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Create Room for Your Arms to Swing
Your practice at a glance
These golf drills are from the Golf Practice Made Fun App.
Keeping room between your hips and the ball helps your arms and club travel through without feeling crowded.
Early extension in golf describes the pelvis moving towards the ball and the body becoming more upright too soon during the downswing. Use the Jack Nicklaus Hip Depth Drill to explore space, the Early Extension Fix Drill to practise turning before becoming taller, and the Tiger Woods Magic Box Drill to review your lower-body movement. Complete eighteen easy shots in each of the first two drills, followed by eighteen comfortable practice swings with video feedback. Keep one small movement cue at a time.
Drill 1. Jack Nicklaus Hip Depth: Make Room with Small Steps
The small-step-back exercise exaggerates the feeling of creating space around your hips. It can help you recognise a less crowded setup and the room available for your arms, while small swings and a comfortable rhythm keep the task manageable.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Four balls on tee pegs. |
| 2 | Start swing in front of the first ball. Set up to an empty spot beyond the ball furthest away from you, as though addressing a fifth ball. Keep four actual balls on tee pegs. |
| 3 | While moving backwards say “right hip back”, “left hip back” while hitting each ball. |
Complete eighteen shots: four rows of four, then a final row of two. Reset the balls between rows.
Explore the full Jack Nicklaus Hip Depth Drill and its teaching photographs →
Drill 2. Early Extension Fix: Rotate First, Extend Second
The rotation-first cue gives you a simple direction to explore instead of pushing your pelvis towards the ball. Allowing the body to become taller later keeps a natural finish in the movement, so you can review the feel through your contact and balance.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Choose a short iron or wedge and take a comfortable address position with softly flexed knees. Begin with a small, slow rehearsal. Imagine a short arrow pointing out from your belt buckle. |
| 2 | As you turn through, let the belt-buckle direction move towards the target and beyond it, while retaining some forward tilt. Then allow the body to become taller as the club continues into the finish. Use “rotate first, extend second” as a gentle cue; the movements blend together rather than happening as two forced stops. |
| 3 | Play eighteen short shots in two sets of nine, making one gentle rehearsal before each shot. Notice contact and balance, and soften the cue if either becomes worse. You can practise without the optional alignment rod; focus on a comfortable turn rather than forcing your hips to reach a fixed angle. |
Explore the full Early Extension Fix Drill and its teaching photographs →
Drill 3. Tiger Woods Magic Box: Film, Observe and Compare
A consistent camera view gives you feedback you cannot get from feel alone. The reference box makes knee movement easier to compare before and after practice, helping you choose one useful observation alongside the hip-depth and rotation drills.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Place your phone safely behind you looking down the target line, with your feet, knees and club visible. Film one comfortable swing and leave the camera in the same position for the comparison. |
| 2 | Pause at the top of the backswing. Following the demonstration, draw a vertical line outside the lead knee and another inside the trail knee, then connect them above and below the knee area. Keep the box fixed on screen and compare where your knees move in the early downswing. |
| 3 | Choose one small cue, such as “soft knees”, and complete eighteen slow, comfortable practice swings in two sets of nine. Film the final swing from the same position and compare the same checkpoint. Use the box to observe your own movement rather than forcing your knees into its centre or making a deep squat. |
Explore the full Tiger Woods Magic Box Drill and its teaching photographs →
