Almost every golfer I see, and I see a lot of people playing and hitting range balls, reach for the ball with their shoulders and arms at address. Sounds reasonable, after all you have to use them both to hit the ball. But it's not.

The biggest culprit is the right shoulder because the right arm has to reach a little farther to grip the club. Most players also reach with the left shoulder, but to a lesser degree.

What happens when you reach out with your shoulders is that your pectoral muscles contract. This creates a tension throughout your upper body that resists your swing, not only going back but going through.

So much is written about light grip pressure to reduce the tension in your swing, but the forearms are not the problem. The truth is, you can grip it just about a tight as you want to within reason.

What is really important is that your upper body muscles be relaxed. If you reach for the ball with your shoulders this can't happen because reaching contracts the pectorals, which cause many other muscles to follow.

Here is what you do to over come this problem. Place your feet in your normal stance and stand erect, with your arms hanging relaxed at your side and touching the outside of your thighs. In this position your pectoral muscles are naturally relaxed. Note how it feels.

Take your club and grip it in either hand and assume your complete address position, taking care not to let your pectoral muscles contract even the slightest amount. Their purpose is to pull your shoulders forward so you must make sure your shoulders stay in the same position they were while you were standing relaxed.

I grant you, it will feel very strange at first. But very relaxed. You will have to stand a little closer to the ball than you are used to to make up for the lack of shoulder reach.

If you move the shoulders at all from the relaxed standing position described earlier the pectoral muscles will contract. That is, after all, their job. Keep the pectoral muscles relaxed at address and you will unleash the power you have been wasting fighting against them.

Now if you have a big belly to reach around you may not be able to avoid some shoulder reach. You may have to live your limitations until you decide to get healthy again.

Give this a try. You may just amaze yourself at how far you can hit the ball once you stop fighting contracted pectoral muscles.