How Do I Swing a Golf Club?

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How do I swing a golf club?  That's a question we hear all the time.  Let's start with the fondling of the golf club.  My reasoning once was: to get the clubface back to the ball amid all these wildly moving parts, I’d better have good control of the club. So I wrapped as much of my palms and hands around the handle as I could, created as much solid contact with the handle as I could, and I felt in control. But remember the flail whips the clubhead around with extreme quickness. 

Golfers are not in control of the clubhead. With a proper fondle, you should have a sense that the club’s weight is hanging against the support of the first two bones of your fingers--not that the club’s handle is smothered by the large muscular pads at the bases of your palms. And with the weight of the club out at your fingers, you should have a feeling that you’re going to be able, loosely and quickly, to whip the clubhead. 

One of the most common mistakes in fondling the club is in placing the handle across the left palm incorrectly. The upper part of the handle should not lie across the large muscular pad at the base of the palm underneath the little finger. Rather it should lie across the space between the crease in the palm above that large pad and the base of the little finger. 

Here’s what the underside of the fondle looks like. Notice how the club is supported by the fingers, not by the meaty pads at the base of the palms. They indicate the directions in which the upside-down ‘V’ formed by the pros’ right thumbs and the bases of their right hands are pointing. The range of positions extends from the right shoulder to the left cheek. (Note that the right thumb is not parallel to the shaft but is around toward the left side of the handle.) 

Many amateurs let this V point to somewhere outside their right shoulders, which looks like not the place to be. Concerning the left hand, you can see a bending backward of the left hand at the wrist. Though you cannot see it, the thumb of the left hand is fitting comfortably in the slot formed by the two muscular pads at the base of the right palm. This puts the upside-down ‘V’ formed by the left thumb and base of the left hand pointing toward the very same range as the V in the right hand. The left thumb is parallel to the shaft and points straight down the shaft--you feel the club’s handle near the center of the underside of your thumb. You now know how to fondle the handle of a golf club.