Stay Connected In Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Stay Connected In Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

So if we've now established that staying connected is the best way to get an inside approach to the golf ball which is ultimately the best way to draw the golf ball. The only thing you – or one of the things you need to do to draw the golf ball, well it's clear that being connected on the golf swing is going to be quite an important to us. Now I've just put my driver back there in my bag because being connected with a driver is hard to do than it is with a shorter club. So it might be easier actually, if I just drop down to a pitching wedge, take my pitching wedge to the driver range and try and work on staying connected with this. But then if I can give you a couple of really good practice drills that will help you stay in this connected position. So one of the difficulties with staying connected, is you can't see what is happening often because you are looking at the ball and the connected bit or the disconnected bit happens up here. So I'm looking down there and make my swing, everything looks good when I check it and then that happens at the top of my backswing and I don't realize I've become disconnected and I'm going to struggle to hit the ball from the inside. So a great little practice drill here.

You take your glove, just make a little fold in it and then pop it just below, oh sorry, just above your elbow of your right side for right handed golfer and trap it in against your body. And you should find that you can make a similar set up to how you would do normally without a massive gap. Now some people when they set up, they reach for the golf ball a little bit, the glove might fall out in this position. So they just need to adapt that set up avis a slightly just to trap the glove in against the right side of your body. Then go ahead and make a little butt practice backswing and feel how the top of the backswing, the glove can stay trapped. My right hand has stayed connected to my body; I haven't had any lifting out because when I start to lift out, I'm going to find that the glove falls out from that position. So I should make a – with a pitching wedge, maybe an 80, 90 yard pitching shot. It might not feel like a quite a full powered swing just yet, it might feel a little bit short and the follow through might feel a bit awkward. I think the key to the follow through is you might can let the glove go in the follow through. So we'd swing back, keeping it connected, swing through and then the glove would fall out. But it falls out in front of me over on this side rather than falling out in my backswing. If it's falling out in my backswing, chances are, I become too disconnected. Now a fairly popular drill, is a lot of golf instructors will give and a lot of golfers might have seen the tour players using. Is being connected but on both sides. So both elbows, so both armpits stay quite connected. So we take a towel, one under one side, one on the other side, strap it across your chest and then get the sensation that your elbow stay tucked in and that you turn back and you turn through in a very connected sense. So if I was to lift my hands and arms up in the backswing, I get disconnected, the towel, drops out instantly. Then when I actually approach a golf ball, I can feel that I'm staying connected even without the training aids, using those training aids is actually legal on the golf course. But when I set up to this ball, I can sense that my arms and elbows are staying in and connected and I can sense that I'm not loosing the connection with having a high elbows and flailing arms. So utilizing that pitching wedge and those two little drills that should encourage you to be more connected and ultimately approach the golf ball more from the inside. 2015-11-02

So if we've now established that staying connected is the best way to get an inside approach to the golf ball which is ultimately the best way to draw the golf ball. The only thing you – or one of the things you need to do to draw the golf ball, well it's clear that being connected on the golf swing is going to be quite an important to us. Now I've just put my driver back there in my bag because being connected with a driver is hard to do than it is with a shorter club. So it might be easier actually, if I just drop down to a pitching wedge, take my pitching wedge to the driver range and try and work on staying connected with this. But then if I can give you a couple of really good practice drills that will help you stay in this connected position. So one of the difficulties with staying connected, is you can't see what is happening often because you are looking at the ball and the connected bit or the disconnected bit happens up here. So I'm looking down there and make my swing, everything looks good when I check it and then that happens at the top of my backswing and I don't realize I've become disconnected and I'm going to struggle to hit the ball from the inside. So a great little practice drill here.

You take your glove, just make a little fold in it and then pop it just below, oh sorry, just above your elbow of your right side for right handed golfer and trap it in against your body. And you should find that you can make a similar set up to how you would do normally without a massive gap. Now some people when they set up, they reach for the golf ball a little bit, the glove might fall out in this position. So they just need to adapt that set up avis a slightly just to trap the glove in against the right side of your body. Then go ahead and make a little butt practice backswing and feel how the top of the backswing, the glove can stay trapped. My right hand has stayed connected to my body; I haven't had any lifting out because when I start to lift out, I'm going to find that the glove falls out from that position. So I should make a – with a pitching wedge, maybe an 80, 90 yard pitching shot. It might not feel like a quite a full powered swing just yet, it might feel a little bit short and the follow through might feel a bit awkward. I think the key to the follow through is you might can let the glove go in the follow through. So we'd swing back, keeping it connected, swing through and then the glove would fall out. But it falls out in front of me over on this side rather than falling out in my backswing.

If it's falling out in my backswing, chances are, I become too disconnected. Now a fairly popular drill, is a lot of golf instructors will give and a lot of golfers might have seen the tour players using. Is being connected but on both sides. So both elbows, so both armpits stay quite connected. So we take a towel, one under one side, one on the other side, strap it across your chest and then get the sensation that your elbow stay tucked in and that you turn back and you turn through in a very connected sense. So if I was to lift my hands and arms up in the backswing, I get disconnected, the towel, drops out instantly. Then when I actually approach a golf ball, I can feel that I'm staying connected even without the training aids, using those training aids is actually legal on the golf course. But when I set up to this ball, I can sense that my arms and elbows are staying in and connected and I can sense that I'm not loosing the connection with having a high elbows and flailing arms. So utilizing that pitching wedge and those two little drills that should encourage you to be more connected and ultimately approach the golf ball more from the inside.