Setup

A good grip allows your wrists to hinge freely — and the better your wrist action, the better you strike the ball.

The slice: poorly aligned setup.

It is hard to say which fault comes first — an open clubface or an out-to-in swing path. However, both these problems arise from a poor address position. The typical slicer is aligned to the left of the target, and the swing path simply follows the lines established at address. An open clubface at impact may be the result of not releasing the club properly. Soften your grip pressure for a free “swish.”

One major way to improve is to be aware of the target. When we watch great players, we notice that they take great care in setting up to the ball. After they set up, we also see them look up at the target several times. It is part of their routine. They will always take the same number of looks. Most recreational golfers stare at the ball and get “ball bound,” with little or no awareness of where they are trying to hit the ball.

How far away you stand from the ball at address is an important factor in making solid contact. To achieve the correct distance, hold the club waist-high, with your upper arms touching your chest. Tilt from the hips and stick out your tailbone, letting the club head sole rest on the ground. That is the correct distance. With a longer club, you will naturally be farther away than with a shorter one. Being the correct distance is the only way you can achieve proper balance. (If you tend to lose your balance and fall forward at the end of your swing, you are definitely standing too far from the ball.)

The most important part of the golf swing is the proper grip. The grip must be correct so the wrists hinge properly on the backswing and unhinge properly on the forward swing. This hinging is similar to the hinges on a door. Holding the handle of the club in the fingers and high in the palm in the top hand will ensure the proper grip and hinging.

So much of the swing happens at setup, well before you ever hit the ball. This is why the best players in the world are constantly working on setup because they know one small error at address can lead to an off swing.

Grip the club as if you were holding a baby bird. Not so tight that you squeeze the life out of it, but supple enough that bird does not fly away.

Hold the club more in the fingers than the palms.
Start by laying the club across the knuckle joint of the left forefinger.
Place the left thumb just to the right of center on the club.
Fold the right hand over the left thumb.
Let the little finger of the right hand ride on the first finger of the left.

The right hand is brought up so high that the palm of it covers over the left thumb, leaving very little of the latter to be seen. The first and second fingers of the right hand just reach round to the thumb of the left, and the third finger completes the overlapping processes, so that the club is held in the grip as if it were in a vice. The little finger of the right hand rides on the first finger of the left. The great advantage of this grip is that both hands feel and act like one.

My grip also differs from that of other golfers in that my right hand rides higher on the outside of my left hand. This enables the 2 hands to act as a single unit, thus imparting considerably more hand action and consequently more clubhead speed at the moment of impact.

Make sure that the right hand rides high on the left hand. The purpose of this, of course, is to mold the 2 hands together so that they can act as 1 unit and not 2. The greatest pressure in the right hand is ind the 2 middle fingers. That is because the club is well down in the fingers of the right hand with a lot of hand left over.

I grip the club firmly with all my fingers, but I feel pressure particularly in specific areas of each hand. In the left hand, these pressure points are the last 2 fingers and the pad or butt of the hand. In the right hand, the pressure points are my thumb and index finger.

Whatever style of grip you choose, keep it as natural as possible. I believe that for most golfers the most natural grip is one in which the back of the left hand and the palm of the right hand and the clubface are square to the target when the player takes his address position. I grip the club this way because I know that with it, if the rest of my swing is correct, the clubface will be square to the target at impact.

Don’t be mislead into thinking that big hands are essential for good golf. My hands are small and not particularly strong, but I still get reasonable power into my shots. I do so much more through leverage than hand action. I create the leverage through my arms and the club, as a result of proper body action and timing. My hands serve primarily as a connection, or hinge, between my arms and the club. As such, they transmit, rather than generate, power.

Especially if you have small hands, your left thumb can form a valuable anchor for your grip. Push the left thumb down the shaft as far as it will go — this is what the pros call a “long left thumb.” You’ll find this will firm up your grip and also increase your “feel” and comfort.

Hold the club firmly, but don’t squeeze it. I think of my grip pressure as “firm but passive.”

For a number of years during Ben Hogan’s prime and thereafter, many golf teachers taught the neutral grip — in which the Vs of the thumbs and forefingers point more or less toward the nose or right eye.

This was Hogan’s grip, and it was the right thing for him because he was always fighting a hook. In fact, most good players tend to be hookers. This neutral grip worked well for the good players and still does.

For players who are not good, the neutral grip encourages a slice.

I believe this is because of all the good modern players who have learned to combine the hands-and-arms swing of the strong grip with the big muscle swing of the neutral grip.

Breed advised golfers to make sure the left thumb is farther down the shaft than the first knuckle of the left index finger. If the knuckle is even with, or longer than, the tip of the left thumb, it means the golfer is holding the club too much in the palm.

I almost always can predict when my 15-handicap friends are going to hit a good shot, because they will be set up well. Their posture will be good. Your posture virtually dictates how you will strike the ball.

Stand up straight, with your feet slightly wider than shoulders. Open — toe out — your right foot about 15 degrees and your left foot about 30 degree. This is so you can turn more away from the ball and back through it.
Bend from the waist. Now you have created a sound spine angle and can swing down at the ball. You will want to maintain this spine angle throughout the swing. It stabilize you and keeps your head from bobbing up and down.
Flex your knees and stick out your rear end. This final stage balances you and puts ballast in your swing. You should almost feel as though you’re sitting down. If you fall forward as you swing, you know that your butt isn’t sticking out enough. Stick it out until you feel a little tension in the small of your back.

Your weight will still be toward your toes, but not too much. You’re poised to move. Your lower body can work easier. You’ll be able to stay down on the ball, making contact. No good athlete gets his weight back on his heels. A fast runner is on the balls of his feet.

I’d rather see you put too much weight toward your toes than err toward your heels. If you’re back on your heels starting your swing, there’s no way you can turn your hips correctly. You’ll have to just lift the club with your arms and make a weak swing. You’ll straighten up and fall back. If you fall forward, at least you can swing your arms down the line with some speed. Your knees should be flexed enough that they are just about over your toes as you look down. Your legs will be flexible from that position.

There’s another positive result of flexing the knees and setting your weight on the balls of your feet. An active lower body keeps the head quiet. If your legs are stiff — if you have “cement” legs as I call them — and your weight is back toward your heels, your head is going to move way too much.

The most frequent setup mistake I see is standing too erect. I happens typically with people who are short or who have weak legs, or both.

At the other extreme, crouching and bending over too much results in a swing that’s too upright. About all you can do is stick your arms straight up in the air. The club wants to move too vertically instead of around the body. When you are bent over too much, you are apt to lift up coming into the ball and make poor contact.

I know there are some great golf minds that advocate one standard ball position, just inside or opposite the left heel — Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan for 2. But you have to be very athletic in your lower body to go down and get the ball. If it’s a bad lie, all the more reason to put the ball back in your stance. If you have trouble driving your legs and shifting your weight through the shot, you almost surely shouldn’t play everything off your left heel. Most older players fall into this category. I’ve heard that Hogan moved the ball back as he got older, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jack do it one day.

One waggle was begun while the right foot moved back to its place. When the club returned to the ground behind the ball, there was a little forward twist of the hips and the backswing began. I felt most comfortable and played better golf when the entire movement was continuous. Whenever I hesitated or took a second waggle, I could look for trouble.

The shot he visualizes each time determines his exact setup, and that his mind refuses to let him swing until his setup is correct.

There are some good reasons for my being so methodical about my setup. I think it is the single most important maneuver in golf. It is the only aspect of the swing over which you have 100% conscious control. If you set up correctly, there’s a good chance you’ll hit a reasonable shot, even if you make a mediocre swing. If you set up incorrectly, you’ll hit a lousy shot even if you make the greatest swing in the world. Every time I try to deny the law by hurrying my setup, my subconscious rears up and beats me around the ears.

I feel that hitting specific shots — playing the ball to a certain place in a certain way — is 50% mental picture, 40% setup, and 10% swing. That’s why setting up takes me so long, why I have to be so deliberate. In competition I am not simply trying to hit a good shot, but rather the perfect shot for the particular situation. I frequently fail, of course, often because I’ve mentally pictured the wrong shot. But unless I can set up exactly right in relation to the shot I have pictured, I know I have no chance of executing it as planned. Therefore, I must get perfectly set before I can pull the trigger. My mind simply will not let me start the swing until I’m “right,” no matter how long it takes.

If I don’t do my routine correctly, I’m aware of it because I’ve done it thousands and thousands of times. There’s an immediate feedback that says, “”Hey, this isn’t right!” At that point you should always step back and start over.

If you watch any athlete who is good at something — someone shooting free throws or getting ready to steal a base — they’re always wiggling their hands or bouncing the ball or looking at the basket. They bend their knees, they breathe, they shrug their shoulders — they do something so that they don’t become totally frozen. I think it’s because it’s easier to get a big motion going if you already have a little motion going. I know I take the big waggle, make a little forward press with my hands, and away I go. It’s just my way of initiating my swing without coming to a dead stop.

You’ve also learned that the “softer” your hands, the faster they flip. Which begins to explain why tight grip pressure decreases, not increases, clubhead speed. Stiff hands and wrists are slow hands and wrists.

2 common faulty setup positions are:

Standing too tall, which means the upper body doesn’t hang over enough. The upper body then must either dip on the backswing or turn too horizontally, forcing the arms and club to swing too flatly around the body. Both of these swings result in poor balance and poor timing, causing inconsistency.
The knees are too straight and the body slumps over the ball, forcing too much weight onto the toes. In this position you must rely on perfect hand-eye coordination for consistent shotmaking. With straight, unflexed knees you cannot transfer the weight properly during the swing.

The first essential for the consistent slicer is to square his shoulders to the target line at address. Often this will give him the feeling that he is closed — aiming right of target. But it is imperative that he gets his shoulders square, and he will usually only do this if at first he feels closed in his upper-body alignment.

Another vital factor for the inveterate slicer is head position at address. Most slicers set their heads too far to the left — over or even in front of the ball — which forces them into the open shouldered, open-bladed setup that guarantees a slice. They should observe how the very good golfer always sets his head behind the ball, and looks into the back of it — the bit he wants to hit.

We cannot get away from the fact that golf is basically a matter of grip and setup. If you set yourself so that you must swing across the ball with an open clubface, you are doomed to slice — no other shot is possible.

The slicer is the supreme example. The ball goes to the right, and the more it does, the more he sets himself to the left — shoulders open, head in front of the ball, and, worst of all, a slicer’s weak grip. Eventually he gets to the stage where the only thing he can possibly do is produce feeble banana shots from far left to far right.

Thus, the slicer’s first task must always be to get himself into a square address position — shoulders, hips, knees, and feet parallel to the target line, or even slightly “inside” it. This will enable him to grip the club in a way that will let him swing the clubface through the ball looking at the target.

Play the ball an inch or so closer to the body on high and low shots.
Don’t change the grip except for exaggerated slices and hooks.
Set the left thumb straight down the grip for a big slice, but more under for a hook.
Use a basic chipping stroke for the bump and run.
Aim to land the ball on a flat spot, avoiding side-slopes at all costs.
Don’t try the bump and run in lush, long grass. It’s ideal for dry, firm conditions.

If the student comes to me as once-a-week player who has been playing for years without improving, all I have to do is put his hands on the club in a good grip — and after the lesson I will never see him again. He will hit the ball so poorly that he will think I am the dumbest teacher in the country.

Changing a bad grip into a good grip requires a great amount of practice. Unless the student is willing and able to do this, I would indeed be a a dumb teacher if I demanded a radical alteration from an ordinary player in one lesson.

The fact is, a top player can change his grip enough to cause a draw or a fade, a slice or a hook, and an observer can’t even see the change.

Texas boys were well known for their strong grips, which they develop because they play in the wind so often. They can hit a 7-iron so far you can’t believe it. Off the tee they get great distances with a 3-wood or 4-wood, but they can’t hit a driver. Their strong grips delofted the clubs so much that a driver face would be totally shut.

No matter which of the 3 grips you use, one fundamental is that the hands must be touching each other. They should be joined as one unit. They should feel like they are melted together.

If you keep fooling with your grip, you will find yourself making a mistake on your backswing to correct for your new grip and then making another mistake on your downswing to correct the mistake you made on your backswing.

Sam holds the club as if it is a live bird in his hands, with just enough pressure that the bird can’t fly away but not so tightly that the bird can’t breathe. Grip the club this way and you wont have calluses, either.

Position of the ball is second in importance only to the grip.

Mistakes in grip and ball position are mistakes made before the swing that may ruin any grand plans you have for the shot.

The wrists play very little part in golf. The crossing of the forearms puts the punch in the golf shot.

If the hands are joined together as one unit, you will be surprised the amount of relaxation attained.

As with every shot I attempt, I visualized the ball’s flight and how it should respond upon landing.

My complete grip provides a sense of snugness and unity between the 2 hands. They should feel as if they are melded together, almost as if you were born to hold a club. If you don’t have that sensation, practice gripping and regripping the club. Keep a club handy just for this purpose.

You should hold the club lightly enough to allow plenty of wrist freedom and to have some feel, but firmly enough to maintain control of the club throughout the swing. The most important thing is to keep your grip pressure steady. If you increase your grip pressure at any point during the swing, it will cost you the clubhead speed and control of the club.

On the subject of grip pressure, I believe a lot of amateurs hold the club too tightly because their hands aren’t on the club correctly to begin with. To prevent the club from sliding around the fingers and palms, they instinctively tighten their hold, usually at the beginning of the downswing. It proves once again why a technically perfect grip is so important. If your grip is sound, you don’t have to think about your hand at all during the swing. You’re free to concentrate on the other aspects of good ball striking.

Here I have plenty of stability — you’d have a hard time knocking me over if you tried. But remember, the wider your stance, the more you restrict the turning of your hips and shoulders on the back and forward swings.

Poor ball position is a silent killer. If you don’t place the ball precisely in relation to your stance, the ball will be playing you instead of you playing the ball. You’ll have to conjure up some type of weird swing movement just to get the club on the ball, and because of that you’ll never be consistent.

Regardless of the club I am using, my hands remain the same distance from my thighs. That’s a great reference point. Although the length of the driver demands that the ball be placed farther away from you than for any other club, I make no wild attempt to reach for the ball. Note that my driver is soled squarely to the ground; the same will be true for the other clubs because they become increasingly upright as they grow shorter.

One of the most important aspects of good posture is hold your chin high at address. It’s something I check constantly. You want your chin well off your chest so your left shoulder has plenty of room to turn under your chin on the backswing. This is one of my key thoughts.

Pop was ex-military and definitely “old school.” He believes there is a standard operating procedure for every undertaking, including golf. He explained to me that the starting point of every shot is behind the ball. That you must visualize the shot and access all of the potential problems, then commit to the shot that you want to hit.

Having set up with an alignment that is different from where you feel you should send the ball, your swing will become a combination of compensations, trying to go in 2 directions at once.

It is extremely important to have an image of where we do want the ball to go. Thinking about where we don’t want it to go, the hazard that we want to avoid, sets that negative image in our mind. That image is the message our body responds to and does its best to produce.

And one more thing: No matter what you call it, the setup and alignment of your body is one of the most important fundamentals of your short game.

It’s important to understand where the center of your stance really is. It’s not halfway between your toes, it’s the centerline between your ankles.

Golfers often move the ball forward and back a few inches in their stance, up and down along the target line, without thinking. Nothing much looks different and the assume they can hit the ball solidly and cleanly — controlling the bottom of the swing arc — no matter where the ball is in their stance. In fact, this is virtually impossible to do without using the muscles of the hands and wrists. My point is that if the ball is anywhere in your stance except in the exact position to be hit with your dead-hands swing, you’ll have to use your hand muscles, exposing yourself to the effects of adrenaline.

Yet many golfers have been taught to hit higher, softer shots by moving the ball forward in their stance. For lower shots, they’re taught to move it back.

If you want to hit the ball higher, use a more lofted wedge and make solid contact from the center of your stance.

Yes, ball position is that important. And there is no margin for error in the forward direction.

Most teaching professionals feel the grip is the most important fundamental in golf. I disagree, at least in regard to the short game. There the grip falls somewhere down the line behind alignment, ball position, and stability.

When you arrive at the ball, first look at the lie. Is it ok? If not, what compensation will you have to make to hit the ball solidly? Grip down on the club a little? Move the ball back in your stance a bit? Swing across the line to cut the ball from left to right? Or for clean contact, how sharply descending must the swing be?

What about the distance to the pin? How far do you want the shot to fly? How much wind and which way is it blowing? What trajectory will work best? What club do you need? What swing key do you want to be thinking about?

Every shot requires a different line of thinking. But it’s as you mull over these questions that you must make all your shot and swing decisions and — this is most important — commit to them. You can’t have any doubts when you’re standing over the ball ready to make your swing.

The goal of the preparation process is to see and feel the exact swing you are going to make before you truy to make it happen for real. One or two practice swings may or may not be enough. Your last practice swing must feel exactly right for the shot you want to hit. If it feels right, you’re ready to go; if not, make another or 2, or 3, or 4 more, if necessary, until you are completely comfortable.

Preshot routine:

Check lie, distance, wind, landing area.
Consider risks of mishit, gambling percentages.
Choose club, visualize the shot, commit to the shot.
Imagine the swing, swing key, and commit to the swing.
Internalize look and feel with practice swings.
See and feel the perfect preview swing; when it feels perfect, go to your ritual.

Preshot ritual:

Always move at the same rhythm, your rhythm, just like in practice.
Don’t think about the future, shot results, or consequences; focus on doing your ritual.
Let your ritual lead you into repeating your preview swing.
Watch and feel how good the swing and shot that follow are.

But always, before every full swing, wedge shot, or putt, religiously execute your preshot ritual. That’s the only way to train your subconscious to accept it and make it a habit.

By always practicing properly, always using your ritual, and never doing it any other way, your subconscious will gain maximum trust in it. And this will give you the best chance of performing under pressure. Never lie to yourself, never do it quickly to get it over with, never drag out the time to make sure you do it properly. After a few thousand times, you won’t even realize you used a ritual or made a swing. And that’s when you know you’re succeeding.

The pros I worked with have told me many times that they can’t remember making a swing, especially an important one, under pressure. They remember their thoughts during the preshot preparation, how good their preview swing felt, and how they knew they would perform successfully. This feeling is something referred to as being “in the zone.” I think it is simply you and your subconscious being in perfect communication. You have trained your subconscious properly, and it is trusting you completely to perform the ritual and get out of the way: You do the preparation and the ritual, your subconscious will execute the shot.

You must never rake over a second ball and hit that shot until the first one has landed — and you’ve watched it land. You must take the time to back away after each shot, then approach the new one and get into your setup the same way every time, just as you intend to do on real shots that count on the course. Getting into your address position is as important as, and can be more important than, the swing itself. Because if you’re set up incorrectly or differently on each shot, there is no way to make or learn to groove a good, repeatable swing. So practice carefully, taking enough time to make proper setup a habit.

Always practice with an aim club.

Please never forget that appearances can be deceiving when it comes to ball position. When golfers look down, their shoes dominate their visual landscape. This generally results in ball placement that looks centered, but is actually well forward of their true stance center.

Jason Day’s warm up: 1 hour before tee time

7 min chipping / pitching
3 min bunkers
Wedge / iron
3 wood
Driver
Distance wedge
20 min of putting: Lag putts / mid range putts / short putts

Driver & iron:

Grip: same.
Ball position & spine angle: different.
Swing: more similar than different.

If you struggle to stay in posture, look at your balance point. Chances are your armpits are over your toes aka you’re standing too far from the ball. You need to get closer: armpits over balls of feet, and your hands under your shoulders. This will feel uncomfortable at first but it will allow you to stay in posture as you turn, resulting in better, more consistent ball striking.

The first thing I tell students about the grip is to think of the golf club as though it were an eating utensil. In other words, grip it as much as possible with your fingers.

Using a baseball grip can lead to several swing flaws, but probably the biggest drawback is that your hands tend to separate on the club. This separation causes your right hand to become the dominant hand. In a proper golf swing, your hands should work as one unit.

Having too much bend in your knees restricts your lower body, inhibits your upper torso turn, and limits the amount of leg strength you can use in your swing.

When you tilt from your waist and unlock your knees, you should be able to invisibly draw a vertical line from (1) your shoulder blade, to (2) the back of your kneecap, to (3) the balls of your feet.

Probably the most frequently asked question is, “How far do I stand from the ball?” Unfortunately, no instructor that I’m aware of has come up with a precise answer to that question. The best answer I can give is this: return to your setup as if you were going to hit a ball.

Try to pass your fist between the club and each of your thighs. If you can pass your fist through those areas with a little space to spare, you are standing at the correct distance from the ball, or at least as close to correct as you can be.

Many slicers don’t realize that moving the ball forward in their stance causes an even more pronounced slice. The clubhead travels in a circular path. During the downswing, once the clubhead passes your sternum, its circular path starts to arc toward your front foot. So moving the ball forward causes the club to cut across the ball from an even sharper angle, producing more spin.

Understand that your downswing is only as good as your backswing. Your backswing is only as good as your takeaway. Your takeaway is only as good as your grip, posture, setup, and wrist cock.

Still, the butt end of the club is the same distance from your body as with the 7i or any other club.

As a teacher who spends approximately 1.5K hours giving lessons per year, I can tell you that 90% of beginners and novices stand too far from the ball. Remember what Byron Nelson said: “You cannot stand too close to the ball.”

Weight: You are either on the balls of your feet, or on your heels, or on your toes. In this case, don’t err. Make sure your weight is on the balls of your feet.

Ball position: It is either just right, or too far forward, or too far back in your stance. If you err, do so toward the back of your stance.

The grip: It is either neutral, or too strong, or too weak. If you err, do so toward the strong side. But make sure your left thumb doesn’t exceed the 2 o’clock position.

A “strong golf grip” is when player’s hands are being rotated away from the intended target while gripping the golf club.

A “weak golf grip” is when the player’s hands are being rotated toward the intended target while gripping the golf club.

A middle ground between these two grips and hand positioning is called a “neutral golf grip.”

A strong grip can become uncomfortable over time.

Keeping “quiet hands” (not flipping through impact) will keep a strong grip working perfectly. Once a player begins to flip their wrists along with a strong grip, this added stress to a golfer’s wrist can lead to uncomfortable and even harmful feelings while playing.

I have been convinced since my early days in golf that there is one correct basic stance: the right foot is at a right angle to the line of flight and the left foot is turned out a quarter of a turn to the left.

The closer you keep your 2 arms together, the better they will operate as one unit, and when they operate as one unit, they tend to pull all of the elements of the swing together.

The upper part of the arms should be pressed very tightly against the sides of the chest. The elbows should be tucked in, not stuck out from the body.

A word of emphasis about the elbows. You want to press them as closely together as you can. When you do this (and the elbows are pointing properly to the hipbones) you will notice that the “pocket” of each elbow will lie in the center of the arm, at the midway point. The pockets will be facing toward the sky, as they should, not toward each other.

Watson believes bad grips are the biggest problem for recreational golfers. The vast majority of golfers do not grip properly. It is perhaps the simplest thing in the game. But then, it is usually the simplest things that trip people up.

When faced with a bad lie, you should change your setup. Here’s a simple rule: The worse the lie, the more sacrifices you should be willing to make (in carry distance, height, stopping distance, and general shot control or accuracy) to better accomplish the single most important factor in achieving acceptable results — clean, crisp contact of your clubface on the ball. And always remember, it is all too easy to jump out of the frying pan (the bad lie) into the fire (a worse lie, penalty strokes, double bogeys, and worse). The number-one result you want to achieve from a bad lie is a safe recovery to a safe position.

The correct grip and stance are so important that if you plan on taking only one lesson for the rest of your life, I would recommend that it deal only with grip, stance, alignment, ball position, and developing a routine that enables you to mentally and physically set up properly every time.

Until you reach the stage where you can unconsciously take care of grip, stance, and alignment, you need to be consciously meticulous about your setup. As soon as you’ve completed setting up, shift gears mentally, stop thinking about mechanics, and focus on the target.

Determine how thick the grip on your clubs should be. Grips that are too thin encourage too much hand action in your swing; grips that are too thick restrict your hands too much. Generally, the proper-sized grip should allow the middle and ring fingers on your left hand to barely touch the pad of your thumb when you hold the club. If your fingers don’t touch your thumb, the grip is too big; if your fingers dig into the pad, the grip is too thin.

If you have a tendency to slice the ball, you can try smaller grips that help your hands work faster. If you have a tendency to hook the ball, you can use bigger grips that will slow down your hands and help you beat that hook.

The farther your thumb extends down the shaft, the longer your swing. And the opposite is also true. Short thumb means short swing.

In every single one of those rounds, I saw someone misaligned at address. Sometimes that someone was me! Aiming properly is that difficult.

What makes aiming so difficult? Human nature is part of it. Getting sloppy with your aim is easy when your mind is on other things. That’s why discipline is important. Taking the time and trouble to get comfortable and confident in his alignment is one reason Jack Nicklaus was as great as he was.

Waggling is a rehearsal of the crucial opening segment of the backswing.

Waggling can set the tone for the pace of the swing. In other word, if you have a shot, fast swing, make short, fast waggles.

In golf, you don’t want to start from a static position. You need to a running start to build up momentum and to keep your swing from getting off to an abrupt, jerky beginning. Waggling the clubhead eases tension and introduces movement into your setup.

Bowlers use this same kind of alignment strategy. If you’ve ever bowled, you know about the spots that are a few feet in front of you on the lane.

Choose the direction you’re going and then put your feet, knees, and shoulders on a line parallel to the target line. Be very specific with your alignment.

Ball position can play a major part in poor direction. If the ball is too far forward, it’s easy to push it to the right. If the ball is too far back in your stance, it’s easy to hit pushes and pulls.

Develop a pre-shot routine that helps you focus and relax before every swing.

There is no compromise when forming your grip; it either works in harmony with the club or it does not. You must constantly refine your grip until it is at one with the club, body and mind. In short, exquisitely placed hands onto the golf club should be viewed as nothing less than a living work of art.

Unfortunately, the grip is a feature of the golf swing that can deteriorate over a period of time without offering any visible, telltale signs of doing so. The grip is usually one of the last things a golfer considers when things start to go awry on the course, yet almost every move performed during the swing is affected by it in some way or other.

A neutral grip also has the benefit of instructing your eyes to automatically focus on what is a realistically achievable target instead of scanning and searching for a safe place to “miss” the shot.

One of the most destructive swing flaws is simply gripping the club too tightly — very often as an instinctive reaction to nerves in response to a succession of poorly hit hosts. When this occurs, the handle of the club often moves away from the base of the fingers and up into the palm of the hands. Apart from robbing the wrists’ freedom of motion, the golfer unwittingly creates a framework that has no potential or scope for significant improvement in the swing.

As a general rule, the closer the handle of the club moves away from the base of the fingers and into the palm of the hand towards the capitate joint, the more restricted your wrist action will become.

The only time it is desirable to place the grip of the club high in the palm near the capitate joint is when you are looking to restrict your hand and wrist action, as you might on or around the putting green.

Placing your hands on the golf club is the last action that requires conscious thought before you start your swing. The completion of your grip is the trigger that starts your pre-shot routine, which will be an instinctive and spontaneous series of movements that require you to think of nothing else other than then shot you want to hit.

For this reason, it is important that you form your grip away from the ball so that you can concentrate on getting your grip technique right before you allow yourself to slip into your subconscious mode of thought.

Key grip flaw — the long left thumb.

This is one of the most common and most destructive grip flaws. Extending the left thumb down the handle of the grip causes several problems and has many damaging effects in the swing. The left hand, wrist and forearm act as shock absorbers through impact as the club head strikes the turf. When the left thumb is placed in the correct posit, the tendons in your hands have the ability to flex, bounce and withstand this force. However, when the left thumb is in an elongated position, the tendons in the left hand become stretched, taut and susceptible to injury, especially if the golfer is holding the club too tightly — an automatic knock-on effect of the long left thumb.

The long left thumb also damages the pincer or trigger formation that should be created with your left index finger and thumb, thereby forfeiting control and power during the swing. Thirdly, it forces the grip away from the fingers and into the palm of the left hand.

To unite the hands on the grip, dock the left thumb into the crevice formed between the lifeline and thumb pad of your right hand and apply an authoritative downward pressure with the right hand. This is the most important link of the hands. If positioned correctly, the right hand will touch more of the left hand than the club itself. In fact, the only parts of the right hand that should touch the golf club are the fingers.

It is physically impossible to create a pincer between the index finger and the thumb of the left hand if the left thumb is positioned too far down the club. When left thumb assumes this long and lazy position, the index finger retracts under the shaft to form a fist rendering it totally useless. As a result, none of the fingers on the left hand can apply any pressure to the grip.

Poor positioning of the right hand can also lead to the pincer position being forsaken. If the right hand approaches the grip from the side, instead of from above, it is highly likely that the club will be held in a “claw” fashion commonly associated with hooking the ball.

Take a club in your hand and pinch it, just as you would if you want to squirt the paint out of these tubes. It is this pressure and positioning that you want to recreate when gripping the club.

The Interlocking grip is a strength-inducing grip. If a golfer has neither the strength nor the suppleness to form the overlap or the intermesh, the Interlock can provide the answer. While this grip can limit the variety of shots the golfer has at his or her disposal, the benefits are found in the discipline it imposes. This grip suits medium to small hands.

The Overlapping or “Vardon” grip provides the golfer with a linkage between the hands that is relatively easy to perform and use. I think of this as an artist’s grip, since it lends itself to greater mobility, heightened feel, superb clubhead control, creativity and flair. This grip is suitable for players with medium to strong hands of an average size.

Not only is grip pressure a variable that is difficult to detect by an observer, it can very often avoid detection by the player in question as he or she becomes accustomed to holding the club either too tightly or too gently over a period of time.

Squeezing the handle too tightly — a difficult flaw to identify because the grip very often will appear perfectly orthodox from the outside, causes you to lose your appreciation of the weight in the clubhead and, in turn, your feel of the shot. An excessively tight grip will also prevent your wrists from hinging correctly, thereby destroying your ability to create power and leverage during the swing.

If you take just one lesson away from the whole of this book, it should be that your golf swing is a reflection of your grip.

In order to become proficient at achieving the correct stance and posture at address, I highly recommend, if not insist, that you use a mirror to check your positioning. Throughout the entire golf learning process, you will find yourself continually misled and betrayed by your swing thoughts and feelings.

Splaying both feet a little enables the knees to move and rotate into a position where they are positioned directly above each foot. This is the strongest and most powerful leg structure possible.

When the mid-section in the body — located just above the hips — began to rotate during the backswing, it creates a “ripple” effect that transfers throughout the lower body. The knees will instinctively follow suit and partially rotate, but if the feet remain square (pointing straight forward), there is nowhere for them to go. The end result can be disastrous because the knees are then forced to detour and bust out of the natural boundaries of the stance. As the support of the feet, knees and legs buckles, the torso will tilt or slide laterally instead of turning, altering many vital aspects of the swing dynamics.

As you position your knees at address, allow them to subtly follow the lead of the feet until you achieve a slight “squatting” appearance. Once this has been achieved, you should be aware of a slight resistance on the inside of each leg.

Ball position may seem like an innocuous and relatively unimportant aspect of the setup, but it influences many key elements of the golf swing, most notably the swing plane and path, the level of clubface activity at impact, not to mention the trajectory of the shot and the quality of the strike.

Since everybody is built differently, there is no one perfect ball position for every single golfer. Trial and error is part of the process of locating your ideal hitting area.

If your weight is placed too far towards your toes at address, your weight will inevitably be thrown forwards and outwards by the rotational force generated in the downswing. If, however, your weight is set back towards your heels, the momentum of the downswing movement will throw you backwards and laterally to the side during the downswing.

Think elbows to hips at address.

A link — or fusion — between the body and arms is an essential aspect of the golf swing. You create this linkage by turning your arms outwards slightly so that your elbow joints point at their corresponding hip joints. If you do this correctly, your arms will literally hang off from the upper part of your chest and gently sandwich your golf shirt between your upper arms and your body. This serves 2 functions:

Allows right arm to fold correctly.
Allows correct left forearm rotation.

If the average golfer were to adopt the address position of a good Tour professional, probably the biggest difference they would notice would be the degree of knee flex. It would feel “squatty” and “alive” for the one simple reason that the closer you move your body to the ground while maintaining a good posture, the more potential power you have at your disposal.

A golfer standing over the ball is clearly not able to make the same amount of movement as the tennis player, but the sensation of readiness should be almost identical. Many top golfers look as though they are gently crushing grapes under their feet as they get comfortable at address and prepare their body for the athletic movement to follow. The body searches for balance, energy and assistance from the ground as it secures its final footing before starting the swing motion.

Your subconscious mind continually monitors the position of the clubface during the swing. While you are probably blissfully unaware of this behind the scenes activity, this vital information is transmitted to your brain through your grip; firstly by its positioning and secondly by the amount of pressure applied. When you grip the club too tightly, you effectively shut off all communication between the clubhead and the brain. This restricts your ability to sense and feel the weight of the clubhead during the swing and, in turn, reduces your swing speed, power and accuracy of strike at impact.

Start by ensuring that your grip features the “short left thumb” and that your grip pressure is uniform throughout. Waggle the clubhead with authority. As you do this, resist any movement with the body and keep the hands in front of your navel. Remember, you must encourage the clubhead to move faster than, and independently from, your body.

It’s my guess that even as you hear the word “waggle,” you are tempted to dismiss this feature of the golf swing as some kind of optional extra that you can quite easily do without. The fact is, however, that a good waggle will instigate and create a flow to your swing in a more effective way than any other method. The waggle fulfills 2 very important functions. The first is to create rhythm and the second is to rehearse the desired move away from the ball.

The world’s top players are “alive” at address for the one simple reason that it is very difficult to make a smooth and rhythmical swing from a totally still position.

The strongest position the legs can assume is one where the knees are directly over the feet. Evidence of this can be seen in karate and fencing.

A soft hold on the club effectively spreads into the arms and shoulders as well. It helps endow your swing with an “oily” rhythm back and through.

The swing key of holding your club like you would a bird promotes a light grip pressure which helps relax forearm and upper arm tension. It also promotes feel, allowing sensations to flow from the club to the fingers and ultimately to your brain.

Furthermore, this swing tip encourages a constant grip pressure which is one of the many keys to a successful ball strike. Indeed, in using the alternative analogy of holding a tube of toothpaste if one were to suddenly start squeezing the grip strongly after initially holding it lightly the end result would see toothpaste flow out from the tube.

The main negative to not flaring your feet at all is that is may constrain your swing amplitude.

This is especially true for golfers with flexibility issues. Indeed, senior golfers or those with certain lower body injuries may be unable to perform a golf swing properly unless their stance allows for foot flaring.

While it does not necessarily do this on its own, flaring your left foot tends to rotate your hips slightly towards the target.

This in turn will lead to an outside-to-in swing path that will promote a fade, or at least one with left-to-right sidespin.

Benefits: By opening the left foot slightly you are in effect making more room for the body rotation to occur past the moment of impact. This in turn will lead to a fuller – and easier to perform – follow through.

Drawbacks: On the flip side, since more room for the follow through has been created, it has happened at the expense of room available for the body’s rotation back.

Consequently, the backswing is somewhat reduced in the amplitude it is allowed to comfortably operate in. It is therefore not recommended to flare your left foot if you are looking to increase the width of your backswing or if you suffer from stiffness that limit your backswing already.

Flaring the right foot slightly creates more room for the backswing to operate in, and leads to a more comfortable position at the top of the swing.

This leads to a fuller backswing amplitude that can help generate more clubhead velocity and ultimately to more distance.

This can be particularly helpful to those with flexibility issues that restrict how far back they can turn their hips and shoulders and ultimately their club.

This has for consequence that it favors an inside-to-out swing path and ultimately to a draw, or at least to a ball with right-to-left sidespin.

A long left thumb directs the hands of the golfer towards an all-fingers grip in contrast to a fingers-and-palm grip. In that position and angle a full wrist hinge is much easier to achieve.

Indeed, the club will reach parallel to the ground at the top of the swing with a more discreet wrist hinge than what would normally be required.

This extended flexibility in movement allows for a bigger swing amplitude which in turn can lead to greater clubhead speed at impact.

Such a grip is therefore particularly recommended to those looking to add speed to their swings and to those that experience limited flexibility in their wrists.

Keeping the left thumb from extending down the grip comes at a cost of space for the rest of the left hand, which has no other choice than to be pushed towards a palm-and-finger grip.

Indeed, it is quite uncomfortable to keep your left thumb short while retaining an all-fingers grip.

A palm-and-finger grip makes it more difficult to see the shaft of the club reach the point of being parallel to the ground (or go past it) even when your wrists are fully hinged. In that sense, it may prove difficult to fully hinge for golfers who have flexibility issues.

A consequence of this limited hinge range is that swings will be shorter with such a grip, at least in contrast to a long left thumb grip.

Finally, a shorter swing will lead to a reduced clubhead speed but it may see an increase in consistency on the flip side.

The way fingers are positioned on the actual grip of the club has an immense impact on the path the club will take around your body and ultimately the direction and flight of the golf ball. While its effects are often overlooked in favor of the swing proper, serious golfers should carefully position their hands on the grip of the club before each and every shot and treat that process as an integral part of the golf swing.

All other things being equal, a strong grip promotes an active release of the hands at impact, meaning that hands are encouraged to fully roll into impact.

This natural ease in releasing favors a clubface that is more closed than otherwise.

And ultimately, a closed clubface at impact will transfer right to left sidespin into the ball, resulting in a ball that will draw or hook.

How can you hold the club firmly without squeezing it?

“That’s what a golfer has to figure out,” Watson says. “And it’s a constant struggle. For me, it comes from hitting a million golf balls. You achieve an understanding of what works and what doesn’t work in certain situations. And if you have a good enough memory, you can bank on those experiences with those memories to help you out when you’re struggling with a particular shot or a particular swing.”

An accurate grip is the most basically important ingredient in a reliable golf swing, contributing about 60% to its overall efficiency. Difficulty in other sections of the swing can frequently be traced directly back to the grip, because an incorrect hand position may have restricted the ability of muscles in other parts of the body to perform correctly. This inability of the other muscles gives the false impression that the difficulty lies somewhere other than in the grip.

Because the grip is so basic, golfers initially develop one that seems comfortable but does not necessarily contributing to the swing as it should. Initial comfort in golf may not always imply correctness.

The left-hand grip allows the left arm to keep the ball on target with backhanded firmness, while the right-hand grip allows the hand to smack the ball for distance.

Short thumb position gives springy flexibility to the thumb and promotes feel in the hand by pressing the club more into the fingers. Extending the left thumb in a long thumb position places the club more in the palm. Since this is a somewhat stronger position, those with weak hands and those who consistently overswing or lose control of the clubhead at the top of the swing should try a longer thumb position.

Lifting the clubhead off the ground in practice to position the right hand quickly develops a firm, comfortable feeling for securing the right-hand grip. So much so, in fact, that a large percentage of golfers, whether aware of it, “waggle” the clubhead off the ground while setting up to the ball, instinctively promoting both comfort and accuracy while securing the right-hand grip as part of the setup procedure.

The hands must be united closely throughout the swing to maintain control of the clubhead. Regardless of how sound the swing is, somewhere the hands might separate unless they are strong at address. Separation directs one hand or the other (usually the dominant right hand) through the hitting zone with enough force to overpower the other at impact.

Positioning the 2 middle fingers of the right hand down firmly on the left forefinger positions the hands together. As the right hand completes the grip and the base of the thumb draws firmly against the left hand, the 2 middle singers roll sideways and downward, drawing the right hand down even closer to the left. Extending the clubhead upward to position the right hand develops a strong, firm feeling — the same feeling that should be present with the clubhead on the ground.

Golfers occasionally refer to a “strong” or “weak” grip at address. These terms can be confusing because they refer more to positions at address than to actual strength or weakness. A so-called strong grip turns either hand more to the right; a weak grip turns either hand more to the left. But strong does not mean better with reference to the right hand, for positioning the right hand too far right positions it incorrectly under the shaft, thereby minimizing its effectiveness. Although too strong a grip is considered a hook or pull position, positioning only the right hand too strong results in poor hand action, which may cause slicing instead.

The right thumb is slightly offset at address for the reverse reason that the left thumb is more on top. If the right thumb is under the shaft at the top of the swing, just as the left, swing action stops too soon. Stopping swing action early by minimizing hand action shortens the backswing, whereupon the right hand bounces the clubhead back too fast, throwing the clubhead from the top and ruining the timing of a smooth, controlled swing.

Lightly closing the forefingers turns them into “feel” fingers — a sort of sensory guide in the grip — but prevents the tips of the forefingers from joining forces with the thumbs to over-control the clubhead while swinging or to cause tension at address.

And since the clubface strikes the ball, squaring the clubface to the target is the first important alignment. The care and accuracy with which the clubhead is positioned determines the ability of other fundamentals to continue establishing a precisely accurate position, so clubface alignment is critical to the entire golf swing.

As positions are assumed, in sequence, the waggle — which is not a nervous gimmick but an important part of the swing — is used to feel positions into a secure, interlocking relationship with each other by firmly adjusting independent positions and blending them together. Except for relieving tension, however, no amount of waggling will benefit a golfer who is not establishing positions in sequence with specific objectives in mind. It is not difficult to waggle positions out of alignment if you’re adjusting only to a comfortable position.

Open positions at address block both the shoulder turn and the pivot, whereupon the body sways laterally rather than rotationally as soon as the backswing starts.

Positioning your chin too low restricts the shoulder turn as your shoulders turn into your chin throughout the golf swing; either your body sways laterally, your head is pushed up into the follow-through, or the backswing or follow-through is blocked as a result of the shoulder turn.

Your hands should be ahead of the ball at address for another reason: golf clubs are constructed with that position in mind. Golfers who are not aware of this not only will find it difficult to address the ball correctly but also will lose distance because the loft of the club is changed.

Establishing the weight firmly on your left foot at address generally keeps it there while your swing, thereby weakening the swing by preventing a weight shift and changing the arc of the swing as your body lowers and rises. Worse yet, a reverse weight shift occurs as your weight kicks off the left foot onto the right as the downswing starts.

Placing too much weight on your right foot at address has similar adverse results: it keeps your weight on the right as the downswing starts.

Problems such as a reverse weight shift cause other problems in golf: falling away from the ball, throwing the clubhead from the top, coming over the top, hitting behind the ball, topping, whiffing — any or all of which may be corrected just by distributing the weight more equally when stepping up to the ball and then practicing the correct weight shift.

Power in golf is generated by completing the shoulder turn so as to wind up the big back muscles between the shoulders and the hips. These torqued muscles then transfer power into clubhead speed as the lower body shifts the weight to the left to pull the arms, hands, and clubhead down from the top. An open right foot at address prevents this coordination and buildup of power by encouraging a lateral movement as the shoulder turn. Squaring the right foot, however, helps prevent the body from sliding sideways — or swaying — by helping the hips turn.

Bracing your right foot promotes good timing by promoting good footwork and lower body action, whereas an unrestricted backswing, with the right foot angled open, prevents good timing by causing swaying and over-swinging.

Closing your left foot blocks the left side, which prevents your hips from turning. In turn, this prevents the swing from releasing by preventing your right arm from extending through the hitting zone. Blocking out then either causes the body to move laterally through impact or else spins the left foot toward the target by spinning around on the left heel to free the left side. Unless your left foot is angled open, or else spins open, the swing cannot be completed and the clubhead will not be accelerating through impact.

Although your left foot angles outward at address, angling the foot too far open — or spinning the foot open — encourages spinning out, wherein the hips spin back through the hitting zone too far, too soon, pulling the shoulders around with them. Rather than hitting straight through the ball, the clubhead pulls inward from the target line and, according to the angle of the clubface, either pulls or slices the ball.

Conversely, too wide a stance, while allowing you to maintain good balance and assuring a firm foundation, makes it physically difficult to make a full pivot and shoulder turn, thus shortening the backswing and generally reducing clubhead speed. Widening the stance can be helpful, however, when you need to increase stability, such as when hitting uphill or downhill, going for extra yardage off the tee, or correcting over-swinging.

The difference between a mishit shot and a solid connection is not measured in inches but often by only quarters of an inch. A good point to remember is that many mishit shots are very close to perfection, and fine-tuning the game may required only adjusting the ball position.

The shorter and the narrower the swing, the more open the stance should be.

When you’re hitting full golf shots with longer-shafted clubs, your weight is distributed equally between your feet for balance. As your stance begins to narrow, however, with the use of short irons, establishing and keeping your weight progressively more toward the left promotes better hand action and clubhead control due to minimum body movement and less weight shift.

Flexing the knees just slightly prevents you from lowering your body too far, which causes swaying up and down and back and forth while swinging. Lowering the body too far — beyond only unlocking the knees — generally causes you to hit the ground behind the ball and / or sky the ball as your body sways and pulls up through the backswing and then lowers rather dramatically and sways back through the ball. Topping also occurs, however, when your body pulls up through the backswing and stays up through the ball.

The overall feeling of good weight distribution is that of a boxer’s stance, coupled with a feeling of being able to spring straight upward from the address position.

As your knees flex inward, the inside thigh muscles tense, strengthening your legs. Even as the muscles tense, however, they must also be relaxed and supple enough to promote a powerful, fluid swing. This is not a contradiction; when the knees flex inward, strength and relaxation are obtained simultaneously, because the knees cannot flex inward to strengthen the muscles without relaxing the legs by unlocking the knees.

Proficient golfers address the ball using familiarity and feel, personalizing the procedure but systematically doing so with accuracy and understanding. Although the hands are on the club together, the right hand is generally placed loosely until after positions are secured — in effect still off the club as the clubhead moves back and forth and up and down in the setup procedure.

On the other hand, inexperienced golfers are apt to approach the ball with the grip firmly established; inadvertently initiating a series of positions that, although comfortable, are also incorrect.

The final movement in establishing the position of address is rolling the elbows inward toward each other, firmly securing positions a fraction of a second before the backswing starts and triggering the start of the downswing.

In general the purpose of waggling is fourfold:

To develop consistency and rhythm at address and through the swing by following an exact procedure for establishing and coordinating positions with continuous, rhythmical movement.
To replace conscious thought through the swing with concentration at address by planning ahead for an overall action or result of the swing.
To attain objectives automatically by sense and feel so as to program good timing, rhythm, and concentration.
To relieve tension while setting up to the ball.

Combining an up-and-down waggle with a back-and-forth waggle settles positions into place while allowing you to rhythmically feel out a good swing plan.

To achieve consistency in swinging you have to begin with consistency at address.

The setup routine, starting prior to address, encompasses several fundamental elements and is so vitally important that Nicklaus claims it represents 90% of good shot-making. In Golf My Way, he went so far as to say, “There are some good reasons for my being so methodical about my setup. I think it is the single most important maneuver in golf. It is the only aspect of the swing over which you have 100% conscious control.”

One secret Nicklaus never mentioned is this: he sets the club down a couple of inches behind the ball, and I believe this little nuances helps promote that smooth, streamlined straight-back takeaway action he is so famous for.

Tilt your chin away from the target, so your head is behind the ball.

To gain maximum relaxation in the body, first tighten it to the maximum extent, and then let go. Hold the muscles as tight as possible for 5-10 seconds before releasing them.

What impressed Hogan was Revolta’s use of the waggle as a precursor and mini simulation of the coming golf shot. The waggle established the clubhead’s path on the backswing and an overall swing rhythm or tempo. Revolta showed Hogan how to change the waggle according to the varying golf shots required in different circumstances.

Vivid belief in the shot image. Before Hogan hit any shot he narrowed his focus. He burned an intense, vivid image into his mind of the trajectory, spin, and landing spot of his shot. This belief that you could hit the shot required was the most important key to success, more important than any swing mechanics. If a player could vividly picture and then execute his swing with total confidence, the chances of pulling off the shot were extremely high, even if that person’s swing mechanics were not great. That’s how powerful the mind was.

His waggle varied for the type of shot he wanted to hit. As he said in his writing, he never wanted to “groove” his waggle. The waggle also had much more to do with how he wanted to see and feel the approach of his club, hands, and arms into impact than most people realize.

Pressure points:

The back 3 fingers of the left hand.
The middle 2 fingers of the right hand.
Between the left thumb and the lifeline of the right hand, the major connection point of the 2 hand.

With the shaft leaning back away from the target, the grip will appear stronger. The farther you move the shaft forward the weaker it will appear.

He wanted the right leg to be the brace of his backswing. Ken Venturi always emphasized to me this idea of a braced right leg accepting the weight transfer in the backswing without sliding. Ken actually wore a right shoe that was modified. He had the shoe built with an insole that sloped or angled inward. Hogan wore an additional spike on his right shoe.

He also thinks that people don’t think enough about visualization or shot trajectory. “If you become a trajectory-conscious player, you’re less likely to hit it off line.”

And no single element of the game is more basic than the grip. In this age of flash and dazzle, the answer for Crenshaw lies in golf’s primary fundamental: the grip.

It’s usually something very basic and something that repeats quite often, too. You fall into the same bad mistakes: bad setup, bad grip. Just bad fundamentals.