How to Teach Golf to a Beginner

Teaching someone golf starts with one simple idea: the swing is a sequence of small, understandable movements, not one big, complicated action. This guide breaks down that sequence, giving you a clear, step-by-step roadmap to build a solid golf swing from scratch. We’ll cover everything from how to hold the club to that picture-perfect finish.

The Big Picture: A Simple, Rotational Swing

Before we touch a club, let's get the main idea right. A good golf swing is a rotational movement. Forget any instinct you have to chop down at the ball like you’re splitting wood. Instead, think about the club swinging around your body in a circle, powered by the turning of your hips and shoulders.

This is the engine of the swing. Your arms and the club are just along for the ride, transferring the power your body creates. When beginners try to generate power with just their arms, they lose consistency and distance. By focusing from day one on turning your body, you build a swing that is both powerful and repeatable. This "around your body" thought is the foundation upon which every other step is built.

Mastering the Grip: How to Steer the Clubface

Your hands are your only connection to the golf club, making the grip the steering wheel for your shots. An improper grip forces you to make weird compensations in your swing to get the clubface square at impact. Getting it right from the start saves a lot of headaches later.

It’s going to feel strange at first. Nothing else we hold in daily life is quite like a golf club. Trust the process, and this weird feeling will eventually become natural and comfortable.

For the Right-Handed Golfer:

• The Top Hand (Left Hand): First, square the clubface to your target. You can use the logo on the grip as a guide. Place your left hand on the club so you’re holding it mainly in the fingers, running diagonally from the base of your little finger to the middle of your index finger. Close 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 by your thumb and index finger should point roughly toward your right shoulder.
• The Bottom Hand (Right Hand): Bring your right hand to the club. The lifeline of your right palm should fit snugly over your left thumb. Just like the left hand, let the fingers wrap around the grip. The right hand’s primary role is support and feel, not to overpower the left hand.
• Connecting the Hands: You have three common options for how your hands link together. There's no single "best" way, it's about what feels most secure and comfortable for you.
  • The Overlap (Vardon Grip): The little finger of your right hand rests in the gap between the index and middle finger of your left hand. This is the most popular grip on professional tours.
  • The Interlock: The little finger of your right hand hooks together with the index finger of your left hand. This is great for players with smaller hands.
  • The Ten-Finger (Baseball Grip): All ten fingers are on the club, with the hands right next to each other. It can be a good starting point for new players or those with less hand strength.

Pick one connection that feels good and stick with it. The most important thing is that your hands work together as a single unit, not as two separate entities fighting for control.

The Setup: Building a Powerful and Balanced Foundation

Your setup is your platform for creating power and consistency. Just like the grip, a proper golf stance will feel awkward at first. You might feel self-conscious because you’re sticking your bottom out and tilting over more than you would in any other athletic activity. Get over that initial feeling, because a good setup puts you in a position to succeed.

Here’s how to build your stance, piece by piece:

1. Aim the Clubface First: Place the clubhead behind the ball, making sure the leading edge is pointing directly at your target. This is your most important reference point.
2. Find Your Posture: From a standing position, hinge forward from your hips - not your waist. Keep your back relatively straight and stick your bottom out as if you were about to sit down in a high chair. Let your arms hang down naturally from your shoulders. This creates the space your arms need to swing freely. A common fault is standing too upright, which cramps the swing.
3. Set Your Stance Width: For a mid-iron shot (like a 7 or 8-iron), your feet should be about shoulder-width apart. This creates a stable base that still allows your hips to turn. Too narrow, and you'll struggle with balance, too wide, and you'll restrict your hip rotation.
4. Check Your Ball Position: As a simple starting point for a brand new golfer, position the ball in the middle of your stance for all your irons, from a pitching wedge up to an 8-iron. As you move to longer clubs like a 7-iron or 6-iron, you can start to move the ball just a touch forward (toward your front foot). The driver will be the most forward, played off the inside of your lead heel. Sticking to the middle for now simplifies things.
5. Relax: After all that, there's a tendency to tense up. Take a deep breath. Let any tension in your hands, arms, and shoulders go. A relaxed body is a faster, more fluid body.

The Backswing: Loading Up the Power

With a solid grip and setup, the backswing becomes much simpler. Its goal is to get the club into a powerful position at the top by rotating your body, not by lifting with your arms. Think of it like coiling a spring to store energy.

The key move is the takeaway. Start the swing by turning your chest, shoulders, and hips together as one unit. The club, arms, and body should all move away from the ball together. As you do this, feel a slight hinge develop in your wrists. This wrist hinge is a natural part of the motion that helps set the club on the correct angle (or "plane").

As you continue turning away from the target, focus on staying centered. Imagine you're standing in a barrel. You want to rotate inside this barrel, not slide from side to side. Swaying off the ball is a major power killer. Rotate until you feel a good turn in your upper body - this is your comfortable limit. Don't feel like you have to swing as far back as a tour pro. A shorter, more controlled rotation is far better than a long, sloppy one.

The Downswing and Impact: Unleashing the Club

Now it’s time to uncoil that spring. The most misunderstood part of the downswing is how it starts. Many beginners incorrectly start down by throwing their arms and shoulders at the ball, which leads to poor contact and a loss of power.

The downswing should start from the ground up. From the top of your backswing, the first movement is a slight shift of your weight onto your lead foot (your left foot for a right-handed golfer). This small, subtle move gets your body ahead of the ball, which allows you to hit the ball first and then the turf - the secret to a pure, compressed iron shot.

Once that slight weight shift happens, your body can begin to unwind, or rotate, towards the target. The hips lead the way, followed by the torso, then the arms, and finally the club. This sequence creates tremendous speed effortlessly. Your only thought should be: "shift and turn." Fight the urge to help the ball get in the air by trying to "scoop" or "lift" it. Your club has loft built into it for that exact reason. Trust the club, shift your weight forward, and rotate through the shot.

The Follow-Through: Finishing in Balance

The shot doesn't end at impact. A good follow-through is the sign of a swing where you've committed fully and released all your power towards the target. Don’t think of it as a separate move, but as the natural continuation of your rotation.

As you swing through impact, keep your body turning. Your hips and chest should rotate all the way around until they are facing your target. As this happens, your arms will extend out toward the target and then naturally fold around your body to a finish position high above your lead shoulder.

The hallmark of a great finish is balance. All of your weight - around 90% of it - should be on your lead foot. Your back foot should be up on its toe, with only the tip touching the ground for balance. Hold this finish for a few seconds. Can you pose for the camera? If you can, it’s a sign that you stayed balanced and completed your swing. If you're falling over, it means your sequence was likely out of sync.

Final Thoughts

Building a golf swing is about putting these building blocks together in the right order. Don’t get overwhelmed by trying to perfect everything at once. Focus on one piece at a time - the grip, then the setup, then the rotation. By breaking it down, you turn a complex motion into a manageable process and give the beginner a clear path toward hitting great shots.

As they start to get these pieces down, their on-course confidence will build. That’s where smart tools come in. For those moments on the course when you're unsure of what club to hit or how to play a tricky hole, our personal coach, Caddie AI, provides instant advice. If you find yourself in a terrible lie in the rough or a bunker, you can even snap a photo of the ball, and it will analyze the situation and recommend the smartest way to play the shot. It's the perfect companion for turning sound fundamentals into smarter decisions and lower scores.