How to Work on a Golf Swing

A great golf swing generates power, precision, and consistency, and it doesn't need to be complicated. Learning to hit the ball well comes down to understanding a few core movements and building them one piece at a time. This guide breaks down the essential parts of the swing - from how you hold the club to your finished pose - into simple, manageable steps you can start working on today.

The Grip: Your Steering Wheel

More than anything else, how you hold the golf club determines where the clubface is pointing at impact. Think of your grip as the steering wheel for your golf shots. An improper hold forces you to make complex adjustments during your swing just to get the ball to go straight. Getting it right from the start makes everything easier.

Step 1: The Lead Hand (Left Hand for Right-Handed Golfers)

First, get your clubface square to your target. If your grip has a logo, use it as a guide to ensure it’s pointing straight down the line. If it’s blank, just use the leading edge of your clubface.

• Place the club in the fingers of your left hand, running diagonally from the middle of your index finger to the base of your pinky finger. Avoid placing it in your palm, as this restricts wrist movement.
• Close your hand over the top. When you look down, you should be able to clearly see the first two knuckles of your index and middle fingers.
• Check the “V” formed by your thumb and index finger. This “V” should point roughly toward your right shoulder.

If you see three or all four knuckles, your grip is too “strong” and will tend to close the clubface, sending shots left. If you can’t see any knuckles, your grip is too “weak” and will do the opposite, leaving the face open for shots to the right.

Step 2: The Trail Hand (Right Hand for Right-Handed Golfers)

Your right hand acts as support and adds stability. Bring it to the club in a neutral, sideways position, with the palm facing your target.

• The lifeline in your right palm should fit snugly over your left thumb.
• Wrap your right-hand fingers around the club. The club should again rest more in the fingers than in the palm.
• Your right thumb and index finger should form another “V” that points in a similar direction to the "V" on your left hand.

Step 3: Connect the Hands

You have three primary options for connecting your hands, and none are definitively better than the others. It’s all about what feels most comfortable and secure for you.

• The Overlap (Vardon) Grip: The pinky finger of your right hand rests in the groove between the index and middle fingers of your left hand. This is the most popular grip among professionals.
• The Interlock Grip: The pinky finger of your right hand intertwines with the index finger of your left hand. This can provide a great sense of unity for golfers with smaller hands.
• The Ten-Finger (Baseball) Grip: All ten fingers are on the club, with the right pinky snuggled up against the left index finger. This is often recommended for beginners or players who lack hand strength.

A quick word of advice: changing your grip will feel incredibly strange at first. Stick with it. This is your direct connection to the club, and while it's the weirdest part of learning golf, it's also foundational.

The Setup: Building a Solid Foundation

You wouldn’t build a house on a shaky foundation, and you can’t build a good golf swing on poor posture. A balanced, athletic setup prepares your body to move correctly and powerfully.

1. Setting the Club Down

Start by placing the clubhead on the ground directly behind the golf ball, taking aim at your target. This establishes the bottom of your a swing arc and gets the path started in the right direction.

2. Posture and Body Tilt

This is where it feels strange for many new golfers. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. From here, you’ll want to:

• Bend from the hips, not your waist. Feel like you are pushing your rear end backward as if you were about to sit in a tall chair.
• Maintain a relatively straight spine. Your chest should be tilted over the ball, creating a powerful, athletic posture.
• Let your arms hang naturally down from your shoulders. There should be a hand’s-width of space between your hands and your thighs. If your arms are jammed against your body, you haven’t tilted over enough. If they’re reaching way out, you’ve bent over too much.
• Flex your knees slightly. You want to be balanced and feel athletic, not stiff-legged. Your weight should be centered on the balls of your feet.

3. Stance Width and Ball Position

Where you place your feet and the ball is vital for consistency. As a general rule:

• For short irons (like a 9-iron or pitching wedge), play the ball in the absolute middle of your stance, directly under your shirt buttons. Your stance should be about shoulder-width apart.
• For mid-irons (like a 7-iron), the ball should be just slightly forward of center, and your stance an inch or two wider.
• For long irons, hybrids, and fairway woods, the ball moves progressively more forward, creeping toward your lead heel.
• For the driver, the ball should be positioned off the inside of your lead heel, and your stance should be at its widest to provide a stable base for your biggest swing.

The Backswing: Storing Rotational Power

The backswing is not about lifting the club, it’s about rotating your body to store energy. Most swing flaws originate from trying to guide the club with just the arms. The true engine of the swing is the turn of your torso.

The Key Ingredient: One-Piece Takeaway

Imagine your arms, hands, and the club as a single triangle formed at address. The first movement away from the ball should maintain that triangle. Your shoulders, chest, and arms should all start turning away from the target together.

• Rotation over Sway: A common mistake is to sway your body off the ball. Instead, feel like you are rotating around your spine, which acts as a central axis. A great feeling is to imagine you're turning inside a large barrel, you want to turn within the confines of the barrel, not slide from one side to the other.
• Setting the Wrists: As the club passes your trail thigh, your wrists will begin to naturally hinge, setting the club upward. This should be a passive motion, not a forceful or abrupt one. This wrist hinge helps get the club onto the correct plane. When your lead arm is parallel to the ground, the club should be pointing skyward, forming roughly a 90-degree angle with your arm.
• Complete the Turn: Continue rotating your shoulders until your back is facing the target. For most players, a full turn means the shoulders have rotated 90 degrees and the hips have rotated about 45 degrees. Don't force a longer backswing than your flexibility allows. A shorter, more controlled turn is far better than a long, unstable one.

The Downswing and Impact: Unleashing the Energy

The downswing happens in a flash, but starting it in the right sequence is everything. Here’s how you smoothly transitions from coiling up to releasing the power through the ball.

The "First Move" Down

The magic starts from the ground up. Before your arms and shoulders even think about moving down, your weight begins to shift forward.

• The Hip Shift: The very first movement to start the downswing is a slight lateral shift of your hips toward the target. It’s a subtle move, not a huge lunge. This gets your weight moving onto your front foot and clears space for your arms to swing down from the inside.
• Unwinding the Body: Once that initial shift happens, you can begin to unwind your torso. The hips lead the way, followed by the shoulders, and finally the arms and hands. This sequence is what creates "lag" and multiplies clubhead speed without you having to swing wildly.

A common mistake is to start the downswing with the arms or shoulders, which throws the club "over the top" and leads to slices and weak contact.

The Moment of Truth: Impact

A successful impact position is a result of a good downswing sequence, not something you can force. At the moment the club meets the ball:

• Your hips should be open to the target (rotated about 45 degrees).
• Your shoulders should be closer to square, having not fully unwound yet.
• Most of your weight (around 70-80%) is on your lead foot.
• Your hands are slightly ahead of the clubhead, which promotes a downward strike that compresses the ball and creates a solid divot *after* the ball.

Your job isn't to lift the ball into the air. Your lofted club is designed for that. Your job is to strike down and through it, letting the club do its work.

The Follow-Through and Finish: A Sign of Balance

Your golf swing doesn't stop at the ball. A full, balanced follow-through is a sign that you’ve released all your energy toward the target without holding anything back.

• Extension Through the Ball: As the club moves past impact, let your arms extend fully towards the target. Feel like you are throwing the clubhead down the fairway.
• Continued Rotation: Keep turning your body. Your hips and chest should continue to rotate until they are fully facing the target.
• The Posed Finish: Let the momentum of the swing carry the club up and around your body, where it can rest over your shoulder. In a good finish position:
  • Your belt buckle points at the target.
  • Your weight is almost exclusively on your front foot (90-95%), with your back foot resting on its toe for balance.
  • You are standing tall and in complete balance. You should be able to comfortably hold this pose and watch your ball fly.

If you find yourself falling backward or off-balance after a shot, it's a clear indication that your weight never properly shifted forward during the downswing.

Final Thoughts

Mastering a golf swing is a process of assembling these five core components: an effective grip, a balanced setup, and a fluid, rotational motion through the backswing, downswing, and finish. Focus on just one of these elements at a time at the range, and you’ll build a reliable swing grounded in sound fundamentals far faster than if you try to fix everything at once.

Breaking down the swing is the first step, but getting real-time feedback when you're stuck on the course is a game-changer. We designed Caddie AI to be that instant, on-demand golf expert in your pocket. Whether you need a simple strategy for a tricky par-5, want to snap a photo of a terrible lie for advice on how to play it, or just have a late-night question about swing mechanics, Caddie AI provides clear, helpful answers to keep you moving forward and playing with more confidence.