As I am getting to know a new group of golf buddies since I moved to a new club this past summer, I have the fun of observing all these new swings and techniques. What I see most often is plenty of struggles around the greens.

What I see most often in mid-to high-handicap players (and some low handicap ones) is a technique that is overly dependent on hand action, where body core rotation is practically non-existent. This causes the golfer to make a slap or jab at the ball with the clubhead in an attempt to make contact.

This reliance on your hands is then aggravated by one or two shots that are hit poorly, thereby making you more “impact conscious.” And the vicious cycle begins – bad shot, more handsy, another bad shot, tighter grip, another bad shot, quicker tempo, and holes just thrown away.

Years ago, I created a simple drill to feel how your body core should be engaged, even on short scoring shots, so you can try to cure this terrible affliction.

Pick up a wedge and take your normal grip. Now hold it directly in front of you, with your upper arms relaxed at your side and your elbows bent so your forearms are parallel to the floor and right in front of your chest. The club should be vertical, so that you are looking right at your right thumbnail (for right-handers). Now, keep your eyes focused on your right thumbnail and your upper arms close to your chest, rotate your upper body to move your hands and the club back and forth, starting about a foot in either direction. You want to feel like nothing is moving but your body core. As you continue to rotate back and through, lengthen the range of motion until you are making nearly a full shoulder turn. But always make sure that your hands are right in front of your sternum throughout the range of motion.

Now, extend your arms straight out in front of you, so that now the club is pointing away from you at about 45 degrees. Repeat the drill, moving the arms and club back and through only by rotating your body core. It helps to focus your eyes on the right thumb so that you are very aware if you start swinging the arms without rotating the body. That’s what a pitching swing should feel like – one-piece rotation of the body, with the arms and hands “quiet.”

The last piece of the puzzle is to gradually lower the club as you rotate back and through – do this by bending at the hips, flexing the knees and lowering the hands. Lower the club a little bit on each rotation, so that you continue to feel like the body core is driving the entire action. Once you get so that the club is brushing the turf or carpet as you go back and through, you will be feeling what a solid, functional and repeatable wedge swing should feel like.

I realize this is abbreviated but try it and I think you will see just how inactive your body might have been on your pitch shots.