Why Is My Golf Swing Getting Worse?

It’s one of the most maddening feelings in golf: you were playing well, but now, for some reason, your swing is getting worse. Suddenly, solid contact feels like a distant memory, and every shot is an adventure. This article will walk you through the most common reasons why this happens and give you a clear, simple checklist to get your swing back on track.

Going Back to Basics: Are Your Fundamentals Slipping?

More often than not, a swing that’s falling apart isn’t because you've forgotten how to swing. It's because the foundation you built your swing on has developed a few small, harmless-looking cracks. Over time, these tiny issues in your grip and setup force you to make compensations, leading to the inconsistency you're feeling right now. Let’s check a couple of the biggest culprits.

Is Your Grip Working Against You?

Your grip is the steering wheel for your golf club. If it’s not in a good position, you’ll spend your entire swing fighting to get the clubface back to square at impact. It’s exhausting and hopelessly inconsistent. A "bad" grip isn’t about right or wrong, it’s about whether your hands are working together in a neutral way that doesn’t force a manipulation.

Here’s a simple checkup for your top hand (the left hand for a right-handed golfer):

• Place the Grip in Your Fingers: Don’t hold the club in the palm of your hand like a baseball bat. The grip should run diagonally across your fingers, from the base of your little finger to the middle of your index finger.
• Check Your Knuckles: After you close your hand, look down. You should be able to see two knuckles - the ones on your index and middle fingers. If you see three or four (a "strong" grip), you’ll likely fight a hook. If you see only one or none (a "weak" grip), a slice is probably your nemesis.
• Look at the "V": The "V" formed by your thumb and index finger should point roughly toward your right shoulder. This puts your hand on top of the club in a neutral, powerful position.

For your bottom hand (the right hand), the goal is to mirror what your top hand is doing. The simplest way to think about it is that the palm of your right hand should "cover" your left thumb. Whether you interlock, overlook, or use a ten-finger grip is a matter of personal comfort. The important part is that both palms are essentially facing each other, not fighting for control.

Has Your Setup Lost Its Structure?

If the grip is the steering wheel, your setup is the engine's chassis - it holds everything in alignment. Good golf is almost impossible from a bad setup. When you’re struggling, it’s common to find that you’ve gotten lazy with your posture, alignment, or ball position without even realizing it.

Here’s how to rebuild a solid, athletic setup:

1. Start with the Clubhead: Before you take your stance, place the clubhead behind the ball and aim the face directly at your target. This seems obvious, but many golfers take their stance first and then aim the club, which can easily throw your body out of alignment.
2. Establish Your Posture: From a standing position, hinge forward from your hips - not your waist. A great way to feel this is to push your bottom backward as if you were about to sit in a chair. Let your arms hang down naturally from your shoulders. Your weight should be centered on the balls of your feet, feeling balanced and athletic. This posture is what allows your body to rotate.
3. Set Your Stance Width: For mid-irons, a good rule of thumb is to have your feet shoulder-width apart. Too narrow, and you’ll have no balance or power. Too wide, and you’ll restrict your ability to turn your hips. You want a stable base that promotes rotation.
4. Check Your Ball Position: For a wedge up to an 8-iron, place the ball in the exact center of your stance. As the clubs get longer, the ball moves slightly forward. A 7-iron or 6-iron will be about a ball-width forward of center. Your fairway woods are a little further forward still, and the driver is played off the inside of your lead heel. A ball position that’s drifted too far back or forward can wreak havoc on your contact.

Unlocking the Swing Engine: Problems in Your Motion

Sometimes your fundamentals are solid, but the way you move the club has gone haywire. Great golf swings feel fluid and connected, while a struggling swing often feels disjointed, with the arms and body working against each other. The issue usually starts in the first few feet of your swing.

The Takeaway: Starting on the Wrong Path

The first movement away from the ball sets the tone for the entire swing. Most amateur swing flaws can be traced back to an improper takeaway. The goal is to move the club, hands, arms, and torso together as one connected unit. When struggling, golfers often do one of two things:

• They snatch the club away with just their hands, yanking it too far inside the target line.
• They lift the club straight up with only their arms, creating a steep, narrow arc.

The solution is to feel like the turn of your chest and shoulders is what actually moves the club away from the ball. As you rotate your torso, your arms and the club simply go along for the ride. As the club gets about parallel to the ground, introducing a slight wrist hinge will set it on the right plane. You don't have to overcomplicate it. Just think: turn and hinge. This simple thought keeps the club in front of your body and gets your swing started on the right path.

Downswing Flaws: Trying to "Create" Power Instead of "Unwinding"

When our timing is off and we're not making solid contact, our instinct is to help the ball up in the air. We try to add power with our arms and shoulders or try to scoop the ball. This is a swing-killer. Power doesn't come from your arms, it comes from unwinding your body correctly from the top.

Here’s the proper sequence for the downswing:

1. You Start from the Ground Up: The first move from the top of the backswing is a slight shift of weight to your lead foot. This "bump" toward the target is subtle, but it's what ensures you hit the ball first and then the turf (with your irons).
2. You Unwind Your Body: After the weight shift, your hips start to rotate open toward the target. This turning motion pulls your torso, arms, and club down and through impact. Your arms aren't the engine, they are just along for the ride, delivering the speed that your body created.
3. Your chest finishes facing the target: A good sign you’ve used your body correctly is the finish position. Your weight should be almost entirely on your lead foot (90%+) and your chest should be rotated so it’s pointing directly at your target. If you finish flat-footed or leaning back, it’s a telltale indicator that you used just your arms.

Mental Game and Practice Sabotage

It’s not always a physical problem. Sometimes your swing is getting worse because of what’s happening between your ears or how you're practicing.

Are You Practicing Mistakes?

Heading to the driving range and mindlessly hitting 100 balls with a driver is not practice - it’s just exercise. Without a specific goal or feedback, you might be ingraining the very habits that are making your swing worse. Instead of beating balls, try some structured, deliberate practice:

• Pick a specific target for every single shot.
• Work on one thing at a time. If you’re checking your setup, hit five shots focusing only on your posture before moving on.
• Rehearse your pre-shot routine. Go through the full process you’d use on the course for every ball on the range.

Information Overload: Drowning in Swing Thoughts

When you're struggling, it’s tempting to surf YouTube for a magic bullet. But soon you have twelve different "quick tips" from twelve different instructors buzzing in your head on every swing. "Keep your head down," "Shift your weight," "Don't sway," "Fire the hips" - trying to do all of it at once is a recipe for disaster.

A good golf swing is flowing and athletic, not a robotic checklist. Pick one feel or thought from this article and commit to working on only that for your next practice session. Give it a real chance to work before adding something else. Simplicity is your best friend when you're trying to find your swing again.

Final Thoughts

Golf swing slumps happen to everyone, but the way out is almost always about a return to simplicity. By systematically checking your fundamentals - grip, setup, and key swing motions - you can diagnose the real problem and stop making the small compensations that are leading to big mistakes.

At Caddie AI, our entire goal is to bring that kind of simple, personalized clarity to your game. When your mind is cluttered with conflicting tips, you can ask for a simple explanation of course strategy, or instantly get clear guidance when facing a shot you don’t know how to play by taking a picture of your ball's lie. Caddie AI is designed to be your judgment-free, on-demand golf expert, giving you one clear, actionable piece of advice so you can commit to your swing with confidence.