If there is a struggle with heavy contact, a lack of clubhead speed, or a club path that travels too far to the right through impact, it could be that the lead arm is not working and sequencing correctly.

In this video, we look at lead arm abduction, which is how the lead arm works away from the centre of the body, and why it is such an important piece of an efficient golf swing.

What Happens When Lead Arm Abduction Is Limited

When there is not enough lead arm abduction, it is often linked to three key issues:

• A loss of width in the backswing
• Poor sequencing in transition and downswing
• Not enough braking force in the lower half early in the downswing

When this happens, energy does not transfer effectively from the body into the lead arm and then into the club. The lead arm can begin to trail behind the body.

Common Results in the Swing

This pattern often leads to:

• Heavy (fat) contact from poor low point control
• A club path that gets pushed too far out to the right
• Heel Strikes
• Excessive dynamic loft and a loss of compression
• Reduced clubhead speed

The Bigger Picture – Power Accumulators

In The Golfing Machine by Homer Kelley, four power accumulators are highlighted as key sources of speed and energy in the golf swing.

One of these is the lead arm working off the chest.

If the lead arm stays too close to the body, one of the main power sources in the swing is effectively reduced. This directly influences speed, strike quality, and ball flight.

What This Video Will Help With

In the video above, there is a simple drill designed to help:

• Build awareness of lead arm movement
• Improve width and structure in the swing
• Develop a better feel for energy transfer into the club
• Develop a feel for the finish position (the key to achieving this motion)

Final Thought

If the lead arm is trailing, the root cause is often found earlier in the backswing or in how the downswing is sequenced. The key is not just identifying the position, but understanding why it is happening in the swing. Regular video check ins from face on and down the line inside the Online Academy can help identify and work on the root cause.

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The post Lead Arm Adduction/ Abduction appeared first on Phillip Tanham Golf Coaching.

Sway in the golf swing can make consistent contact and power difficult to achieve. It often leads to an unstable base, which affects strike quality and overall control.

It can also be one of the harder patterns to change, especially when it has been present for a long time.

Why Sway Is Difficult to Fix

Sway is not always just a technical issue. Over time, it becomes a learned movement pattern that feels normal.

That is why simply trying to “stay centred” or control the movement consciously does not always lead to lasting improvement.

To change it effectively, there needs to be a different kind of feedback.

A Different Approach Using RNT

In this video, a simple drill using a resistance band is used to introduce Reactive Neuromuscular Training (RNT).

Rather than trying to avoid the movement, the drill does the opposite.

The band pulls the body into sway, which creates a clear and immediate awareness of the pattern.

From there, the body naturally begins to react and resist the movement.

How the Drill Works

By being pulled into sway, the body is forced to organise itself in a more stable way.

This helps to:

• Develop better lower body stability
• Create a more centred and controlled motion
• Build an improved awareness of balance throughout the swing

Instead of forcing positions, the movement is learned through feel and response.

Why This Method Is Effective

This is what makes RNT so powerful.

It does not rely on conscious control or overthinking. Instead, it teaches the body through feedback, helping the correct movement become more intuitive.

Over time, this leads to a more stable base and a motion that is easier to repeat.

🎯 Want Feedback For Your Own Swing?

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The post Pelvis Sway in the Backswing appeared first on Phillip Tanham Golf Coaching.

A very common cause behind inconsistent contact is an early release, where the clubhead passes the hands too soon coming into the ball. When this happens, you lose shaft lean, control of the low point, and ultimately your strike becomes unreliable.

That’s why you can get both extremes:

• Heavy shots when the low point is too far behind the ball
• Thin shots when the club bottoms out too early and rises into impact

It’s not two different problems, it’s one pattern showing up in different ways.

The Face-On Checkpoint You Need to See

One of the simplest ways to identify this in your own swing is from a face-on view at delivery. (Position 6)

At this checkpoint, you can clearly see:

• The relationship between your hands and the clubhead
• Whether you’re maintaining or losing your angles

Watch the Full Breakdown Here

Why Early Release Isn’t the Real Problem

Early release is often a symptom, not the root cause.

Working on drills to improve your release can help. But if the movement is being caused by something earlier in your swing, it will keep coming back.

That root cause could be:

• Grip placement
• How you load your pivot in the backswing
• Your transition sequence
• Weight shift and pressure trace
• Clubface control earlier in the swing (Usually an open clubface)

And this is why quick fixes don’t always last.

Fix the Cause, Not Just the Symptom

Root causes for early releasing the club can vary from player to player, so while the checkpoint may be the same, the reason you’re early releasing might not be.

The key is to:

1. Identify the pattern (early release)
2. Understand the checkpoint (impact/delivery)
3. Diagnose the root cause (earlier in the swing)

Want to Find Your Root Cause?

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The post Early Release appeared first on Phillip Tanham Golf Coaching.

The backswing can often feel difficult to coordinate, especially when trying to match the movement of the arms with the body turn.

When these two elements fall out of sync, it becomes much harder to create:

• Width
• Depth
• A consistent, repeatable structure at the top of the swing

In this video, we’ll work through a classic and highly effective drill from David Leadbetter that helps bring the arms and pivot back together.

Who This Is For

This drill is particularly useful if you struggle with:

• Losing width in the backswing
• Arms becoming disconnected from the body
• Trying to create depth by pulling the arms too far behind you
• A top of backswing position that ‘just doesn’t feel right’

🎯 Want Feedback Like This For Your Own Swing?

This is the type of analysis players receive inside the Online Academy, complete with voice-over reviews, tailored drills, and personalized practice plans built around your swing.

👉Click HERE to learn more or to get started today!

The post Building the Backswing appeared first on Phillip Tanham Golf Coaching.

In an interview after his Masters win, Rory McIlroy spoke about his range session on Saturday night before the final round, where he was working on reducing the right-to-left curve on his ball flight. He explained that his swing path had started to drift too far out to the right, and his focus was on feeling more open through the body to help bring the path back to the left.

When the torso and hips get too closed during the downswing and through impact, the club can approach the ball too far from the inside. This in-to-out path often produces pushes, excessive right-to-left curvature, and inconsistent contact, particularly thin or heavy strikes.

One of the most effective ways to address this is by improving the feel of your pivot, specifically the combination of tilt and rotation through impact. Maintaining your dynamic posture allows the hands and club to exit more to the left through impact. This helps neutralise the swing path, bringing it closer to zero, while also encouraging a more forward low point for more consistent ball striking.

The drill shown in the video is designed to help you develop this feel. It’s a simple way to train the correct pivot motion, giving you a better sense of how the body and club should move through impact if you’re struggling with the ball flight that’s curving too far right to left.

🎯 Want Feedback Like This For Your Own Swing?

This is the type of analysis players receive inside the Online Academy, complete with voice-over reviews, tailored drills, and personalized practice plans built around your swing.

👉Click HERE to learn more or to get started today!

The post Learning from Rory McIlroy appeared first on Phillip Tanham Golf Coaching.

If you’re struggling to generate clubhead speed, the issue is often not effort but how energy is transferred through the swing. In efficient golf swings, speed is created through a sequence of acceleration and deceleration between body segments. When this sequence is working well, energy moves effectively through the chain and into the club.

In the videos below, we’ll look at how this pattern works and why it’s essential for producing speed. You’ll also see a simple drill designed to improve how energy is transferred into the lead arm and ultimately into the grip.

This drill is also highly effective for players working on maintaining dynamic posture in the downswing, helping to regain forward bend and avoid the club working too far underneath the plane. It can be especially useful for those whose trail leg and hip move excessively towards the ball in transition and downswing.

The Kinematic Sequence

How to Practice it

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The post Sequence Power Leaks appeared first on Phillip Tanham Golf Coaching.

This drill is excellent if you feel like.. ​

✔️ Your arms get disconnected from your pivot in the takeaway. ​

✔️ If you struggle with the pelvis swaying away from the target too much in the back swing. ​

Using resistance in the takeaway encourages the lead shoulder and core to engage, and at the same time create more stability through your trail foot. ​

It creates a back swing sequence that gives you a sensation of loading your back swing so that the downswing feels athletic and automatic.

🎯 Want Feedback For Your Own Swing?

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The post Simple Takeaway Drill appeared first on Phillip Tanham Golf Coaching.

This tendency, however, is almost always a symptom, which is why simply trying to keep the arms straight often does not work. The key is to identify the root cause, some of which, but not all, I cover in this video taken from a recent lesson.

If this is something you’re working on in your swing, hopefully some of the ideas in this video can help.

🎯 Want Feedback Like This For Your Own Swing?

This is the type of analysis players receive inside the Online Academy, complete with voice-over reviews, tailored drills, and personalized practice plans built around your swing.

👉 Click here to learn more or get started today!

The post Arms Breaking Down appeared first on Phillip Tanham Golf Coaching.

Whilst the pivot motion of the body is essential for power to be assembled, loaded and stored in the golf swing, without the arm and wrist motion, the power never gets released efficiently into the golf club.

The ideas and drills here are for a player that over uses the body pivot and under uses the arms and wrists. (If you’re a player who doesn’t use the body enough and is too active the the wrists and forearms- look away now! or check out these articles instead.. Backswing Pivot Benchmark / 6 Rotation Drills / Tour Body Pivot Checkpoints / Building the Pivot )

💡 Some of the keys are..

• A grip adjustment to enable the lead wrist to load and release energy
• Deliver the club in a way that helps the club head travel down through impact (whilst the hands travel up!) with enough speed.
• A drill to learn how to square the club face up independently of the body pivot

If you feel like your swing takes a lot of effort, but you’re not seeing that effort translate into distance, you’ll find some key concepts in here to help you convert that effort into solid contact, club head speed and club face control.

🎯 Want Feedback Like This For Your Own Swing?

This is the type of analysis players receive inside the Online Academy, complete with voice-over reviews, tailored drills, and personalized practice plans built around your swing.

👉Click HERE to learn more or to get started today!

The post How to Load and Release Power Efficiently appeared first on Phillip Tanham Golf Coaching.

This often leads to excessive slide in the downswing as a compensation. Loading efficiently in the backswing has a huge knock-on effect for sequencing and club delivery through the downswing and impact.

In this video, we’ll take a look at:

✅ Key examples and checkpoints to use in your own video analysis

✅ A drill you can start working on immediately to feel a more loaded backswing and a more explosive downswing

🎯 Want Feedback Like This For Your Own Swing?

This is the type of analysis players receive inside the Online Academy, complete with voice-over reviews, tailored drills, and personalized practice plans built around your swing.

👉Click HERE to learn more or to get started today!

The post Swaying & Sliding appeared first on Phillip Tanham Golf Coaching.