If one of the fittest golfers in the world (Tiger Woods) gets injured, what makes you think the average golfer, especially senior golfer won’t. Odds are they will, and will continue to until action is taken to strengthen and stretch muscles specific to your golf swing.

If any golfer thinks that being somewhat physically fit for golf is not advantageous, then I don’t know what planet you’re on. When was the last time you saw an unfit guy win on tour? Rarely ever! There’s a reason why. Don’t be in denial. Don’t be part of the masses of golfers who shun fitness, as you will also be among the masses who plays hurt all the time, and also watches your game decline year after year.

Here’s 7 Simple Steps To A Better Golf Swing

• Grip
• Posture
• Ball Position
• Takeaway
• Top Of Backswing
• Downswing
• Impact

Grip

Your golf grip is your ONLY connection to your club. If you do not hold the club properly, you will not come into impact with a square clubface.

The focus of your winter (off season) golf program should be technique, golf swing strength and flexibility. That combination will dramatically improve your driving distance and even consistency. From now on I want you to think of the golf season as your time to prepare your body for the “next season”, not just a time to put the golf clubs away and forget about golf.

Like all other athletes in EVERY other sport, they all train in the off-season, so why wouldn’t a golfer do the same? It’s common sense to get better, you’ve got to put some “off the course” time in to see the results on the course. Doesn’t that makes sense?

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The first thing he noticed was my grip on the golf club. It was WAY WRONG! So wrong in fact he said I had no chance at any consistency because I could never get the clubface back to square with such a grip that was not correct.

After Geoff showed me how to grip a golf club the proper way, it felt so foreign to me, it took me a while to feel like I could hit a golf ball.

I had it more towards my palm in my left hand; my left hand was a bit weak; and my right hand was not on top of the golf club like it should have been. So little did I know, I had a weak golf grip.

Weak Golf Grip

For those of you who don’t know what a weak golf grip looks like, the below picture will give you an idea. I could have made it even weaker with both the left and right hand, but you’ll see how my left hand is turned to far to the left, which will make it very hard to return back to square at impact.

My corrected grip which is much better, is a strongish grip, which is more suited to compress the ball, and send it straight most of the time.

You’ll notice my left hand is turned more to the right, showing almost 3 knuckles, and the right hand is right on top. Geoff compared my new grip to Hogan, and I got chills. It was a near perfect golf grip next to Hogan’s.

A standard grip that most amateur golfers would do well with is the Vardon Grip. Named after the famous golfer Harry Vardon. Which is the overlap grip used by the majority of golfers.

If you can get anything out of this article, I hope you see a more compressed ball, that pierces through the wind straight at your target.

I was really trying too hard with my arms, creating not only tension which slows clubhead speed, but making my upper body more dominant during the initial part of the downswing. This caused a whole host of issues with my swing, that resulted in the above mentioned toe shots, a lack of hip rotation and clearing through impact, a raising up out of my spine angle at impact, and a slight flip of the hands causing an early release through the ball.

With all that being said, I am now initiating my downswing with an emphasis on lower body weight shift/rotation and more importantly PASSIVE arms. I feel like my arms are now along for the ride, as opposed to them dominating my golf swing. This will take me some time to ingrain, but with my commitment to practice, I know I will get this, and have already seen some positive results on the practice range.

So when you are making your golf swing transition, and you want the proper sequence coming down, think passive arms, and a lower body shift/rotation. I think it will help you.

This no backswing approach is one that’s been used as a golf drill by golf instruction professionals for years, so it’s kind of comical this is the new craze in golf swing improvement.

It has a lot of merits to consider. The short backswing makes your transition and sequence of motion in the downswing much easier. It enhances solid ball contact which maximizes distance; so what you think you might lose from backswing coil, you gain in ball/clubface contact.

Unfortunately the negative is the golf swing requires a take-away. This no backswing golf swing removes that, so you might have a difficult time carrying over from the drill to can actual swing from address.

This may or may not be an issue, but I think doing the No Backswing Golf Swing is worth a shot. Who knows…you may dramatically improve your golf swing consistency and mechanics.

When I think of lag from the wrists, I think of Sergio Garcia. He has the most impressive, nearly impossible wrist lag (delayed wrist cock) on tour. It’s absolutely amazing to see him with his hands near impact, and his wrists still fully cocked.

One of the LONGEST hitters on the PGA Tour is JB Holmes. He is another perfect example of gaining maximum power through your wrists.

Hinging and unhinging (rehingeing) the wrists is ONE motion. This is where golfers get it wrong!

I took a quick picture(s) to show you the very SIMPLE motion of the proper wrist hinge.

In the picture near the top, I’m hinging. The image below, I’m unhinging. That’s it!

Another common term for wrist hinge is wrist cock. Look how my wrist is bending only ONE way! This is SO important. It doesn’t break side-to-side, only up and down. Combine the turning of the shoulders, dropping of the arms, and this hinge, unhing and rehinge of the wrists at the right time, and you’ve got a TON of POWER!

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Most amateur golfers have not been educated on what a square clubface feels like throughout your their golf swing. Without the feeling, it is impossible to consistently hit your ball with a square face. You will continue to be frustrated at your outcome, and not know how to fix it.

It’s awesome to learn about your clubface, so you can manage it better on the golf course. I have come across a fantastic resource, in fact, the biggest resource on just clubface I have ever seen!

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Can any golfer emulate the modern swing? I’m not sure it’s possible, unless the golfer improves both golf specific flexibility and strength with golf swing exercises that allow them to make full shoulder turns with no tension.

For the senior golfer, the modern golf swing may not be attainable. The key to good golf as you get older is “swinging within yourself”. You’ve got two choices as the years go on. Accept your physical decline and make compensations in your swing, or buck the curve and start fixing the machine and watch your game go to a new level.

Anthony Kim had a phenomenal year in 2008 and I look for him to do even better in ’09.

Look at Anthony’s impact position! Most amateur golfers could not get their bodies to do that. Have their hips this open at impact. The core strength and flexibility to do this, is way above average, and can ONLY happen with golf-specific training.

Talking about these young golfers does not mean that there is no hope as you get older. It just means you need to adjust your golf improvement approach to enjoy your golf for years to come. The best way is to create a program that slows the aging process, and helps you maintain (or improve) a level of golf specific fitness that enables you to make more of a modern golf swing.

Nobody can! Doesn’t matter if you pay $30 for a lesson, or $500. You have physical issues that are different than the golfer standing next to you. What will work for him may not work for you.

The root cause of your swing faults can be linked to a physical limitation or just bad swing mechanics, due to a lack of understanding of the proper golf swing sequence. Learning the golf swing fundamentals is the first step in understanding the correct golf swing.

Grip, stance, ball position and posture could easily be considered the most important thing in your golf swing, as if they are wrong, you will have no chance at creating a repeatable and sound golf swing.

Once you get the fundamentals down, you should break your golf swing into parts, and completely learn these movements before you move onto the next part (phase).

One-Piece Takeaway

The initial move in your golf swing is your golf swing takeaway. Take the club back in one piece with the hands, arms, shoulders and club handle move together the first 2-3 feet. This will promote a repeatable golf swing with no additional moving parts, like a wrist break or lift of the clubhead too early.

9:00 O’clock Position

When your club gets parallel to the ground on your backswing, it must be also parallel to your target line, and the toe nearly facing towards the sky, but not quite. With the checkpoint, you are on plane and on your way to a solid golf swing.

Top Of Backswing

There are many different ways golfers get to the top, and based on your current physical restrictions, you’ll either get in the ideal position or something hopefully close to it. This position is a 90 degree shoulder turn, with a 45 degree hip turn; the club is again parallel to your target line; your right elbow is pointing down, not out; right knee has same flex in it as it did at address.

Golf Swing Transition

This could be considered a very important key to a good golf swing that you can repeat for 18 holes. Your golf swing transition should start from the ground up. Your weight moves from your back leg to the front. This is not a lateral slide, but there is a definite shift towards the target. The upper body is held back at this point for a split second.

9:00 O’clock Position

We’re back to the 9:00 O’clock position like in the backswing. And we should be in almost the identical spot. Club parallel to your target line; toe of the club facing nearly skyward; right knee kicking inward toward the golf ball; your weight is now 50/50 at this point.

Golf Impact Position

Some of the top pro’s when asked what the most important thing in the golf swing is will say IMPACT. That answer makes a lot of sense, because this is the ONLY time your club contacts the ball, and the result is what your golf ball will do.

Your golf impact position should be as similar to the pro’s as possible. Shoulders back to square (or slightly open); hips rotated open quite a bit; hands ahead of the ball (unless it’s your golf driver); descending blow into back of ball; weight is 80% on your left leg; clubface is square.

Golf Swing Follow-Through

Just past your impact is the 3:00 o’clock position in your follow through. In this position, it should mirror your 9:00 o’clock one. Your club shaft is parallel to your target line; the toe of the club is up; your hands have turned over because you’ve released your club through impact; your hips, chest and shoulders are now facing the target; and your weight is now 90% on your left side now.

Balanced Finish

If you’ve done everything right, you’ll be balanced and completely on your left leg. Everything is facing the target. Your arms are relaxed with your golf club resting over your left shoulder. You’ve just hit a great golf shot!

So given all of this, you make the decision as to what the most important thing in your golf swing is.