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HOW TO HIT A GOLF BALL
A beginner's guide
Technique within golf is extremely important to a certain degree. It is said the 80% of all bad shots occur in the set up. This article aims to highlight how to hit the golf ball as a beginner or even if you are a keen golfer looking to change bad habits.
​Stuff we need to know:
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GRIP – Can be referred to as the handle of the golf club and how you hold that handle. It is the only contact you have with the club and the ball, which in turn provides the feedback from shots whilst providing the feel for the shout also. Golf has different grip styles that help to move the club in an efficient manner.
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ALIGNMENT – How you aim your golf club, feet, shoulders, and hips. When aligning these parts as a rule of thumb you should try to aim your body parts parallel to your target.
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STANCE – Where is the ball is positioned in-between your feet, also known as ball position.
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POSTURE – How you stand to the ball, good posture will enable you to reach your hitting potential quicker as you are giving your body the most efficient way to swing without injury and ultimately hit good shots.
GRIP
Your grip is the only contact you have to the golf club. If managed correctly a good grip can encourage better swings as the grip will work with your swing patterns and body movement. Many people wrestle with their grips throughout their golfing journey’s. It is so easy for your grip to alter over time due to an assortment of variables like sweaty hands or overused golf grips. A neutral grip for a right-handed golfer will see two and a half knuckles on the left hand at address and the crease created between the index finger and thumb on both hands should aim in-between the right eye and right shoulder. Many of the golfing greats use grips called overlap or interlock. Overlap is where you grip the club, and your right-hand little finger will cover and sit in-between the index finger and middle finger knuckle (For a right-handed golfer). The interlock uses the right little finger but instead of covering the knuckles it fits in-between the left index finger and left middle finger, thus interlocking. Usually depending on the how big your hands are you will prefer one of those styles.​
ALIGNMEMT
Your alignment will decide which direction the ball starts when you hit it and to a degree where it also finishes. To aim well you should aim your club face at the target and your feet and body parallel to the club face/target. Alignment is often overlooked by many hobbyist golfers; having good alignment will enable better shots. If you aim at your intended target, it is often likely to finish in the vicinity of your target. Many hobby golfers aim to what feels nice or to correct how much their shots turns but in essence this just makes the ball more even more, but the issue is being fixed with a fault stunting improvement further down the road. Likewise, if you aim incorrectly to what your shot requires it can have extremely detrimental effects on the shot.
STANCE
Where is the ball positioned relative to your feet? Good ball potion for most clubs can be found just forward of the centre of your feet. The stance is simply ball position. If your stance is poor, then it will affect the start line of the ball once hit, but in addition to that it can also affect how your body moves. So, if your ball position is incorrect then you can bet your bottom dollar you are unlikely to swing the club as efficiently or even encourage injury due to hitting into the ground too much which would hurt your body at the speed in which people swing the golf club. Ball position is also very important when hitting from a slope. If you are hitting from a downslope, ideally you should position the ball towards the back of your stance (foot furthest away from the target). This will enable you to still hit the ball as the slop will change what the ‘middle’ of your stance is and vis versa for uphill. In addition to this, be aware that dependant on the club you are hitting the ball position will change. Driver will be positioned nearer your front/ lead foot (closest to the target) and wedges will be more middle of the stance.
POSTURE
Posture is how you stand to the ball - The form your body takes to provide you with the best chance of hitting good golf shots whilst minimising injury. Setting posture is the primary stage of any golf swing. Good posture will see you tilt forward slightly from the waist with slight knee bend whilst letting your arms hang. Meanwhile, your body weight should be placed between the middle and ball of your feet. It is often misunderstood that you should ‘stick your bum out but that is not the case. Posture enables good hip mobility, larger shoulder turn and movement of body weight throughout the swing. This enables more consistent and further shots.
Address
Ideally you should build around your golf club so you should aim your club first then build grip and posture from there. This will help you aim better. Many golfers aim their feet first then their body and subsequently the club but how do you know your feet are aiming where you’d like them too? But you can aim the club first at an intermediate target and build around the club from there. This will provide you the ability to aim better more often - Don’t forget your ball position.
How to swing
Quite simply just keep your head movement to a minimum with a relatively straight lead arm. There are other more advances sequences to the swing but if you have a good set up to the ball and your head and arm are in good order when moving then you have a great chance of hitting the ball – Just remember when hitting the ball it may feel like you are hitting down on the ball, or as if you are hitting the ball into the floor whilst hitting the ball first – the loft of the club and the dimples on the ball will create spin whilst propelling the ball upwards towards the target.