Instruction

Staying connected: A common issue for junior golfers and women

Published

11 years ago

Apr 21, 2015

Junior golfers should be encouraged to enjoy the game, but we want to make sure they don’t instill detrimental tendencies into their swings that will stick with them for life.

In this article, I want to discuss issues I tend to see mostly in male junior golfers who are in the 12-to-15 age range, and female golfers for most of their lives. It’s during this time that most boys have not begun their growth spurt and the girls have not gained the strength to support their taller frames.

These issues lead to pivot inefficiencies that cause the hips to outrace the upper body, the low points to bounce around, and hands to become overactive through impact. If left alone, these propensities will plague these types of golfers for the remainder of their careers.

Below is an example of the disconnection I am describing above.

Here is a sample player who is 14, slightly shorter and smaller than the average person his age, but still a good player. Because he has not hit his growth spurt, you can see that his pivot is quite faulty. He’s trying to hit the ball farther because the tees he plays have moved farther back.

You can see that his right forearm is on plane with the club shaft and the direction of his swing is pretty consistent; however, the faulty pivot makes his face-to-path relationship faulty and that causes him to struggle.

His hips have outraced his upper body during the transition, and his right shoulder has moved too far downward through delivery, thus moving his low point backward. When the low point moves back, in order to not hit fat shots, the hands will be activated and he will “throw” the club through impact. As this happens, the closing rate of the club head will be skewed, his low point will shift, and the club’s static loft will be altered.

When we add those things together, we get a recipe for mishits that fly offline. So what’s the cure?

You must help these types of players to “feel” and understand “connection” and what they should be striving for as they get older, taller, and stronger. Understand that this “look” I’m showing you is unattainable until the physiology of the players’ body can support it at full speed. However, there is no reason why you cannot work this technique into partial shots and wedges.

A few thoughts, feels and drills:

Take full swings at quarter speed with the thought of moving the sternum, zipper, hands, and club head together through impact.
The goal here is to feel the hips slowing down enough so the upper body can catch up.
Use a drill made popular by Nick Faldo: Place head covers under arms and hit balls at partial speed to coordinate body with arms, hands, and club.
As is often said, the player will feel that the right shoulder works not just downward, but outward as well through the impact zone.
Players will also find that their low points are much more consistent and more solid impacts will occur.
Finally, when everything is connected and moving together, the club will have a dynamic loft at impact that is more consistent and more playable for the shot at hand.

Juniors and women golfers must have some type of connection through impact or they will fight mishits, loss of distance and lack of trajectory control.

If you have any questions, concerns or looking for specific assistance, please leave a comment and I will promptly reply.

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Tom Stickney II

Tom F. Stickney II, is a specialist in Biomechanics for Golf, Physiology, and 3d Motion Analysis. He has a degree in Exercise and Fitness and has been a Director of Instruction for almost 30 years at resorts and clubs such as- The Four Seasons Punta Mita, BIGHORN Golf Club, The Club at Cordillera, The Promontory Club, and the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. His past and present instructional awards include the following: Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, Golf Digest Top 50 International Instructor, Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor, Best in State (Florida, Colorado, and California,) Top 20 Teachers Under 40, Best Young Teachers and many more. Tom is a Trackman University Master/Partner, a distinction held by less than 25 people in the world. Tom is TPI Certified- Level 1, Golf Level 2, Level 2- Power, and Level 2- Fitness and believes that you cannot reach your maximum potential as a player with out some focus on your physiology. You can reach him at tomstickneygolf@gmail.com and he welcomes any questions you may have.

10 Comments

rob campbell

Apr 22, 2015 at 2:56 pm

This article left about half the commenters with a similar question. I’m part of that group. Is everybody who talks about firing the hips wrong? Can you re-do this article or have you written it somewhere else where it’s more clear and/or not space-limited?

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Jim

Apr 22, 2015 at 1:33 pm

Great article, but I’m 67, male, and still have the same problem of coordinating the hips. Prolonged problem caused major back injury resulting in surgery. My problem results from backswing that is too upright and a downswing that puts the club lagging behind, stuck, and too shallow resulting in fats, thins, flip hooks and or pushes. This 2-way miss causes my golf score to totally depend on my timing that day. I’d give anything to learn how to make a full backswing and keep the club in front of me.

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MASSIVE MIKE!

Apr 22, 2015 at 1:28 pm

good idea

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Nathan

Apr 22, 2015 at 11:47 am

Tom,
I started playing golf at the age of 15 and I’m currently 19. In the four years I’ve been playing, I have worked my way down to a 3 handicap. During those 4 years I have always had the issue you described, that my hips far outpace my upper body. I currently swing a driver at 117 mph so I definitely don’t need more speed. What can I work on in order to reduce this separation. Also, what part of my body should I specifically work on strengthening? Upper body? Core?
Thank you for any help that you can offer

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Alex

Apr 21, 2015 at 10:24 pm

Tom, I apologize for asking this as it may be off topic, but…

Don’t you think that if someone has this issue (I’m 28 and I STILL swing like this after learning to play good golf with this type of swing when I was young and I’ve never been able to train it out) they should feel like their whole body turns equally through the ball on the downswing?

I’ve always thought that if the shoulders turn 90 back and the hips turn 35-45 or whatever is about half of the shoulders, that you should be trying to start the shoulders first because they are already 40 something (or more sometimes) behind the hips. If you fire the hips and they’re already that far in front of the shoulders, wouldn’t that just create this problem?

I feel like flexible folks like myself (and young kids, women, etc) that learn to “fire the hips” like a lot of us were taught will just do this forever because we’re only creating more and more separation that isn’t going to be helping in sequencing?

I can understand firing hips if they almost match the shoulders in the backswing, to create separation…but if the hips are really only turning half of the shoulders on the way back…seems like they already have the head start they need. Simply turning hips shoulder etc all together would retain that separation that is already created?

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- joe
  
  Apr 27, 2015 at 3:45 pm
  
  1st – take a look at this picture, the shoulders trail the hips so its true that the hips lead and shoulders follow http://www.golftoday.co.uk/proshop/features/2009/images/rory_mcilroy_swing_sequence_11.jpg
  
  2nd – You are assuming that everything is happening at the same speed. What I mean is that you are saying the shoulders theoretically starting first because they have to make up for the 40 degree difference. The mistake with this thinking is that you are speaking as if the hips and shoulders are moving the exact same speed, which is incorrect. Even though the initiate with the hips, the farther you get away from the hips, the more speed that body part has. Like a baseball pitcher, on release of the ball his hips are moving slower than his torso, which is slower than his arm, which is slower than his hand – this is a biomechanics of the human body issue. Your shoulders will reach the ball slightly later than the hips most likely, but they are also moving much faster than the hips and that difference isn’t as large as you may think. Initiating the hips does a lot of things, but for the sake of this article and your thought process, the most important thing it does is get the body moving as a unit, vs. a bunch of diff. parts.
  
  Reply Report comment
GoRapsGo

Apr 21, 2015 at 9:29 pm

Good article. I think that this is a problem for males too. Maybe not because of physical limitations, but misinterpreting information that is out there.

For example, I’m working on slowing down my hip turn so I can stay more connected. A couple of years ago, I was told to initiate the swing with the lower body and turn the hips so there is room to swing the club. I did that, but my upper body got stuck which resulted in slices. To fix the slices, I would manipulate my hands or do the chicken wing to get the club in the right position while my upper body was trailing my hips.

Recently, I don’t concentrate on my hips on the downswing any longer. I focus on starting my downswing by pulling my arms down to get it in front of me. The hips take care of themselves and my arms and upper body are connected. I still need to work on this, but I find that this new perspective is improving my contact.

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Cons

Apr 21, 2015 at 12:48 pm

Tom-

I have heard the following statement more than once when watching swing sequence videos- ” the player clears their lower body early so that they can swing the club freely through impact.”

.. How does one clear the lower body early and while avoiding outracing the upper body?

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Tribe Fan

Apr 21, 2015 at 9:45 am

Tom, another great article explaining a complex idea! Thank you. When you said “His hips outraced his upper body,” are you saying that all parts of the body (hands, arms, trunk, legs) should move together in transition? There seems to be mixed messages all over the place (magazines, announcers, etc) with transitional sequencing. One thing seems true to me when I watch the best swings: the lower body initiates transition with a push off the ground and pulls the trunk, arms, and club through. As you say, however, without connection this isn’t possible. Would you agree?

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Jordan

Apr 21, 2015 at 9:00 am

Tom, What is it about these players’ physiology that doesn’t enable them to stay connected? I am sure that there are many adult male players who suffer from the same swing faults. But perhaps in the latter case, the issue is more about technique, whereas with the juniors/women, they lack the upper body strength to make a proper backswing and get in the right position at the top?

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Instruction

How to play your best golf when the temperature drops

Published

3 months ago

Feb 3, 2026

Brendon Elliott

The LPGA Tour is kicking off its 2026 season this week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, and the pros are dealing with something most Florida golfers rarely face: freezing temperatures.

“It’s colder here than in the UK at the minute, which is a first,” said England’s Charley Hull during Wednesday’s media day at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

Even Lydia Ko, who lives at Lake Nona, seemed surprised by the cold snap. “We’re pretty much getting to below zero in celsius here, which maybe in other parts of the country they would be thankful, but when you’re in Florida it is a little bit of a surprise,” she said.

If the world’s best players are adjusting their games for cold weather, recreational golfers should, too. Here’s how to play smart when the mercury drops.

Understand What Cold Does to Your Game

Before you change anything, you need to know what you’re fighting against. Cold air is denser than warm air, which means your ball won’t fly as far. Period.

Hull noticed this immediately during practice rounds at Lake Nona. She mentioned hitting a gap wedge into the 18th hole during a previous win but needing a 4-iron during Tuesday’s practice round. That’s a difference of four or five clubs for the same shot.

Action item: Expect to lose 5-10 yards on every club in your bag when temperatures dip below 50 degrees. Plan accordingly and don’t be stubborn about club selection.

Layer Up Without Restricting Your Swing

Hull admitted she wore three pairs of pants during practice. While that might be extreme for most of us, staying warm is critical to playing well in cold conditions.

Your muscles need warmth to function properly. When you’re cold, your body tightens up and your swing gets shorter and faster. Neither of those things help you hit good golf shots.

Action item: Wear multiple thin layers instead of one bulky jacket. Look for golf-specific cold weather gear that stretches with your swing. Keep hand warmers in your pockets between shots. And don’t forget a good hat because you lose significant body heat through your head.

Take More Club Than You Think You Need

This is where ego gets in the way of good scores. When it’s cold, the ball doesn’t compress as well off the clubface. Combined with denser air, you’re looking at serious distance loss.

The pros at Lake Nona are dealing with a course that measures 6,642 yards but plays much longer this week. If they’re adjusting, you should too.

Action item: Take at least one extra club on every approach shot. In temperatures below 40 degrees, consider taking two extra clubs. It’s better to fly the ball to the back of the green than to come up short in a bunker.

Adjust Your Expectations on the Greens

Cold weather affects putting in ways most golfers don’t consider. The ball is harder and doesn’t roll as smoothly. Your hands are cold, making it harder to feel the putter. And if there’s any moisture on the greens, they’ll be slower than normal.

Ko mentioned that she still sometimes reads the greens wrong at Lake Nona despite being a member for years. Cold weather makes that challenge even tougher.

Action item: Hit putts more firmly than usual. The ball needs extra speed to hold its line on cold greens. Take a few extra practice strokes to get a feel for the speed before you putt.

Embrace the Mental Challenge

Hull said something interesting about cold weather golf: “I like the mental toughness of it.”

That’s the right attitude. Everyone on the course is dealing with the same conditions. The player who stays patient and doesn’t get frustrated by the extra difficulty will come out ahead.

Action item: Lower your expectations by a few strokes. If you normally shoot 85, accept that 90 might be a good score in 40-degree weather. Focus on solid contact and smart decisions rather than perfect shots.

Warm Up Longer and Smarter

This might be the most important tip of all. Cold muscles are tight muscles, and tight muscles get injured easily.

World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul revealed she’s been protecting a wrist injury that bothered her late last season. Cold weather makes those kinds of injuries more likely if you don’t prepare properly.

Action item: Spend at least 20 minutes warming up before your round. Start with stretching, then hit easy wedge shots before working up to your driver. Keep moving between shots on the course to maintain body heat and flexibility.

The pros at Lake Nona this week will adapt and compete at the highest level despite the cold. You can do the same at your local course by following these tips and keeping a positive attitude.

PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.

Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!

Instruction

3 lessons from Brooks Koepka that’ll actually lower your score

Published

3 months ago

Feb 2, 2026

Brendon Elliott

Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour, and whether you love him or hate him, the guy knows how to win when it matters. After his LIV Golf stint, the five-time major champion returns this week at the Farmers Insurance Open.

What makes Koepka fascinating? He doesn’t fit the mold. His swing isn’t textbook. He doesn’t obsess over mechanics. Yet he’s won three PGA Championships and two U.S. Opens, regularly making it look easier than guys with prettier swings.

So, what can average golfers learn from someone who treats the game so differently? Quite a bit.

Stop Overthinking Every Shot

Koepka describes his approach as “reactionary” rather than mechanical. While most tour pros grind over swing thoughts, Brooks sees the target and hits it. No mental checklist.

This might be the most valuable lesson for weekend golfers who’ve watched too many YouTube swing videos.

How to actually do this:

On the range, hit five balls where you stare at the target for three seconds prior to addressing the ball. Don’t think about grip or stance. Just burn that target into your brain. You’ll be shocked at how pure you hit it when your brain focuses on where the ball is going instead of how you’re swinging.

Next time you play, give yourself a rule: Once you pull the club, you’ve got 15 seconds to hit. Koepka is one of the fastest players on tour because he doesn’t give his brain time to sabotage him.

If you feel tension in your hands at address, you’re trying to control too much. Koepka’s grip pressure is famously light. Loosen up until the club almost feels like it might slip, then add just enough pressure to hold on. That’s your swing thought: soft hands, see the target.

This approach works better under pressure. When you’re standing over that shot with water left and OB right, the last thing you need is a mental checklist. See it, feel it, hit it.

Play to Your Strengths (Even If They’re Not Pretty)

Koepka uses a strong grip that wouldn’t pass muster in some teaching circles. But he’s built his game around what works for him, elite driving distance and recovery skills. He doesn’t try to be someone he’s not.

Here’s how to build your game like Brooks:

Look at your last five rounds and figure out where you’re actually gaining strokes. Bombing it off the tee, but can’t hit greens? Lean into it. Play courses where distance matters more than precision. On tight holes, grip down on your 3-wood instead of trying to thread a driver through a keyhole you’ll miss seven times out of ten.

Koepka knows he can scramble, so he’s not afraid to miss greens. If you’re deadly from 50 to 75 yards, start leaving yourself those distances on the par 5’s instead of going for them in two every time.

Know when to take your medicine. Koepka in the trees at the PGA? He’s punching out to 100 yards, not trying to bend a 6-iron around three oaks. You’re in the rough with a flyer lie and water short? Hit your 8-iron to the middle and move on. That’s not playing scared, that’s playing smart.

Save Your Best for When It Counts

Here’s a wild stat: Koepka’s putting average in majors is often more than a full stroke better per round than in regular events. He elevates when pressure is highest.

How does an amateur tap into that gear? It’s not about trying harder, it’s about caring differently.

Here’s what actually works:

Decide which rounds matter to you. Club championship? Member-guest? That annual trip with college buddies? Circle those dates and treat them differently. Koepka doesn’t care much about regular tour events, but majors? That’s when he locks in.

Two weeks before your big round, change your practice. Stop beating balls mindlessly. Play nine holes in which every shot has consequences. Miss the fairway? Hit from the rough on the next hole too. Three-putt? Twenty push-ups. Koepka’s practice intensity ramps up before majors because he’s rehearsing pressure, not just swings.

Develop a between-shot routine that resets your brain. Koepka is famous for his blank expression after bad shots. Try this: After any shot, take three deep breaths while walking, then find something specific to notice, a tree, a cloud, someone’s shirt. That’s your reset button. By the time you reach your ball, the last shot is gone.

The Bottom Line

Brooks Koepka’s return reminds us there’s no single path to success in golf. His “substance over style” approach proves that results matter more than looking good.

You don’t need a perfect swing; you need a reliable one that holds up under pressure. You don’t need to hit every shot in the book; you need the shots you can count on. And you don’t need to play great every time; you need to play great when it matters.

Welcome back, Brooks. Thanks for the reminder that golf is ultimately about getting the ball in the hole, not winning style points.

Instruction

What we can learn from Blades Brown’s impressive American Express performance

Published

3 months ago

Jan 29, 2026

Brendon Elliott

Blades Brown made a big impression last week in the California desert, and not just because he’s only 18. He put up numbers that would catch any weekend golfer’s attention. Most of us won’t hit 317-yard drives or find 86% of our greens in regulation, but there’s a lot to learn from how Brown managed his game at The American Express.

Here are three practical lessons from his performance that you can use on your own course this weekend.

Step 1: Give Priority to Accuracy Over Distance Off The Tee

Brown’s driving stats are impressive. He averaged almost 318 yards off the tee, ranking 12th in the field. More importantly, he hit 76.79% of his fairways, tying for fourth place in the tournament.

Think about that ratio for a second. Brown could have swung harder, chased more distance and tried to overpower the course. Instead, he played smart golf and kept his ball in play.

Your Action Item: Next time you’re on the tee box, ask yourself a simple question before pulling the driver. Do you need maximum distance here, or do you need to be in the fairway? If there’s trouble lurking or the hole doesn’t demand every yard you can muster, take something off your swing. Grip down an inch. Make a three-quarter swing. Do whatever it takes to find the short grass. Brown’s approach illustrates that fairways lead to greens, and greens lead to birdies. He made 22 of them last week, along with an eagle.

The math is simple. When you’re hitting three out of every four fairways like Brown did, you’re giving yourself legitimate looks at the green with your approach shots. That’s when scoring happens.

Step 2: Commit To Hitting More Greens

This is where Brown really separated himself. He hit 62 of 72 greens in regulation, an 86.11% clip that tied for first in the entire field. Read that again. An 18-year-old kid tied for the lead in one of the most important ball-striking statistics in professional golf.

How did he do it? By keeping his ball in the fairway (see Step 1) and giving himself clean looks with mid-irons and wedges.

Your Action Item: Start tracking your greens in regulation. You don’t need a fancy app or a statistics degree. Just mark down whether you hit the green in the regulation number of strokes. Par 3s in one shot. Par 4s in two shots. Par 5s in three shots.

Once you know your baseline, set a goal to improve it by 10%. If you’re currently hitting five greens per round, aim for six. The beauty of this approach is that it forces you to think strategically about club selection and shot shape. Brown’s strokes gained approach number was positive (0.179), meaning he was better than the field average. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be on the dance floor more often.

When you hit more greens, you eliminate the need for heroic short game shots. Brown only had to scramble 10 times all week, and he got up and down 70% of the time. That’s solid, but the real story is that he rarely put himself in scrambling situations to begin with.

Step 3: Minimize Mistakes And Stay Patient

Here’s the stat that jumps off the page: Brown made only three bogeys all week. Three. In four rounds of professional golf against the best players in the world.

He also made just one double bogey. That kind of clean card doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you play within yourself, avoid the big miss and trust that pars are never bad scores.

Your Action Item: Before your next round, decide that you’re going to play boring golf. No hero shots over water. No driver on tight holes just because you can. No aggressive pins when there’s a safe side of the green.

Brown’s performance shows us that consistency beats flash every single time. He didn’t lead the field in any single strokes gained category, but he was solid across the board. That’s how you post numbers and cash checks.

Give these three steps a try. Your scorecard will thank you.

PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.