set up golf tips

Published:

1. Use the floor to help you with alignment and ball position. I’ve have found that standing on floorboards, tiles or flagstones gives a clear perspective on where to place the ball on the course. Use the lines along your toes for alignment and at right angles to them for ball position.
Tony Brooks, TG reader

2. Your address posture controls your swing plane, your balance and general swing coordination. Check yours instantly by making sure your shoulder blades are over your toes.
Malcolm Lacey, Teaching pro, Gleneagles Academy

3. Get your tee height sorted – top of club level with the middle of the ball. Don’t tee the ball up too high – I used to have the club’s crown opposite the bottom of the ball and tended to get underneath the ball. Now I tee it lower which enables me to find the sweetspot more often.
Kevin Brown, TG Courses editor

4. Increase your ground pressure – make sure you’re ‘heavy enough’ to leave footprints in the turf. This helps you create a balanced posture and retain it through the swing. Balance is crucial to good golf. Imagine walking home one night after one too many and you start to wobble. The first thing you will do is put out your arms to counter balance yourself. In a golf swing, if your body loses balance i.e. it’s drunk, you will swing out or loop in the arms and clubhead to counter-balance yourself – creating a slice or hook swing path.
Gareth Benson, TG expert and teaching pro

5. Check the colour of your knuckles – are they still fleshcoloured? Is there still any blood in your fingers? If you shake hands with a tour pro you’ll be amazed how soft their grips are. Amateurs grab the club with white knuckles but tour pros hold the club very softly.
Andy Prodger, Tour caddie

6. At address, angle your left thumb so the top end points up at your right shoulder. When I did this I found clubface, arms and body seemed to fall magically into place. This helped my posture and instantly added power and control to my swing.
Richard Browne, TG art director

7. Put the club into position first; then set up around it. Don’t try to find your address position before putting the club behind the ball. Let the club help you find a decent set-up.
Duncan Lennard, TG Instruction editor

8. When you grip the club, make sure the Vs formed by your thumb and first finger point between your chin and right shoulder (right-handers). Your hands can now apply a square face to the ball as they find their natural hanging position through impact.
Richard Hollands, Teaching pro, Royal Ashdown Forest

9. Whenever anything goes wrong with your swing, always go back to the five basics: grip, stance, posture, rhythm and balance. My dad told me that and it’s stuck with me. When you think about it, those five things are the whole game of golf.
Charl Schwartzel, Tour pro

- Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this page, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us.