Justin Rose admits his swing gets too inside at times. Scottie Scheffler uses visual checkpoints to keep his plane neutral. Rory McIlroy fights a trail arm that wants to get trapped behind his body. Three major champions, three different flaws—and three drills that address what goes wrong in the first moments of the backswing.

Most swing faults don’t start at impact. They start in the takeaway, where small errors compound into big compensations. An inside path forces the right elbow behind the body, demanding a rescue mission on the downswing. An outside path steepens the club, inviting the over-the-top move that haunts weekend golf. Overactive hands remain the most common amateur fault, a recent instructional analysis confirmed—once they take over, the clubface opens and closes unpredictably, and ball flight becomes a guessing game.

Rose and Scheffler offer three fixes. Each targets a different error. Each demands nothing more than a few minutes on the range.

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Justin Rose’s two-for-one drill fixes an inside takeaway

The 2013 U.S. Open champion built this drill around a simple visual: the seam on your shirt marks your body’s midline, and your right elbow should never drift behind it during the backswing.

“If you take your backswing and your hands are diving on the inside, very good chance that your right elbow is also diving too far deep behind our midline,” Rose explained in a recent instructional video.

The execution is straightforward. Place your left arm across your chest, using your fingers as a barrier just inside the right elbow. Now take the club back while turning your body. The barrier prevents the elbow from moving behind you, forcing it to stay in front of the midline as you rotate to the top.

The payoff is twofold—hence the name. First, you arrive at the top in what Rose calls “a beautiful slot.” Second, the drill encourages slight external rotation in the right arm, positioning it underneath the shaft rather than trapped behind the body. That structure creates a stronger downswing where the club tracks from the inside without manipulation.

Scottie Scheffler’s pencil drill corrects swing plane

The four-time major winner keeps his takeaway simple by using visual checkpoints rather than mechanical thoughts. His pencil drill provides instant feedback on whether the club is tracking too far inside or outside the ideal plane.

Attach a pencil to the butt end of your grip so it extends beyond the handle. During the takeaway, the pencil should point toward your trail thigh. At the halfway-back position, it should point at the ball or slightly toward the ground. If the pencil aims too far inside—toward your feet—you’ve gotten too flat. If it points outside the ball, you’ve lifted the club too steeply.

The drill trains the width and prevents over-manipulation of the hands. Scheffler’s philosophy reinforces the approach: “Find the two or three things that you work on that you need to stick with for a while.” Visual checkpoints beat mechanical clutter every time.

Rory McIlroy’s split-grip drill prevents a trapped club

The five-time major winner battles a familiar problem: his club drifting behind his body during the backswing, leaving him scrambling to recover on the way down. His solution comes from coach Pete Cowen—a split-grip drill that keeps everything in front of the body from start to finish.

“For me, one of the biggest keys in my swing is making sure that the club stays in front of my body on the way back,” McIlroy explained. “Anytime the club gets behind me early, it makes the rest of the swing more difficult. The club has to travel a lot further to get back to the ball.”

The setup requires separating your hands on the grip. Trail hand drops low on the handle, lead hand stays in its normal position. From there, make slow swings focusing on keeping your hands visible in front of your chest throughout the motion.

McIlroy emphasizes the feeling at the top: the right arm stays in position, the right elbow doesn’t get trapped behind the body, and the downswing becomes a matter of unwinding rather than rescuing. If your backswing plane leaves you stuck with nowhere to go, the split-grip offers a reset.

Three drills. Three different entry points. If your hands dive inside, use Rose’s elbow barrier. If your plane wanders, grab a pencil. If your trail arm gets trapped, split the grip. The takeaway sets everything that follows—fix it there, and the rest of the swing has room to breathe.