How to Golf for Beginners

Learning how to golf can feel intimidating, but it doesn't have to be complicated. Don't worry about looking like a pro right away, focus on a few simple fundamentals to build a solid foundation. This guide will walk you through the essential building blocks of the game, from holding the club correctly to making a confident swing, giving you a clear path to follow as you start your journey.

The Essentials: What You Need to Get Started

Walking into a golf shop for the first time can be overwhelming. Let’s cut through the noise. As a beginner, you don't need a 14-club, top-of-the-line set that the pros use. Here’s what will get you playing:

• A Starter Set of Clubs: Look for a half-set or a beginner's package. These typically include a driver, a fairway wood or hybrid, a few irons (like a 6-iron, 8-iron, and pitching wedge), a sand wedge, and a putter. This is more than enough to learn the game.
• Golf Balls: Don't buy expensive balls. As a beginner, you will lose a lot of them, and that’s perfectly okay. Buy used, "experienced," or budget-friendly balls in bulk.
• Golf Shoes: While you can play in sneakers, golf shoes (spikeless are great and comfortable) provide stability and traction that will help you maintain your balance during the swing.
• A Golf Glove: Worn on your non-dominant hand (left hand for a right-handed golfer), a glove improves your grip and prevents blisters. It's a small accessory that makes a big difference in comfort and control.

The Grip: Your Connection to the Club

How you hold the club is arguably one of the most important parts of the golf swing. Think of it as the steering wheel of your car, small adjustments here have a huge impact on where the ball goes. An incorrect grip forces you to make other, more complicated corrections in your swing just to hit the ball straight.

First, make sure the clubface is pointing straight at your target. Most grips have a logo on them that should be facing up. This puts the club in a "square" or neutral position.

Step 1: The Top Hand (Left Hand for Righties)

Your top hand provides the primary control. As you approach the club, let your arm hang naturally at your side. Notice how your palm faces slightly inward - that's the position we want to recreate on the grip.

• Grip the club primarily in the fingers, not the palm. It should run diagonally from the middle joint of your index finger to just below your little finger.
• Close your hand around the grip. When you look down, you should be able to see the knuckles of your index and middle fingers. This is a great checkpoint.
• The "V" formed by your thumb and index finger should point roughly toward your right shoulder (for a right-handed golfer). This is a hallmark of a neutral, effective grip.

Step 2: The Bottom Hand (Right Hand for Righties)

The bottom hand adds support and feel. The little finger of your bottom hand can connect with your top hand in one of three ways:

• Ten-Finger (or Baseball) Grip: All ten fingers are on the club. This can feel natural for beginners and is perfectly acceptable.
• Interlocking Grip: The little finger of your bottom hand links with the index finger of your top hand. Many great players, including Tiger Woods, use this.
• Overlapping (or Vardon) Grip: The little finger of your bottom hand rests on top of the space between the index and middle fingers of your top hand. This is the most common grip among tour professionals.

Don't overthink which one to choose. Pick the one that feels most comfortable and secure to you. The key is that your hands work together as a single unit.

The palm of your bottom hand should cover the thumb of your top hand. The "V" on this hand should also point toward your right shoulder, mirroring your top hand. It will feel strange at first, but sticking with a proper grip now will save you a lot of headaches later on.

The Setup: Building a Solid, Athletic Foundation

Your stance and posture create the foundation for a balanced, powerful swing. Standing to a golf ball is unlike almost any other athletic position, and it can feel awkward at first. Many new golfers feel self-conscious, but setting up correctly puts you in a position to succeed.

Posture: Bend and Balance

The correct posture starts with bending from your hips, not your waist. Imagine pushing your bum backward as if you’re about to sit in a chair, while keeping your back relatively straight.

• Lean forward from your hips until your arms hang straight down naturally under your shoulders. If they feel jammed into your body, you're standing too upright. If they're reaching far out, you're bent over too much.
• Slightly flex your knees. You should feel athletic and balanced, not rigid or slumped over. Your weight should be centered on the balls of your feet.

Stance Width and Ball Position

Your stance needs to provide a stable base for your body to rotate around.

• For mid-irons (like a 7, 8, or 9-iron): Place your feet about shoulder-width apart. The ball should be positioned in the very center of your stance, right below the buttons on your shirt.
• For longer clubs (woods and driver): Your stance will get slightly wider to increase stability. The ball position will also move forward. For a fairway wood or hybrid, it should be a couple of inches forward of center. For your driver, the ball should be positioned off the inside of your lead foot's heel (your left heel for a righty).
• For shorter clubs (wedges): Your stance can be slightly narrower than your shoulders, with the ball remaining in the center or a touch back from center.

Once you are in your setup, feel relaxed. Tension is the enemy of a good golf swing. Take a deep breath before you start your swing.

The Golf Swing, Simplified

The golf swing is a rotational movement, not an up-and-down hitting motion. The goal is to swing the club around your body in a circle, powered by the turn of your hips and shoulders, not just your arms.

The Backswing: Winding Up for Power

The backswing sets the stage for everything that follows. The goal is simple: to create a powerful coil by turning your body away from the target.

1. The Takeaway: Start the swing with a one-piece turn of your shoulders and chest. Imagine your arms, hands, and the club moving away from the ball together, as a single unit.
2. Hinge Your Wrists: As the club reaches waist-high, allow your wrists to naturally hinge upwards. This sets the club on the proper path and stores power.
3. Turn Your Body: Continue rotating your shoulders and hips until your back is facing the target (or as far as your flexibility comfortably allows). Your weight should naturally shift onto your back foot. A good thought is to feel like you've loaded pressure into the inside of your rear leg. Try to keep your head relatively steady throughout this process.

You don't need a huge, long backswing. A controlled, well-rotated move is far more effective than an uncontrolled, overly long one.

The Downswing: Unleashing the Club

This is where the magic happens, but it needs to start from the ground up.

1. Start with the Lower Body: The very first move of the downswing should be a slight shift of your weight from your back foot to your front foot. Then, start unwinding your hips toward the target. This sequence drops the club into the perfect slot to attack the ball from the inside. Many beginners make the mistake of starting the downswing with their arms and shoulders, which causes a weak, "over-the-top" swing.
2. Let Gravity Help: As your lower body turns, your arms and the club will naturally drop and follow along. Don't try to force it. Simply let your body’s rotation pull the club down toward the ball.
3. Impact: Continue rotating through the shot. At the moment of impact with an iron, your hands should be slightly ahead of the clubhead. This ensures you hit the ball first and then the turf, creating a crisp strike and a proper divot after the ball. Do not try to "scoop" or "lift" the ball into the air - the loft of the club will do that work for you.

The Follow-Through: A Balanced Finish

The swing doesn’t stop at the ball. A good finish proves that you’ve transferred your energy correctly and stayed in balance.

• Extend Toward the Target: After impact, allow your arms to extend fully out toward the target as your body continues to rotate.
• Finish High and Balanced: Let the momentum of the swing pull the club up and around your body, finishing over your lead shoulder. Your chest and hips should be facing the target, and almost all of your weight (about 90%) should be on your front foot. Your back foot should be up on its toe, with the heel off the ground.

Hold this finish and watch your shot fly. It’s a sign of a great swing and, frankly, it looks great too!

Final Thoughts

Learning golf is a process built on nailing the fundamentals. By focusing on a sound grip, a balanced setup, and a body-driven rotational swing, you’re building a foundation that will let you play this game and enjoy it for a lifetime. Be patient with yourself, celebrate the good shots, and forget the bad ones.

As you're learning, questions and tricky situations are bound to come up on the course. That’s where a tool like Caddie AI can become an incredible learning partner. We designed it to be your 24/7 golf coach, ready to answer anything from "What's the difference between a chip and a pitch?" to "How do I play this shot from a bad lie?" You can even snap a photo of your ball in a tough spot on the course, and our AI will offer a smart, simple strategy for how to handle it. It takes the guesswork out of the game so you can build confidence and play smarter from your very first round.