This drill just goes one step further than the February snippet (connected pitching).

I see many people who struggle with consistent ball striking and often have what we call a flying right elbow (where the arms come apart and spread in the backswing). So here is a great drill to get you connected with your full swing and improve the strike.

We again will use a football for this drill, keeping the ball placed between your forearms just swing back to the half-way point. What you need to do is keep the football in place and what we are looking for is that the elbows stay in a consistent position throughout the back swing.  If there is any chance of your elbows splaying apart during the backswing the football will feel loose and will fall out of position.

This drill is great and will help you with better vision and ensure you start the golf ball on the right line. (It will also help with your alignment… and everyone needs a bit of help there!!)

What you do is simply put 2 poles in the ground in the direction of your intended target (a must) about 3 to 4 foot in front of the ball. Now we have a great visual prop that will help you visualise and picture the ball flight you want.

A great drill to make sure your 3 to 4 foot putts are more positive.

What you need is a pencil, and 4 tee pegs. Place the pencil on the ground about a foot from the hole and use the tees to hold the pencil in place.

Then putt over the pencil towards the hole.  If all is well, the ball will take a little jump and pop into the hole. If your putts are not positive enough the ball will not jump over the pencil and therefore not go in the hole.

This drill will help you be more firm and positive with your putting and help you hole more short putts... have a go, this is a good one!!

Driving the golf ball with today’s new drivers is with out a doubt one of the most enjoyable parts of the game, for men and women alike. There is hardly an amateur golfer on the planet that wouldn’t love a few extra yards on their drive. So here are four basic check-points that could help add those extra yards to your tee shots!

1. Tee the ball Higher - If you want to get the proper angle into the ball and put the right kind of spin on the ball, make sure to tee it up, at least half of the ball should be above the top of the driver at address
2. Take the club back low and slow to start your swing – Far too often when amateurs swing a driver too hard, it starts with a quick out-of-connection backswing that has no width. So LOW and SLOW is the key.
3. Turn your weight behind the ball – don’t leave your weight on your front foot and make sure when you swing that you can feel your weight turning onto your back thigh and foot. A good check point would be that your left shoulder would be over your right foot (for right-handers)
4. Extension through the shot – Don’t collapse too early, I see this so many times when teaching, take a look at my picture, my right arm is still straight and extending through the ball well after impact. I really do think this is so important. Notice how my body is pointing down towards the target as my arms are extending. Practice this... it works!

Often I see golfers thinning their pitches or scooping them with less than desirable results. One of the main reasons I see day in and day out is breaking connection between your arms and body. Here is a very simple yet effective drill using a football.

Here's how this drill works

Place the football between your forearms and make a half swing, keeping the ball squeezed between your arms. If you are properly connected, the ball shouldn't fall out. If you scoop or don't extend through the shot correctly you will see the ball drop out immediately. This is a great drill to improve your ball striking and accuracy.
I have also used this drill with great affect to help with the start of the full swing, being connected at the start means your timing will improve.

Now we find ourselves in the winter without much opportunity to practice on good greens outside... unless you are away in Spain!!

So here are some things you can try indoors on the carpet.

Put a pound coin on the back of your putter and make smooth putting strokes whilst trying to keep the pound on the putter.  This will show up if you are a little jerky with your stroke... then try it with a ball in place so you can actually hit some putts and see what happens!!

Now practice your 3 to 5 footers. Always aiming at a target. You could turn some tee pegs on their heads and see if you can roll the ball up to them without knocking them over.

1. Practising properly: don’t spend more than half an hour at the range at any time, remember it could get expensive and you will tend to get bored and lose concentration. It is quality not quantity of your practice which will make a difference. Practice does not always make perfect, but the right practice will. Do not treat it as: ONE BALL DOWN 250 TO GO!
2. When practising take a good range of clubs with you, say 9, 7 & 5 irons & 3 wood, and the next time change the selection. Make the most of the winter, make friends with all of your clubs and don’t just practice with the ones you like. Why not take a lesson or two. The winter is a good time to sort your game out.
3. Work on your set up and alignment. Always have a target to hit too, this is important. Take time to change your target too, don’t just line up square on the range mat, put clubs down to help you with your alignment.

Plugged balls in bunkers!!! - many people think these are horrid things to deal with, but here is a way to help you get out.

At the set up take a slightly wider stance than normal and put a bit more weight on your front foot (say a balance of 60-40).

You now need to have the club face slightly closed, as this will help you get the ball out of the hole it has made for itself!

Try and keep your weight forward as you make a full back swing with a full wrist cock. Now pull the club back down onto the sand about 1 inch behind the ball.  This now will explode the ball out of the sand but you must keep the swing going through as much as you can.

Without a doubt, 9 out of 10 faults come from the way that you set yourself up before you strike the ball. That is why all tour professionals take time to work on and fine tune their set up and posture.

Here are some important things for you to look at to help you set up like the pros!

At the set up we are looking for an athletic posture with good alignment and of course balance.

From the top.

• Your head position should be up with your chin up too. Your chin shouldn't be down on your chest as this will restrict your shoulder turn into the back swing.
• Next you should bend from the top of your legs (stick your bottom out slightly) not your belly! This will help you get the correct spine angle with the lower part of your back straight.
• Now with your shoulders nice and relaxed, just let your arms hang down in what we call a natural position. At this point I would like you to feel as though your shoulder blades are pinned or close together, this will help keep them back and stop you from getting to rounded.
• Then bend your knees slightly, not too much as that would put too much of your weight on your heels. You should feel you are in a sporty athletic position with your weight forward in your feet.
• Finally to get your feet into position, you need to feel your weight is evenly balanced on each foot with your knees, feet, hips and shoulders all square and in parallel to the 'ball to target line'.

Q. What do all the top players have in common??

A. They have a pre-shot routine and most importantly they stick to it, no matter what.

I feel the only thing you can be completely in control of is your pre-shot routine.  However, once you have decided upon one, you must be disciplined enough to stick to it.

Whatever you decide to do, you must do it EVERY time with EVERY shot.

An example could be that after you have decided what club to use, and taken in to consideration the lie of the ball, and the wind, and where you want the ball to go...

You take have your complete practice swing, this should be exactly the same swing as that which you want to use for the shot... this is very important, this is your dress rehearsal for the shot you will make.

A lot of players just make some sort of waggle or half swing that does not represent anything like the swing they need to make. That doesn’t prepare their body for the task they want it to perform, so if you take a practice swing, make sure it is a proper perfection of what you want to do with your shot.

Take aim, making sure you have the target in mind, be precise with this, don’t aim at “the green”, BUT pick a point on the green that you can focus on, then off you go!  Make your swing the best you can, and hold the follow through, watch the ball to see where it goes and how it lands.

This does not take too long, and will not slow you down.