First, and the least commonly used, is the baseball or ten finger grip in which the hands simply slide together, touching each other.  In this choice all ten fingers are on the grip.

Second is the interlocking grip where the little finger of the right hand hooks together with the index finger of the left hand.  In this choice those two fingers only partially slide in together, not all the way.  This grip is used by two of golf’s all-time greats, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.  In this grip only eight fingers are actually on the grip.

Third is the Vardon or overlap grip where the little finger of the right hand sits in the slot or space between the index and middle finger of the left hand.  This is the most popular grip on the PGA Tour.  Nine fingers are on the grip in the choice.

In all three choices grip pressure should remain the same from address to the end of the follow-through and be a medium pressure, not choking the club to death.

Stance: For the most part your stance should be about shoulder width apart with the weight evenly distributed from left to right, and from back to front.  The width will vary a small amount as the clubs lengthen and shorten.  Your right foot should be set perpendicular to the line of play with the left foot toed or turned out about fifteen degrees to the left.  This stance will assist you in your turn and weight shift throughout the swing.

Alignment: Although most people struggle with alignment, it should be quite easy.  Imagine a set of railroad tracks… your body is aligned along the left track and your ball to target line is the right track.  Your feet, hips and shoulders should all be parallel to the target line.  Poor alignment leads to poor shots.

Ball Position: On normal shots the golf ball should never be placed behind the center of your stance.  With short clubs, like wedges, the ball should begin near the center of your stance and as the club lengthens the ball should move forward to the inside of the left hell with the driver.

Posture: Proper posture is an athletic position in which the player has a slight flex in the knees, most of which comes from the knees to the hip joints and quite a bit of tilt in the upper body from the hip joints with a straight back.  The arms should naturally hang, not reach.  The rule of thumb is to have the hands approximately the size of your fist from your thigh.  The left arm should form a straight line with the shaft and the hands opposite the inside of your left leg.  Poor posture can result from a curved spine, the chin too close to the chest, not enough upper body tilt, too much knee flex, legs too straight, too much of a “sitting-down” position, weight too much on the heels or too much on the toes.  In a correct setup the right shoulder is slight lower than the left due to the fact that the right hand is lower on the grip than the left.  This will make the backbone have a slight tilt to the right at address.

Pre-Shot Routine:  Prior to initiating the golf swing, top players will use with a pre-shot routine. The golfer chooses the proper club for the upcoming shot, stands behind the ball, selects a target, approaches the ball from behind, checks the grip, assumes the stance, aligns his body and takes an athletic posture.

The Takeaway: The takeaway starts the motion of the swing when the upper body begins to turn to the right with the arms and club moving along with it.  On the backswing the upper body will rotate twice as much as the hips.  The arms should remain in front of the chest.  Many amateurs bring the club to the inside too soon getting the club and hands too far behind them.  At thigh height, the shaft should be parallel to the body line with the toe of the club pointing up.

From thigh height to the top of the backswing:  From here the wrists begin to hinge in an upward direction and the right arm begins to fold, as the upper body continues to turn.  At the top of the backswing, the upper body should be rotated approximately ninety degrees, hips forty-five degrees, left arm straight, right arm folded ninety degrees with the shaft parallel to your target line.  As we begin the swing, the left knee kicks slightly in toward the right knee.  The right knee virtually does not move.  At the top you should have about seventy-five per cent of your weight on the right side with the knees still flexed.  The weight should be on a flat-footed right foot, not to the outside of the right foot.  The swing is supported by the right leg at the top.

Downswing:  The backswing is predominantly an upper body motion beginning with the turn of the body, the hinging of the wrists and the folding of the right arm while the downswing is primarily controlled by the lower body.  The left hip and knee begin by moving them toward the target.  The upper body and the club follow.  Many amateurs fail to use their lower body enough and begin the downswing with their hands and the club.  The downswing is actually narrower than the backswing because the lower body moves left and the wrists retain their hinge on the downswing.  Many amateurs fail to use their lower body, un-cock their wrists too soon, loose a great deal of power and tend to hit behind the ball.  Top players approach the ball from inside the target line.  At impact our hips should be open to the target line with the shoulders square.  The hands should be leading the club head into impact.  The club head slowly squares on the downswing.  At impact your head should be slightly behind the ball with weight behind impact to create power.

Follow-through: After impact the club-head continues down when hitting a ball on the ground and moves slightly upward when hitting a driver with the ball on a tee.  The body continues to rotate after impact with the weight moving to the left side.  The right side of the body, namely right shoulder and hip, moves well past where the ball was positioned.  The golf club is “released” which means that the right arm rolls over the left, the club face is in a toe-up position at waist level and at the full finish the right shoulder is closer to the target than the left.  The left leg supports the weight on the follow through.

Type of Club Being Used: Irons are made with either a straight hosel (no offset) or with an offset hosel.  In either case your hands or the grip end of the iron should be slightly in front of the leading edge of the club.  Most woods are made with what is called face progression meaning that the face of the wood is actually in front of the shaft, therefore the face of the wood is slightly in front of your hands.  These characteristics of irons and woods create the variation in ball position.  Due to this setup with an iron, we want the hands to lead the club head into the shot and to hit “down” on the ball.  This means that we hit the ball first and the ground or divot after impact.  This hitting down on the ball is what lifts the ball off the ground and imparts spin on the ball.  Top players are de-lofting the club when hitting an iron.  The feeling is that we pinch the ball against the turf.  With the driver, when the ball is teed well up, the desired path is slightly upward on the ball.  This will launch the ball into the air for maximum distance.  Even with a driver, the hands still lead the club head into impact.

1. As you stand up to hit the shot, if you then rolled a ball toward the target with your right hand… what would the ball do… curve left or right or travel up or down.  The ball will do the same thing.
2. Determine which direction your weight is tending to lean and move it in the opposite direction.  If it feels on your heel, move it toward your toes, etc.  This will assist you to return to a normal posture.
3. Swing with a slow, smooth tempo to maintain your balance.

Hitting from a Downhill Lie: Here is probably the most difficult of the four kinds of uneven lies.  Place the ball slightly farther back than normal in your stance.  Expect a low trajectory to the shot and due to that you should get some extra roll.  Take one less club.  Balance your weight by setting it slightly on the right side.

Hitting from a Uphill Lie:  This is probably the easiest of the four kinds of uneven lies.  Place the ball slightly more forward than normal in your stance.  Expect a high trajectory to the shot and due to that the ball should stop faster.  Take one extra club.  Balance your weight by setting it slightly on the left side.

Hitting from a Side Hill Lie with the Ball above your Feet:  Choke down on the grip an amount based on how severe the uphill lie is.  Choking down on the club may cost you some distance.  Expect the shot to be hooked or pulled, therefore aim to the right of the flagstick.  Balance your weight by setting it slightly toward your toes.

Hitting from a Side Hill Lie with the Ball below your Feet:  The ball must be played slightly closer to you than normal to compensate for the lie.  Expect the shot to be sliced or pushed, therefore aim to the left of the flagstick.  Balance your weight by setting it slightly on your heels.

The short game, neglected by most amateurs, is the best way to save strokes and improve your score.  To improve you need to understand short game basics and to commit time to practice.  Many golfers struggle with short distance shots where they use a “less than full” swing.  On chip, pitch and bunkers shots our stance should vary from slightly open to very open.  Here are the three ways to control distance and remember good players use a combination of all three:

1. Shorten the length of your swing.
2. Choke down on the grip, shortening the club’s length.
3. Slow down the speed of the swing.

Chipping: Basically the difference between a chip shot and a pitch shot is that in the chip shot the ball spends more time on the ground, and in the pitch shot the ball spends more time in the air.  Chip shots are low trajectory shots from just off the edge of the green.  In this shot the land between your ball and the hole is relatively flat with no hazards in the way.   Normally we will use a straighter face club, namely a seven or eight iron, to get the ball on the green quickly and rolling like a putt as soon as possible.  The plan is to have the ball in the air about one third of the distance and on the ground for two thirds.  Visualize a spot on which the ball will land.  Make your backswing length comparable to the length of the shot.  We should choke down on the club a little bit, assume a slightly open, narrow stance, place the ball slightly back in our stance, tilt the shaft toward the target, make a short, firm wristed stroke and brush the grass after impact.

Pitching:  On most pitch shots we are farther off the green with more land to cover prior to landing on the green.  We may be pitching the ball over a bunker or up a hill.  In most instances we will use a very lofted club, sand or lob wedge.  In this shot we will have more of a backswing, allow the wrists to hinge upward, use a slow tempo, take an open stance, and hit down on the ball.  We hit down on the ball to make it go up, we do not try to lift or help the ball into the air.  Allow the club to do the work.  The ball should carry about two thirds of the distance and roll the remaining one third.  Again visualize the spot on which you are trying to land the ball.  To properly use the loft of the club, the ball should be played slightly forward of the center of your stance.  Keep the shaft straight up and down, not tilted toward the target.

Bunker Play:  To many the most feared shot in golf, but with the understanding of proper technique, it becomes much easier.  First you must have a sand wedge or lob wedge to execute this shot.  The bounce on the sole of a sand wedge assists you in this shot.  Bounce means that on the sole of the club the back is lower than the leading edge of the club.  This bounce allows the wedge to slice through the sand a lift the ball out of the bunker.  We begin with a very open stance, an open clubface (aiming well to the right) and the ball forward in our stance.  The backswing should be parallel to your body, which is actually swinging across the line of the shot.  With an open clubface, open stance and swing path parallel to your body, the ball should take a high trajectory out of the bunker and onto the green.  Again on this shot we must hit down, not trying to lift the ball, no matter how high the lip of the bunker may be.  Imagine the ball is sitting on a dollar bill, strike the sand behind the ball at the back edge of the bill and allow the club to come out of the sand on the front edge of the bill.  We are trying to take out a long, shallow slice of sand.  Be sure to follow-through allowing the sand to fly out of the bunker and onto the green.

Putters: Putters come in various lengths from standard to belly to long.  Standard length putters are used in a normal posture with the arms hanging, belly models have the butt end of the grip anchored near the belly button with the arms hanging normally and long types rest the putter on your chest with the left hand extending the right arm putting with a pendulum motion.  Putters come in various styles from face balanced to toe-down models.  Face balanced types are for a straight back straight through stroke, while toe down putters are for a stroke with a slight arc.  If you try to balance a putter parallel to the ground, by the middle of the shaft and the putter face looks skyward, you have a face balanced putter.  If the toe points down, you have a toe down putter.  Be sure to have a putter which matches your stroke.

Gripping your Putter: Here are some of the many styles: reverse overlap, cross handed, claw or pencil.  In the reverse overlap the putter is gripped normally with the left hand on top, but the connection between the hands has the index finger of the left hand running outside the fingers of the right hand and parallel to the shaft.  This arrangement of the left index finger will lock the wrists into a firm one-piece position.  Most putter grips have a flat part on the front, begin the grip by placing both thumbs down the flat part with the palms parallel.  The cross handed or left hand low grip reverses the hands, which will assist keeping the putter head low after impact, maintaining a firm left wrist and feeling the left hand leading the stroke.  The claw grip has the left hand in a normal place, but with the hands slightly split and the right hand either settled in the “V” between the thumb and index finger.   The pencil grip has the right hand like one is holding a pencil.

The Putting Stroke:  Basically there are two choices in stroking a putt; the straight back-straight through method or a slight arc.  As mentioned earlier you should have a putter style to match your stroke.  In the straight back-straight through style the putter has virtually no open or close to the stroke.  The putter face stays square to the line.  The arc stroke is more like the golf swing where the face opens on the back stroke, returns to square at impact and closes on the follow through.  Many great players have had success with each preference.  In either style the putter should stay relatively low to the ground with a back swing and follow through length to match the length of the putt.  To become a great putter the first thing to learn is distance control.

Hitting it Low:  To get back into play after an errant shot, we must keep the ball below the level of the trees.  This will give us a chance for a par, but more importantly staying away from double bogey.  Play the ball back in your stance, de-lofting the club and be sure to drive the weight to your left side.  Be sure to keep the wrists firm through impact with the club head remaining low.  It is like a punch shot.

Hitting it High:  To get the ball up quickly, position the ball farther forward in your stance and hang slightly back on your right side.  This will add loft to the club.

Curving the Ball:  To curve the ball from right to left (a hook), set the club face at your target and your feet well to the right.  Swing the club along the line of your feet and the ball should curve left based on the alignment of the club face.  For a curve to the right (a slice) simply reverse directions.