A Drill to Help Fix 3 Common Faults in the Move Away

Hi, Robin here. I’ve got a great drill for anybody struggling with the following faults in their move-away.

Fault number one. You’ve entered your swing.  You’ve noticed that you have a lot of sway or lateral movement to the right in your upper body at the start of your golf swing. You might be finding it difficult hitting the ball solid or creating a penetrating ball flight.

Fault number two. You’ve noticed that you’re dominating your move-away with a lot of body rotation early in the swing. You might notice that the club goes inside. You’ve got issues with getting your arms and your body matched up later in the swing, finishing the backswing through the impact zone.

Fault number three. You’re struggling getting your wrist setting correct at the start of the swing. You’re noticing that your wrists look very wooden. Your swing looks overly wide at the beginning.

And the last fault, which could be connected a little bit to the way you’re setting your wrists, but it’s in your right arm. In a good move-away, we want the right arm setting, folding and rotating.  You’re noticing that your right arm looks very straight and wooden.  Well, then the following drill is going to help you.

With any of those faults, you might be finding it very easy to make good practice swings. Staying central, getting your arms and the club moving, wrist setting correctly, right arm folding and rotating. But when you actually go ahead and hit a golf ball, video your swing, you simply don’t make the change.  The swing looks the same. Sometimes you have to be hitting golf balls to really get a feel or an understanding of what you need to feel to make the change. Some people, you need a subtle feeling. Some people, you’re going to find you need a very strong feeling.

So the drill is simple as this.  I’ve used two sticks and a swimming noodle, but you can use any object. Your golf bag is a handy thing when you’re on the driving range, placing your golf bag behind you. Now, tee the ball up, and spend a few moments just making good move-aways, gauging the distance between you and the object. Basically, with a good move-away, you shouldn’t touch the object. If you sway or you early turn, or you don’t set your wrists correctly, you’re going to find you hit the object. So once you’re set up, simply, you can now practice in the station, ensuring that you’re making a good move-away. You’ll start to develop a feeling for what you need to do to make the change.

Those four faults are very common faults. When we start golf, we start golf normally with clubs that are too long and too heavy for us. It encourages a big movement with the upper body, difficult to get your wrist setting, the right arm folding and rotating. So there’s a lot of people out there struggling with those faults, and I hope this simple drill can help you.