaknesses of your current swing, some of these tips are likely to have more effect than others. It is up to you to apply the most important keys in a way that will allow your game to progress.

• Master the takeaway. Believe it or not, the very first move you make during the golf swing is going to say a lot about the end result of any given shot. If you get the takeaway right, everything else just may fall into place perfectly. Get it wrong, however, and you'll be scrambling to get the club back in position before impact arrives. A good takeaway is a simple takeaway. You don't want to have any unnecessary moving parts in your takeaway, such as overactive hands or movement in your head position. You should be standing perfectly still, with your shoulders taking on the task of turning the club away from the ball. If it helps, you may want to think of the first six inches of your backswing as being just like your putting stroke. By taking out every unnecessary moving element in your takeaway, you will be left with a repeatable action that puts the club in just the right spot.
• The arms stop when the shoulders stop. This is one of the keys to staying connected from the start of the swing through to the finish. As you already know, the shoulders are going to drive your backswing, allowing you to turn the club a significant distance away from the target. However, at some point, that rotation has to stop in order for you to start the downswing. Unfortunately, at the point where your shoulders stop turning, your arms might not decide to do the same. If your arms keep going after your shoulders have stopped, you are going to lose connected. The arms will suddenly be behind, and you are going to have to find a way for them to catch up before impact arrives. That probably won't happen, and you will hit a poor shot in the end. By stopping your arm swing as soon as your shoulders quit turning, you can keep your swing nicely in sync. This might feel a bit awkward at first, especially if you are used to making a long arm swing, but give it some time to get comfortable. Before long, you will gain confidence in this method and your swing will be beautifully connected as a result.
• Your core drives the downswing. As you will find throughout this article, much of what you need to do in order to stay connected is to manage your arm swing nicely. You don't want to let your arms fall behind at the top of the backswing, as highlighted in the previous point. In this point, we are going to talk about how you don't want to let your arms race out ahead in the downswing. Once you have started down toward the ball, you need to maintain your connection by using your core to rotate through the shot. Many amateur golfers are 'all arms' on the way down, meaning they neglect to rotate their body while simply using the arms to force the club toward impact. You obviously don't want to be in this category. Once the backswing is finished, it is your job to use the core of your body to rotate to the left while staying on balance. If you can do this, the club is naturally going to fall into position. When executed correctly, this kind of golf swing feels both controlled and powerful.

For review, you are going to need two basic things in your swing in order to stay connected. For one, you need to develop a great takeaway. If you can swing the club directly back away from the ball, without the use of any extra hand action, you'll be off to a great start. From there, you need to keep your arms and shoulders/chest working together nicely. Don't let your arms fall behind at the top of the backswing, and don't let them race ahead early in the downswing. Avoiding these common errors will lead to a nicely connected swing and reliable results.