A full description of how to perform the complete golf swing movement by the Basic Steps to Perfect Golf

Before you start this lesson look at the video of the full golf swing as performed by Rickard Strongert and produced by Video Jug which literally illustrates most of the points that I make in my lessons.

Although this video is a very good example of how the golf swing should be performed it still fails to explain the importance of the finer details of the golf swing that I cover.

The golf swing is all about you controlling the movements of the body.
For instance, during the back swing movement, the shoulders must totally control the rotational movement of the compact upper body unit thus pushing the passive arms /golf club to the end of the back swing movement, whilst the heel of the left foot remains firmly on the ground, thus building up the torsion of the muscles to their maximum.

However, from the moment the back swing movement is completed, the role of the upper part of the body is totally reversed and from that point onwards the shoulders becomes passive to the movement of the hips, but at all times the elbows must remain held close together to the completion of the golf swing.

By holding the elbows close together one would assume that the power of the shot will be restricted, but as long as you use the torsion of the core muscles built up during the back swing movement power of the hips ( See Video) - to force the shoulders to rotate around the central core of the spine, thus swinging the passive arms into and through the contact area and also adhere to a few basic principles, you can control the amount of applied power and still retain incredible accuracy.

During this lesson I will give you my inner thoughts as I carry out the full golf swing whilst using a seven iron.

See Videos of the full swing, Front View and a Side View and notice how the elbows remain close together throughout the complete golf swing, whilst the heel of the left foot remains firmly on the ground, thus using this resistance to build up the core muscles to their maximum torsion.

However as the golf swing is performed you will assume that it is a nice casual movement, but I can assure you that throughout the complete golf swing movement I am holding the upper body unit firmly together so that the elbows are always held close together and it is this action that give the golf swing its accuracy.

Also notice that during down swing and the follow through how the upper body angles are maintained and the head remains positioned so that the left eye is positioned slightly behind the ball and is held in the fixed frontal position and remains so until well after the ball has been struck, these are absolutely vital actions to adhere too if you wish to play very good golf.

I step on to the tee and decide where to place the tee peg and as I am going to use a seven iron, the ball position will be just a fraction to the left of centre of my stance with the shoulders, hips, the feet aligned slightly to the target point.

I begin the routine of setting up my stance, which is done by setting the angle of the upper body which is done by initially bending the upper body forward at the waist until I am almost falling forward, when I have reached the correct upper body angle, I make a point of pushing my buttocks backwards, so that my backside is sticking out, but I ensure that I retain the natural curvature of the spine.

I then follow this up by only bending my legs very slightly, and once this has been done I hold the muscles of the legs, the thighs and the buttocks in a firm condition so that I have a solid base on which to make the back swing movement.

I tilt the upper body to the right so that the left shoulder is slightly higher that the right shoulder, which creates a situation at the address position where the left arm will be straight and the right arm will be slightly bent, but I also check that the shoulders are "Parallel to the Target Line".

Finally I check to see that the hands are slightly to the left of the centre line of my body.

I concentrate on holding the head in a position so that the left eye is slightly behind the ball because I am very aware that if I wish to play consistently good golf, the head must remain fixed in this position without any lateral movement throughout the complete golf swing movement, but especially as the club head swings into and through the contact area.

I step back from the ball and go through the practice routine, which is an important part of my routine in order to psychologically and physically prepare myself to repeat the correct golf swing movement.

I repeat the routine of checking my feet, my hips, my shoulders and the club face to make sure that are set up in the correct position and then I check my grip to ensure that the back of the left hand is square to the target line and the club face is square to the target line.

To complete the set up, I pull the elbows as close together as is physically possible and hold the biceps close to the chest cavity so that as the back swing movement is performed, the shoulders will have total control over the movement of the arms/golf club to the end of the back swing movement.

Finally, before beginning the back swing movement, I recheck the position of my hands on the club and ensure that they are positioned slightly to the left of the centre line of my body, but importantly I again concentrate on the position of the upper body and the position of my head, because I know that I must keep the head fixed in this position with "pin point accuracy" throughout the complete golf swing. The last thing I do is to focus my eyes intensely on the back edge of the golf ball whilst at the address position and it is my intention to keep this focus on the back edge of the golf ball throughout the back swing and the down swing, until the club head strikes the ball.

Therefore the back swing movement is performed by focusing on the shoulders to rotate a very compact upper body unit around the central core of the spine thus pushing the passive arms/golf club to the end of the back swing movement, whilst the heel of the left foot remains firmly on the ground, thus building up the torsion of the muscles to their maximum.
(In order to perform a fuller rotation of the shoulders, I must also twist the upper torso to its maximum. (See Video)

In addition to keeping the heel of the left foot firmly on the ground, I also concentrate on keeping the head firmly positioned so that the left eye remains slightly behind the ball and I maintain the upper body angles.

I also ensure that the left arm and the golf club remain fully extended and I also check to make sure that the clubhead follows the swing path of my shoulders.

But importantly, as I reach the end of the back swing movement I ensure that the focus of my eyes remain directly on the back edge of the golf ball.

Therefore on no account allow must you allow the right leg to fully straighten simply to make a fuller back swing movement. You must maintain the right leg in the original address condition of being slightly bent but the hips must also pivot so that at the end of the back swing movement, the right hip is higher than the left hip.

Therefore as the shoulders reach the end of the back swing movement, the torsion of the core muscles are at the absolute maximum and at that point I apply pressure to the left foot which force the hips to rotate towards the target area and, thus initiating the down swing movement.

However as the hips rotate towards the target area, the pulling effect of the hip movement will force the shoulders to rotate around the central core of the spine , literally swinging the passive arms / club head into the contact area.

My main concentration during the down swing movement is four fold:-

Keeping the elbows held very close together.

Fully focusing on the back edge of the golf ball.

And equally important, keeping the head positioned so that the left eye remain slightly behind the ball position and maintaining the upper body angles at all times.

I also judge the down swing movement so that the club head makes contact with the ball with a descending blow at the precise moment the shoulders return to the parallel to the target line.

Therefore at the precise movement the shoulders are parallel to the target line and simultaneously the club head strikes the ball and as the club head swings through the contact area, the arms are forced to interact.
But importantly, as long as the hips remain in total control over the rotational movement of the shoulders, as the arms interact, the whole body will automatically turn to fully face the target area.

Whilst these actions occur, the head must continue to be held so that the left eye remains slightly behind the ball, the head must remain in the Fixed frontal condition and the upper body angles must be maintained so that the right shoulder will automatically rotate under the chin as the passive arms/golf club swing the club head to the bottom of the swing arc.

Therefore you must teach yourself to focus your eyes on the back section of the golf ball as the club head swing into the contact area until the club head strikes the ball.

You must ensure that the left eye remains slightly behind the original ball position to the completion of the golf swing movement.

I can assure you that the most reoccurring fault you will encounter throughout your golfing career will be allow the elbows to drift apart as you perform the golf swing.
(The other major fault will be to try to force the shoulders to rotate into the down swing movement.)

Therefore you must not allow the elbows to drift apart as the back swing, the down swing and the follow through movement is performed.
( I can assure you that you cannot hold the elbows too tightly together as you perform the golf swing movement.)

You must learn to use the rotational movement of the hips to force the shoulders to rotate around the central core of the spine thus swinging the arm/club head into and through the contact area, but as long as you hold the hips in the frontal facing position until the core muscles of the body reach their absolute maximum, the hips will automatically force the shoulders to follow.

Unless you cure these faults, you will never play a consistent game of golf.

During the down swing and the follow through movement simply use the movement of the hips to force the shoulders to rotate around the central core of the spine and use the rotational movement of the shoulders to literally swing the passive arms/club head into and through the contact area.

You must force yourself to hold the head in the Fixed Frontal condition until the head is forced to rotate away from this position by the rotational movement of the shoulders.

But importantly, you must maintain the upper body angles to the end of the golf swing movement and keep the elbows as close together as it is physically possible, thereby keeping arms fully extended until the left arm is forced to fold.

However above all - if you want to play very good golf you must teach yourself to focus on the back edge of the ball at all times so that you literally see the ball move away from the tee/ground.

It is important to impress that whether you are playing from the tee, playing from the fairway or simply pitching the ball to the green, the golf swing is performed in exactly the same way.
( The chipping action and the putting stroke are performed in an entirely different way.)

Therefore once you have set yourself up to make a golf swing, you must put aside any thoughts of where the ball will go or how hard to hit the ball, trust your set up and the mechanical action of the golf swing and simply swing the club head to the bottom of the swing arc.

By eliminating any thoughts of where the ball will go, it will allow you to fully concentrate on simply performing the mechanical actions of the golf swing.

If you wish to play very good golf, you must fully concentrate on performing the actual golf swing movement and put all other thoughts aside.

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