Perform Better Golf Blog

What is the proper golf swing?

Is it different for each and every golfer? Or is there a perfect swing that every golfer should strive for? I tend to think that every golfer has physical limitations that directly impact their golf swing. These limitations (which you and I have) can keep you from making a good swing for years to come.

For the older golfer, the proper swing might seem like a pipe dream, but it’s really not. You just need to realize that your body MUST make certain moves throughout the swing that are unnatural and physically demanding. If your body can’t make these required moves, you will make compensations in your golf swing that directly affect the outcome.

When I think of a proper golf swing that should be attainable for most golfers, I think of Stuart Appleby. He has such a simple swing that he can repeat over and over again. Of course I can bring up Tiger, but most amateur golfers, especially the older ones cannot attain the physical status of a Tiger Woods without a tremendous amount of work, effort, and commitment.

The proper golf swing for YOU should be one that you can slowly build on through video lessons, and physical preparation such as golf specific exercises and golf stretches that are EASY and can be done right in your home.

It’s not difficult to improve your golf swing mechanics, but you need the right approach. There’s only one thing stopping you from doing exactly what your pro wants you to do. Can you take a guess what it is? How many times have you tried with all your might to do what your pro wants and your BODY just won’t do it? Well…you’re not alone. The majority of golfers are in the same boat…but there’s hope.

You see…all it takes is SIMPLE and very EASY golf swing training drills to QUICKLY improve your mechanics dramatically. This is no joke. Fix the issues in your body, and your golf swing mechanics will transform in front of your eyes. It’s no secret most of the TOP touring pros take their physical preparation very seriously. Even the senior tour players all are working on their bodies to stay competitive and make a living at what they love…golf.

I really want you to get this!

It’s so unbelievably easy you’ll be killing yourself you didn’t start earlier.

For example, I put together a instantly downloadable Hit Long Drives report that has 5 simple golf swing training drills that will QUICKLY get you a bigger backswing resulting in added yards (up to 30) to your drives.

My Effortless Golf Training Manual is the ONLY golf improvement book you will EVER need to improve every facet of your game including, consistency, accuracy, power, and focus.

Using the resources on this site will put you years ahead of all your playing partners. You’ll be laughing all the way to the 19th hole!

When you think of golf swing fundamentals, you must think of the basics first. The golf swing basics I’m talking about are grip, posture, alignment, and ball position. Get these right, and your chances of shooting low scores and enjoying golf are greatly improved.

Grip

A neutral to slightly strong grip is the wise choice for most golfers. This grip will help you get back to impact squarely without too much hand manipulation. The grip is the ONLY contact you have with the club, so it’s critical you get this right first.

Posture

Posture is where most golfers, especially  the older guys start faultering. You golf posture should be erect not hunched over, and yet most golfers look the latter. Improper golf posture will inhibit your ability to make a full turn, resulting in a lack of distance and consistency.

Alignment

Alignment is so critical to your club path and ball contact. If you aim too far to the right or left, you will have to make compensations to hit it straight, and most of the time those compensations don’t work. Get your alignment right, and you can make a free swing at it.

Ball Position

There is a lot of controversy with ball position. This one may take a little trial-and-error. The quality of your ball contact will determine if you’re on the right track with your ball position. The basics is to play your driver ball off the inside heel of your left foot if you’re a right handed golfer. As the clubs get shorter, you move the ball slightly towards the center of your stance.

So as you can see, your golf swing fundamentals should be the first step you take when you begin your golf journey.

There is one aspect of the swing that if golfers got it right would hit the ball much farther and straighter, and that’s the shoulders in the golf swing. The shoulders are the biggest moving part in the swing and generate a maximum amount of torque and clubhead speed.

Just picture your shoulders at address, then how far they go to get to the top, then again how far they go to not only come back down to impact, but the rotating all the way through to a full finish. I think you’ll agree to me that they move more than any other major body part in the golf swing.

Take a look at Tiger Woods BIG shoulder turn with minimal hip turn. His shoulders rotate more than 110 degrees while his hips don’t even get to 40 degrees. That’s a HUGE amount of core torque and power.

I know we’re all not Tiger woods, and the older we get the harder it is to maintain enough flexibility to make a full shoulder turn let alone minimizing hip turn. But we can do our very best with simple golf swing stretches and training drills to make it better.

In a future article, I’ll talk more about what exactly the shoulders do in the golf swing.

To shoot your lowest scores possible and play consistent golf your golf swing technique needs to be honed to near perfection. I can tell you that golf lessons may help, but is not the “cure-all-end-all”. Neither is a new driver or pounding more balls.

You’ve got to realize there is a missing element for EVERY golfer. For the older golfer it’s critical. For every other golfer, it may keep you from reaching your potential.

It’s all about what  your body is “able to do”. It’s not the idea of knowing what  you need to do, but being able to DO IT!

How many times have you attempted what you know in your mind is the right golf swing, and yet the outcome wasn’t what you’d hoped? I know I’ve been there before. It’s so frustrating to not be able to perform technique that is needed to play better golf.

The physical ability of the golfer should be near the top in regards to golf improvement. Without it, proper golf swing technique is almost unreachable. This would cause many a golfer to consider quitting the game from a lower level of enjoyment.

I heard a statistic that I cannot completely back up, but it’s worth stating here. For every new golfer who picks up the game, there is one that quits! If there is any fraction of truth to this statement, it should be an eye-opener to golf instructors, professionals and golfers themselves.

What’s the big deal about this new rage going on called the stack and tilt golf swing?

It’s so funny how the golf swing can morphe into marketing gimmicks.  You see it every year. All the so-called gurus name their swing technique and all of a sudden it spreads like wildfire!

There are people who are advocates of this stack and tilt theory and others who shrug it off as another gimmick.

Some of the differences is at address, where the conventional swing is somewhat angled away from the ball and the stack and tilt is pretty much straight up. Then at the top of the backswing, the convential gets behind the ball and the stack and tilt stay right on top of it. Impact is also the same. The conventional swing has the head further behind the ball, and the stack and tilt has the head right over the ball.

If you are physically limited, this new golf swing technique may work for you.

When you think of the biomechanics of golf swing does it seem overwhelming? Do you feel like you need to have a “62-point” checklist to improve your biomechanics? Don’t fret, as there is only a couple of easy solutions keeping you from sound biomechanics that can rival Tiger Woods.

For most golfers, biomechanics are not even a thought. Heck…you grab the club and swing it right?

It’s a little more than that, and believe it or not, your biomechanics can make or break your golf performance. They are influenced by how your body (and levers) swing the club good or bad. There are certain positions you must be able to physically get into to perform proper technique.

For example the golf swing takeaway that is very connected and with the core. If you have minimal rotational flexibility you will have a difficult time achieving this. You will most likely make a compensation of “picking the club up” instead of sweeping it back with a nice extension of your arms away from you chest.

Another example would be at the top of the backswing. The ideal golf swing biomechanics for this very unnatural position is one with a 90 degree shoulder turn and ONLY 45 degrees of hip turn. Without the proper rotational flexibility you will over-rotate your hips to make this shoulder turn and lose your coil in your core. This will cause a massive decrease in clubhead speed and ultimately distance.

How about impact?

This is one of the MOST unnatural positions to put your body in!

Your hips should be open to the target while your shoulders are still square. If you don’t have adequate core strength and flexibility, your upper body will outrace your lower body through impact causing either a wicked hook or the standard slice most amateur golfers have.

Notice the common denominator here?

You’ve got to realize there IS a physical component to optimal golf, and if you don’t address it, you will be a very frustrated golfer for a very LONG time!

One of the best ways to improve distance is to create lag in a golf swing. Lag is the retaining of your right wrist late into the downswing. The golfer who did this the best was Ben Hogan. Take a look at the wrist angle of hogan in this picture! It’s unbelievable! He is so deep in his downswing and STILL is holding that wrist angle.

95% of all amateur golfers do not every get in this position in their golf swing. In fact, they do the opposite, which is release the wrist angle too early in the downswing, robbing you of power, and also creating mishits like chunked shots, slices, and even thin shots because your body raises up to compensate for the early wrist release.

The best example of the modern day golfer is Sergio Garcia. Sergio holds his wrist angle, and creates a ton of lag in his golf swing, which enables him to compress the golf ball and hit it a LONG ways.

If you were to see the sequence shot of hogan in this picture, you’d see his hands come all the way to impact position, and he’d still have a massive lag with the club. The ONLY way he is able to get the clubhead back to the ball to make contact, is he makes a very aggressive move with his body from a rotational standpoint. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t even hit the ball.

The golf swing takeaway tip I want to talk about is the “one-piece” take away you see in the picture below. The red triangle is critical to the one-piece takeaway. The golfer who does it the very best is Tiger Woods.

Tiger does not break his wrists, nor does he pick up the club during the initial move away from the ball.

This one-piece move is one of the simplist to replicate and to do over and over again. This is the beauty of this golf swing takeaway tip. It’s SO EASY!

You know you’ve done it right if the clubhead stays low to the grow the first 6 inches or so. You also know you’ve done it right when the club stays in front of your body and chest, and not to the inside and away from the body.

Another cool drill to do is to take the butt of the handle and insert it right into your belly button. Now grip down on the shaft until your arms are extended. Get in your golf posture while keeping the shaft pressed into your belly button, and make your takeaway move.

You know you’ve done it right if the butt of the club stays intact with your body. If you get too handsy, the butt will come away from your body.

Doing this simple golf swing takeaway drill will give you a real sense of a “one-piece” takeaway.

Now this is ONLY the “tip of the iceberg!”

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I am a firm believer in looking at the “cause” of your golf swing faults, and not taking a lesson and looking for a band aid to solve it. If you don’t look at the root cause of your golf swing deficiencies you will NEVER, and I will say it again NEVER cure your golf swing faults and see the improvement you so yearn for.

Are you with me?

I want to now ask you a question. What swings your golf club? I’m not trying to be a smart *#@. I’m being very serious, and I want you to REALLY get this.

If you haven’t guessed it yet…it’s your BODY!

Doesn’t that make sense?

So if we are in agreement, do you think that there might be a connection between your body and your golf swing faults? Don’t be fooled by all those gimmicky training aids. The golf training aid market is a HUGE market preying on those helpless, desperate golfers who are willing to pay any amount of money “in hopes of” a better golf game.

The solution to ALL your golf swing faults and frustrations is right in front of you, and the fix is obscenely easy.

I’m about to say something that is profound for golfers…and I really want you to absorb it and think about it. Here goes.

“For Every Golf Swing Fault, There Is A Physical Limitation Causing It!”

I want you to really grasp this concept and think about it.

Let me give you an example.

How many times have you complained that you need to hit your drives further, AND…in the same breath said you aren’t making a big enough backswing?

Do you realize you just acknowledged a swing fault (lack of distance) and a physical limitation (short backswing)?

This is EXACTLY what I’m trying to get at!

This is what every golfer needs to really take hold of and understand.

You can take all the lessons you want til you’re blue in the face (and your body aches for days); you can buy all the latest/greatest golf equipment; you can purchase the newest training aid promising 50 yards and 10 strokes; OR you can save your money and take the approach that will once-and-for-all solve the majority of all your swing faults and frustrations.

The choice is yours…but bottom line let me say this.

“If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you get.”

I could go on, and on, and on. The simple fact is you are just seconds away from playing the game you know you’re capable of playing. It’s right in front of you.

So there you have it. My “2 cents” worth on how you can make a change and see very quick results in your golf swing power, consistency, and accuracy…without one more lesson or anymore new golf clubs. Just give it some thought if you’re serious about improving.