By Todd Kolb
January 27, 2020
If you've always wanted some simple golf swing tips to improve your golf game, look no further. These 3 simple golf swing tips will help you work on 3 different aspects of your swing.
Have you reached a plateau in your golf game? You go to the driving range and the golf course every weekend, maybe evenpractice at home, but their results never change.
Even if you don't care much about beating your friends, we all want to beat ourselves. We want to see significant improvement and know that our hard work is paying off. If you're at a dead end, it's not because you've reached your full potential. Chances are there's a little glitch in your golf swing that's holding you back.
I'm going to share three golf swing fundamentals that have been shown to help you play better golf. I have been using these tips with my students for over twenty years and the results have been transformative.
These concepts cover three different phases of your swing:
- Running away
- cross
- movie
You may not need all three golf swing tips, but chances are at least one of these tips will reveal a mistake you didn't know you made.
What is a good golf swing?
If you really want to improve your golf swing, you probably should.start with the basics. If you're having trouble with your golf grip or setup, chances are your swing is in trouble even before you hit a golf club.
Get a (good) grip
To start, grip the club with your fingers rather than your palms, and be sure to keep a short thumb in your dominant hand (left thumb for a right-handed player). Holding the racket in the palms of the hands and sticking out the thumbs are common mistakes, but very easy to correct.
to test yourtap, carrygolf Cluband hold it in front of you with just your lead hand, using just your index finger. If you can hold the racket between your index finger and the palm of your hand, you'll score well.tap. You will also find that you can performcorrect wrist articulationHolding the club in this manner is another good indicator of proper form.tap.
to configure
Then we come to the settings. An athletic golf stance is key, which means a good stable base and a bit of a squat. You should not lock your legs, or crouch in your stance. Just stay in a ready athletic stance, feeling good and natural with the ball heading.
Be sure to put more pressure on your leading foot in your starting setup. We like to encourage a 60/40 split, but you can scale it up or down as needed. A good place to start would be to kick your hips slightly forward into your setup so that your front hip is directly over your front foot. Depending on the racket used, the stance width should be approximately shoulder width. (Learn more about the difference between driver and swing iron here)
Finally, raise the front arm (linker armright-handedgolf player, opposite for lefties) slightly above the support arm, which should move yourbackalso a bit. Your back shoulder will be slightly lower than your attacking shoulder, shaping the flight of the ball into a nice high pull. This helps move the racquet's trajectory up and to the right, which helps the ball spin and shoot. With practice, it will become easier and more natural.
Now that we have good support, a correct setup, and an athletic stance, we can prepare to cover the swing. In fact, you could even teach most of my students a golf lesson just by knowing this information. But now that your grip and setup are better, let's talk about what happens in your swing.
What causes a slice in the golf swing?
This is a good question, a common but complex question. Unfortunately, there are several things you can do with your golf swing mechanic to cut through the golf ball. It can be as simple asball position, or as complex asUnderstanding the gear effect. Fortunately, it all comes down to 2 factors: the relationship between the clubface and the path of the swing.
If there is a difference between the face and the road, that difference creates the curve. Below are 2 driver changes, both resulting in a slice. One is a route based cut, the other is club face based.
well if you arecut your driverin particular, this is a good image. Let's start right after impact.
With the face cut, the racket is wide open, which means the ball is thrown directly to the right of the target. With trajectory cut, you don't know right away whether or not the ball is going to cut, hook, or keep going. That's the first part of the equation when diagnosing a cut: where does the ball start?
Let's go to the end of the golf swing. Now the first ball obviously started correctly and continued correctly. This is a face problem. The second ball starts out straight, but then drifts to the right of the target. So if you start in a straight line, the surface was in a line, but there is a difference in the path that creates this resulting curve. This is the second part of the diagnosis: where does the ball bend?
So if the ball goes out of line, you have a facial problem. If you start online and then turn around, you have a path problem. When in doubt, remember this phrase: the face governs, the path is twisted.
plan the swing the wave
Now that we've talked about the clubface and the path the club takes, let's identify a common mistake when diagnosing an inside-out vs. From outside to inside. The problem arises from the confusion that the plane of rotation is the same as the direction of rotation. However, that's not true. Believe it or not, a golfer can have an inside-out swing face and still have an outside-in club path at impact.
The swing plane is the angle at which the racket goes up on the backswing and down on the downswing. When your angle of attack is exactly zero, the turning plane moves in the same direction as your turn. The problem here is getting a solid iron shot to hit the golf ball. A negative angle of attack shifts our swing path to the right (vice versa with a positive angle of attack). This change only occurs when the swing path creates a large discrepancy between the swing plane and the swing path in our golf swings!
But what is the ideal swing plane? The swing plane changes with many different variables and can vary greatly from golfer to golfer. The ideal plane corresponds to the angle formed by the axis of the racket when it is mounted. Taller players may have a steeper swing path or those who are a bit closer to the golf ball. A steep swing path that comes to mind is the Justin Thomas golf swing. For a closer comparison, check out Rickie Fowler's golf swing. It tends to be a bit deeper in setup, creating a shallower turning plane.
Remember that the plane of rotation and the direction of rotation are different measurements. When you watch your golf swing on video, you see the swing plane. A solid swing plane is important to all golfers, but it can be very misleading as to what the club is actually doing at impact. Understanding how your swing path can change based on your angle of attack can help you diagnose why those pesky hooks or cuts are occurring!
take it
An overlooked aspect of takeout is the relationship between the hands and the head of the club.
In fact, it is much more common to worry about the direction the golf club is swinging while eating. You may have even gotten advice or heard theories about whether it's better to swing your club further out or in.
However, if you look at the best players in the world, you'll see that there isn't much consistency when it comes to club lineups. Some golfers go in, some go out, and many fall somewhere in between. Meanwhile, everyone takes amazing photos and takes home trophies.
So here's a theory: maybe the club's management isn't the real problem.
Golf Tip: Hand Position
If you look at the same players, you'll find that there's something that stays the same no matter what direction they take at their club:
You always keep the head of the club.Forof hands
To clarify, when we talk about keeping the clubhead away from your hands, we mean keeping your clubhead a little further from your body than your hands. If the clubhead passes through the plane of your hands and closer to your body, the clubhead is now on the inside.
Next time you're on the driving range, pay close attention to where the clubhead is in relation to your hands as you swing the ball back. Do a few practice moves to verify this. A good check point is when the racket handle is almost parallel to the ground. If the clubhead is out of your hands at this point, you're in for a big transition.
If you've articulated your wrists so that the clubhead is now in your hands and almost level with your body, it's highly unlikely that you'll achieve the solid swing you're capable of.
An easy way to check if you're making this common mistake is to watch what your right hand man is doing in the restaurant. If you can see the entire lower right forearm parallel to the racket, the racket is probably in your hands.
For the racket to work in the hands, we must pass the left hand over the right. This move causes the right forearm to roll as well, exposing the bottom of our forearm. Bring the racket back to parallel position and check that the right arm has not dropped on the serve.
the transition
The second of the golf swing tips deals withthe transition.
When I say transition, I mean the transition from the cafeteria to the top of your swing.Basically the meat of your backswing.A very common mistake at this stage is the dreaded chicken wing.
You may have heard that it has chicken wings. And most likely, the person who told you this was referring to your ending, not your transition. "Chicken wing" is most commonly used to describe golfers who end up with widely separated elbows. The truth is, while this bug is easier to catch towards the end, it's usually a byproduct of a mistake made during the transition.
Many, many golfers are in the habit of keeping their elbows open as they move from the tee to the top of the swing. It's one of those knee-jerk mistakes: it's something your body wants to do, especially when you're not as flexible as you used to be. (Speaking from experience.)And before you know it, you're in trouble before it starts.crisis.
The problem is that spreading the elbows limits the rotation of the body and creates a steeper angle for the racket. Both side effects will affect your swing.
Along with the steeper angle your racket works at, the chicken wing can cause some spine angle issues in transition. To make the golf club flatter (since we made it more angled with the chicken wing), we need to use our torso. As the club begins to move downward from the chicken wing position, our body begins to add lateral flexion, creating a large dip in the shoulder to allow the club to hit the golf ball. This lateral flexion makes it difficult for a golfer to finish on the forefoot. Also with this movement we lost a lot of control of the face due to the impact.
The tip: elbow grip
To correct this habit, remember that as you move toward the top of the swing, your elbows come together. Make it look like you are pressing them together. It may sound bad, but trust me, a mindset that keeps your elbows together will get you closer to the shape you want.
I recommend practicing with aTraining aid like Smart Ball from Tour Striker. It's essentially an inflatable ball that you place between your forearms to keep it in place throughout your swing. Hitting with a smart ball can do wonders to correct this chicken wing and others.common return errors.
Once you've got those elbows under control, you're ready to throw a strong finish.
target position
This last of the 3 golf swing tips is particularly useful for anyone who struggles with timing, rhythm, and balance. It's also the advice I recommend to my students when all else fails. . . and it's deceptively simple.
First, let's examine what the target position actually is. For me, the position of the target is a direct reflection of what happens during the golf swing. It's very easy to tell there's a swing error if the target position seems awkward or unbalanced.
The target position must be balanced. And there is a very simple way to make sure that:
Your knees should touch.
Believe it or not, golf swing tip #3 is that simple. When your knees touch the goal line in golf, you are balanced. Golf swing tips don't have to be complex to achieve big improvements.
This simple tip will allow your body to fully rotate during the swing. Your left shoulder is fully rotated, pointing your torso toward the target, your right elbow will be across your body, and your weight will be forward and off your rear leg.
What I often find even more interesting is that when golfers start their swing and think about their knees on the target, the rest of the shot follows. I wish I had studies and statistics that scientifically prove that thinking about the end can smooth out every golf swing. Unfortunately, I only have anecdotal evidence from over twenty years of teaching.
It's easy to get bogged down in all the details of the swing. From setup to body rotation for taking and the transition to lag for impact. . . The checklist for the perfect golf swing can be overwhelming. But I've seen a lot of my students improve their overall swing just by focusing on where they wanted to go:
Racket hanging from the shoulder and knees touching.
Soon
Identifying the problem in a golf swing can be very difficult and overwhelming when done alone. If you practice with a friend while you focus on the three tips in this article, this problem will be much easier.
First consider the flight of the ball. Remember, if the ball goes out of line, you have a facial problem. If the ball starts on the line and then drifts off the line in any direction, there is a trajectory problem. Be careful when watching videos when diagnosing a routing problem. Pivot plane is not the same as pivot direction or pivot path.
It's amazing how a small adjustment to your golf swing can make all the difference. I have seen this over and over again with my students. If you feel like you're not hitting the kind of shot you're capable of, take a minute to look at each part of your swing. ask yourself:
- Conclusion: "Am I holding the clubhead out of my hands?"
- During transition: "Do I keep my elbows steady?"
- At the end: "Am I balanced when my knees touch?"
If your answer to any of these questions is "no," you may find that turning that "no" into a "yes" is enough to make your golf game better.
Did these tips work for you?
Was it helpful? Have you heard of these tips before? Is there anything here you don't agree with?
Join us in the comments section to share your thoughts, questions, and disagreements.
For more detailed golf swing tips visit us atGreatGolfTipsNow.com. This new video series is completely free and full of detailed tips to help you play better golf!
