Balance Your Swing

Can you turn the club loose with the middle three fingers and balance it on the thumb while gripping it with the little finger only at the top of the backswing? Are the shoulders turned enough so that the club is pointing toward your target? This is a valuable (it is only an exercise) designed to get the left thumb under the shaft so that the club will be balanced and ready for the hit.
If you aren’t getting the club back in the proper slot, correctly gripped, you will not be able to hold the club, let alone get it through the ball properly. Do not let it slip off. When you’ve succeeded in developing the balance as illustrated, re-grip, swing through and do the same at the top of the follow-through. Golf is played with the hands. Therefore, the right grip takes preference over anything. Most players ought to grip with the back three fingers of the left hand and the middle two of the right.
Some golfers have stated that they get the feel of the hit with the thumb and forefinger of the right, but usually they are seasoned golfers. If you are not so fortunate as to play a lot, try using the middle two fingers of the right hand as your pressure points. Once this is mastered, concentrate on developing rhythm and timing.

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Correct Swing Tempo

A driver takes the same swing tempo as a pitching wedge, and the same is true for all the clubs when taking a full swing. The consistency in tempo will lead to consistency in contact (and thus accuracy). For a proper swing let your arms lead and smoothly draw the club away with your arms, and let your body follow. Your left shoulder and hips will turn obediently, naturally transferring weight to your right side (about 90% on the back foot at the top of your swing).
For greater accuracy try pulling with your left arm from the top of your swing. And don't do like the pros and lead the downswing. Yes, this gives them power, but, for most golfers, it results in sliding ahead of the ball and causes weak, slicing shots.

Low and left causes topped shots. Keep the club face square for several inches after impact. Transfer your weight to your front left side (about 90% on the front foot on your follow through). Let your right knee rotate to face the target with your right foot up so the bottom is visible. Your hands should be high and close to your left ear.

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A Bucket of Balls

There is a great temptation for many amateurs to fan the clubhead open as they bring the clubhead away for the ball. It may add a few yards to some of your shots if you time it right but that won’t happen with any great consistency. The clubhead should really be square throughout the entire swing and your hands should not twist if you are to deliver a square clubface to the ball on a regular basis.
To do it right, take up your address position but instead of holding a golf club hold a bucket of range balls. (hold the bucket in front of you with both hands and hold the bucket straight up and down, not tilted) As you turn back to halfway keep the bucket straight up and down with the open end continuing to face upwards. None of the balls should fall out of the bucket. This represents a square clubface (back of hand facing in front of you). If you tilt the top forward the balls will obviously fall on to the ground. This represents a closed clubface (back of the left hand facing to the ground). If the balls fall out of the bucket behind you it means your hands have, in effect opened the clubface (back of the left hand facing the sky).
It is the same for the follow through. As you swing past the imaginary impact position a few balls may leak out of the bucket because of the acceleration in your swing. The top of the bucket continues to face upwards.
This drill demonstrates very well the relationship between the back of the left hand and the position of the clubface. At address the back of the left hand faces the target, halfway back it should face in front of you while halfway through it should face behind you.

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Get a better Swing Stance

Often times, golfers will make their stance wider and wider. While this is good for stability, it also allows for lateral movement, which can turn into a sway. One of my favorite drills is what I call the barrel drill. Start by keeping the stance approximately shoulder width apart. Now imagine you have two straight lines coming out of the ground outside your heels. You'll notice this allows for some lateral movement but, usually, a full turn is required in order not to hit the lines. Picture yourself swinging in the barrel and watch for some low scores.

Remember the Practice Area

The practice area is the first place any pro golfer goes to before heading to the first tee in a tournament. You too should develop this routine. Remember, the practice area isn't a place to worry too much about how you're striking the ball. Instead, it's a place to warm up and loosen your muscles. When you're ready to hit, start with a wedge and work your way down the set to the driver. Eventually, finish with a few wedges. This promotes good tempo and feel, which are vital to striking the ball correctly. It can even prevent injury!

Pass the Pole for More Distance

If you want maximum distance and consistency, use a proper weight shift. Imagine a pole coming vertically out of the ground where the ball is resting at address. Make it your goal to get your left shoulder behind the ball and the imaginary pole on the takeaway--without swaying the hips. This ensures a good position to initiate your downswing. On the follow-through, your right shoulder should move past the ball and imaginary pole. When you do this correctly, you not only make a good turn, but a good weight shift as well.

Take It Back Low and Slow

Amateurs have a tendency to take the club back too quickly with the wrists. This reduces proper extension and gets the swing off plane. Here's a great drill to help you get the proper feel for the take-away. First, get into your normal address position, and then place or drop a ball behind your clubhead. As you initiate the backswing, roll the ball backward. Continue rolling the ball until it is well past your right foot (left foot for left-handed players). When doing this properly, you'll feel the opposite shoulder move under your chin. You'll also realize how straight the left arm (right arm for left-handed players) should be when taking then backswing.

Make a Smooth Golf Swing Transition

Many weekend golfers start their downswing with a tense, violent motion, ruining their chance of making solid contact. The top of the swing is a critical transition point and should quietly lead into a smooth downswing. Thinking "light and lazy" at the top is a good strategy to promote this feeling.

Swing through the Ball, Not at It

Consistent, powerful swings usually have one thing in common--extension through the ball after hitting it. A good way you can learn to perfect this is to put a tee about eight inches in front of the ball you are hitting. Make an effort to hit not only the ball but also the tee. This will help to train you to swing through the ball, not at it.

Solidify Your Swing's Foundation

A consistent golf swing requires a smooth tempo and good balance. Just as a house needs a solid foundation, so does your golf swing. Practice hitting some shots with your feet close together (about six inches apart). This forces you to maintain better balance, tempo, and rhythm and will prove effective when you go back to hitting from your normal stance.

Swing Easy When It's Breezy

When you're playing in the wind, a simple but very good thought is "swing with ease into the breeze." This thought helps keep you from over swinging in the wind and, in turn, prevent your ball from sailing too high. Greg Norman said he used this one on his way to winning the 1994 British Open.

Use Club Loft to Your Advantage

When trying to get the ball airborne, hit down and through it. By allowing the club's loft to do the work, you'll achieve good contact, resulting in a natural flight path. Remember, golf clubs have loft for a reason--use it to your advantage!

Hit Low Into the Wind

Many players feel that they need to hit it harder into a breeze, but this causes them to put more spin on the ball and hit it higher. To hit it lower and more controlled, put the ball back in your stance a few inches and keep your hands forward. Use a longer club than you would otherwise, and swing easy. Remember the old saying, "Swing with ease into the breeze.

Muscle It!

Golf isn't a wrist game. To achieve a powerful swing, you need to employ the big muscles of the legs and trunk. The common instinct of many amateurs is to hit at the ball with only the arms and wrists. Every once in a while this may connect, but for real consistency and power, use the whole body, not just part of it. Muscle it!

Rock-Solid Right Knee

On the backswing, it's crucial to keep weight on the inside of the right foot, and maintain a slight bend in the knee. Failure to do this can mean poor contact and a loss of power. As you take the club back, imagine that the right knee is braced and solid like a wall. This helps your upper body coil behind the ball, so you can make an aggressive move through it--and really send it flying!

Pause at the Top

Swinging too quickly is a common mistake. I'm not saying you shouldn't swing with power and acceleration — but rather, that you need to maintain a rhythm. The best way to accomplish this is to imagine a slight pause at the top of your backswing before changing direction and beginning the downswing. Do this and you'll find your ball in the middle of the fairway more often!

Hand Position during Backswing

Here's a good image to keep in mind during your backswing: Think of placing your right hand in a "hitchhiker" position. This means that when the club is at waist height, you should be able to look back and see your thumb pointing to the sky. Here's another trick: Imagine that your hand is in a handshake position, with the palm facing neither up nor down. These simple thoughts will ensure the beginning of your swing is correct!

Left Knee during the Swing

Many golfers let the left knee collapse toward the right on the backswing. This causes your shoulder to drop, and makes your hips sway and overturn. To fix this, imagine your left knee going out toward the target on the backswing. You should feel tension and stability in both knees. Can't quite get it? Try this: Imagine that you're holding a basketball between your knees. Give it a try, you'll be amazed!

Rotating your hands through the Ball

Have you ever thought about what your hands and forearms are actually doing at the moment of impact? If not, please give this a try because it's one of the most important parts of the swing.

Try to get into the impact position, like you are about to make solid contact with the ball. Now flip your trailing wrist like you were casting a fishing pole. This is referred to as a wrist break, and it's not a move that you want to make in golf. So if you are trying to "flip" your hands through the ball at impact, this tip may help you understand the correct way to make this happen.
If you put a wrist watch on you'll be able to visualize the correct moves to make. As your leading arm approaches impact the watch face should be getting close to pointing exactly down the target line, or to the flag. Now simply ROTATE the watch face so it's pointed at the ground. With a club in your hands, you'll see that this move makes your trailing wrist and forearm "flip" on top of your leading wrist and forearm.

You also see that this will help to "close" the face of your club nicely, that will both reduce your slice, and add distance. This is the correct move to be completing through impact.
It's important to note that your forearms should be working together as well. Try to keep your forearms as close to each other as possible through the impact zone. If you can master this move, you'll find increased distance and it will also do wonders for your slice.

Tip provided by David Nevogt from The simple Golf Swing

What is the correct Swing Plane?

For the past couple of years the golf world has been bitten by the swing plane bug. I want you to take a few minutes of your time and go on a journey with me. I am going to explain to you what swing plane means and how you can apply it to your golf swing.

I want you picture a Ferris wheel and a merry-go-round sitting side by side at the practice facility. Now I want you to picture yourself standing next to them hitting practice balls. I am going to turn both of them on as you begin to hit balls. Every 10-15 balls or so I want you to turn take a look at the merry-go-round and then go back to hitting more balls. After 10-15 more balls I want you to turn and take a look at the Ferris wheel for a few minutes and then go back to hitting some more balls.

I will state the obvious. The merry-go-round turns level to the ground and since it does not replicate any part of the golf swing, let's remove it from the practice facility. Keep this in mind. The merry-go-round represents more of what a baseball swing looks like. The bat swings level to the ground and does not have any up and down to it.

The Ferris wheel is a different story. The one part of golf that the Ferris wheel represents when it turns is the putting stroke. The putting stoke swings straight back away from the golf ball and straight back to the golf ball and straight through after impact.

Now let's talk about swing plane and how the Ferris wheel will help you understand your golf swing better. The swing plane is the directly related to your shoulders. When you swing a golf club away from the golf ball your shoulders should turn somewhat level to the ground (that is where the merry-go-round comes into play). THAT IS THE ONLY TIME. However your arms have to swing up. Trust me; this is not a simple concept for most people. I believe I know why. You can't see yourself swinging the golf club and number two you are being asked to do one thing with your arms and another thing with your shoulders.

Now I am really going to make things seem difficult. The swing plane is the plane the shaft creates as it swings up in the backswing and down in the downswing. Furthermore there are 13 different swing planes in your golf game. Because your sand wedge is the shortest club in your bag you stand closer to the golf ball than all of the other clubs. Because you stand so close to the ball your swing plane is the most upright swing in your bag.

Finally this is where the Ferris wheel comes into play. Let's move on to the swing plane of a sand wedge. Since the sand wedge is the shortest club in your bag and you have to stand close to the golf ball, your swing is going to be more upright. Not as upright as the standing Ferris wheel, so tilt it over a little.

The one thing you have to keep in mind is the arms swing up with a sand wedge and the shoulders are supposed to turn. However the shoulders tilt more with the shorter clubs than they do with the longer clubs.

The longer the golf club the more you have to tilt the Ferris wheel. As you move through your set of clubs you have to keep in mind the shoulders turn more than tilt and the arms swing around more than up. When you finally get the driver out the sensation is that the arms and shoulders are swinging level to the ground.

The Ferris wheel represents the arms swinging on plane. The shorter the golf club the more the swing looks like a Ferris wheel in the upright position. The longer the golf club the more you have to tilt the Ferris wheel on its side.

The next time you're at the practice facility keep one thing in mind. To keep the golf club on plane the shoulders turn and the arms swing up-that is what the swing plane bug is all about.

This Article From PurePoint Golf