Golf Fundamentals, Can It Improve my Consistency? (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Fundamentals, Can It Improve my Consistency? (Video) - by Pete Styles

So here’s golf question for you. Can goodgolf fundamentals improve your consistency? Yes. Please tell me you answered yes to this question. If we don’t have the golf fundamentals, we can’t be consistent in the golf swing because the fundamentals, you’re going to rely on the sort of positioning of your feet, the position of your hands, the position of your spine angle and the posture. And if you don’t get those bits right, the rest of the golf swing is pretty much just guess work.

One of the benefits we have in the game of golf is that we’re standing still and ball is standing still. So, if we take exactly the same position every single time, we make a nice smooth swing and of course the target is standing still so nothing should change. But if you’re not getting the fundamentals right, so you’re putting your feet in the wrong position, aiming in the wrong direction, you’re not gripping correctly or you’re spine angle isn’t the same every time then you’re really giving up that advantage if you being stood still the ball being stood still the target being stood still. So, you’re making this game far more difficult for yourself. So, with your fundamentals, let’s start with the grip. We like the grip to start with because it’s the most important part. It’s the only point of contact you have to the golf ball. So, if you can get the grip right on the club then everything is going to look a lot better in the rest of your setup. Basic grip position for right handed golfer is to take your left hand, take it two inches down from the top. Sorry. Take it half an inch down from the top of the grip here and then make sure you can see two knuckles on the back of your left hand. So, half-an-inch down from the top, two knuckles at the top of the left hand. Make sure the V between the thumb and the forefinger just points nicely over your right shoulder. Then you can either interlink your fingers, overlap your fingers or go for a baseball grip. Actually, I prefer to play with an overlapping grip but the most people I teach prefer an interlocking grip or an interlinking grip. So, let’s go with that one for now. When I bring my right hand down on top, I can now see that my right hand V thumb and forefinger points nicely to my chin. So, left hand V, thumb and forefinger, the shoulder, right hand straight up to the chin. Once I got my grip in a good solid fundamentally sound position, I check my feet pointing in the right direction, nice and wide apart and the feet are facing forward is not the foot that’s played out. I check on the right distance away from the ball by lowering the club just above my knee cap, that tells me on the right distance away and I check that I’ve got good spine angle and posture. I’m not slouching over the ball, standing up with a nice straight back. And if I can address every single golf ball between now and the end of my playing career in 40 years’ time, if I can address every single ball in the same way, then my consistency throughout the rest of my swing will improve. 2014-05-06

So here’s golf question for you. Can goodgolf fundamentals improve your consistency? Yes. Please tell me you answered yes to this question. If we don’t have the golf fundamentals, we can’t be consistent in the golf swing because the fundamentals, you’re going to rely on the sort of positioning of your feet, the position of your hands, the position of your spine angle and the posture. And if you don’t get those bits right, the rest of the golf swing is pretty much just guess work.

One of the benefits we have in the game of golf is that we’re standing still and ball is standing still. So, if we take exactly the same position every single time, we make a nice smooth swing and of course the target is standing still so nothing should change. But if you’re not getting the fundamentals right, so you’re putting your feet in the wrong position, aiming in the wrong direction, you’re not gripping correctly or you’re spine angle isn’t the same every time then you’re really giving up that advantage if you being stood still the ball being stood still the target being stood still. So, you’re making this game far more difficult for yourself. So, with your fundamentals, let’s start with the grip. We like the grip to start with because it’s the most important part. It’s the only point of contact you have to the golf ball. So, if you can get the grip right on the club then everything is going to look a lot better in the rest of your setup.

Basic grip position for right handed golfer is to take your left hand, take it two inches down from the top. Sorry. Take it half an inch down from the top of the grip here and then make sure you can see two knuckles on the back of your left hand. So, half-an-inch down from the top, two knuckles at the top of the left hand. Make sure the V between the thumb and the forefinger just points nicely over your right shoulder. Then you can either interlink your fingers, overlap your fingers or go for a baseball grip.

Actually, I prefer to play with an overlapping grip but the most people I teach prefer an interlocking grip or an interlinking grip. So, let’s go with that one for now. When I bring my right hand down on top, I can now see that my right hand V thumb and forefinger points nicely to my chin. So, left hand V, thumb and forefinger, the shoulder, right hand straight up to the chin. Once I got my grip in a good solid fundamentally sound position, I check my feet pointing in the right direction, nice and wide apart and the feet are facing forward is not the foot that’s played out. I check on the right distance away from the ball by lowering the club just above my knee cap, that tells me on the right distance away and I check that I’ve got good spine angle and posture. I’m not slouching over the ball, standing up with a nice straight back.

And if I can address every single golf ball between now and the end of my playing career in 40 years’ time, if I can address every single ball in the same way, then my consistency throughout the rest of my swing will improve.