If you’re paying attention,
the best advice of your life probably comes from a stranger.
Not from your Garmin. Not from your usual coach. God sends you a stranger. To shake you up.
Let me tell you right away the trick they once told Justin Rose — long before someone shared it with me.
I heard it last Friday, at Golf de Pals. Shortly before Rose won the St. Jude Championship with flawless play… and a little luck in the playoff.
He deserves a spot in this year’s Ryder Cup, right? I have a feeling this is his year — he’s going to be one of the stars.
Anyway — 9 holes, great company, a solid start over the first 2–3 holes and then…
Goodbye, dear swing... Don’t leave me now! Hahaha. A complete mess of shots. Sound familiar?
At the end, one of my playing partners — who had watched me in silence with the air of an Aristotelian sage — came up and whispered:
— Hit balls with your feet almost together.
— Sorry?
— You’re swaying side to side instead of rotating. I used to do that too. — Hit balls with your feet almost together.
I thanked him with the smile of someone who knows they’re taking home a treasure. I looked up that drill carefully. You probably already knew it — I’d heard of it, too — but maybe it wasn’t the right time...
Turns out it solves several things:
- Better balance → With your feet together, your body forces you to keep your center of gravity stable.
- More controlled rotation → Since you can’t step sideways, you learn to rotate on your axis instead of swaying.
- Rhythm and feel → You realize you don’t need to hit hard to strike the ball well, improving your timing.
- Hand–body connection → Your swing becomes more coordinated and less brute-force.
A wise old man with white hair told me this. At Golf de Pals. Last Friday.
Apparently, Justin Rose also practiced this — recommended by Sean Foley (who once coached Tiger Woods). Foley was a strong advocate and promoter of this drill, he said:
"This drill helps you train the center of rotation and the proper swing sequence.”
So there you go.
It’s burned into my memory. I think I’ll train it — and fall on my ass a few times. Doesn’t matter.
Maybe it’ll help you too. Apparently, you lose very little distance swinging this way.
Sometimes I don’t listen. But to that wise old man with white hair — whose name I can’t remember…
I listened.
Because listening takes more than just hearing.
You have to fall on your ass.
Have a great weekend, golfers!