From time to time you see golf videos on YouTube where a famous player is asked what’s the most important thing to think about in the golf swing? Well, I can give you the most important thing—it’s whatever I happen to be working on at the moment. And there have been a lot of them. Johnny Miller says he has a book full of WOOD techniques. Stands for worked only one day.

Now I’m gonna give you one that I think is not important, but vital. If you want to become a good golfer you have to be doing it.

You have to learn how to have the tip of the handle of the golf club get to the ball before the clubhead does.

Let me say that in another way: the handle of the club always moves forward through the ball.

I’ve talked about this before, and here’s a video I made years ago that demonstrates it and says it a third way.

The opposite would be if the handle moved backwards as the clubhead goes through the ball, as the video shows, so the tip of the handle gets to the ball after the clubhead does. If you’re doing that, becoming a good ball striker is not possible. You will always struggle.

But if you can learn to control the handle of the clubhead, you’re on the way to becoming a good golfer.

And this applies to every shot: for your full swing, for pitches, for chips, even putting.

Work on this technique. Redo your golf strokes so the end of the club you’re holding leads the end of the club that hits the ball.

I promise you once you have figured this out and once you can do that every time, and this is something you can learn to do every time, your ball striking will improve beyond your wildest dreams.