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What Is Meant By A Sweeping Golf SwingIf you have a sweeping golf swing, you have a movement where the club head approaches the golf ball from a lower position and at a lower angle of attack.


The swing is characterised by a U shape, where the bottom of the swing sees the club head gently sweeping in towards the ball from on a shallow, gentle angle that clips the ball off the turf, rather than striking down steeply making the club head strike the ball and then cut into the turf from the much steeper angle.

A sweeping golf swing really suits the longer shafted clubs, such as your woods. These clubs all have larger heads with wider soles to assist the club gliding over the turf as it strikes and clips the ball cleanly from the ground, as you play the shot with a sweeping action.

It is your set up position that really dictates whether you will make a sweeping golf swing or not. To promote a sweeping action into your movement, you initially want to set up with your feet shoulder width apart to create a stable base to swing from. Position the ball forward in your stance. Play your driver from opposite your left big toe and your fairway woods from inside your left heel. This position will promote the loft of the club face to be fully presented to the golf ball as you strike it, but it will also allow the club face to be square, that is aiming at the target, allowing you to produce a straight golf shot.

When you make a sweeping golf swing, the club head approaches the ball from the inside of the target line and with longer golf clubs, it takes a longer time for the club face to square, so playing the ball forward in your stance provides you with the time required to square the club face.

As you now set up, you need to position your hands just behind the ball so that they are over the crown of the golf club. Position your head just to the right of your hands (right handed golfers). This set up position will now promote slightly more weight on your back foot and from this position, the club head will travel more around you on a flatter, more sweeping plane. Work on turning your shoulders on your back swing and with the club head moving on a slightly flatter plane, it will approach back towards the golf ball on your down swing from a gentler angle, allowing the club head to sweep in gently above the turf and crisply strike the ball.

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If you swing the club head into a high position on your back swing, you will strike down towards the ball on a very steep angle of attack. This steep angle will promote the club head to strike down and into the turf, rather than sweep across it without striking it.

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If you take a divot, this is indicative that you are swinging with a steep angle of attack. A sweeping swing does exactly that, the club head sweeps across the turf through impact, without striking the turf at all. To achieve this, you need to swing the club head around you on a lower angle that allows the club head to approach the ball much more gently so that it does not dig into the turf.

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Your swing plane is the angle that you swing the club head around you at. A steep swing plane sees the club head swinging into a higher than usual position and then striking back down towards the ball from this high position which creates a steep angle or plane towards the ball. This action will see the club head strike the ball and then dig into the turf because of the steep angle that it is travelling on. To have a sweeping action in your golf swing that clips the ball cleanly from the turf without digging into it, you need a much flatter swing plane.