The motto of my blog is, Little Things That Make a Big Difference. Here’s a little thing that never gets talked about. I mean never.

What I would like you to do is stand up and raise your left arm to where is straight out in front of you and parallel to the ground. Rest your right hand lightly on top of your left shoulder.

Keeping your right hand at the same place in space, lower your left arm to your side. Has a gap between your hand and shoulder appeared? If so, that’s a big mistake.

When you raise your arm, there will be movement inside the joint, but that’s it. You do not raise your shoulder along with the arm. There is movement inside the joint, but the joint itself does not move.

Try the exercise again, but this time rest your right hand on top of the left shoulder to begin with, and then raise your left arm such that right hand does not get lifted up or press against your hand. That’s the feeling of your shoulder staying down. That’s the right way to raise your arm.

In golf, when you swing the club back, do not let your shoulders come up. The arms will rotate inside the shoulder joints, but the joints stay down.

You really can’t test yourself when you swing a club, since both of your hands are busy holding it, but you know what it feels like for your shoulders to stay down, so that’s good enough.

What this does for you is keep the arm-club lever the same length from takeaway through impact. You don’t have to go fishing in the forward swing to find the ball. The clubhead returns, all things being equal, to the same level where it was at address, which is a good thing.