How to Keep Hands Low in a Golf Swing

A golf swing that sends your hands flying high above your head might look powerful, but it's often the hidden reason for slices, weak contact, and maddening inconsistency. If you're tired of feeling disconnected and out of control, you've come to the right place. This guide will show you how to keep your hands lower in a more connected backswing, not by forcing them down, but by understanding the one true engine of the swing: your body's rotation. We’ll cover why high hands happen and provide simple, effective drills to build a more powerful and repeatable motion.

Why High, Flying Hands Wreck Your Swing

Before we fix the problem, it helps to understand why high hands can be so damaging. When your hands lift independently and fly skyward at the top, a whole chain of negative events is set in motion. It’s not just an aesthetic issue, it directly impacts your ability to hit good golf shots.

Here’s the breakdown of what goes wrong:

• Loss of Connection: The golf swing is most efficient when your arms, hands, and the club move in sync with the rotation of your torso. When your hands lift vertically, your arms physically detach from this rotation. They become independent levers, and that connection - the link between your body's power and the club - is broken.
• A Steep, "Over-the-Top" Downswing: Once your hands are high and disconnected, the only natural way for them to get back to the ball is to come down on a steep, outside path. This classic "over-the-top" move is the number one cause of the slice for amateur golfers. It forces you to cut across the ball, producing weak shots that curve hard to the right (for a right-handed player).
• Sacrificing Real Power: Power doesn’t come from lifting. It comes from a controlled rotation and unwinding of your core, hips, and shoulders. When you lift with your arms, you're relying on your smaller, weaker muscles. A lower, more connected hand position allows you to tap into the strength of your body for a powerful release through the ball.
• Inconsistent Contact: A swing where the arms and hands are flying around on their own is incredibly difficult to repeat. Getting the clubface back to the ball squarely becomes a matter of timing and luck. This leads to frustrating inconsistency, where you might hit a thin one, a fat one, and a perfect one, all in the span of three shots.

The Root Cause: It's Not Your Hands, It's Your Turn

Here’s the most important concept to grasp: high hands are a symptom, not the root problem. So many golfers try to fix this by actively trying to keep their hands low, but this usually results in a restricted, powerless a swing. They are treating the effect instead of the cause.

The real culprit is almost always an incomplete or improper body turn. Think of your backswing as having two main components: width and height.

• Width is created by your chest and shoulders rotating away from the target. A good turn moves the club head far away from the ball on an arc around your body.
• Height is created by your arms lifting the club up.

An efficient backswing is based on rotation that creates fantastic width. A poor backswing is one where the golfer stops turning their body too early. When your chest and hips stop rotating, but you still feel like you need to make a longer swing, what’s the only option left? You lift your arms. The arm lift becomes a compensation for a poor body turn.

Your hands fly high because your body stops turning and gives them nowhere else to go but up. So, the solution isn’t to force your hands down. The solution is to improve your body rotation so your hands naturally stay on a lower, more controlled, and more powerful plane.

What "Keeping Hands Low" Actually Feels Like

To avoid confusion, let’s be clear about what we mean by "keeping hands low." It does not mean a short, flat, or powerless swing. It means keeping your hands and arms connected to your body’s turn throughout the backswing.

The feeling is one of your hands travelling more *around* your body than *above* it. At the top of your swing, a good, connected hand position will feel like it’s more in front of your chest or over your trail shoulder (right shoulder for righties). A "high hands" position feels like your hands are up and behind your head.

Imagine your arms, hands, and the club starting the swing as a single unit with your torso - often called a "one-piece takeaway." The feeling of keeping your hands low is simply maintaining that "one-piece" connection deeper into the backswing. Instead of the unit breaking apart as the arms lift, it remains intact as your body continues to turn.

When you do it right, you'll feel more tension and coil across your back and obliques, which is a sign that you are loading your big muscles for a powerful unwinding. It's a feeling of controlled power, not a wild, uncontrolled lift.

Drills to Groove the Right Feeling

Understanding the concept is the first step. Now, you need to teach your body what it feels like. These drills are designed to exaggerate the feeling of a connected turn, helping you break the habit of lifting your arms.

Drill #1: The Connected Headcover

This is a classic drill for a reason - it works. It directly trains the connection between your trail arm and your torso.

1. Take a golf glove or a headcover and tuck it into the armpit of your trail arm (your right armpit if you are right-handed).
2. Set up to a golf ball as normal.
3. Make a few practice backswings with the goal of keeping the headcover securely in place until you reach the top of your swing.
4. If you lift your arms independently from your body, your right elbow will fly away from your side, and the headcover will drop to the ground.
5. To keep it in place, you are forced to use your body to turn the club away from the ball. This drill ingrains the feeling of your arms and chest rotating together. Start with small, slow swings and gradually work your way up to hitting soft shots.

Drill #2: Stay Inside the Box

This drill uses a powerful visual to keep your swing from getting too vertical and lifty. It’s perfect for practicing in front of a mirror or a window where you can see your reflection.

1. Set up in your golf posture without a club.
2. Imagine a horizontal box around your torso. The bottom of the box is at your waist, and the top is at your shoulders.
3. Perform your backswing motion, focusing on keeping your hands inside this imaginary box.
4. As you create a good body turn, your hands will move *around* the box, not *above* it. Golfers with high hands will see their hands immediately lift up and out of the top of the box.
5. This drill stops you from substituting an arm lift for a body turn. Your backswing might feel shorter at first, but it will be far more connected and efficient.

Drill #3: The Three-Quarter Punch

Often, a "punch shot" feel is the perfect antidote to a long, disconnected swing. This drill helps you find a compact, body-driven motion that you can then build upon.

1. Tee up a ball with a 7 or 8-iron.
2. The goal is to hit low, controlled shots that travel about 50-70% of your normal distance.
3. Make a backswing that feels like it only goes three-quarters of the way back. More importantly, feel like you're staying "on top of the ball," resisting the urge to lift up.
4. On the downswing, focus on rotating your chest through to the target while keeping your hands quiet. Finish with the club low and in front of you.
5. This drill eliminates the excess lift at the top and forces you to use your body's rotation as the primary power source. It automatically encourages lower hands through the hitting area, promoting solid, compressed strikes.

Translating the Drills to Your Full Swing

Once you’ve grooved the feeling with these drills, it’s time to take it to your full swing. The key is to not think about "keeping hands low" as the main objective. Remember, it's the result, not the action.

Instead, your one and only swing thought should be: "keep turning my chest."

As you take the club back, focus on making a full, free rotation of your shoulders and hips. Feel your back turn toward the target. When you prioritize a good turn, your hands will have no reason to lift excessively. They will naturally travel on a lower, more powerful arc around your body.

Start with slow, deliberate swings. Feel the connection. Notice how when you turn properly, your hands finish in a far more controlled position. Gradually increase the speed as the new feeling becomes more natural. You'll soon discover that this lower-handed, connected swing produces more power and consistency than your old, high-flying motion ever could.

Final Thoughts

Mastering a connected backswing with lower hands is about changing your entire swing concept from an arm-driven lift to a body-driven rotation. By focusing on making a better turn instead of manually trying to manipulate your hands, you’ll build a more efficient, repeatable, and powerful swing.

Developing a new swing move requires smart practice, because what you feel isn't always what's really happening. For moments like that, we developed Caddie AI to act as your personal, on-demand coach. Instead of guessing, you can describe a feel or a problem you're having, like hands flying high, and get a clear explanation and a tailored drill right on the spot. It helps take the uncertainty out of practice, giving you the confidence to know you’re working on the right thing.