Golf Swing Physics: Perfecting your Swing

Golf Swing Physics, professional players will tell you, is the more important piece of information you’ll have around your game. New players come into the game thinking they can play as well as on the video games found in bars, but hit stark reality as soon as they hit the fairway. Before you go to the fairway, make sure these 8 important fundamentals of the swing, so you’re ready to begin working at once.

As any professional will tell you, your grip is the most important element in your golf game. You need to ensure you have a firm grip, with your hands correctly positioned. If you don’t have a good grip, you risk poor alignment, weak contact, flight position, lack of distance, and fat and thin shots, amongst other things. If you don’t have a professional or coach to work with, get on the driving range and practice this fundamental element before you play golf.

Your stance and posture is also a key element. You’ll need to begin your swing with the correct posture, so you can make solid contact with the ball. Your weight should be evenly balanced front to back and left to right, and you need to ensure your arms are hanging down – not out.

The stance brings us to the spine angle, which is the beginning angle – and one of the most important – in golf. This angle is the beginning of a series of angles, and if you stand bent down too low, then you’ll raise your body up during the swing, and if you stand too straight, then you will swing the club flat, and hit the top of the ball. You need to flex your knees and bend from the hips until your spine is at a 45 degree angle from the ground, and should be maintained throughout the swing.

Next you must make sure your alignment is correct. A simple technique to aiming correctly is by aiming at the hole, and then laying the club down at your heels or toes. If, when you step by 10 paces, you find that the club you placed on the ground is parallel to your target, then you’re properly aligned. If not, you must go back and square up your stance. Take a rarely used club (3 or 4 iron will do) and lay it down directly at the target. (Make sure it’s properly aligned by using the technique mentioned earlier in this paragraph.) You can now use this club to help align yourself to your target and get used to the position of your body in the golf stance.

The backswing is very important as well. You need to ensure that rather than quickly picking up your club to swing at the ball, you bring up your club in a circular sweeping motion to ensure fluidity in the swing.

The top of the swing is only a moment in time, but it is critical to the rest of your swing. You must ensure that 75% of your weight is on your back foot, and 25% is on the front foot to ensure proper strength and accuracy. From there, you must ensure that your forward swing maintains the same strength and speed as the backswing. Don’t let your left arm hinge during this process or you’ll lose all the work you’ve done on your swing.

Now hit the ball!

The finish will show you if you’ve paid attention to the golf swing physics. If it’s balanced and free-flowing, then your ball should land close to your target. If not, step back to the beginning of these fundamentals and begin your swing again. You should work on each of these elements of your golf swing one at a time to ensure you’re getting proper technique – and in the end you’ll have a firm understanding of golf swing physics and a great swing!