From Tee to Green: Perfecting Your Golf Swing Techniques

Successfully swinging a golf club requires managing the complex interaction of your posture, foot placement, arm movement, and vision. Golf swing techniques will vary whether you're driving, chipping, or putting, but some fundamental advice applies to all shots.  

Read on to discover how to improve your golf swing for a better game – and lower score!

Find Your Best Golf Grip

An effective golf swing starts with a good grip. Experiment with these grips during your practice sessions to see which improves your performance the most. Left-handed people will need to reverse the directions for hand placements described below.

Ten Finger Grip

In this Rick Shiels video, the popular online golf coach describes the ten-finger grip. He says this technique can improve stability and control when driving, chipping, or putting. 
 
You might also hear the ten-finger grip called the baseball grip. Swing Talks recommends it for golfers with large hands or those frustrated by unwanted wrist movements.  
 
Ten-finger grip method: 

1. Place the bottom of the club flat on the ground, facing the direction you want the ball to go.
2. Starting with the left hand, wrap fingers around the back of the grip.
3. Your thumb should point straight down the handle.
4. Take your right hand and wrap the fingers around the back of the club below the left hand.
5. Look on the back of the club to confirm that eight fingers are all in a row.
6. Interlock the right-hand pinky finger with the left index finger. 

Overlap Grip

This overlap grip is especially advantageous for putting. It encourages both hands to work together consistently, which should produce a smooth stroke. The linking of the fingers promotes stability and the ideal pendulum-like swing needed for accurate putting.
 
Overlap grip method: 

1. Put your left hand on the club with the thumb pointing straight down at the club head.
   
2. Wrap your right hand onto the shaft on top of your left hand.
   
3. Put the right-hand pinky finger over the left-hand index and middle fingers. 

Interlock Grip

As a slight variation of the overlap grip, the interlock grip can allow golfers with smaller hands to increase their control. You should try the interlock grip if you find that your hands separate when swinging.
 
Interlock grip method: 

1. Start by gripping the shaft with your left hand with the thumb pointing toward the club head.
2. Put your right hand around your left hand.
3. Interlock the right-hand pinky finger with the left-hand index finger. 

Perfect Your Posture

• Have your feet pointing toward the ball.
• Move feet to shoulder width.
• Center the ball between your feet.
• Slightly bend your knees.
• Shift hips back slightly.
• Tilt forward from the hips with a straight back. 

Golf Posture Drill

Your setup serves as only part of good posture for your golf swing. You need to maintain that straight back during your swing.  
 
This video from a certified golf fitness specialist presents an exercise that helps your body learn to keep straight while moving through the arc of the swing.  
 
Golf posture drill steps: 

1. Hold a driver with your hands on both ends.
2. Place the shaft behind your shoulder blades.
3. Position yourself in the correct posture.
4. Slowly twist your body for the backswing.
5. Slowly twist your body for the forward swing.
6. Repeat the twists and use the club across your back to stay straight. 

Work With Gravity

Golf coach Danny Maude recommends working with gravity to improve your swing. He calls this "letting the club fall" instead of pushing it toward the ball. This means that you should separate the falling action of the club from what you're doing with your body. You want to eliminate the tendency to let your torso shift downward as you swing toward the ball. 
 
It is helpful to resist the urge to fall with the club consciously. Doing so will help keep your body in the proper position. When you let the club fall instead of pushing it, you remain more stable and retain your power for the forward part of the swing.  
 
Maude's video shows you how to practice holding a club with one hand to get a feel for letting it fall. 

Practice Drills

Improve Your Driving Swing

1. Tee three balls in high, medium, and low positions.
2. Hover your club and visualize the ideal point of contact.
3. Hit each ball from the varying heights. 

Improve Your Chipping Swing

Proficient chipping requires excellent hand and wrist control because these short-game shots are all about finesse. To help develop this skill, practice holding the Y formed by your arms and club. To perform the Y or triangle drill: 

1. Hold your wedge so that your arms and club form a symmetrical Y.
2. Swing the club back and pay attention to hold the Y.
3. Swing forward and maintain the Y.
4. Repeat the full swing as many times as you can. 

Improve Your Putting STroke

The putt is your most delicate swing. Use the gate drill to develop your accuracy: 

1. Set two parallel sticks in line with the hole.
2. Place the sticks apart the width of a putter's head.
3. Stand behind the ball and look at the line leading to the hole.
4. Stand parallel to the sticks.
5. Get into a putting stance.
6. Make your putt without the ball touching the sticks. 

Improve Your Game at the Bella Collina Orlando Golf Academy

A beautiful environment can bring out the best in your game. Bella Collina, a luxury gated golf community, features a stunning golf course designed by Sir Nick Faldo. It incorporates the hilly Central Florida landscape to provide a game with elevation challenges. 
 
To improve your swing for better golfing, take advantage of Bella Collina's golf training facilities: 

• Putting greens
• Pitching greens
• Chipping greens
• Practice bunkers 
  
  

We're also home to The Golf Academy at Bella Collina, where you can attend one-, two-, or three-day golf schools led by professional instructors.  
 
Visit Bella Collina and see how you can enjoy an unparalleled luxury golf – and living – experience.