The importance of your leading arm in the full golf swing cannot be overstated. Some of the most common causes of errant shots can be traced to a breakdown of proper arm position at the point of contact between club and ball. Probably the most famous example is the ‘chicken wing,’ where the leading arm bends at and just after impact, causing the elbow to shoot out and away from the body. Common result: blocked shots and slices. Why? Because the clubface doesn’t properly rotate into and through the ball. Ideally, you want the clubface to be slightly open just before impact, then move into a squared-up position, then flow into a slightly closed position. This imparts the best spin on the ball (slight draw), resulting in a shot that cuts through the air, then lands and runs. You get straight and long, which is what we all want.

The solution is to practice keeping your leading arm tucked loosely in front of the leading hip and along the thigh at impact. This motion will naturally cause your trailing forearm to rotate over the leading one, which moves the clubface through the proper hitting positions without any conscious effort on your part. Do not get tense or rigid. That will rob your shots of power and probably keep you from rotating your forearms correctly. Practice it until you can do it without any thought process involved.

You could do a lot worse than taking a page out of Vijay Singh’s practice tip book. He is, after all, perhaps the hardest working pro on tour today. Vijay puts a golf glove or thin towel under his left armpit (he’s right-handed) before a swing. His goal is to keep it in place throughout the swing, thus ensuring that his left arm stays close to his body. Works for him.