Grip, Stance, Alignment, Ball Position and Posture

The basic fundamentals of a good golf swing include the proper positioning of your hands on the club, the correct width stance, aligning your body appropriately to the target, suitable ball position and assuming an athletic posture with your body.

Grip: The grip should position the hands in a neutral position on the club’s grip with the palms facing each other.  The pad in the upper corner of your palm should rest directly on the top side of the grip close to the grip’s end.  From here the club will rest in your fingers with the left thumb just slightly to the right of center.  The “V” between your thumb and index finger should point toward the right side of your face with the thumb and index finger forming a very tight “V”.  The position of the left hand dictates how the right hand will be placed on the club.  The life line of the right palm should cover the left thumb, thus making the hands unite as one and assuring that the palms are parallel.  The grip is in the fingers of the right hand as well.  Again the “V” of the right thumb and index finger should point toward the right side of your face with the thumb and index finger forming a very tight “V”.  There are three choices on how the hands are connected:

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.