In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by PGA Professional Alex Elliott to look at the 5 biggest golf swing mistakes and how to fix them.
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappin here from Golf Monthly and welcome to West Hill Golf Club
00:04and this video looking at the five biggest golf swing mistakes and how to fix them.
00:10I'm joined in this video by Alex Elliott, he's a PGA pro and he's got some really simple
00:14and effective advice for what we think are the most common mistakes that might be costing
00:18you hitting slices or hooks or just hitting shots slightly fat or slightly thin, whatever
00:23your issue, hopefully there should be something in this video to really help you out.
00:32Right, so the first one on our list of biggest golf swing mistakes is the grip and it's something
00:38you're going to need to pay attention to. Alex, what do people need to look out for here?
00:42What are the biggest faults in terms of the grip?
00:44I think if we start off firstly with the palm, we all sort of hear this one banded around
00:49quite a lot. So if you're a golfer, if you're right handed, you struggle losing that ball
00:53off to the right and really don't feel you get a big bang for your buck, then we're going
00:57to tend to see this golf club run through the lifeline, where we're actually told to put
01:01the putter actually for most people. So essentially when we've got the club in the palm, we're
01:06going to see it very similar to as I've got here. And if you just waggle that golf club up
01:11and down, it's going to feel quite heavy.
01:13And what happens in this scenario is that when you return the club to impact, the way in
01:18which your body works, you're going to more than likely return it slightly open, aren't
01:22you? Slightly open or tenter with driver, potentially add a lot of loft, right? So like our ability
01:28to create a good efficient hit is dramatically reduced.
01:31Yes. So if you're, if you have a fault in your grip, that isn't a weak grip, but a strong
01:36grip, what does that look like?
01:37So a strong grip would be, let's say two to three knuckles, maybe even four knuckles
01:41showing really our logo of the glove pointing to the sky and sort of this look to how we're
01:46set up to the ball. Yeah, we're going to see that real hook curvature. So finishing off
01:50to the left for right-handed player, finishing off to right for a left-handed player. And
01:54that for me is where we're going to really struggle to control the golf ball, especially
01:59in firm conditions like it is now, like having that strong grip, we're only going to see
02:03sort of lowish ball flights, a lot of hook spin on it.
02:06Exactly. So what does the absolutely technically good grip look like and how can people set
02:11it? The one thing I'd say with this, Neil, is that we've got to be sort of, I always think
02:16of people improving their grip by edging it back slowly. Okay. Because your grip matches how
02:19you release the club. So we need to make sure it's not going from one extreme to the other.
02:23Okay. The only sort of caveat to that is if you do have it in the palm, get it in the
02:26fingers straight away. But if you are weak, edge it stronger. If you are really strong,
02:30edge it a little bit weaker. Okay. But that common ground where I want you to end up in
02:34the end would be a nice simple routine for this as well. If you're out on the golf courses,
02:39grip it sort of in the middle of my shaft as I've done here, tilt it slightly away, place
02:44it in the fingers. And you can see that I've got it right at the base of my fingers. Meaty
02:49part on top. Quick test. Club feels light. Club down to the ground. We can see sort of
02:54two and a half knuckles. Yep. Fingers on in my right hand. And both of these creases should
02:59be somewhere around my right shoulder. Quick question for you, Alex. If you get the left
03:03hand grip right, will the right hand grip then automatically be correct? I think so, yeah.
03:07You can, you've got a better chance. Right, fine. So focus, are we saying focus on the
03:11left hand grip? I think your left hand grip. I think the right hand is the opposite way.
03:14Yeah. Simply whatever one you have your glove on, get that right, will tend to have a better
03:18chance of hitting some good shots. Okay, good. And if you get it right, then you should hit
03:22some nice neutral flighted golf shots, a bit like this one. No pressure. So yeah, nice simple
03:28routine in the fingers, meaty part on top. It's going to give you a much better chance of
03:33returning that golf club back to relatively good to our path.
03:40A bit like that. Very good.
03:47Okay, so next up, alignment. And it sounds easy enough, doesn't it, to get your alignment
03:52right? But it's something that can go wrong quite easily and something that even the best
03:56players in the world are constantly checking, making sure they get it right. So, Alex, how
04:00do you get it right? Firstly, don't aim your shoulders at target, which might sound like
04:06to you watching this right now, a comment where you go, well, of course you do. If you're
04:10going to throw something or fire something, you'd be sort of looking at alignment. And
04:13a lot of you will be standing there going, right, I'm aligning to target, stand up, check.
04:18Oh, I look a little bit lefty. Start to adjust ourselves. So it looks like our eyes are perfect.
04:24Well, in reality, it's going to be aiming to the right.
04:26It's the club face that you need to worry about, not your body alignment. So what's
04:31a good way of checking it in practice, out on the golf course?
04:34Yeah, I would, like we've got set up here. So I would do these simple things when you're
04:39hitting balls in the range. And if you play on your own in an evening, just throw them
04:43down on the ground. But then we'll also talk through a scenario you can use in a competition.
04:47So everything, Neil, has got to start from a ball to target line.
04:49Yes.
04:50So I would stand behind at the start of a range session and simply pick out my ball
04:56to target line, place the alignment stick down there. Then I can walk in and it's making
05:01sure that our feet, knees, hips, and shoulders all run parallel to this. And when you do stand
05:08up, your shoulder line will be working parallel left to target.
05:11Yeah. So it's like you're almost like you're on a set of train tracks.
05:15Exactly that.
05:16And then you're out on the golf course playing a competition. You know, you have a tendency
05:20to aim a bit right. How do you make sure that you don't do that?
05:23Simple, simple trick. We all got logos on our golf balls or some others even put lines
05:28on our golf balls from a button. Use this line to advantage on par three tees. And when
05:33you're hitting some drives away, stand behind the golf ball again, as if you've got an extension
05:37of what we did during practice, place that down parallel lines. And we can simply, again,
05:45build our stance from this, as opposed to building it from this way to the ball, build it from
05:50the ball upwards. It's called a ball to target line for a reason.
05:53Yeah. And I think the important point to make here is that if you are devoting some time to
05:57your alignment, it won't be wasted. There's a whole host of other good things that will
06:01happen once you've got your alignment spot on.
06:09Right. Next up, the slice. Alex, most of us know how it feels. Most of us, it's very
06:13demoralizing when it happens. What have you got here? I can see you've got a drill for
06:18us. Yeah. I mean, it might look quite strange
06:20you're putting this out on the range, but honestly, I've used this analogy with people
06:24who come for lessons and this is really nice and simple. If I gave you a tennis racket, but
06:28we don't have that right here because it's not something that you can attach quite easily
06:32to a golf shot. So let's use our right palm. Okay. Okay. So if we're a slicer and our golf
06:37ball was sort of at this height, we'd work like this. Yeah. And we'd go, oh, of course
06:41the ball would work this way. Yeah. Okay. So if we did the opposite to that in golf posture,
06:47but then we just stand upright to hit this ball away like tennis, I want to take the ball away
06:52as far as I could, we'd make sort of this motion. So that would be my club traveling a little
06:57bit more into out, my club face being a little bit more closer to square, if not close to
07:02my path. And this would be quite an easy motion for a lot of us to make with the ball that
07:07height. Yes. So question then. So it feels like a fairly simple resolution. So how does
07:13it look with the golf club in your hands, Alex? And how, what should people be wary of the
07:18kind of body movements that they're making that are causing them to cut across it, like
07:22saying? I think that the biggest reference point I would have for a lot of golfers is when
07:26we start the downswing and it, it comes to, especially with driver, we want to hit it
07:30far. We want to get that distance. It's right shoulder, right hip working out, which works
07:36this way. Yes. A bit eager to hit it quite a long way. And suddenly you come over the
07:39top. Exactly. Whereas in tennis, the ball would come, we'd move in and through. And we'd make
07:46that sort of reaction to a good body movement because we're orientating it to a moving object.
07:51Now, obviously in golf, the little white ball is still. So we've got to think of an analogy
07:56and a nice simple way would be actually address the golf ball down here, swing up, feel that
08:03you meet the golf ball away. Okay. Now you might think we're actually standing up, but
08:07what we're trying to do is get the club to work this. Right. Yes. And not the other way
08:12around. Exactly. Yeah. So we could have two or three practice swings on the course, on the
08:16range, walk into the shot. We've now got the feeling of being able to work the club through
08:21this space as if we're hitting a tennis shot away, but just more tilted over the golf ball.
08:26Okay. Go on then. Hit one for us. Let's see how it looks.
08:28So I'd really make a few waggles, tennis shot away. Imagine I'm hitting that ball down to target.
08:39Arrow straight. If you have a slice, it can be one of those things that takes a little bit
08:43of time to get it out of your game, but work on it. As Alex is saying here, it could really
08:47help.
08:52This one is all about starting the golf swing correctly, but let's start with the fault.
08:56Alex, what do people do that cost them in the golf swing?
09:00I think we just put it into two categories. One, not control the club face and not get the arms
09:04and body working together. So simply it would be closing it too much or open too much.
09:11Right. Okay. And that second one looks as if you're taking it away on the inside. Are you taking it away on the inside?
09:17Yeah, very much so. And I think sort of that open face, especially with longer clubs,
09:21everybody thinks it's a little bit more rounded. It's very tempting to sort of work it in this direction.
09:26Yeah. And it's something you see a lot, isn't it? So what can people do to resolve the problem?
09:31So a nice simple routine as I've done here is I've simply just placed my golf club down directly behind my ball.
09:38So if we sort of give those two scenarios, if I go too much in the inside, well, look how the club really works.
09:44If I wanted to push that golf club back as far as I could, I would really want to get arms and the body working together.
09:52And more of what would feel like this sort of, I guess the term a lot of people would use, one piece takeaway.
09:57One piece takeaway. Yeah, you hear it a lot.
09:58So down behind the ball. I mean, look at the difference of this here.
10:02Yeah. A lot more control. Golf club's gone a lot further back.
10:06Yeah. And if you were to draw a triangle between the club head and your shoulders,
10:09that triangle would pretty much be kept intact for a lot of that, wouldn't it?
10:13Exactly. Rather than changing your angles, changing them means a lot more compensations have got to take place.
10:18Yeah. So if you can start the golf swing correctly, the chances are the rest of the swing will follow and you'll hit better shots.
10:29So the last one on our list is standing up in the downswing. Alex, what do you mean by standing up in the downswing?
10:34I think a lot of people will see another term that they'd use is early extension.
10:38So essentially belt buckle getting higher or standing up and then we see that scoopy sort of look to our impact position.
10:45Right. Okay. Yeah. It's something you do see quite a lot.
10:48So how do you solve the issue?
10:50I think you see, I'll even with very good players as well.
10:52It's not just sort of your beginners, your higher handicappers.
10:55It's something that happens with a lot. So a simple thing we can do.
10:58I mean, I've just placed my bag here. This could be alignment sticks.
11:01If you're watching this at home, this could actually be the wall behind you.
11:04If you've got a few spare minutes each day, I think the important thing of this, Neil, is we make it flow.
11:09Right. Okay.
11:10So golf club across our chest.
11:12We don't want to just be position, position, position, because we know in reality the golf swing's got a bit of flow to it.
11:18So what I want you to do here is have the bum just out of touch of whether it's the wall alignment stick or your golf bag as I've got here.
11:25Go through swing, try and touch it with your left pocket, back, right pocket, through left pocket.
11:31And you can really see here how I'm a lot more over the golf ball throughout the whole motion.
11:37Yes. Yeah.
11:38And you're avoiding that issue of standing up, aren't you?
11:40You're retaining that posture, that really good posture that you set at address.
11:44I can see that you're still in it as you reach that kind of impact position.
11:47Exactly.
11:48And just to sort of preempt a few questions that people might ask to us to stay more over the golf ball impact.
11:53Well, our belt buckle has to work more to target to give us the ability to be here.
11:58If our belt buckle is a little bit higher, we're going to find it very, very hard to hit the golf ball in that direction or remain over it.
12:04Yeah, it's a really simple way of thinking about it.
12:07Hopefully it's sort of a non-technical fix for a technical issue that should help you out.
12:13So there you have it, some really great advice there from Alex.
12:17Really simple, really effective.
12:18If you do have any questions, please do post them below.
12:21We'll hope to get back to as many of you as possible.
12:23But that's it for now from West Hill.
12:25Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.