Want to hit the ball longer and straighter? PGA Professional Charlotte shares a simple shoulder rotation drill to help.

Being able to rotate your shoulders effectively is fundamental to the golf swing and helps maximise power and accuracy.

Without a full, 90-degree shoulder turn, it’s common to compensate by moving your hips or knees. The result? Your downswing becomes unstable, and you lose power. You’ll also struggle with consistency; the more moving parts you have in your swing, the harder it becomes to repeat the movement every time you hit the ball.

It might sound obvious – of course you have to turn your shoulders to hit the ball. But all too often, we get so hung up on the technicalities of the swing that we forget the basics.

And I absolutely count myself in that camp.

It’s very easy to become consumed by so many different swing thoughts that suddenly, it’s difficult to move your body freely.

Paralysis through over-analysis.

So whenever I’m on the course and not hitting the ball well, the first thing I do is try to quiet my thoughts and just focus on making a big shoulder turn as I swing the club back.

There’s a really simple drill you can use to check that you’re rotating your shoulders correctly.

  1. Take your normal stance.
  2. Place a golf club across your shoulders, with your arms folded across your chest. The club should be horizontal to the ground, with the grip pointing towards the target.
  3. Make your usual backswing. If you’ve turned your shoulders correctly to 90 degrees, the grip of the club will be pointing to the golf ball, and your knees will be more or less in the same position as they were at set up.

Give it a go and let me know how you get on!

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