Early extension is a swing killer. Pros prevent it with these two key moves

From the top of the swing, the best players create space to swing the club down to the ball. Watch the first downswing move from elite ball-strikers—their butt stays back and their chest is down. It’s the opposite of early extension, where the pelvis moves toward the ball and the chest rises, a fault that plagues so many amateurs and causes all kinds of contact issues and inconsistency.

Blackburn's Moves You Can Steal From the Pros: Keep Your Trail Arm Soft | Move the Clubhead First | Turn Your Ribcage | Push Your Butt Back | Swing Wide on Wedge Shots | Use Your Pivot for Chips

Creating space in the downswing is crucial to hitting it flush, especially with irons and wedges. It keeps the clubface square and allows the shaft to return to a similar position that it was in at address. People who early extend and move their hips toward the ball are jammed and have no room to rotate through the shot, leading to erratic contact and usually a slice.

To prevent early extension and keep your chest down, stand slightly closer to the ball. Check out Tiger Woods or Jon Rahm at address—they look like they’re right over the ball. When you set up like that, you’re incentivizing your body to push your butt back and create space. If you stand too far from the ball, the instinct is to move toward it, which causes the cascade of issues I just listed.

The key from the top of the swing is to push your lead foot toward the ball. Drive the toes of your lead foot into the tip of your shoe. The foot won’t actually move, but since force creates motion, that friction will push your butt back. Your chest will move down, and you’ll create a clear path to swing into the ball (above).

Mark Blackburn, voted No. 1 by his peers on Golf Digest's 50 Best Teachers in America, has coached dozens of pros, including Justin Rose, Max Homa, Collin Morikawa, Adam Hadwin, Daniel Berger, Charley Hoffman, Alex Fitzpatrick, Matthieu Pavon and Trey Mullinax. His golf academy is located at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.