Thomas Bjorn

The 2018 Ryder Cup captain and 15-time DP World Tour winner on how you can get the most from your game

- Mark Townsend

SWING WITHIN YOURSELF

My favourite thing with amateurs is that they try and hit it way too hard. I always say to amateurs, swing at 80%. So when you drive the ball, swing at 80% and swing the arms past your body because it gets the arms going down and then it gets them releasing. Golf is about hitting it out of the middle of the club, it's not about hitting it hard.

That's in driving especially, but generally too. The big clubs are made to make the ball go long so why are you hitting it hard? With old clubs you hit it hard because you had to to get the speed to move the ball but today's clubs are made to make the ball go far so why are you getting all angry and aggressive with it?

THE BODY IN PITCHING

For club golfers to pitch well, they need to think of it as an extension of their putting, but with loft on the club. So stiff arms, stiff wrists and move the body only. Then you know where the club bottoms out in the arc.

When I move a club with stiff hands and arms, the club will still 'set' going back because of the weight of it. So let the club set only via its own weight. You don't have to try and set it, because that set has to come back or unset. The problem with amateurs is that they don't move their bodies.