Why Are My Golf Shots Inconsistent?

One shot is flushed pure, soaring toward the pin. The next is a chunky mess that barely reaches the fairway. If this maddening EKG of a golf game sounds familiar, you're not alone. The search for consistency is what keeps us all coming back. This article will break down the fundamental reasons your shots feel so different from one swing to the next and give you clear, actionable steps to build a more repeatable motion.

Your Grip: The Steering Wheel of Your Golf Shot

You only have one physical link to the club, and that's your hands. Think of your grip as the steering wheel of a car, if it's pointing left or right before you even start moving, you'll have to make a desperate correction just to go straight. Inconsistency in your grip from shot to shot, or a fundamentally flawed grip, forces your body to make compensations during your swing. These compensations are nearly impossible to repeat.

How to Establish a Neutral Grip

A "neutral" grip is one that allows the clubface to return to a square position at impact with minimal manipulation. Here’s a simple way to find it, starting with your lead hand (left for right-handers).

1. Settle the club: Place the club on the ground so the leading edge of the face points directly at your target. This is your baseline.
2. Hold it in the fingers: Bring your lead hand to the side of the grip. The handle should run diagonally from the base of your little finger to the middle joint of your index finger. You want to feel like you're holding it more in your fingers than your palm. Control comes from the fingers.
3. Perform the checkpoint: Once your hand is on, look down. You should be able to clearly see the first two knuckles of your lead hand. If you see three or four, your grip is likely too "strong" (rotated too far over), which often leads to hooks. If you can't see any, it's too "weak" (rotated too far under), a common cause of slices.
4. Check the "V": The "V" formed by your thumb and index finger should point roughly toward your trail shoulder (right shoulder for righties).

Now for the trail hand (right hand for right-handers):

1. Palm to the target: As you bring your trail hand to the club, the palm should be facing your target. It fits on the side of the club, not underneath or on top of it.
2. Cover the thumb: The lifeline in your trail palm should cover the thumb of your lead hand. Your trail hand fingers then wrap around the club.
3. Interlock, Overlap, or Ten-Finger?: This is personal preference. The overlap (Vardon) is most common, but interlock is also popular, and a ten-finger (baseball) grip is perfectly fine if it's more comfortable. The goal here is simply to unite the hands so they work as a single unit. Don't worry about what the pros do, pick what feels most secure and comfortable to you.

Commit to this neutral grip. It will feel bizarre at first if your old grip was flawed. Stick with it at the range for a few sessions until it becomes your new normal. This single change can eliminate a huge variable in your swing.

Your Setup: The Foundation for a Repeatable Swing

Imagine building a house on a different foundation every day. You'd never get a consistent result. Your setup is the foundation of your golf swing. If your posture, ball position, or stance width is different every time you address the ball, your swing will be different, too.

Posture: Creating Athleticism and Space

Good golf posture allows your body to turn properly and gives your arms the needed space to swing. It's athletic, not stiff.

• Bend from the hips: Start by standing straight up, holding the club in front of you. Now, push your butt backward and bend forward from your hips, not your waist. Your spine should remain relatively straight, just tilted over the ball.
• Arms hang freely: Let your arms hang straight down from your shoulders. This is the "hang" test. If your hands are bunched up close to your legs, you're standing too tall. If they're reaching far out, you're bent over too much. Let them hang naturally, and that’s where the club should be.
• Slight knee flex: Your knees should be softly flexed for balance, but not deeply bent like you're sitting in a chair.

Stance Width and Balance

Your stance needs to provide a stable base for you to rotate powerfully around without losing your balance.

• The Shoulder-Width Rule: For a mid-iron shot, a great starting point is to have the inside of your feet line up with the outside of your shoulders.
• Balance Check: Your weight should feel balanced 50/50 between your feet for iron shots, and centered between your heels and your toes.

Ball Position

Where you place the ball in your stance directs the bottom of your swing arc. It is an enormous source of inconsistency in your swing.

• Moving it Forward: As you go up into your long irons, hybrids, and woods, the ball position should gradually move more forward, toward your lead foot. With a driver, the ball should be off your lead heel, as the swing arc is wider and you're hitting on the upswing.

Take time to build a repeatable pre-shot routine to check these elements before each swing. It helps lock in this consistent foundation.

The Swing Engine: Body Rotation, not Just Arms

The common mistake I see from golfers struggling with consistency is that they swing driven almost entirely by their arms and hands. The power and repeatability of the golf swing come from rotating the big muscles of your torso: your back, core, and hips.

The Backswing: Loading Up for Power

The backswing is not about lifting the club, but about coiling like a spring behind the ball. Imagine swinging within an invisible cylinder. When you turn back, the goal is to stay within that cylinder. Movements swaying away from the target (reverse sway), or sliding towards it (reverse pivot), throw the whole sequence off balance. Feel your hips and shoulder turn back instead of sliding.

Wrist Hinge: This is the subtle movement of the club hinging through your wrists. This should occur naturally if you start with proper grip. It happens because the weight of the club head and momentum create its own lever.

Downswing: Unleashing Sequentially

The downswing unleashes the energy stored in the backswing. Many golfers struggle here as they try to generate power from the top using their arms and shoulders, resulting in a steep over-the-top move. This often leads to a slice or pull.

• The First Move: Initiate a slight bump of weight to your lead side. This moves the low point of your swing arc slightly ahead of the ball, allowing you to hit with a descending blow rather than scooping it.
• Turning the Body: After the slight shift forward, the reaction is the rapid unwinding of your hips and torso. Let the body drive the pull through, instead of the hands making compensation.
• Impact and Extension: At impact, your body is a key contributor to power. Your arms need to extend through the ball as if you are "shaking hands" with your target. This creates more free extension and release.
• Finding Your Rhythm and Balance: Your rhythm and balance keep your swing consistent. Work on developing an understanding of how to control your movements to maintain a smooth tempo. Consistency in rhythm makes consistent contact more achievable.