​Learn Golf Swing Basics

​When you swing a golf club, it should be a smooth motion from start to finish. There shouldn't be any pauses or jerks, and the end result should be you perfectly balanced, holding the club over your shoulder as you watch the ball fly straight and true.

There are several components to a golf swing, however, which is how some players let pauses and small jerks creep in. For many, the most challenging aspect of golf is combining each of those unique elements into one smooth, continuous motion. The proper focus on golf swing basics early on will save you from a lot of frustration later.

The mechanics of a golf swing can be split into 5 parts: the takeaway, backswing, transition, downswing (including impact), and follow through. We will provide an overview of each part to the golf swing, as well as tips on how to do them correctly. So let's jump in.

​Golf Swing Mechanics

The 5 Basic Parts to Every Golf Swing​

Takeaway (1st part of golf swing mechanics)

The takeaway is considered the foundation of a golf swing because a bad takeaway is nearly impossible to recover from. A bad or incorrect takeaway will almost always result in a bad shot.

One of the key factors of a good takeaway is still hands. Your grip shouldn't get tighter, your hands shouldn't rotate (especially around the golf grip), none of your fingers should move, your grip should just be relaxed and still.

Another key factor to a great takeaway is straight arms. The takeaway ends at the time the club is parallel to the ground at around waist height. Up until now, both the left and the right arms should be completely straight. This sets the foundation for a nice, wide arc throughout the backswing.

Backswing (2nd part to golf swing basics)

Technically speaking, the takeaway is the first portion of the backswing. However, when we talk about the backswing in this article, we are referring to the section of the golf swing that occurs after the takeaway until the top of the swing.

For a proper backswing, you want to think about rotating your right shoulder (for a right-handed player) behind your head.

One of the most common mistakes in the backswing is for people to slide their knees and hips away from the target (not the ball, but where you want the ball to end up). At the top of your swing, you should be perfectly balanced with the weight stacked on top of your legs and feet. You don't want your legs angled away from your feet.

When you move your legs, hips, and/or body away from the target, you will lose a lot of power and you will open yourself up to shots that are off-line.

Transition (3rd part to proper golf swing mechanics)

The transition may be where people get the most, shall we say, creative in their swing. This is the most common place to insert unnecessary and counterproductive jerks or breaks in the swing. The transition marks the end of the backswing and is the start of the downswing.

The transition is the time when the hips begin rotating toward the target. The most common mistake in the transition is for players to not start rotating their hips forward. Their hands lead the golf swing and get ahead of the lower body. This results in inconsistent, weaker powered shots.

Using your lower body correctly is crucial to a correct golf swing. When you start rotating your hips at the transition, you will begin to hit the ball more consistently and cleanly.

Downswing (including impact)

The key piece of the downswing you should focus on is making sure your hands are in front of the ball at impact. Keeping a relaxed grip is absolutely crucial to getting your hands out in front of the ball. When your grip is tight and has too much tension, it will feel very uncomfortable if the club is behind the hands at impact.

Remember, the grip should be just firm enough to keep the club from sliding out of or rotating in your hands. But it should be loose enough that no part of your hand is squeezing the club at any point.

Follow-through (Final part to learning golf swing basics)

Quick English lesson for you (free of charge): follow through with no hyphen is a verb, follow-through with a hyphen is a noun. Now that we've cleared that up, the follow-through is what happens after you hit the ball. Balance is the focus during the follow-through. One way to practice good balance, and to ensure your balance is good, is to hold the end of the swing for at least 3 seconds. If your balance is off, you won't be able to hold your finish.

At the finish of your golf swing, your belt buckle and shoulders should be square with the target. One common mistake here is for the shoulders to rotate too far past the target. This is an indication that the player was trying to hit the ball as hard as they can. Remember, at the end of your swing, focus on your shoulders and belt buckle being square with the target, and hold that position for 3 seconds!

​Golf Swing Basics & Mechanics Conclusion

​Practicing each of the 5 elements of a golf swing is difficult to do. One of the first things we mentioned in this article is that a good golf swing is smooth from start to finish. It's hard to break up the golf swing into sections. We always recommend only focusing on one section of the swing at a time. But when you are focusing and working on each section, continue to do a full swing. Use your phone to video your swing and get instant feedback on what you are working on. Keep those hands relaxed, maintain good balance, and you'll be well on your way to having proper mechanics in your golf swing.