Golf Smart Academy
This drill gives you a simple way to improve lead arm awareness throughout the swing. By placing a tee in the cuff of your lead-hand glove, you create an easy visual and feel-based reference for how your lead wrist and forearm are moving. That matters because many common swing problems—an open clubface in the backswing, a steep delivery, or a scooping release—are tied to poor control of the lead arm. Instead of guessing what your wrist is doing, you can use the direction of the tee to give you immediate feedback.
How the Drill Works
The setup is straightforward. Take a golf tee and slide it into the extra space at the bottom of your glove so it sticks out from the lead wrist area. It should fit snugly enough that it stays in place while you make swings and even hit shots.
Once the tee is in place, your job is not to obsess over wrist positions. Instead, you simply monitor where the tee is pointing at key points in the swing. That direction tells you a lot about the condition of your lead wrist, forearm, and clubface.
For example, in the backswing, if your lead wrist gets too cupped, the tee tends to point more downward. If your wrist stays more neutral, the tee will point more on an upward angle. In transition and delivery, the tee can help you sense whether you are getting too steep, too shallow, or moving into a better shallowing pattern with the lead arm. Through impact and into the follow-through, it can also help you train a more rotational release instead of a flip or scoop.
This is what makes the drill so useful: one simple reference can help you organize several important motion patterns at once.
Step-by-Step
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Insert the tee into your glove. Open the bottom of your lead-hand glove and place a tee into the extra space near the wrist so that it sticks out clearly.
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Make slow practice backswings. As you swing back, notice where the tee points at the top. A more neutral lead wrist will usually have the tee angled slightly upward, while excessive cupping tends to send it more downward.
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Rehearse the delivery position. Move slowly into the downswing and stop around waist-high. In a good delivery position, the tee will often point more outward in front of you, roughly in a 30- to 45-degree direction, rather than down at the ball.
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Check for steepness or shallowing. If the tee points too much toward the golf ball, you are likely getting too steep. If it works more outward with the lead forearm, you are more likely organizing a better shallowing pattern.
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Train the release. Swing through and feel the tee point more out in front of the ball through impact, then more down and behind you in the follow-through. This helps you avoid a scooping motion and encourages better forearm rotation and extension.
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Hit short shots first. Start with small punch shots or half-swings. After each shot, ask yourself where the tee was pointing during the backswing, delivery, and release.
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Build toward full swings. Once the feels become more familiar, take the same awareness into longer swings without losing the checkpoints.
What You Should Feel
The biggest benefit of this drill is that it shifts your attention away from abstract mechanics and into something you can actually sense. You should start to feel that the lead arm is guiding the club more effectively instead of reacting late.
Backswing
You should feel a more neutral lead wrist rather than an overly cupped one. The tee should not feel like it is diving toward the ground at the top.
Transition and Delivery
You should feel the lead forearm helping the club organize into a better delivery position. For many players, that means the tee points more outward rather than down at the ball. This is often associated with a shallower, less steep approach.
Release
You should feel less of a flip and more of a rotational release. Some players describe this as a “motorcycle” type motion, where the lead arm and wrist help square the face earlier instead of adding loft at the last second.
Follow-Through
You should feel the arms extending while the lead forearm continues to rotate. If the tee points too much upward after impact, that is often a sign of scooping. A better pattern will have it moving more down and around behind you.
Keep in mind that the exact direction of the tee can vary somewhat based on your grip strength and body pivot. The goal is not perfect geometry. The goal is better awareness and more functional movement.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Watching the wrist instead of using the tee: Let the tee be your reference. That keeps the drill simpler and more intuitive.
- Making full-speed swings too soon: Start slowly so you can actually notice the tee’s direction.
- Letting the tee point straight down in the backswing: This often goes with too much cupping and a clubface that gets out of position.
- Letting the tee point at the ball in transition: That is a common sign of a steep downswing.
- Letting the tee point up through impact: This usually reflects a scoop or flip rather than a solid release.
- Forcing positions mechanically: Use the drill to build awareness, not to create tension in your hands and arms.
How This Fits Your Swing
This drill is valuable because it connects several important pieces of the swing into one simple training tool. If you struggle with an open clubface in the backswing, the tee can help you monitor whether the lead wrist is getting too extended. If you get steep in the downswing, it gives you feedback on whether the lead arm is helping the club shallow properly. And if you flip through impact, it helps you sense a better release pattern with more forearm rotation and less added loft.
In other words, this is not just a wrist drill. It is a way to improve how your lead arm controls the clubface, how the club is delivered, and how the club is released through the ball. Used consistently, it can help you build a backswing that is more organized, a downswing that is less steep, and an impact pattern that is stronger and more compressed.
For many golfers, those changes lead to cleaner contact, a more stable clubface, and a swing that feels much easier to repeat.
