Because there are no two golfers of the same size and height, then no two golf swings are going to look exactly the same. Now one of the differences that I feel I have a lot in my swing is that I’m quite tall, 6’ 3”; my golf swing if often a lot steeper than some of the clients I’m teaching. And some people will pick out in my swing, ‘Well Pete you did this and you’re telling me to do this,’ but it just goes to show that we don’t teach one specific model. We teach the golf as it’s presented to us and it’s important that as a golfer you understand your swing can and probably should look slightly different to another golfer’s; as long as it’s in harmony with your body.

So if I stand side on to you here, you can see that as a relatively tall guy 6’ 3” I get quite close to the golf ball. I then from there swing quite upright in my swing. If I was a lot smaller I’d actually have to stand further back away from the ball and have a much shallower and more rounded golf swing. And there’s no right or wrong there, it’s working with the best that you’ve got in your body. So I get quite near to the golf ball, I swing the club relatively straight back quite high up over my right shoulder and quite steeply down on the golf ball. I generally take quite big divots as long as they are after the golf ball that’s okay, but as long as my swing is on play and I’m able to shape the ball both ways both draw and the fade. One thing we want to try and avoid doing is if you were quite a short guy squatting back here trying to swing it steep and over the top, is a different entity altogether, that’s going to give you an outside the line position slicing the golf ball and all nasty stuff like that.

Another time that swinging the golf club quite steep can work for a lot of golfers; is if you get too shallow into the ball and you generally hit the ball fat or push the club outwards and shank the ball, then swinging steeper is quite a good way to avoid the club coming in from the inside. Because a steeper swing would generally lead the club now to come more leftwards through impact and not push the heel out. So if you feel that you get flat from the inside, too shallow and shank it taking it back outside the line and being a bit steeper could work quite nicely for you. And let’s also remember that swinging different clubs will give you a different swing, arch, and path as well. So if I swing with a shorter iron taking a pitching where it’s something similar to that. If I grip down here swinging it shorter club is going to be a steeper swing. If I’m taller and bigger I get further back away from the goal ball with my driver now, driver’s way out here in front of me that will naturally be a flatter swing arch. I’m not necessarily deliberately changing that, the club is dictating that to me. With my drive, my spine angle is less, with my short iron, my spine angle and therefore my swing plane is steeper. So a steeper swing is not always about the thing but make sure it fits with your body type.