What Is a Series in Golf?

A golf swing can feel like a hundred different things happening all at once, leading to one big, overwhelming thought on the tee box. The secret that great players and coaches know is that great golf isn’t built on random tips, but on a logical series of fundamentals. This article will break down what a series in golf truly means and guide you through the most important series of all: the six steps to building a reliable, repeatable golf swing.

What Does “A Series in Golf” Really Mean?

When you hear golfers talk about a "series," they're usually referring to one of two things. Understanding the difference adds a lot of clarity to golf conversations both on and off the course.

First, and most common in professional golf, a series is a set of linked tournaments that culminate in a final championship or ranking. Think of the PGA Tour's FedExCup Playoffs - a mini-series of three events that determines the season's champion. The LIV Golf league is another example, where results from individual events throughout the year contribute to a final team championship. On an amateur level, your own club might have a "Summer Series" or Club Championship played over several weekends. It’s simply a connected string of events.

Second, and far more important for your own game, is the concept of an instructional series. This is a structured, step-by-step approach to learning a specific skill. Instead of grabbing disconnected tips from friends, magazines, and videos, you learn in a logical order, where each step builds on the last one. It’s like learning math: you have to understand addition and subtraction before you can tackle multiplication. The same is true for the golf swing. Building your game this way is the fastest path to lasting improvement.

The Cornerstone Series: Building Your Perfect Golf Swing

To really improve, you need to stop thinking about a "to-do list" of fixes and instead think about a "building process" - a series of core fundamentals that connect to form one fluid motion. Let’s walk through the six-part series that serves as the foundation for every consistent golf swing.

Step 1: Understanding the Main Idea (The Swing is a Circle)

Before we touch a single technical detail, we have to agree on the core goal. The golf swing is a rotational action. The club is designed to move in an arc or a circle around your body, powered primarily by the turning of your hips and shoulders. It is not an up-and-down chopping motion driven by your arms.

So many new or struggling golfers try to muscle the ball with their arms, resulting in a steep, disconnected swing. This kills power and consistency. From your very first thought, I want you to replace the idea of "hitting the ball" with "swinging the club around your body." This shift in focus is a game-changer. Our entire goal in the following steps is to build a body-driven, rotational swing that produces three things: power, accuracy, and consistency.

Step 2: The Grip – Your Steering Wheel

Your grip is the only connection you have to the golf club, and it has an enormous influence on where the clubface points at impact. Think of it as the steering wheel of your golf shot. If it’s pointed in the wrong direction from the start, you'll have to make all kinds of difficult compensations during the swing just to hit the ball straight.

Here’s how to build a neutral, effective grip. It will probably feel a little strange at first, but that’s okay!

• Settle the Clubface: Before you even put your hands on, rest the clubhead on the ground behind the ball. Make sure the leading edge is aiming straight at your target. Many grips have a logo on top you can use as a guide to ensure it isn’t twisted.
• Place Your Lead Hand (Left Hand for Righties): Approach the club from the side. You want to hold the club primarily in the fingers, not the palm. Run the handle diagonally from the base of your little finger to the middle pad of your index finger. Once the fingers are on, simply fold your hand over the top.
• Checkpoints for the Lead Hand: When you look down, you should see the first two knuckles of your lead hand. The “V” formed by your thumb and index finger should point roughly toward your right shoulder or ear. If you see three or four knuckles, your hand is too far on top (a "strong" grip). If you see none, it's too far underneath (a "weak" grip).
• Place Your Trail Hand (Right Hand for Righties): Bring your right hand to the club similarly. The most comfortable position for many is to have the lifeline of your right palm fit snugly over your left thumb. Your right-hand fingers then wrap around the handle.
• Connect the Hands: You have three options for what your right pinky and left index finger do: you can interlock them, you can overlap the pinky so it rests between the index and middle finger, or you can use a ten-finger grip where they simply touch. Honestly, there is no "correct" choice here. Use whichever feels most comfortable and secure to you. The palm positioning is what really matters.

Remember, a new grip feels bizarre because you likely don't hold anything else this way. Stick with it. A neutral grip allows the club to return to a square position at impact without you having to manipulate it.

Step 3: The Setup – Your Foundation for Power

Like the grip, the golf setup feels weird. No other sport asks you to stand quite like this. You will lean over more than you think, and your bottom will stick out. Don’t feel self-conscious, you’ll look athletic and ready, just like every other serious golfer on the course.

1. Start with the Club: Once again, begin by placing the clubhead behind the ball, aimed at your target.
2. Set Your Posture: The most common mistake is not leaning over enough. Bend forward from your hips, not your waist, while keeping your back relatively straight. As you do this, allow your bottom to push backward as if you were about to sit in a high chair.
3. Hang Your Arms: From this tilted posture, let your arms hang straight down from your shoulders, naturally and relaxed. They should be hanging freely, not pinned against your body or reaching far out for the ball.
4. Take Your Stance: With your arms hanging and your grip set, take your stance. For a mid-iron, a good starting point is to have your feet shoulder-width apart. This provides a stable base that’s wide enough to allow your hips to turn freely but not so wide that it restricts rotation.
5. Check Ball Position: With a mid-iron (say, an 8-iron or 9-iron), the ball should be positioned in the absolute center of your stance. As clubs get longer (like a 7-iron or 6-iron), the ball moves slightly forward. For your longest clubs, like a 3-wood or driver, the ball will be pushed much farther forward, positioned just inside your lead heel.

Step 4: The Backswing – Loading the Engine

The backswing gets overcomplicated very quickly. Let’s keep it simple. The goal of the backswing is to rotate your body and set the club in a powerful position, all while maintaining your balance.

Imagine you're standing inside a large barrel or cylinder. As you swing back, you want to turn within that cylinder, not sway from side to side. The key move is rotation. Your hips and shoulders should turn away from the target.

As you begin this rotation, you need to add one small move: a slight hinging of the wrists. As your hands get to about waist-high, allow the wrists to set naturally. This angles the club upward and gets it on the proper plane. By combining body rotation with a simple wrist hinge, you store energy without getting the club stuck behind you or lifting it too steeply.

How far back should you swing? To a position that feels comfortable and powerful for you. Don’t force your body into a position just because you saw a pro do it. A flexible golfer might get the club parallel to the ground, a less flexible player might stop short. Both are fine. A full, balanced rotation to your personal limit is much better than over-swinging and losing control.

Step 5: The Downswing and Impact – Unleashing Power

You’ve stored all this energy in the backswing, now it's time to deliver it to the ball. This is where sequencing is everything, and it can be boiled down to one thought process: shift, then turn.

From the top of your backswing, the very first move is a slight shift of your weight onto your lead leg. Your lead hip bumps horizontally toward the target just an inch or two. This small move is vital because it ensures you strike the golf ball *first* and then the turf.

Immediately after that slight shift, you unwind your body. Let your hips and torso rotate open toward the target as fast as you comfortably can. The arms and club will naturally follow this rotation, dropping down into the impact zone with incredible speed. Don’t try to "hit" the ball with your hands or arms, let them be carried by your body's powerful unwinding.

Your job is to trust the loft on the club. You do not need to "help" or "scoop" the ball into the air. By shifting your weight forward and rotating, you will naturally hit down on the ball, compressing it against the clubface and creating a high, solid shot. The proof is in the divot: a good iron shot takes a shallow strip of turf *after* the ball is gone.

Step 6: The Follow-Through – The Signature of a Good Shot

The swing doesn't stop at the ball. The follow-through is not just for looks, it's the natural conclusion of a balanced, powerful swing. A good finish proves that you committed to the shot and rotated all the way through.

As you move through impact, keep everything turning. Your hips and chest should continue rotating until they are fully facing the target. As this happens, your body weight will naturally transfer almost entirely to your lead foot - about 90% of it. To allow for this full rotation, your trail foot (right foot for righties) will come up onto its toe.

Your arms, having fully extended through impact, will now slow down and fold comfortably around your neck or shoulders. Hold that finish! Stay in that beautiful, balanced position for a few seconds and watch your shot fly. It demonstrates control and is a sign that you didn't hold anything back.

Final Thoughts

Thinking about your golf game as a "series" makes it far more manageable. Whether it's a series of tournaments on TV or the fundamental series of the golf swing we've just covered, it provides structure to a complex game. By building your swing step-by-step - from the main idea to the follow-through - you create a motion that's less about luck and more about repeatable mechanics.

As you work through this series on your own, questions will inevitably pop up on the course or at the range. When you're standing over a ball in a tough lie and the "normal" fundamentals don't feel like they apply, or you simply wonder if your setup looks right, having an expert opinion on demand is a huge help. For those moments, Caddie AI is fantastic because it provides instant, simple answers to your specific questions, allowing you to get the clarity you need to play with confidence on every shot.