100 Worst Golf Swing Tips Ever Given — And What to Do Instead

999 out of a 1000 amateur golfers grip the club too firmly. Only 1 out of 1000 grips the club too lightly. Think about that, then grip the club lightly. Go from squeeze to ease. Compare your normal pressure with a lighter, secure hold using the Grip-Pressure Drill.

Keep enough pressure to control the club throughout the swing. Relaxed hands still need a secure grip. Try Grip-Pressure Drill.

Get a lesson from a professional, and ask him or her to focus the entire lesson on getting your grip right. Once you’ve got “your grip”, stick with it. Try Common Setup Mistakes Drill.

Check strike, clubface and swing path together. Explore our Slice Drills.

Identify why the ball hooks before changing your hands. Grip is one influence on delivery. Try Johnny Miller’s Impact Drill.

Place your left thumb slightly off-centre on the top-right corner of the grip (2 o'clock position) verses straight down the middle. Try Common Setup Mistakes Drill.

Let both hands contribute to controlling the club. Explore coordinated pressure with the Towel-Wringing Drill.

Use professional grips as references, then judge your own grip by comfort, contact and ball flight. Try Common Setup Mistakes Drill.

Avoid adding a sudden burst of tension. Practise maintaining a secure hold through a flowing swing. Try Grip-Pressure Drill.

Develop club face awareness without locking your arms. Try Johnny Miller’s Impact Drill.

Hinge comfortably from your hips and let your arms hang. Explore our Golf Setup Drills.

Find a comfortable posture without forcing an exaggerated arch. Leave yourself room to turn. Try Common Setup Mistakes Drill.

Use enough knee flex to feel balanced while hinging from your hips. Excessive crouching can restrict movement. Try Jim Furyk Drill.

Begin with comfortable knee flex so your legs can support the movement. Try Common Setup Mistakes Drill.

Find balanced pressure across your feet rather than pitching forwards. Test your stability with small rehearsals. Try Moe Norman Feet Pressure Drill.

Stay balanced across your feet, with room for pressure to move during the swing. Try Moe Norman Feet Pressure Drill.

Match ball position to the club, lie and intended shot. Check the resulting contact and flight. Try Common Setup Mistakes Drill.

Check the club face first, then organise your body around the intended starting line and shot shape. Try Club Face Alignment Drill.

Find a distance that lets your arms hang comfortably and the club sole sit appropriately. Try Common Setup Mistakes Drill.

Match stance width to the shot. An exaggerated stance, such as the Solid Foundation Drill, is a specific practice exercise.

Start with a movement you can repeat, then allow speed to build. Try our Takeaway Drills.

Let the club rise as your body turns and wrists begin to hinge. Try Adam Scott Takeaway Drill.

Build awareness of the club face as you start back rather than deliberately adding a large early roll. Try Rory’s Club in Front Drill.

Explore a takeaway that keeps the club organised in front of you using Rory’s Club in Front Drill.

Allow the club to move around your body as you turn. The swing follows an arc. Try Down Out Up Drill.

Let your hips contribute naturally to the turn. Explore our Hip Turn Drills.

Practise coordination while allowing your arms room to move. Try our Connection Drills.

Explore how your turn, arms and wrists work together to move the club back. Try Pete Cowen’s Signature Stick Drill.

Use checkpoints to investigate your movement, then judge whether they improve your delivery and contact. Try Smoother Takeaway Drills.

Treat the takeaway as one part of the swing. Check what happens through impact and where the ball goes. Try Adam Scott Takeaway Drill.

Aim for useful structure without forcing the elbow straight or adding tension. Try Loose Arms Drill.

Allow it to fold and move as you turn. Explore arm-and-body coordination with the Signature Stick Drill.

Allow heel movement when it helps you make a comfortable, balanced turn. Try Sam Snead Fancy Footwork Drill.

Explore turning and loading without excessive sideways movement using our Sway Drills.

Let your hips turn enough to support your movement rather than forcing separation. Try Hip Preset Drill.

Choose a backswing length you can control. Extra length is useful only when it improves the result. Try Simon Dyson Feet Together Drill.

Match backswing length to your movement capabilities and the shot. A shorter swing can still be effective. Try L-to-L Drill.

Consider wrist position alongside grip and delivery. Explore the options with our Wrist Position Drills.

Find a wrist-set pattern that fits your turn and rhythm without forcing the movement. Try Down Out Up Drill.

Allow the wrists to contribute naturally. Explore setting and releasing with the Chalk Line Drill.

Rehearse a coordinated change of direction that gives your arms and club room to return. Try Golf Transition Drill.

Match your lower-body movement to the rest of your swing. Explore our Hip-Clearing Drills.

Explore a transition in which your body and arms work together rather than lunging forwards. Try Golf Transition Drill.

Explore how pressure moves towards your lead side using our Weight Transfer Drills.

Practise the movements flowing together rather than separating the swing into rigid stages. Try Hip Bump Drill.

Use a pause as a rehearsal if helpful, then find a transition that suits your playing rhythm. Try Xander Schauffele Step Drill.

Build speed without losing your sequence. Try our Swing Rhythm Drills.

Let your arm movement work with your body turn. Avoid turning a rehearsal feeling into a rigid rule. Try Pete Cowen’s Signature Stick Drill.

Seek enough room for the club to return without exaggerating its position behind your body. Try Stop Getting Stuck Drill.

Consider how the movement fits your setup, backswing and physical capabilities before adopting it. Try Golf Transition Drill.

Match swing direction to club face control and your intended flight. More inside is not automatically better. Try Three Ball Swing Path Drill.

Check the relationship between face and path before making a large directional change. Try Three Ball Swing Path Drill.

Match face and path to the shot you intend to play. Curved shots are useful options. Try Wedge Nine Ball Flights Drill.

Allow the club to follow an arc around your body rather than forcing a straight-line motion. Try Broom Swing Drill.

Give the arms room to work through. Explore the movement with the Signature Stick Drill.

Explore maintaining room for your arms using our Early Extension Drills.

Explore a comfortable blend of pressure shift and rotation rather than an uninterrupted sideways slide. Try Hip Bump Drill.

Allow the movement your swing needs while developing control of your strike and balance. Try Annika Sorenstam Turn-Through Drill.

Let your chest turn as part of the delivery rather than trying to freeze it in place. Try Annika Sorenstam Turn-Through Drill.

Check club face, path and strike location. Use our Slice Drills to investigate the pattern.

Use the club’s loft and practise contacting the ball before the turf. Try our Ball-Striking Drills.

Match delivery to the club and lie. A steeper strike is not automatically a better one. Try Pete Cowen Chalk Line Drill.

Judge contact and ball flight first. Divot size varies with the club, delivery and ground conditions. Try Ball-Striking Coin Drill.

On ordinary turf lies, practise controlling where the club meets the ground after contacting the ball. Try Ball-Striking Coin Drill.

Seek an impact position suited to the shot. Avoid forcing excessive shaft lean, particularly on lofted short shots. Try Pete Cowen Chalk Line Drill.

Investigate posture, balance and contact rather than fixing your gaze downwards. Try our Topping Drills.

Practise controlling the club’s low point and loft without adding a last-second scoop. Try One Arm Wedge Drill.

Recognise that impact happens during movement. Explore the differences with our Impact Position Drills.

Assess face contact, turf contact and flight. A heavy thump alone does not prove a good strike. Try Pete Cowen Chalk Line Drill.

Adjust your delivery to the intended shot, club and lie. Explore our Wedge Ball-Flight Drills.

Explore a release that fits your movement rather than trying to preserve an angle indefinitely. Try our Lag Drills.

Work on grip, face awareness and delivery instead of relying on a precisely timed last-second flip. Try Pete Cowen Chalk Line Drill.

Allow the club face to change orientation as the club travels around you. Try Collarbone to Collarbone Drill.

Let the release fit the shot. Avoid adding an aggressive roll simply to copy a finish position. Try Lead-Arm Rotation Drill.

Allow the arms to extend and then fold naturally as the swing continues. Try Tiger Woods Follow-Through Drill.

Let the trail foot respond to your turn and balance. Explore our Follow-Through Drills.

Practise a coordinated movement through the ball. Explore a release task with the Tennis Ball Drill.

Allow your head and eyes to follow the movement through towards the target. Try Annika Sorenstam Turn-Through Drill.

Let finish length reflect the shot. A controlled wedge or flighted shot may finish much shorter. Try Pelvic-Punch Wedge Drill.

Use the finish as feedback alongside balance, contact and flight. Try our Balance Drills.

Use slow swings for rehearsal when helpful. For playing shots, develop a flowing rhythm with committed acceleration. Try Swing Rhythm Drills.

Choose an effort level (e.g. 80%) that lets you control the strike and deliver the intended shot. Try Hit Hold Check Drill.

Develop a rhythm you can repeat rather than forcing equal timing in both directions. Try Simon Dyson Feet Together Drill.

Build speed through a coordinated swing rather than trying to reach maximum speed immediately. Try Dustin Johnson Swing Trigger Drill.

Explore how your feet, body, arms and club contribute together using our Swing Speed Drills.

Let your arms and club contribute freely alongside your turn. Avoid trying to drag everything through with your torso. Try Lightning Hands Drill.

Develop repeatable pressure changes and balanced movement. Try our Weight Transfer Drills.

Develop speed you can control while finishing in balance. Explore our Balance Drills.

Judge speed separately from appearance. Efficient movement can look smooth while producing considerable club head speed. Try Lightning Hands Drill.

Compare effort with strike quality and actual distance. Extra effort is useful when it improves the outcome. Try Hit Hold Check Drill.

Use one clear technical point. Explore our Pre-Shot Routine.

Choose one relevant change and give it a structured test before moving on. Try Anthony Kim Checkpoint Drill.

Give each group of shots a purpose, pause for feedback and record what happened. Try our Range Games.

Develop useful shots while improving your movement. Track contact, direction and scoring alongside technique. Try Nick Faldo Go-To Shot Drill.

Borrow useful ideas while building a movement that suits your body and game. Try Jim Furyk Drill.

Expect unfamiliar feelings during change, then judge the drill by its purpose and results. Try Rory’s Split-Hand Drill.

Check whether it improves the intended outcome and whether that improvement carries into ordinary shots. Try Hit Hold Check Drill.

Use rehearsals to explore movement, then test the feeling with shots. Try our Indoor Drills.

Consider the problem, the player and the intended outcome before applying someone else’s cue. Try Jim Furyk Drill.

Build a small, repeatable practice routine and review your patterns over time. Start with our Seven Favourite Drills.