The first thing I tell any new golfer about how to swing a golf club is to think of other athletic moves, such as throwing a baseball.
There is a reason why some of the best celebrity golfers are pitchers and quarterbacks…there is a good bit of movement involving the entire body, and they are throwing toward a target.
Hockey players can also make good golfers as well, which is not surprising.
However, the movements that are most similar to swinging a golf club are skipping a stone on a pond and throwing a frisbee.
Once that idea is in mind, the next thing for the new golfer to understand is how the golf club is designed to get the ball in the air.
The reality is this…the best swing to try and model after is this one in the Tiger Woods nike commercial from about a dozen years ago.
Visually, that is about as good as it gets. Tiger is the best golfer we’ve ever seen, so why not use his best swing as the model to strive for?
How do we accomplish that goal? Well, not everyone has the athletic ability to duplicate that swing, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn the fundamentals that go into the development of such a swing.
So let’s get to it!
How To Swing A Golf Club – The Grip
The first fundamental of the golf swing is the grip. It is the most important fundamental because the grip is our only connection to the golf swing, and it controls the angle fo the club at impact.
If the club face is open to your swing path at impact, then the ball will start to the right of your path (assuming you are a right handed player).
If the club face is closed to your swing path at impact, then the ball with start to the left of your path.
In general, an open club face is caused by a “weak” grip, where the hands are turned too far to the left on the club, and a closed face is caused by a “strong” grip, where the hands are turned too far to the right on the club.
For a right handed golfer, here is the proper way to hold a golf club.
1. Your left hand should be placed on the club so that the left thumb points down the club shaft at about 1 o’clock. If your thumb is straight down the shaft, it is too weak.
2. The V formed by your thumb and forefinger should be pointed between your right cheek and right shoulder. Then, if I am standing in front of you, I should only see two knuckles on the back of your left hand. If I see more than 2, your hand is turned too far to the right (too strong). If I see only 1, it is turned too far to the left (too weak).
3. Your right hand should be placed in such a way that the pad of the right thumb covers the left thumb. You then wrap your fingers around the club from there.
4. Your right thumb should be pointed at 11 o’clock down the club shaft.
5. The V formed by your thumb and forefinger should be pointed between your right cheek and right shoulder…parallel to the V formed by your left hand.
6. You should form a trigger with your right forefinger, and that trigger should be directly beside the right thumb, not underneath the club, and not on top of the grip. When you place your hands on the club in this manner, the palms should be facing each other.
Here are the fundamentals of the grip for left handers…
1. Your right hand should be placed on the club so that the right thumb points down the club shaft at 11 o’clock.
2. The V formed by your thumb and forefinger should point between your left cheek and shoulder.
3. Your left hand should be place so that the pad of the left thumb covers your right thumb. Wrap your fingers around the club from there.
4. Your left thumb should be pointed at 1 o’clock down the club shaft.
5. The V formed by your thumb and forefinger should point between your left cheek and shoulder, parallel to the V formed by your right hand.
6. Form a trigger with your left forefinger, and that trigger should be directly beside the thumb, not underneath the club and not on top of the grip.
Now, let’s move on to the Setup.
How To Swing A Golf Club – The Setup
After the grip, how we stand up to the ball is the next most important fundamental for how to swing a golf club. Most people do not realize how poor posture and alignment can immediately affect the golf swing.
For instance, if you stand up too upright, you will likely take the club too low and too far to the inside on your takeaway. If you are too hunched over, you will likely take the too far outside and too steeply.
In both cases, you immediately go off the swing plane and you will have to re-route the club at some point. If you are not successful in doing that, you will hit the ball inconsistently.
The keys to a proper stance are as follows:
1. Your feet, knees, hips, arms, shoulders and eyes should all be aligned parallel to your target line.
2. You should find yourself in an athletic stance .
- feet shoulder width apart
- knees slightly bent and turned inward toward each other
- bent slightly at the waist usually about 25 to 30 degrees. The longer the club in your hand, the less bend there will be.
- arms hang down directly under the shoulders so that the hands are not too far or too close to the body when holding the club
- back straight
- chin is not tucked into the chest, but up a little bit
- weight evenly distributed between each foot
- weight should be just behind the balls of the feet not on toes and not on heel
3. Your ball position will vary depending upon the club in your hands. Most shots played with a wedge through a 5 or 6 iron will be played in the middle of your stance. The longer the club, the more forward we place the ball in our stance, assuming a flat lie.
4. Your hands for most shots should be even with the golf ball. This will allow the triangle formed by your arms and shoulders to be directly in front of you. We do not want this triangle angled too far forward, with a strong forward press of the hands as this will take loft off of the club. We do not want this triangle tilted backward, as this will add loft to the club.
5. The right shoulder will be tilted slightly lower than the left simply because the right hand (if you are a right-handed player) is below the left hand on the club. However, we do not want more of a tilt than needed.
Face-on view of golf stance. Notice how I keep the triangle formed by my arms and shoulders right in front of my body. In this case, I am holding a 7 iron and I have positioned the ball in the middle of my stance. As you proceed through your clubs to the longer clubs with less loft, you will move the ball more forward in your stance as shown.
This is the down the line view of the stance. While remaining comfortable, you should try to keep your back as straight as possible. Your feet, knees, hips, shoulders and eyes should all be lined up parallel to your target line. Your hands should hang directly under your shoulders with short to mid irons. With longer clubs, you will stand a little taller and your hands will be a little further away from your body.
Your weight should be distributed evenly between both feet, and it should be centered just behind the balls of the feet. That pretty much covers stance and posture.
As you notice, there is a lot of detail involved in developing a proper stance. Well, that is certainly not by
accident. Watch the pros, especially those with the great swings like Tiger, Louis Ouisthiuzen, Justin Thomas, Ernie Els, Adam Scott, etc, and you will notice how they stand over the ball in similar positions.
In the video below I discuss the setup further.
You now understand how to hold the club and stand up to the ball, let’s get into the swing itself.
How To Swing A Golf Club – The Back Swing
When it comes to how to swing a golf club, the back swing is clearly the most complicated part of the picture, and this is where many golfers really begin to go off track.
Let’s start with the takeaway.
The takeaway ends when the club is parallel to the ground. As the club reaches parallel to the ground, it should be parallel to the target line.
The initial part of the back swing, i.e., takeaway, starts with the shoulders turning and a modest hinge of the wrists. At this point, the lower body is not yet very active.
As the backswing continues, we try to keep the club on a swing plane angle that is parallel to the shaft angle at address.
The club swings a little inside and a little up. The shoulders continue turning and the hips resist turning as much.
Notice how the club shaft half way back is parallel to the green line, my original shaft angle at address.
In the top photo to the right, my weight has shifted to the back foot a bit, but the body stays relatively centered.
There is no major lateral shift. Also notice how the club has begun to lean toward the target in the photo to the right. This is a result of the cocking, or hinging in my wrists.
At the top of my swing, since I am short of parallel, the club should still point off to the left.
The club shaft is still nearly parallel to the original shaft angle at address. I normally do not get the club to parallel at the top of my swing with an iron.
Notice in the top photo that my shoulders have turned just about 90 degrees, and my hips about half that much.
My right leg acts as a brace in the back swing. The weight is loaded into my right heel, inside my right thigh and in my right glute.
At the top of my swing, my left wrist has a similar angle as the clubface. I also have decent extension with my arms. Finally, my spine is tilted slightly away from the target.
When the shoulders are done turning, the backswing is complete. If my club shaft were parallel to the ground, it would be parallel to the target line.
If the club goes past parallel, it will cross the target line, but that is ok, I would still be on plane.
Ultimately, I would not regard this as a perfect back swing, as I would prefer to have a more shallow swing plane. In other words, I am swinging the arms a little too high as I pose for this photo!
In the video below I present a discussion of the back swing.
How To Swing A Golf Club – The Down Swing and Follow Through
The downswing essentially starts before the backswing is completed.
In other words the left hip starts moving forward as the weight shifts from the back foot to the front foot, before the shoulders have completed turning into the back swing.
At impact, 90% of your weight should be on your front foot, and you should have a strong front side. Ideally, your left arm is nice and extended at impact and the back of your left hand faces the target.
Your upper body may be straight up or have a slight lean away from the target.
After the club passes through the impact zone, your hips continue to turn and your arms will be fully extended about two feet beyond impact.
In the top photo is my impact position. Notice how similar the angle of my clubshaft is on the left as it is compared to my set up position in the bottom photo..
You can see in the top photo that I have shifted my weight to the left foot, and my hips are now more open.
Also, my center of gravity has dropped, and while my upper back is a little more rounded, I have maintained my overall spine angle pretty well.
Halfway into my follow through position you can see the extension of my arms after impact. Again, when the club reaches parallel to the ground, it should be parallel to the target line, or slightly inside of that. The head should be going with the ball now as well.
At the end of your golf swing your belly button would be facing the target, all your weight should be on your front foot, and you should be standing tall.
You should be up on the toe of your back foot, but totally balanced on your front foot.
If you pick up your back foot, you should not have to adjust your balance to avoid falling over.
If I were standing behind you, I should see the entire bottom of your back foot. If I dont then you have not transferred all of your weight.
And that concludes our discussion of the full swing. For more info, check out the video below.
Final Thoughts
Now you have all of the information you need on how to swing a golf club. However, I never recommend that you start right out and start blasting away on the driving range.
Instead, I recommend that you work on building your swing with short chip shots and pitch shots around the green. This will help you learn the proper impact more quickly.
Then, when you are ready to step on the driving range, focus more on half swings at half speed with a wedge, and slowly build toward a full swing over several practice sessions.
That’s all I got for now! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to fill out the form below this post.
You can find more info on our Free Golf Training page.
