Golf Swing Basics: A Beginner's Guide

Starting a golf journey is exciting, but mastering the fundamentals can be challenging. 

The golf swing is a keystone piece– even experienced players continue to improve their swing. Returning to the basics helps any level of player build a solid swing. 

This guide will lead you through the foundational aspects of the golf swing, allowing you to get out on the green with confidence. 

Proper Grip 

The golf club grip forms the foundation of a good swing. While there are various admissible techniques, choose the one that feels the most comfortable for you. The three primary styles include ten-finger, overlapping, and interlocking grip.

The grip you choose depends on your strength and style preference. Regardless of the style, it's important to grip the club with your fingers, not your palm. The palm of your hand feels the most controlled, but it limits the range of motion required. 

Alignment and Stance

Before getting into the swing itself, proper alignment and a good stance are necessary. Alignment refers to the position of your body and club to the target. Focus on aligning four main body parts – feet, hips, shoulders, and forearms. These body parts should be parallel to the ball and target. A common mistake beginners make is raising or twisting their forearms, affecting the overall quality. The club face should be facing the ball and target. Or you can imagine the club face is perpendicular to your body alignment. 

Having mastered alignment, you can work on a stable and balanced stance, creating consistent, controlled shots. The feet should be shoulder-width apart, with your weight evenly distributed. Place the ball in the center of the feet for shorter clubs and forward for longer ones. Keep a straight spine, a slight knee flex, and a hip hinge. The proper stance provides a framework for solid rotation. 

Body Rotation

Quality body rotation will help you achieve solid shots, have straighter and higher flights, and increase distance. The backswing truly requires coordinated shoulder and hip rotation. Most beginners neglect to rotate their hips, lowering the impact of the swing. As your golf swing transitions into the downswing, focus on maintaining synchronized movement between your shoulders and hips so the club head strikes the ball with optimized energy transfer. 

As you become comfortable with body rotation, increasing your golf swing speed will increase the energy stored in the swing. After contact with the ball, a controlled follow-through is the finishing touch. 

Follow-Through

Follow-through is important! Momentum from the downswing should pull your body around and your hands upward with continued upper and lower body rotation. Keeping the momentum flowing post-contact ensures the ball experiences the most force. Alternatively, slowing down just before contact with the ball will lower the power of the hit. 

In the follow-through position, the chest should face the target or slightly left of it. The front foot should still be parallel to the ball. The backfoot should be lifted off the ground, resting with only tiptoe touching the ground. 

Weight Transfer

You transfer weight across your body throughout the backswing, downswing, and follow-through. Before the swing, distribute weight evenly between both feet. Once the swing starts, intentional weight transfer facilitates shot consistency and improves overall balance.

In the backswing, transfer weight to the back foot as you rotate your hips and shoulders, allowing energy to be stored for the swing and creating torque.

As you transition into the downswing, shift your weight from the back foot to the front foot. This weight transfer is vital to generating a solid motion. The energy stored in the backswing is transferred to the golf ball as the club makes contact. Coordinate the weight transfer with the hip and shoulder rotation toward the target. When striking the ball, focus your eyes on the correct spot based on the type of shot.

In the follow-through, the weight should continue to shift to the front foot. Ending the follow-through with the front foot still grounded and the back foot raised on the tiptoe ensures complete and controlled weight transfer. 

While developing your golf swing, prioritize good weight transfer. Optimizing weight transfer improves overall performance as you refine different aspects of your swing. This focus helps maintain balance, prevents excess movement, and facilitates a powerful, clean strike. Once you've mastered weight transfer, you can incorporate the lag into your swing to deliver an even more powerful impact. 

Frequently Asked Questions

How Should a Beginner Swing a Golf Club?

Initially, focus on having a reliable and repeatable golf swing motion, then improve accuracy and distance. With experience, you can fine-tune the technical aspects of the swing. Improvement takes patience and consistency, so stay positive and enjoy it. Building a good foundation now will pay off in the long run. 

How Do You Start a Golf Swing From Scratch?

Start your golf swing with a proper club grip, then focus on balanced body alignment and stance. Before swinging, pay attention to fluid body rotation into the backswing, then downswing, ending with a solid follow-through. During these positions, ensure your body weight transfers from the back foot to the front foot for a controlled, powerful swing. 

Final Thoughts

Mastering the golf swing demands lots of practice and patience. As you develop your swing, focus on the basics by deciding on a comfortable golf club grip, then aligning your body parallel to the target with a balanced stance. Start the backswing with coordinated shoulder and hip rotation backward. Continue coordinated motion into the downswing, making contact with the ball and finishing with a balanced, controlled follow-through. Avoid slowing down the swing before making contact, allowing maximum energy to transfer to the golf ball. 

In the golf swing sequence, shift your weight to the backfoot for the backswing, moving it towards the front in the downswing, and ending with the weight on the front foot in the follow-through. 

Now, you can confidently walk out on the green with a proper golf swing, get the right equipment with Stitch Golf gear, and look good out there with our amazing apparel.