At The Turn Tips

The turn is a good place to ask yourself if you’ve been a victim of the “spider syndrome.” When a spider is threatened, it curls up into a ball because, for the spider, motion is error. Many golfers under stress do the same thing—driven by the idea that “motion is error,” they cut back on their swing and steer the ball to minimize off-line shots. This robs them of distance and accuracy, so they tinker, and by the 14th hole, they’ve lost it completely. Resolve on the back nine to freewheel it.

A loss of distance can also be fueled by a “single shoulder turn,” where you turn your front shoulder, but shrug your back one. For longer, straighter shots, you need to turn both shoulders—the left under your chin and the right behind your neck.