How to Hit a Golf Ball Perfectly for Beginners

Setting up Your Swing

Hold the club with a secure, natural grip. The pinky of your non-dominant hand, or top hand, should curl just below the end of the club. Place your dominant hand, or bottom hand, just below your top hand. Keep the club in the creases between your palms and fingers instead of in the middle of your palms. For your bottom hand, your ring and pinky fingers should grip the club with the most pressure. For your top hand, your index finger should make contact with the most pressure. Your grip should be loose but well-controlled. Grip the club tightly enough to keep it secure in your hands, but keep your hands free of tension. Try to keep your hands about a fist or fist and a half away from your thighs.

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. Your non-dominant foot should be in front, or closer to the target. Position your back foot perpendicular to the target, and point your front toe slightly toward the target. Distribute your weight evenly on each foot, and keep your weight on the balls of your feet. Center the ball between your feet. The ball should be far enough away from your feet that your arms can hang straight down comfortably. If you have to reach, you’re too far away. If you have to hold your arms close to your body, you’re too close to the ball.

Bend forward from your hips about 35 to 40 degrees. Bend over from your hips so your arms can hang down comfortably. Imagine a clock face; the angle between 12 o’clock and 3 o’clock is 90 degrees. To bend at the correct angle, your back should be just past 1 o’clock, or around the 6 minute mark. Try looking at yourself in a mirror to gauge the angle of your hip bend. A good hip bend will allow you to rotate your hips and power your swing.

Square your shoulders, hips, knees, and feet with the ball. Your body, the ball, and the target should all be parallel. Imagine you’re standing on train tracks. Your feet should be on 1 rail, and the ball should be on the other.

Performing a Basic Swing

Shift your weight back as you rotate your hips and torso. Begin your backswing by gradually shifting your weight to your back foot. Just before you start rotating your body, raise your arms back slightly in a straight line. In a single, continuous motion, rotate your arms, shoulders, and hips backward. Make sure that you're rotating your chest instead of your arms as you take the club back. Keep your arms fully extended as you rotate into your backswing. Once your club is around shoulder height, bend your wrists to hinge your hands and raise the club up higher. This will help you generate a more powerful swing. To drive the ball and make mid-distance shots, you’ll rotate fully into the backswing with the club raised above your head. You’ll make adjustments when the time comes to putt, since you won’t need to generate as much force.

Tilt your front shoulder downward at the top of your backswing. Instead of turning your shoulders at a level plane, your front shoulder should be tucked down slightly. Additionally, tuck your front shoulder into your chin, keep your eye on the ball, and maintain the bend from your hips. When you start to transition from your backswing to the downswing, it should feel like your front shoulder is moving toward the ground.

Lead your downswing rotation with your front hip. Begin the downswing by shifting your weight to your front foot as you turn your front hip toward the target. Leading with your front hip, quickly rotate your body toward the target. When you're swinging a driver, the downswing sequence is hips, thorax, arms, and shaft. Your body is like a spring that gathers energy with the backswing and releases it in the downswing. The downswing should be fully committed, smooth, swift, and free of hesitation. Keep your eye on the ball throughout your swing.

Return to your squared starting position at impact. The moment you strike the ball, your hips, feet, arms, and shoulders should all be back to the starting position and square with the ball. Your weight should be on your front foot, but your back foot should still be planted firmly on the ground. Bump your hip up toward your target when you make contact with the ball. Your front shoulder should be tilted up slightly, and your torso should be extended (but still bent from the hips) instead of hunched.

Continue the rotation into a long, tall follow-through. After striking the ball, turn your hips, arms, and torso in a continuous motion toward the target. As you turn, rotate your back foot so your toes point toward the target. Bring your arms across your chest to finish the swing with your club held just above your leading shoulder. Though shoulders and hips are rotated, you should be standing up tall with your chest out and torso extended. In your final position, your body should be long and tall with your head held up instead of hunched over. Your legs should be extended, your front foot should still be perpendicular to the target, and your chest should face toward the target.

Making Adjustments for Different Shots

Control the amount of force you use. A drive will need more force than a putt, so you need to make sure that the amount of force you apply to the ball is proportional to the distance you need. Make full, half, and three-quarter swings by increasing or decreasing your backswing. If you need more power, you should shift your weight backward on your backswing. On the other hand, you wouldn’t want to make a full swing if you’re only trying to putt or tap the ball. Keep in mind a half swing with a driver won’t generate the same yardage as a half swing with a putter. Practice swing lengths with all of your clubs so you know what yardage you generate with each combination.

Increase your tilt and power up your backswing to drive the ball. To drive the ball a longer distance, you’ll need to give it more lift. Maximize your power by raising your club high and rotating completely into your backswing. When you strike the ball, tilt your front hips and shoulder higher than normal. When driving the ball, it’s especially important to keep your arms straight. Extending your arms fully and keeping them straight will increase your accuracy. Additionally, you should stand with the ball aligned with the toes of your front foot. This will increase the length of your swing, set your club’s low point just ahead of the ball, and allow you to generate more lift and power.

Make low contact with fairway shots. Fairway shots are mid-range to long distance shots, and you need to tweak your technique in order lift the ball off of the ground. A golf swing traces a big circle; think of it like a hula hoop standing upright on the ground. For a fairway shot, the point where the hula hoop touches the ground should be in line with the ball instead of just before it. When you make your first shot, you strike the ball off of a tee with a driver. The club has already passed its lowest point and begins to swings upward when it strikes the ball. With no tee, generating lift is more difficult. When you hit the ball with an iron, the club’s lowest point is just about even with the ball, which helps give the ball lift. To accomplish the right low point, set the ball in the center of your stance, rather than toward your front toes as you would with a tee shot. In a driver swing, your goal is to hit the ball during the first part of your upswing or follow-through. In a fairway shot, you're trying to catch the ball with the last part of your downswing.

Factor in the wind. If the wind is particularly strong when you play, you’ll need to adjust your shots accordingly. When playing into the wind, widen your stance, play the ball further back (so it’s closer to your back leg), and grip down on the club. You should also swing easier instead of swinging harder. If you are playing downwind, focus on getting height into your shots over distance. Play the ball closer to your lead foot. If putting into the wind, you need to have a wider stance and more bend at your waist. The putt will have a tendency to move in the same direction as the wind, so adjust it accordingly to prevent the ball from straying too far to one side.

Keep your club and swing plane square when making straight shots. A straight shot can be difficult to master, as the club must be perfectly square with the ball at the moment of impact. Keep your swing plane, or your imagined hula hoop, aligned with the direction you want the ball to go. Remember to keep your arms straight when you’re making a mid-range or long distance straight shot.

Get yourself out a trap with a bunker shot. To make a good bunker shot, choke down on the club with your dominant index finger about 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the bottom of the grip. This will give you greater control of the club. Open your stance slightly and keep the ball a bit more forward than usual. Dig into the sand with your feet and keep your body still. Aim to make contact with the lower portion of the ball and the sand just beneath it, and swing with your arms to generate lift.

Play into the green from the outside using an approach shot. Approach shots give you greater distance than a putt but less distance than a mid-range shot. The most common types of approach shots are pitches, flops, and chips. A pitch is a high approach shot that forces the ball to fly high and roll very little upon hitting the ground. Make it with a pitch wedge. A flop gets even more height and stops almost immediately upon hitting the ground. This shot is usually used to play over obstacles on the green. Use a sand wedge or lob wedge for this type of shot. A chip is a low shot, also called a low punch. The ball gets very little height and gently rolls onto the green. Play it off the back of the foot farthest from the target, and use a wedge or a short iron for this type of shot.

Curve the ball with a fade, draw, slice, or hook. Each of these shots curve at varying degrees, which can help you get the ball closer to the green if you stray off course. For a right-handed player, a fade is a mild curve from left to right. Produce a fade with an open club face so the club is turned slightly open (toward the right for a right-handed player) relative to the swing path. A draw is a mild curve from outside in, or from right to left for a right-handed player. They tend to be more difficult than fades, but they can give you greater distance and more roll. A club face that’s closed relative to the swing path produces draws. For a right-handed player, a slice is a large curve from left to right, and a hook is a large curve from right to left. Both do not travel far and tend to go out of control, so they are usually avoided.

Make adjustments to your stance and grip when you putt. Once you get the ball to the green, you need to switch your club to a putter and tap the ball toward the hole. You’ll need to make more pronounced adjustments when you putt than for any other type of shot. Change your grip for a putt. There are many kinds of putting grips, but the basic goal is to draw your hands closer together so they act as a stable unit. Many golfers simply hold their hands closer together at the end of the club, while others switch their top and bottom hand positions. Experiment with putting grips; find one that feels natural and focuses the energy of the shot in your shoulders and arms, rather than in your hands. You should only move your shoulders and arms for a putt. Keep your hands and wrists straight. Keep your head still when you putt. Play with the ball slightly forward, or just ahead of center toward your lead foot. Visualize the line your ball needs to travel to reach the hole before making your putt. Set the length of your swing to the distance from the hole. Don’t turn into a full backswing as if you were making a long tee or fairway shot. Draw your arms back by rotating your shoulders, and keep your arms extended as you strike the ball like a swinging pendulum.

Selecting the Right Golf Club

Use woods for distance shots. Woods generate greatest distance, and are typically used when you need to make a shot from between 200 to 350 yards (180 to 320 m). Woods can be separated into two broad subcategories: drivers and fairway woods. A driver is also known as the "1 wood." It will give you the greatest distance possible. Fairway woods are your 3, 5, and 7 woods. The higher the number, the more loft your shot will get and the shorter the distance will become. Woods were once made of wood, but are now usually made of steel, titanium, or other metal alloys.

Go for irons for mid-range shots. If you’re not within putting range but the green is less than 200 yards (180 m) away, an iron is usually the best club to choose. Irons tend to be a little heavier and generate more lift than woods. Irons are numbered 1 through 9. The long irons are 1, 2, and 3 irons, and they have greater distance and minimal loft. The middle irons are 4, 5, and 6 irons, and these tend to be used when the ball is 150 to 170 yards (140 to 160 m) from the green. Short irons are the 7, 8, and 9 irons. There are two basic types of irons: cavity backs and blades. Cavity backs are easier for new golfers to use, while blades tend to be more difficult.

Use a hybrid club in place of long irons. A hybrid club is a mix between a wood and an iron. The shape is similar to that of a wood, but the loft and distance is similar to that of an iron, so hybrids are usually used as replacements for irons. They tend to be easier to use for beginners. Usually, 3 and 4 irons are the ones most frequently swapped out for hybrids.

Try a wedge when you need height. Strictly speaking, a wedge is a type of iron designed to produce increased lift. These clubs are usually used when you need to clear a hazard within a fairly short distance. There are several types of wedges, but the most common include the pitching wedge, sand wedge, gap wedge, and lob wedge. Use the pitching wedge on fairways and for chip shots around the green. Pitching wedges produce loft between 40 and 50 degrees. Sand wedges are used for sand traps. They have a loft between 55 and 59 degrees. Gap wedges fill the distance gap between pitching and sand wedges and usually loft between 51 and 54 degrees. You will get greater distance with a gap wedge than a sand wedge, but less distance than you would with a pitching wedge. A lob wedge lofts between 60 and 64 degrees. Use a lob wedge if you need to get the ball over a bunker, water hazard, or other hazard and need to do so over a very short distance.

Stick with putters for short distances. Once you reach the green, switch to a putter to help you land the ball in the hole. The club face of a putter is flat and small. As a result, you can gently tap the ball more easily without causing loft or creating much distance. You should always use a putter if you are on the green, and you may also need to use it if you’re close to the green.