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What happens if you don’t have any shoulder turn? Well, you’ll be looking at a very dysfunctional golf swing that just won’t work.

You’ll pick the club up more and start casting – where you ‘throw’ the club at the ball – and you’ve got more chance of swinging out to in. In simple terms, you’ll just pick the club up rather than turn your body.

Why you fail

A better shoulder turn gives you a more rounded swing. The problem many people face is that they move their lower half during the swing, which makes them think they’ve got a shoulder turn in there somewhere.

• Improve your ball striking

• Perfect your hip rotation

They initiate the backswing with their bottom half instead of their top half because they have very active legs. Your legs are important in the swing – but they should be acting as a strong base for you to work round.

Steve Johnston1

Route to success

This is one of my tricks to getting the right feeling of a good shoulder turn. This drill reduces the movement in your legs and increases the right feelings for a shoulder turn. It’s all about creating good feelings. It’s similar to hitting balls above your feet, as you are flattening your swing plane.

On the tee, for a normal shot, you want to try and recreate that feeling. Mark O’Meara, one of golf’s great ball strikers, practices on his knees to keep the rotation in his swing. He does it as he gets older, because his swing is getting stiffer.

• The ‘T’ position

• Set your club in motion

The first thing you will notice is that this drill is hard. But it makes you think and makes you aware of what you’re trying to achieve.

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