Golf Swing Fundamentals - SelectPace Golf

“No matter how good you get, you can always get better” – Tiger Woods

Novices and experienced players can all benefit from studying or reviewing the basic fundamentals of the golf swing. There are some great golf instruction books recommended on the Beginner page. But here is a summary of the fundamentals you will find in those books and others. They are described here for a RIGHT-HANDED player, so if you play with left-handed clubs, you should just reverse the words left and right in the following decriptions.

Grip, Stance, Alignment, Posture and Pivot

In this section, we will go over the correct grip, stance, alignment, posture and pivot. In the following lessons we will go over the full swing with irons and woods, chipping, pitching and putting.

You should practice what you learn here (hit range balls) to make the things you learn a habit, so you don’t have to think about them. You can only think of one or two things during the course of a swing. Of course you can think of many things before the swing while you are making sure you are set up properly.

After that you must rely largely on muscle memory to make a good swing. That requires a lot of practice. To speed up the process, practice what you learn at home in super slow motion – this improves muscle memory and gives you time to think about each position in the setup and swing.

The Grip

Good golf begins with a good grip. The most popular grip among golfers is the overlapping grip as will be described here. In a good grip both hands act as one unit.

“In golf there are certain things you must do quite precisely, where being approximately right is not right enough. The grip is one of these areas where being half right accomplishes nothing” – Ben Hogan in his book “Five Lessons The Modern Fundamentals of Golf”

THE LEFT HAND

The club handle should be pressed up under the muscular pad of the heel of your left hand and also lies across the top joint of the forefinger.

The main pressure points are the last three fingers and heel pad. The V (between forefinger and thumb) should point between the right ear and right shoulder

THE RIGHT HAND

The club handle should lie across the top joint of the fingers.

The two middle fingers are the main pressure points of the right hand.

With both hands on the grip, the V (between forefinger and thumb of your right hand) should point between the chin and the right ear.

The little finger of the right hand should sit on top of the groove between the forefinger and middle finger of the left hand. The left thumb should fit into the cup of the right palm. You should maintain medium grip pressure for most shots. Don’t squeeze the club handle too tightly.

The Stance and Posture

Imagine a line pointing from the ball directly at where you want to hit the ball – that is the target-line.

The right foot should be pointed almost perpendicular to the target-line but pointed out a little to the right .

The left foot should be pointed out a little towards the left making it easier to turn through the shot.

For a 5 iron, the feet should be about shoulder width apart.

The stance widens slightly for longer clubs and narrows for shorter clubs.

The knees should remain flexed slightly throughout the swing and point inward a little. The left leg straightens in the follow-through.

Your weight should be about evenly distributed between the heels and balls of your feet during the set-up or adress.

Bend forward slightly from the hips, keeping the back straight.

The left arm should be essentially straight, the right one relaxed.

The right shoulder lower than the left (because of the grip, your right hand is lower)

Keep your chin up so your left shoulder can pass under it on the backswing and right shoulder on the downswing.

Alignment

A line across your toes should be parallel to the target-line for a full shot. Slightly open (left foot a little back away from the line) for shorter shots.

The ball is on the target-line and on a perpendicular line going from the inside of your left heel out to the ball, for the driver and long irons. In the middle of your stance for a 5 iron. A little further back to the right for shorter irons.

Stretching

Do a few minutes of stretching before practicing the swing. Always stretch before practicing or playing.

Pivot

When learning, begin by doing half to three-quarter swings, shifting your weight on the backswing to the inside edge of right foot, taking the 7 iron halfway back. Keep your left arm pretty straight. Keep your head steady. Then on the downswing, rotate your hips left while shifting your weight to your left foot and swinging through until facing the target with your belt buckle. Let your right heel come up and let your right foot turn up onto the toe (shoelace facing the target). Don’t force it, but let it happen as a result of turning the hips and shifting your weight onto the left foot.

CHECK POINTS

Toe of club points up when halfway back

Weight does not move back past the inside edge of right foot. Feel as though you can only hold your weight there for a split second. (You would fall to the left if you picked up your left foot.)

Head remains level or moves slightly lower until impact. It may turn slightly to the right and move back to the right slightly a couple inches on the backswing.

Left arm remains fairly straight on back swing and on downswing until after impact when it folds and right arm then straightens.

Downswing begins with hip rotation and weight shift to the left.

Hands turn over slightly going through impact. (supination of left hand, which is turning counter clock-wise as you would look down at them)

Feel that you are swinging through the shot with BOTH hands.

Stay ‘behind’ the shot, which means don’t let your upper body sway forward to the left past the ball before impact. Your lower body does drive forward with the weight shift.

Knees remain flexed until the left leg straightens on the follow-through.

CHIPPING, PITCHING, PUTTING

Chipping

(from close to the green, with plenty of room to roll the ball)

Use about a 7 iron for novices, up to a wedge for experienced players

Use a narrow, open stance.

Put most of your weight on the left foot.

Your hands should be ahead of the ball position (so lowest part of swing is in front of the ball, to prevent hitting the ground behind the ball)

Hit the ball first, before the ground

Keep head of club low back and thru

Let hands ride along with the club going thru, don’t flip the wrists

Take club straight back, cocking the wrists a little and then swing straight thru keeping the left wrist flat thru impact. The chipping distance determines the length of the swing ( See Tiger Woods in above photo )

Swing smoothly, hitting down slightly to brush the ground but not take a divot

Pitching

Lob pitch

Ball should be in center of your stance or forward a little

Stance is slightly open

Use club with a lot of loft (wedge, sand wedge, lob wedge, 9 iron)

Open club face a little

Swing medium to slow speed for short lob shots

Take very little turf

Regular pitch (with plenty of bite)

Play ball a little back in the stance

Stance is slightly open, feet fairly close together

Use lofted club

Use square club face

Hands should be in front of the ball

Wrists break rapidly on the back swing

Swing is shorter than with a longer club

You should have a moderate amount of body movement.

Hit down on the ball and take a divot (do not scoop the ball)

Hands and arms are very active, but swing is unhurried at the beginning of the downswing (as in all shots).

Hit it hard.

Putting

(Requires concentration, relaxation and confidence)

Reverse overlap grip is popular and a good one to start with (but people use MANY different grips for putting – what-ever works for you)
Back of left hand should face the hole.

Square or slightly open stance

Eyes should be directly above the line of the putt (above the putter head)

Don’t move your head or hips. Rock the shoulders while swinging your arms

Putter face at right angles to the line of the putt.

Hands slightly ahead (forward) of the ball helps the ball to roll better, not jump

Keeping putter low going back helps ball roll better, not skid.

Take the putter straight back and straight thru

Don’t try to hit up on the ball to give it overspin.

Select the proper line and hit with proper speed (takes a lot of practice especially for beginning players)

Visualize the ball going into the hole before starting the stroke.

Full swing ( with iron)

Take the correct stance and posture as previously described.

For a 5 iron, place the ball midway in your stance, hands ahead of the ball.

Before the backswing

The waggle – is a very miniature swing, moving the club back and forth.

Forward press – a very slight movement forward with hands, or knee just before recoiling into the back swing.

Backswing

The hands, arms and shoulders start the club back almost simultaneously.

As the shoulders turn, they start to turn the hips. Tension builds between shoulders and hips due to a retarded hip turn.

The left knee breaks in to the right.

Turn the shoulders almost as far as they will go. Your back should face the target for driver and long irons. For shorter irons, don’t turn quite as much.

The left heel may lift slightly off the ground or remain on the ground. For shorter shots, keep it on the ground.

Most of your weight shifts to the inside edge of your right foot.

The right leg remains in the same position as at address. It should not sway out to the right, it should remain flexed.

The left arm is kept fairly straight.

Your head should remain fairly steady. (don’t move it up or forward, may move just slightly to the right and slightly down. The chin can turn slightly to the right)

When you finish your backswing, your chin should be hitting against the top of your left shoulder

Downswing with an iron

The turning of the hips back to the left initiates the downswing, and shifts the weight from the right foot to the left. The hips should turn fairly quickly.

The hip rotation to the left brings the arms automatically down about 1/3 of the way.

The shoulders then begin to turn, but not too fast at the beginning.

The right knee breaks in toward the left.

The arms continue down, but keeping the wrists cocked until the hands are about down to hip level.

Then release the wrists and hit through the ball with both hands very fast.

When the clubhead reaches impact with the ball, the hands should be slightly ahead of the ball. Even though most of your weight has transferred to your left side, your head should still be behind the ball (to the right of it) – as you can see on the book cover shown below. ⬇ I highly recommend this book for learning or reviewing the fundamentals.

Five Lessons The Modern Fundamentals of Golf – Ben Hogan

With an iron you should take a divot after the ball, not before. You hit the ball first, then take the divot.

At the end of your follow through your weight should end up 90+ percent on the left foot with the belt buckle facing the hole and right foot up on the toe. In balance.

Full swing (with driver)

The purpose here is to review previous lessons and to teach you the full swing – backswing and downswing. (using a driver)

Take the correct stance and posture and alignment as described earlier

Ball position.

For driver, place the ball in line with the inside edge of your left foot.

Before the backswing

For the driver it may help to address the ball with the clubhead slightly off the ground, to prevent hitting the ground on the downswing.

The waggle – is a miniature swing, moving the club back and forth.

Forward press – slight movement forward with hands, or knee just before recoiling into back swing.

Backswing

The hands, arms and shoulders start the club back almost simultaneously.
As the shoulders turn, they start to turn the hips. Tension builds between shoulders and hips due to a retarded hip turn.
The left knee breaks in to the right.
Turn the shoulders as far as they will go. Your back should face the target for driver and long irons.
The left heel may lift slightly off the ground or remain on the ground.
Most of your weight shifts to the inside edge of your right foot.
The right leg remains in the same position as at address. It should not sway out to the right, it should remain flexed.
The left arm is kept fairly straight.
Your head should remain steady. (don’t move it up or forward, maybe just slightly to the right and slightly down. The chin can turn slightly to the right)
When you finish your backswing, your chin should be hitting against the top of your left shoulder.

Downswing

The turning of the hips back to the left initiates the downswing, and shifts the weight from the right foot to the left. The hips should turn fairly quickly.

The hip turn brings the arms automatically down about 1/3 of the way.

The shoulders then begin to turn, but not too fast.

The right knee breaks in toward the left.

The arms continue down, but keeping the wrists cocked until the hands are about down to hip level.

Then release the wrists and hit through the ball with both hands very fast.

The left wrist begins to supinate as you strike the ball. (begins to turn under so that the palm starts to turn upward)

With a driver you sweep the ball off the tee, you don’t hit down on the ball as you do with an iron shot.

Weight should end up 90+ percent on the left food with the belt buckle facing the hole and right foot up on the toe. In balance.

THIS HAS BEEN A SUMMARY OF THE FUNDAMENTALS. For those who are just starting to learn golf, it is highly recommended to first take at least a lesson or two from a golf professional. The instructor can watch you and help you to perform the parts of the swing correctly. The various instructors will have slight differences in how they teach the fundamentals. Some may have larger differences.

The golf instruction books mentioned here are also highly recommended and will give you much more information about the golf swing.

“The more I practice, the luckier I get“ – Gary Player