How to Create Width in a Golf Swing

If you've ever felt like you're all arms and no power in your golf swing, the missing ingredient is very likely width. This simple concept is one of the biggest separators between amateur golfers and professionals, but it’s nowhere near as complicated as it sounds. This guide breaks down exactly what swing width is, why it creates effortless distance, and provides a series of step-by-step feelings and drills to help you build a bigger, more powerful swing arc.

What is Swing Width (And Why You Need It)

At its core, swing width is the distance between your hands and the center of your chest throughout the swing. Think of your golf swing as a big circle, and the clubhead is the object moving along its path. A wide swing creates a giant, powerful circle. A narrow swing, where the arms collapse and stay too close to the body, creates a tiny, weak circle.

Golfers who generate impressive, almost effortless power aren’t just stronger, they are masters of creating and maintaining a wide swing arc. Here’s why it matters so much:

• More Power, Less Effort: A wider arc gives the clubhead a longer "runway" to build up speed before it reaches the golf ball. It's simple physics. More distance to accelerate means more speed at impact, translating directly into longer shots without you having to feel like you're swinging out of your shoes.
• Better Rhythm and Timing: A narrow, handsy swing is quick and jerky. It’s hard to time up consistently. A wide, body-driven swing is smoother and has a more deliberate tempo. It gives you more time to sequence your downswing correctly, leading to more predictable results.
• Improved Ball Striking: Width anoints a great path for the blub head. When golfers lose width and the arms collapse, the club tends to get steep and chop down on the ball. Maintaining width helps the club shallow out on the downswing, promoting a clean, sweeping strike where you hit the ball first and then the turf.
• Engages the Big Muscles: You can't create or hold width with just your hands and arms. It forces you to use the powerful muscles of your core and torso to rotate the club around your body. This is the difference between a weak, flippy swing and a strong, connected rotational swing.

The Foundation: Creating Width in Your Setup

You can't have a wide swing if you start in a cramped position. Good width begins before you even take the club back. Your setup needs to create the space your arms and club need to operate freely.

Think of it like setting the stage. Your posture establishes the radius of your swing circle from the very beginning. Here’s how to build a wide foundation:

1. Bend from the Hips: Many golfers just round their shoulders over the ball. Instead, stand up straight and place a club across your hips. Now, keeping your back relatively straight, push your backside out as if you were about to sit in a tall barstool. This is the hip hinge that creates so much room.
2. Let Your Arms Hang: From that hinged position, simply let your arms hang down naturally from your shoulders. There should be a good amount of space between your hands and your thighs - enough to fit another fist, perhaps. If your hands are jammed up against your body, you need to bend more from the hips to create that space.
3. Feel Athletic, Not Stiff: You should feel balanced and athletic, with a slight flex in your knees. The source of your power is your ability to turn, and a good setup makes that turn possible. From here, you haven't just prepared to swing, you've prepared to swing with width. You’ve given yourself room to move.

The Big Move: Mastering a Wide Takeaway

The first few feet of your golf swing determine whether you'll have a wide, powerful arc or a narrow, weak one. Most amateurs lose their width immediately by either picking the club up with their hands or rolling their wrists too early.

The secret is what coaches call a "one-piece takeaway." The idea is that your hands, arms, and chest all move away from the ball together as a single, connected unit. The triangle formed by your arms and shoulders stays intact for the first few feet of the swing.

Go-To Feeling: Push, Don't Lift

As you start your backswing, feel as though you are pushing the clubhead straight back from the ball using the turn of your chest. Imagine your lead arm (left arm for a right-handed golfer) staying connected to your chest as you rotate. This feeling engages your core and torso and prevents the hands from becoming too active and pulling the club inside or lifting it abruptly.

An Actionable Drill: The Clubhead Push

Here’s a fantastic drill to ingrain this feeling:

1. Take your normal setup.
2. Place a second golf ball, a headcover, or even an empty water bottle about a foot directly behind your clubhead, on your target line.
3. Your ONLY goal for the first part of your backswing is to push that object straight back with your clubhead, using just your body turn.

If you can do this, it’s almost impossible to have a narrow takeaway. You are forced to extend your arms and create width right from the start. Practice this a few times, then remove the object and try to replicate the same sensation.

Maintaining Width to the Top of the Swing

Creating width in the takeaway is half the battle, the other half is keeping it as you reach the top of your backswing. This is where many players "shorten" their arc by letting their arms collapse towards their body.

The two main culprits are:

• The Collapsing Lead Arm: Many golfers are taught to "keep the left arm straight," which leads to tension. A better thought is to keep it extended. It doesn’t need to be locked like a steel rod, but it should maintain its length and stretch away from your chest.
• The Flying Trail Elbow: For a right-handed player, the right elbow is a major width-killer. If it flies up and away from your body, your arms are disconnecting from your turn, and the arc will narrow. A good checkpoint is to feel like your right elbow is pointing down toward the ground at the top of your swing.

A great feeling for this is to keep your hands as far away from your head as possible at the top. When you get to the top, you should feel a stretch across your chest because your hands are high and wide, creating a huge amount of space. This is your power reservoir, fully loaded and ready to be unleashed on the downswing.

Extending Through Impact and Beyond

You can do all the hard work of creating a wide backswing, but if you throw it all away by yanking the handle down from the top, all that potential power is wasted. So many golfers get to the top and their first move is an aggressive pull with the hands and arms. This immediately narrows the swing arc and typically results in a steep, over-the-top motion.

Instead, your first move from the top should be the start of your body's unwinding rotation. Feel like you are maintaining that huge circle you created and are simply turning your torso to deliver that entire wide arc to the back of the ball. The arms and club are passive passengers being swept along for the ride.

As you swing through impact, think about extending your arms toward the target. Feel as though you are shaking hands with someone standing about five feet down your target line. This feeling prevents the arms from "pulling in" and "chicken-winging" after impact, keeping the arc wide and powerful all the way into a high, balanced finish.

Final Thoughts

Remember, swing width isn't about using brute force to hold your arms out. It's about using your body's natural rotation to create a big, connected swing circle. By focusing on a good setup, a wide takeaway, and maintaining your arm extension, you replace weak, handsy slaps with a powerful, body-driven swing that delivers both distance and consistency.

Of course, knowing what to do is one thing, but getting real feedback on your swing is another. Sometimes it's nearly impossible to know if you're executing a feel correctly. We built Caddie AI to act as that personal, on-demand coach you can turn to anytime. If you're struggling with width, you can ask for a simple drill before a range session. Or you can take a quick video of your takeaway and ask it to analyze if you're keeping your triangle connected. Our app gives you clear, simple guidance to help you bridge the gap between knowing and doing, so you can stop guessing and start building a better, more powerful swing.