Beginner golf swing instruction programs know – to develop a successful swing – student golfers must completely master four fundamental components of the swing pattern – the grip, the address, the backswing and the downswing.

Though simple to define and explain, truly mastering these four components could take students years. Regardless of the amount, beginner golf swing instruction programs believe taking the time to fully teach students the fundamental components is time well spent.

In the book, “How to Master the Irons, An Illustrated Guide to Better Golf”, authors Gene Littler and Don Collett offer some beginner golf swing instruction of their own. Littler and Collett outline the four fundamentals of swing performance and explain its importance to the golfers game.

They write;

“Mastery of golf’s fundamentals is the first step toward better golf and consistent iron play. The fundamentals form the framework and the foundation upon which the entire swing is constructed.

Actually, building a swing is much like an architect building a house. If they build it hurriedly—without a good set of plans—it becomes structurally weak and the slightest of pressures could send it tumbling to the ground. Such is the case in golf.

Since you are the principal architect of your swing, how can you develop it so that it will consistently repeat itself, swing after swing, no matter what club you may have in your hand? Where do you start and what should you work on to develop your swing? The answers to these questions lie principally within the framework of golf’s four fundamentals: (1) the grip, (2) the address, (3) the backswing, and (4) the downswing.

Developing The Swing

From the outset, every golfer should realize that certain procedures must be followed if they are to develop a swing.

There is a certain fundamental process, or sequence, involved in learning how to play golf, and it cannot be circumvented.

THE PROCEDURE. To the beginner, and even some advanced golfers, this fundamental process of learning how to play golf may seem a little involved, but it actually is not, particularly if you develop your game in an orderly, sensible manner. The orderly sequence would be this way:

1. You learn to swing first by practicing the fundamentals.

2. Secondly, you learn to control the ball by practicing intentional fades, hooks, high shots, and low shots.

3. Finally, incorporating the first two phases into your over-all game you learn how to score by playing as regularly as you can.

Obviously, you cannot learn control and scoring techniques before you master golf’s fundamentals. Many have tried—and are still trying—but they cannot hope to improve unless they overhaul their swing completely because the swing habits they have formed are permanently ingrained within their muscle structure. Doctors will tell you that it is easier to form a habit than break one, and in golf this is especially true. You will progress faster and will become a more consistent player if you form the correct habits of the swing than if you learn to play in a haphazard manner…

…The average golfer, however, courts disaster if they become too conscious of their hand action through the ball. That is why this swing exercise is so important, because it will teach them every fundamental movement in the swing without too much of a mental effort on their part.

If you will practice this swing—the right way—for five or ten minutes a day for six months, you will be surprised at your progress in developing a fundamentally sound swing.

Another reason it is so important to you is that it makes the swing perform automatically. After a while, your swing becomes less and less a conscious effort and your reflexes take over. The great players of today swing almost totally by masterfully controlled reflex actions in which they do their shot planning behind the ball; then they step up and hit it without thinking too much, because they have committed their swing to “muscle memory.” In the long run, the closer you can come to making your swing a reflex action, the better player you will become.

My advice in this regard is to make a thorough and diligent search for a swing that is completely natural for you and which embraces the fundamentals. Then stick with it”.

Beginner golf swing instruction programs know – to have a successful golf game – student golfers must master the four foundational components of their swing pattern.

Try incorporating Littler and Collett’s expert advice into your practice sessions, making your winning golf swing automatic!

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To execute a proper golf swing, golfers first need to visualize in their mind a “shaped swing”.

This mental image of a “shaped swing” provides the golfer with both a blueprint and map with which to guide their swing pattern. Whether driving, chipping or putting, revisiting this mental image is necessary for golfers to consistently perform the proper golf swing.

The reality is most golfers do not practice this pre-swing visualization when a proper golf swing matters most – during course play.

In the book, “The Master Key to Success at Golf”, author Leslie King offers great perspective on the importance of visualizing a “shaped swing” and its influence on proper golf swing patterns.

King writes;

“Go on to the first tee of any golf club any Sunday morning. What do you see? A weird conglomeration of styles, the snatcher, the floppy-wristed golfer who fans the ball, the player as tense as a petrified rabbit waiting for the stoat to strike and, of course, the “bell-ringer”. This is the player on the back foot at the finish of the swing pulling his hands up and down like the man on duty in the belfry.

I have seen more than one struggling player, swing blacked out soon after the start, whose hand-control was so sadly lacking that the club-shaft dropped on to the back of their neck at the top of the backswing…

…It does not require a golf student of any great knowledge or experience to sort out the Sunday morning rabbits from the tigers. The former far outnumber the latter.

Too many of these players lack a shaped swing. They have no mental picture of their intention other than a burning desire to thrash or steer the ball down the first fairway. They build up tension in mind and muscle even before they launch into the backswing, and endeavor to overcome their fear of what may happen to the shot by applying brute force or manipulation to the club head.

If you have a clear idea of your intention through a mental picture of the shaped swing you can concentrate on re-etching that picture without being plagued by doubts and fears about what is going to happen when the ball leaves the tee-peg…

…The swing-shape is the primary consideration. It will take you some way along the road. Then the quality of the delivery defines your limitations.

There are lots of golfers, professionals and assistants, and amateurs in the low handicap bracket, striving to break through in tournaments. Many of them are what I call 16-hole golfers. This is because they cannot keep their delivery going long enough to take them through a whole round of golf under pressure. It is not quite good enough for the job, and sooner or later it lets them down.

You must put your swing and your delivery to the sustained test of regular competitive golf if real headway is to be made. Only by absorbing the atmosphere and reducing the tension by regular experience of competitive play can you give your swing and delivery a real chance to make the grade.

Take your time moving round the course and settling yourself for the shot you are about to play. This must not be misconstrued as advice to dawdle from one stroke to the next and then to fuss and fiddle before playing the ball. This is liable to do more harm than good. Remember what I have said earlier about working out for yourself a neat, concise, certainly not prolonged, drill in preparation for play“.

To perform a proper golf swing, golfers must first visualize in their mind a “shaped swing”.

Try incorporating King’s advice into your pre-swing routine!

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Think about a recent golf swing tip you received. Did it contribute to, or detract from your overall swing performance?

A golf swing tip can be tremendously helpful to a golfer if it is employed correctly. Many times a golf swing tip is wrongly placed in the golfers swing ritual DURING game play.

Golfers need to understand a golf swing tip should NEVER be used to guide the muscles during swing execution in course play.

In the book, “The Winning Touch in Golf, A Psychological Approach” author Peter G. Cranford Ph.D. explains the best method with which to successfully incorporate a golf swing tip into your game.

Cranford writes;

“We have emphasized the need for conscious thinking, but a great deal of golf is played subconsciously. The upper levels of thought do not have a great deal to do with the actual execution of the shot. The chief functions of upper-level thought should be used prior to hitting. Brains make themselves felt more in learning the most effective methods of practice than in guiding an infinity of muscles through a detailed conscious maneuver of final execution.

To use an illustration from music, the greatness of pianist Vladimir Horowitz is not a brilliant interpretation rendered before thousands in Carnegie Hall. Horowitz achieved greatness by first intelligently riding herd on muscles and tendons hour after hour. When performance night came, the muscles and tendons did the work. Of course, Horowitz’ conscious mind focused on what he was doing. His thoughts were ahead of the music his fingers were playing for him. Yet even this thinking was not as conscious as one would suppose, for it had been practiced and, having been practiced, it took care of itself.

You cannot do too much thinking prior to the shot but you can do too much during its execution. Thinking that hasn’t been practiced out can very well introduce a variable and thus spoil the shot. What we have here is really “experimental” thinking, which has the same type of “bugs” as the experimental shot.

Ralph Guldahl’s decline as a golfer has been attributed to too much thinking. When he was at the peak of his golfing powers, he was asked to write a book about the technique of the game. In his hotel room, he would write awhile, then pick up a club, check his grip, stance, and elbow position, and write some more. By the time he finished his book, he confessed that he had developed such an acute consciousness of the process of hitting the ball that he had lost his touch. We are reminded of the old story as to how Santa Claus developed insomnia. Someone asked him if he slept with his beard under or over the blanket.

Snead has advocated avoiding thinking. Betsy Rawls, who has a degree in physics, states that she leaves tournament shots to be taken care of by the subconscious. Bob Jones seems to have summed it up best, years ago, when he said that he limited his concentration to the very last improvement he had incorporated into his swing.

The question of thinking or not thinking has intrigued me for some years, and when I was trying to solve the problem, I tried an experiment worth reporting. I had concluded that I was not leaving enough of the execution of the shot to the subconscious. I thought, “Well, I’ll crowd out golf thinking with extraneous thinking.” I finally hit on the idea of singing during the execution of the shot. Late one afternoon, I went to the Northside course in Austin, Texas, and during each shot I sang “Home on the Range.” My caddy laughed, until I started to play! I came in with 32—my best nine-hole score to that time!

I could not wait to get back to the course the following afternoon after work. Score—42. The trouble, I decided, was that I had learned the song so well I could sing it and worry about the execution of the shot at the same time!

To sum up: thinking that involves the actual execution of the shot should be done in practice. The actual golf management and thinking that goes on in the planning of shots cannot be overdone during play“.

Now golfers can better understand how to successfully incorporate a golf swing tip into their game!

Try applying Cranford’s advice to the next golf swing tip you receive!

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There are so many confusing and conflicting ideas on what constitutes correct golf swing mechanics.

Golfers are constantly being bombarded with unsolicited advice on how to properly use and swing their clubs.

So with all the different schools of golf swing mechanics out there – who and what do we follow?

In the book, “Golf Can Be an Easy Game” author Joe Novak offers his expert opinion on some of the more popular golf swing mechanic theories floating around the course.

Novak writes;

“…confusion and contradiction are rampant in golf. There are more theories and more ideas on golf than any single subject in the world. Here is how these numberless ideas have developed.

Originally, in trying to explain the various clubs and their uses in golf, an impression was created that each club in golf required a certain technique. In other words, there was a certain way to use the driver for the long shots, the use of clubs for fairway shots was something different, long irons required another technique, short irons something different again, and so on through the pitch shots and the chip shots.

When it came to putting, the experts had run out of ideas and techniques, until today the notion prevails that putting is something that cannot be taught.

What a silly situation! Putting can be taught and learned just as any other shot in golf…

…On top of this contradiction about using the different swings for each club in golf, there is another theory in golf, to wit: that no two people can or should swing a golf club in the same way. There is a belief that each player must develop a golf swing designed to suit their own specific needs. From this school of thought we are swamped with ideas of how the tall, the short, the thick and the thin should play the game.

However, a serious consideration will soon prove that there are certain basic physical mechanics that exist in the human body and all persons—thick, thin, tall or short —must conform to that basic setup.

As if the above idea, of a different swing for each player and a different swing for each club in golf, has not developed enough confusion and conflict, there is still another prominent school of thought that has inhibited and restricted the naturalness in golf and the enjoyment that flows from such naturalness.

I refer now to the school that insists there should never be any body action in a golf shot. This school does admit that on the longer shots with the driver and other woods there may be some body action; but when it comes to the iron shots there must be none. Of course, when putting, complete rigor-mortis should set in.

If ever one wanted to develop an unnaturalness in a physical endeavor, the way to do it is to eliminate or restrict all body action. Nothing could be more unnatural because the basis of all athletics is a full, free use of the body. For example, whether one is throwing, kicking or punching—whenever one is trying to get power into a hand or a foot—it is with a sense of body action. In fact, it is only with a full, free sense of body action that the desired effect of throwing, kicking or punching is accomplished”.

Some advice on golf swing mechanics can be both confusing and contradicting. It’s best for the golfer to have some way of deciphering good information from bad.

Use Novak’s professional advice to correctly navigate the plethora of misinformation surrounding correct golf swing mechanics!

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Teaching student golfers to improve golf swing performance is as much of an art as it is a science.

Each golf instructor uses a unique method of evaluating swing patterns and teaching swing mechanics.

Some instructors believe the best method of teaching their students to improve golf swing performance is by identifying and correcting swing faults. Other instructors, however, take a more positive approach. These instructors choose to focus the student’s attention on the good components of their golf swing; helping to build up the student’s ability and confidence in their game.

In the book, “On Learning Golf” author Percy Boomer discusses his approach to teaching golfers to improve golf swing performance.

Boomer writes;

“To turn for a moment from learning to teaching. Most of the teaching of golf is completely negative— and a purely negative thing can have no positive value. Why do I say that golf teaching is negative? Well we can all find faults in each other’s game, millions of them, and we all start off to teach golf by pointing out these faults and “curing” them. I did this for twenty-five years, but I have now discovered that the right way to get a pupil to hit the ball satisfactorily is to watch for any good natural qualities that may be there and to build up the swing around them.

We all hit a good ball sometimes. Maybe with the beginner this is an accident, but the good teacher will use such an accidental shot, photographing it in their mind and starting away to build up controls around the qualities which made it possible.

In this way the beginner can retain their natural capacity to hit the ball and will gain confidence in their ability to do it—and so go on enjoying their game and improving it. But if the teacher merely points out to them a dozen or more faults in their swing they will become perplexed, confused, and fed up. For that reason I never tell a pupil their faults (which is negative teaching). I notice the faults, of course, and suggest the necessary corrections (which is positive). So I never tell a pupil that they overswing and break their left arm, I explain width to them. That is to say I give them a positive conception and by working on it they actually cure their faults without even being aware that they had them.

Now there is another point about teaching which I would like to emphasize. You will find that in this work I have not tried to set down a set of controls in one way and leave it at that. I have tried to set the same things down and explain them in many different ways. So when you find me repeating myself do not think it is carelessness! All good teachers must repeat, but never in exactly the same words or with just the same connections. I want to give you a clear idea of the controls which will enable you to produce an effective swing, and I do not mind if I have to say the same thing in a dozen different ways so long as one of the twelve gets home with you. I hope you will not mind either, because you should be able to pick something new out of the other eleven also.
I learned golf by the long way—trial and error—and I want to lead you away from that to a method which is methodical and is effective whatever your age or your handicap may be. If you accept my method of learning you do not need a lot of practice on the course to improve; you can assimilate the principles in your armchair and put in useful practice on the hearth rug—where you need no club because you can feel your muscular movements without it. You must learn to feel the sensations through your intellect and then forget them intellectually and leave them to your muscular memory or control system.

How long does it take to “learn golf”? Well I am still learning after forty-five years of it! I have known pupils who hit the ball very well after only four lessons and others who have taken a year or more to do even moderately well, but time is apt to level things out a lot. Golf is a curious game in being easy of comprehension but (sometimes) very long in realization. There is much darkness in the early stages, and it is only after a few years at the game that we really come out into full daylight and can assess our own possibilities.

Early difficulties are often emphasized by age or physical make-up. While I was writing this I had just started two young ladies—one of sixteen who is still at college but weighs about one hundred and seventy pounds and another in the early twenties who weighs less than half that. Apart from the weight of their clubs the conditions will be the same for both, yet obviously their problems will work out very differently. And we have all got our physical individuality and peculiarities in the layout of bones and development of muscles. But I have found by long experience that these things usually level themselves out in the end—I have seen many gifted and precocious beginners fail simply because they would not put in the hard work which is essential before the elementary stage is passed, and only when the elementary stage is passed can golf genius come to the surface…

…So do not despair if you are trying to learn golf, or better golf, and getting no results. It may be that you have been trying to learn too many things (like juggling with too many balls) and when you have tried to add just one more, your whole game has broken down on you. We will simplify the things you have to learn by stringing them together into cycles of sensation because they are then easier to remember and easier to add to.

If you work in this way your golf will be progressive. You will still (being human) get bad patches, but each bad patch will tend to be less bad and each good patch will tend to be better, because you are building up your game“.

Improve golf swing performance by searching for instructors who employ a more positive and progressive approach to their teaching.

Keep Boomer’s advice in mind when scheduling your next training session.

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Beginner golf swing instruction programs understand the importance of having a consistent swing axis, swing pattern and swing plane in one’s golf game.

Many student golfers, however, have a difficult time learning to successfully repeat the proper plane in both the backswing and downswing phases of their stroke.

Beginner golf swing instruction programs know the students struggle comes from the need for slightly different angles of approach in both the backswing and downswing.

In the book, “How to Master the Irons, An Illustrated Guide to Better Golf” authors Gene Littler and Don Collett expand upon this topic and offer their own professional advice.

They write;

“Only the better players fully understand and appreciate this concept of the swing, yet it is tremendously important in the over-all development of a repeating swing. Precisely speaking, the swing plane encompasses both the backswing and the downswing. However, the angle is slightly different going back and up from when it is coming down and through the ball. The backswing plane is determined by your height, your arms, and the distance you stand from the ball at address. Visualize, if you will, a line running from the ball to the top of your shoulders. The pitch, or angle of this line, is the plane along which the backswing operates.

The plane for the downswing is not as steeply inclined, and it projects slightly outward (inside out) through the ball. To insure that you swing up and down on this swing plane, the body, arms, and hand movement must work in perfect harmony throughout the swing. The movements, particularly the first part of the backswing and the start of the downswing, must function smoothly and correctly so that one part of the swing, for example, the arm movements, does not work separately from the body movements. To stay on the backswing plane, simply swing back in a one-piece action. Getting on the downswing plane is a little more difficult, however. This movement is more difficult to master, which is one of the prime reasons why many golfers suffer the despair of complete frustration when they attempt to move into the downswing correctly. Actually, the golfer changes planes without thinking about it when he initiates the downswing by turning his hips to the left and toward the target. This moves the body to the left and lowers the right shoulder— this latter movement is a potential swing-wrecker if the shoulder is permitted to rush around ahead of the hips. Always remember, the right shoulder works behind and then under your chin, not around and over it.

You can check your swing plane in another way if you have a large mirror. Take a club and swing it to the top of the backswing. If your arms and hands are at a point between your shoulders and head, you are too upright. Conversely, your swing is too flat if your hands and arms are below your shoulder. The desired position is with your hands directly to the right, or behind your right shoulder at the top of the swing, if you are a right-handed player.

The plane helps form what is known as a “grooved swing.” By swinging up and down in this slot position, your swing will take on a consistency that will not only give you confidence but will free you of the mental strain and worry about whether your swing will hold up under pressure. It almost has to, for the movements of the body, arms, and hands are performed almost instinctively during the backswing and downswing.“

Beginner golf swing instruction programs teach their students the importance of having proper swing planes in their golf stroke. “Grooving” the correct plane in both the backswing and downswing phases of the stroke can instantly improve your driving performance.

Try incorporating Littler and Collett’s advice into your swing practice!

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Golfers are on a perpetual quest to find the perfect and proper golf swing. This applies to all strokes of their game, from driving to putting. Finding it, however, requires the golfer to participate in endless and sometimes frustrating practice sessions.

Constant practice is the only way to learn proper golf swing patterns, as well as fix nagging swing flaws. Putting, in particular, is one department of play which many golfers find they need the most practice and instruction. Reason being that putting is a very difficult action, bringing its own unique set of problems and challenges to the golfer’s game.

Author Leslie King, in his book, “The Master Key to Success at Golf” provides valuable direction to help golfers achieve the proper golf swing in their putting play.

King writes;

“There remains something to be said about putting practice. Of course, it is one thing to knock the ball into the hole on the practice green and quite a different matter doing likewise under pressure out on the course…

…It is on the practice green that you work out your method of getting the ball into the hole, and it is there that you consolidate that method and acquire the initial confidence from striking the ball effectively with the putter-blade.

Practice putts of all lengths, but give your main attention to those from ten feet down. Don’t putt a succession of balls from the same spot. Vary the line by moving round the hole. You will find, too, that this way of going about the task is far less back-aching.

And before you go out on a serious round of golf, practice a few “tap-ins”. Yes, take your time and putt the ball into the hole from two feet to eighteen inches or even less.

Eighteen inches or less? Certainly. If you laugh this off now, you will soon be changing your attitude when you have missed one or two tiddlers with a card and pencil in your pocket…

…Putting shots must not be regarded as a mere formality. Practice them and be sure you are slow back from the ball, deliberate on the return movement, and that you make a point of seeing the right forearm pass the spot where the ball lay.

This last is all-important. It maintains the putter-blade square and on line through the ball and stops you looking up too soon.“

Engaging in a proper golf swing practice routine will help produce better putting play!

In his book, King offers some great direction to help take your putting game to a higher level!

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