Did you know that more than 296,000 people in the United States alone work at golf courses and country clubs? There are more than 9,000 of these businesses scattered throughout the country. Together, they earn more than $27 billion in revenue every year.
This huge demand for golf is a reflection of how much fun and satisfaction people get out of a game well played. However, many people enjoy golf even more when they devote themselves to golf swing basics and can watch their skills grow.
In many ways, golf is a game of great discipline. That applies to your training and exercises as well as to actually playing the game.
By exercising the discipline to focus on golf swing basics when you are beginning, you will progress much faster than if you focus on flashier or more impressive advanced techniques. So what can you do to take your golf swing to the next level?
Read on to learn all about the fundamentals that will lay a strong foundation for your golf swing!
Focus on Grip Tips for New Golfers
The grip you have on your golf club will affect everything else about your swing. If your grip is off, it will be impossible to compensate for it with other aspects of your swing.
Many people have difficulty developing a proper golf grip because they are trying to develop it at the same time that they are developing other aspects of their golf swing. However, one of the most important principles of learning is breaking things down into simpler parts.
You will often enjoy more success if you isolate your golf grip first. Once you have the grip down, you can move on to the next aspect of your golf swing.
Even focusing on the whole grip at the same time can be difficult for new golf players. In the beginning, try focusing on just getting the grip right with your off hand.
For most people, that will be the left hand, but you can reverse the instructions in this article if you are left-handed.
Keep in mind that one of the most important parts of developing a good golf swing is making sure that your grip consists of a lot of contact with the club. You can wrap your hand around the club and feel approximately how much of your hand is in contact with the club. In general, you want to feel like you have a lot of contact with your fingers and your lower palm on the club.
Practice gripping and ungripping your club and feeling how a more careful grip can allow you to get more contact between your hands and the handle. When you have a solid grip on the club, it should feel almost like an extension of your body.
Instead of slipping from side to side as you move your hands or arms, it should feel like it moves in tandem with your swing. Once you have that down in isolation, you can start practicing other aspects of your golf swing.
Use Your Off Hand to Add Control
Expert golfers have spent decades and even centuries figuring out how to swing the golf club as well as possible. However, there are some simple principles you can keep in mind when you are starting out.
In general, your dominant hand will provide more strength in your golf swing. In contrast, your offhand is the ideal hand to use for extra guidance and control. So how can you your offhand do this?
Start paying attention to the back of your left hand as you prepare to swing. If you point the back of your left hand a little to the left of your target, it will cause you to draw the ball more. If you the back of your left hand toward the right of your target, you will tend to fade more.
As you practice this, you should also practice making deliberate mistakes. Many beginning golfers have trouble telling when they are making a mistake. However, if you deliberately practice aiming a little bit to the left and right of your target, you will begin to feel and see for yourself how it affects the trajectory of your swing and of the golf ball.
Develop an Effective Golf Stance
Earlier, we talked about how a good grip allows you to move your arms and the golf club in tandem with little slipping between them. You can apply a similar principle to understand the kind of golf stance you need to take your swing to the next level.
If the rest of your body is off balance, it will not matter that there is very little slipping between your arms and the club. In most cases, you will end up having slips at the shoulders because the body and the arms are not well-grounded and integrated.
If you struggle to hit the ball in the same place consistently, the problem might be that your body tends to move in random directions as you move throughout your swing. You can start to diminish these imperfections in your swing by focusing on your stance.
Again, it is often helpful to isolate this part of your swing until you see definitive improvements. If you try to practice it while also practicing the grip and the rest of your swing, it will be much more difficult for you to discover how to improve.
Feeling Into a More Balanced Stance
One great way to practice your golf stance is to hold it for a long time and notice what happens to your body. If your stance is off balance, you will find that you start to develop fatigue in some part of your body.
You should learn to think of that sensation of fatigue or discomfort as a friend. It can help you figure out where you are off balance. Try adjusting your stance until you can alleviate the fatigue you feel in a certain spot and then go back to holding your stance until you feel fatigue develop in a new spot. Then try different adjustments until you alleviate that fatigue as well.
As you continue to adjust your stance over and over again, you will eventually find a position that you can hold without developing discomfort or fatigue in any specific spot. That is a good sign that you have a more integrated stance that will not slip as you begin to swing.
Hit Down for a Proper Golf Swing
During golf swing drills, many beginners have a tendency to try to help the ball get up into the air. However, your golf clubs are already designed to take care of that for you. It is important to learn to avoid this instinct.
Instead, you should focus on hitting down on your iron shots. This will allow the loft on your club to take care of giving your ball the height it needs.
To learn how to hit down on your swing, try practicing hitting up in an exaggerated way. Then, slowly diminish how much you hit up. You can continue pulling back in this direction until you are going too far in the opposite direction.
As you move back and forth between hitting too far up and down, you will begin to find it easier to find the happy middle point between them.
Pay Attention to Yourself During Golf Swing Drills
There is a lot that beginning golfers can learn from golf swing fundamentals. However, it is also important to pay attention to your own swing and your own body.
Because we do not all have identical bodies, there is no one swing that is perfect for every golfer. Instead, advanced golfers have to learn how to find their own unique swing. Your unique swing will consist of a combination of classic golf swing tips and special attention paid to your own unique body.
If you are in a rut, consider ignoring a single golf swing tip at a time and seeing how it affects your results. In most cases, ignoring classic tips will make your golf swing worse. However, you might find a single tip that is not working well for your unique body.
This is one of the reasons that many people find it so difficult to improve their golf game. They double down harder and harder on following all of the best golf swing advice.
That is the correct move 95% of the time, but that last 5% can provide you with a problem that will never be resolved until you learn to pay attention to your body and figure out how to adapt the classic golf swing to your unique situation.
Understand the Most Essential Golf Swing Basics
Many new players focus so much on getting better that they try to learn about advanced golf tips and tactics. However, progress will come much faster when you start by focusing on your golf swing basics. Many people would benefit from breaking down basic drills into even simpler exercises.
To learn more about how you can improve your golf skills as fast as possible, check out our other pages here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some basic tips for improving my golf swing?
Improving your golf swing starts with mastering the basics, such as establishing a solid grip, developing a balanced stance, understanding how your offhand adds control, and learning to hit down on your iron shots. Remember, it’s all about breaking down the swing into simpler parts and mastering each part before moving on to the next.
How can I develop a proper golf grip?
Start by focusing on getting the grip right with your offhand, usually the left hand for right-handed golfers. Aim for a lot of contact between your fingers, your lower palm, and the club. Practice gripping and ungripping the club to understand how a careful grip can improve your contact.
How can I use my offhand for better control in my golf swing?
Your offhand can provide guidance and control in your swing. For example, if you point the back of your offhand slightly left or right of your target, it can influence the ball’s trajectory. Practice deliberately aiming to the left and right to understand how these changes affect your swing.
How can I develop a more effective golf stance?
A balanced stance is key for a successful swing. Practice holding your golf stance for a long time and notice any discomfort or fatigue. This can indicate imbalance. Adjust your stance to alleviate the discomfort, and keep practicing until you find a stance that feels comfortable and balanced.
What does it mean to hit down on my golf shots?
Hitting down on your iron shots means striking the ball with a downward motion rather than trying to lift it into the air. Your golf club’s loft will take care of giving the ball the height it needs. Practice this technique to find a balanced middle point between hitting too far up and down.
How can I adapt the classic golf swing to my unique body type?
While golf swing fundamentals are important, not all tips work for everyone due to our unique body types. If you’re in a rut, try ignoring one tip at a time to see how it affects your results. This could help you discover which aspects of the classic golf swing need to be adapted to suit your unique needs.
Why is focusing on golf swing basics important for new players?
Focusing on golf swing basics helps lay a strong foundation for your golf swing, making it easier to progress to more advanced techniques. Breaking down basic drills into simpler exercises can also be beneficial for rapid improvement.
