Hitting the Links

Did you know that the Scottish government banned golf for years because they thought it interfered with military training? Rightly so! Golf is a fun interference in our daily lives that gets us outside and on the fairways. In this blog, we will discuss some basics of golf including warming up properly, attire on the course, proper club grips and variations, set up and swing posture, set up approach, swing mechanics, and proper ball placement in your stance. 

Warming Up

Many of us, including myself, don’t properly warm are bodies, joints, and muscles up before playing a round of golf. As an athlete my entire life I cannot think of another sport maybe besides pool, ping pong, and bowling that I didn’t do an active warm up before I played. Not warming up increases our chances of injuring ourselves by possibly straining a muscle, tweaking a joint, or worse. Check out my golf warm up handout link I have attached to this blog!!

Also wearing the proper attire will help you improve your golf game. I like to wear flexible, stretchy fabrics that wick away sweat. I always wear a hat to protect me from ultraviolet rays. I have a golf glove to protect my main grip hand from blisters, L hand for R handed players and R hand for L handed players. I wear golf shoes with small spikes to help me plant my feet especially in unstable or wet surfaces like grass and sand. I usually keep a light waterproof jacket in my bag for the windy and drizzly days as well. 

Gripping the Club

If you haven’t golfed much before you may think “Why does it matter how I hold this silly club?” A seasoned golfer knows that every little detail matters in golf, from your grip, to your stance, all the way down to where the ball is in your stance depending on the club and lie of the ball, which we will discuss later. There are three grips you should know for golfing. They are Overlapping, Interlocking, and Baseball. Let’s break these down. 

Overlapping Grip

This type of grip starts with both of your hands palm open. Rest your club in your palms. Take your lower pinky finger and wrap it around the top of your upper hands index finger. For R handed golfers this is the R pinky overlapping the L index finger. For L handed golfers this is the L pinky overlapping the R index finger. 

Interlocking Grip

The interlocking grip is good grip for golfers with smaller hands or weaker grip strength. For an interlocking grip place the index finger of your lead hand, L for R handed golfers and R for L handed golfers in between the pinky and ring finger of the trail hand. This will lock the two hands together. The club grip fill fall at the base of the fingers of both hands. 

Baseball Grip 

This grip is also known as the Ten-Finger Grip since all 10 fingers are touching the grip of the club. This is considered the most basic grip and is used mostly by children and beginners. The club is gripped with the lead hand, L hand for R handed golfers and R for L handed golfers. All the fingers of the lead hand wrap around the grip and the thumb will run on the side of the club. The pinky finger of the trail hand will align next to the thumb of the lead hand. 

Optimal Golf Posture

A few things to remember when addressing your ball to hit your shot is that you cannot get optimal movement in your muscles and joints if you are too stiff. Think about having your head down 45 degrees toward the ball. Keep your shoulders back. Keep your lead arm straight. L arm for R handed golfers and R arm for L handed golfers. Hinge at your hips and have your spine about 45 degrees forward. Bend in your knees slightly. Keep your feet about shoulder width apart or slightly more for driving. Keep your feet fairly square with minimal toeing out. 

Ball Placement in Stance

I often see beginner golfers approach their ball and put the ball in the middle of their stance with every club and every shot. In order to increase your control, trajectory, spin for different shots and clubs you want to vary where the ball is in your stance. For woods and drivers you typically want the ball forward in your stance to increase the distance and improve the launch angle of the ball. For Irons moving the ball back in your stance can reduce the launch angle and increase the roll of the ball. This is good for shots where your want to decrease the height of the ball possibly due to trees or other obstacles. With wedges placing the ball back in your stance can help you control the spin and roll of the ball for chipping and pitching. 

Hopefully these tips on grip, stance, posture, and ball position help you in your golf game and give you some insight to help you cut some strokes off your score.  Remember to get a good warm up in and also HAVE FUN! 

Here is a Warm-up Handout to use before the next time you hit the green.

Perry Hicks, PT, DPT is a caring, compassionate, skilled Doctor of Physical Therapy at Langford Sports and Physical Therapy. Perry is a proficient Spanish speaker and has years of experience working in outpatient physical therapy. He enjoys rehabilitating athletes and active populations of all ages. Perry has played competitive soccer for his entire life, appreciates being outdoors in his leisure time, hiking, camping, and backpacking.