How to Properly Golf

Learning how to swing a golf club properly is about understanding a few fundamental movements that build power, accuracy, and consistency. This guide will walk you through the entire process, breaking down the grip, stance, and swing into simple, actionable steps. We will cover everything you need to build a solid foundation for your game, from how to hold the club to the finish position.

The Foundation: Grip and Setup

Before you even think about swinging, we have to get the basics right. Your grip and setup are the platform for your entire swing. Get these two elements correct, and everything that follows becomes much easier and more repeatable.

How to Hold the Golf Club

The way you hold the club has the single biggest influence on where the clubface points at impact - think of it as the steering wheel for your golf ball. An improper grip forces you to make other adjustments in your swing to hit the ball straight, making a difficult game even harder.

For a right-handed golfer (lefties, just reverse this), here’s how to build a great grip:

1. Set the Clubface: Place the clubhead on the ground behind the ball, making sure the leading edge is perfectly square (perpendicular) to your target line. Many grips have a logo on them, you can use that as a guide to ensure it’s centered on top.
2. Place Your Lead Hand (Left Hand): Approach the club from the side. You want to feel like the club rests mainly in the fingers of your left hand, running from the base of your little finger to the middle of your index finger. Once the fingers are on, wrap your hand over the top. When you look down, you should be able to see the first two knuckles of your left hand. The "V" formed between your thumb and index finger should point roughly toward your right shoulder.
3. Place Your Trail Hand (Right Hand): Your right hand palm should face your target. A great checkpoint is to place the lifeline of your right palm directly over your left thumb. The right-hand fingers then wrap around the grip.

You have three common options for how your hands connect:

• The Interlock: The pinky finger of your right hand hooks, or interlocks, with the index finger of your left hand.
• The Overlap (Vardon Grip): The pinky finger of your right hand rests in the space between your left index and middle finger. This is the most popular grip among tour pros.
• The Ten-Finger (Baseball Grip): All ten fingers are on the club, with the right pinky pressed up against the left index finger.

There's no single "best" grip linkage - choose the one that feels most comfortable and secure for you. And don't be alarmed if a proper grip feels weird at first. It's an unnatural position, but sticking with it will pay huge dividends.

How to Set Up to the Ball

Your setup, or posture, puts you in an athletic position to make a powerful, balanced swing. Like the grip, it can feel a little strange initially because we don't stand like this in everyday life.

Here’s a step-by-step way to build your stance:

1. Start with the Club: Begin by placing the clubhead behind the ball, aimed at your target. This establishes your starting line.
2. Posture and Hinge: From there, tilt forward from your hips, not your waist. Imagine pushing your bum backward until you feel a slight stretch in your hamstrings. Your back should remain relatively straight, just tilted over the ball.
3. Arm Position: Let your arms hang naturally down from your shoulders. They should be relaxed, not tense or stiff. If you've hinged correctly from your hips, your hands should hang directly below your shoulders, giving you plenty of room to swing.
4. Stance Width: For a mid-iron shot, your feet should be about shoulder-width apart. This provides a stable base for rotation. A stance that is too narrow or too wide will restrict your ability to turn your hips.
5. Ball Position: Ball position changes depending on the club. For shorter irons (like a 9-iron or a pitching wedge), the ball should be in the center of your stance. As the clubs get longer, the ball position gradually moves forward. For a driver, the ball should be positioned off the inside of your lead heel.
6. Weight Distribution: For standard iron shots, your weight should be balanced 50/50 between your left and right foot. Feel grounded and athletic, ready to move.

The Sequence of the Swing

With a solid grip and setup, you're ready to swing. The golf swing is a rotational motion. It's a chain reaction where one movement flows into the next, building up speed that gets released into the ball.

The Backswing

The goal of the backswing is to turn your body and get the club into a powerful position at the top. The idea is to swing the club around your body, not just lift it with your arms.

• The Takeaway: Begin the swing by turning your chest, shoulders, and hips together as a single unit. For the first few feet, the club,hands, arms, and torso move away from the ball together.
• Setting the Wrists: As the club reaches waist-high, allow your wrists to hinge naturally. This sets the club on the proper upward plane and helps store power.
• The Turn: Continue rotating your shoulders and hips away from the target. A good feeling is to think about turning your lead shoulder under your chin. The goal is to rotate as far as feels comfortable while maintaining your balance and posture. You want to feel coiled, like a spring.

A great checkpoint is to imagine you are standing inside a barrel. As you turn back, you want to stay within the confines of that barrel, not swaying side-to-side.

The Downswing and Impact

From the top of your swing, everything happens very quickly. The key is to unwind your body in the correct sequence to deliver the clubhead squarely and powerfully into the back of the ball.

• The Transition: The first move down is a slight shift of your weight and DOWNTOWN onto your lead foot. This move prevents you from falling backward and helps ensure you strike the ball first, then the ground (which is the goal with an iron shot).
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Next, begin unwinding your body, starting from the ground up. Then transfer energy into your legs, that rotates into your hips. Finally your hips rotates into your toso - creating massive whip and power in the club. Onceyour body unwinds and your hands come down closer to being “at the ball”, this should cause your arms and the club to follow, "dropping" into a powerful position. It’s the rotation of your lower body that initiates the downswing, not pulling down with your arms. -

Continue rotating your torso and hips open toward the target. Your arms and hands will naturally accelerate and release the clubhead through the impact zone. At the moment of impact with an iron, your hands should be slightly ahead of the clubhead, and your weight should be firmly on your lead side. This athletic impact position allows the club's loft to do the work of getting the ball in the air - you don't need to try and "scoop" it.

Avoid the common mistake of trying to “help” a golf ball in the air. This often results in a a movement where a player “throws” or “caste” s their club over the top in an attempt to hit it in the air, but can instead, cause one to “swing up on it”. All of this causes a thin or fat shot that has now power or distance. Instead…

Tust your loft!

Your golf clubs are perfectly designed to create a specific kind of loft at impact, sending the ball soaring to exactly where you bought iy should. Do not try and get under a golf ball in attempt to get the ball airborne. Instead, transfer your weight to the front, and hit down on your golf ball. Hitting down actually makes the golf ball go up and into the air!

The Follow-Through and Finish

Your swing doesn’t stop at the ball. A full, balanced follow-through is a sign that you’ve transferred all your energy through the ball and toward the target.

• Extension: Immediately after impact, your arms should fully extend out towards the target. You want to feel like you're shaking hands with the target.
• Full Rotation: Keep turning. Your chest and hips should finish facing the target (or even slightly left of the target for a right-handed player). As you do this, your trail foot (right foot for a rightie) will naturally come up onto its toe.
• The Finish Position: End in a balanced, comfortable position you can hold. Almost all your weight (around 90%) should be on your lead foot. The club should wrap around your body, finishing over your lead shoulder. If you can hold your finish until your ball lands, you've likely made a well-balanced swing.

Final Thoughts

Mastering the golf swing is less about perfection and more about repeating a good' a solid fundamental swing. By focusing on a neutral grip, an athletic setup, and a smooth, rotational sequence - back and through - you give yourself the best chance to hit consistent, satisfying shots.

Of course, knowing these fundamentals is the first step, but applying them in real-time on the course is a different challenge. That's actually why we built Caddie AI. If you ever find yourself struggling an awkward lie in the rough or you're unsure which a certaint club to commit to, you can take out Caddie and get instant, tailored advice in seonds. Caddie offers clear guidance that will help with tough situations so you that you can more confidently apply good fundamentals when it matters most, allowing you to take the guesswork out of golf, and enjoy time with the group your are with or just keep your pace and get in the flow!