3 Common Mistakes in Golf and How to Correct Them

Here is a list of some of the worst faults that golfers bring to the course and how they can create a plan to correct these faults.

If you are honest with yourself and what is wrong with your golf game, chances are you’ll find a fundamental way to correct your problem, and you’ll soon be hitting the straightest and deepest drives of your life.

Here’s a great way to make sure your grip is correct. Grab the club and take your stance. Square the clubface to the target. Now look down at your grip. Can you see two knuckles on your left hand? (If you are left-handed, then your right hand.) If you see more than that, you’re still good, but you want to see at least two to be in proper form for a slice correction.

Now, let’s move onto the stance. A big problem that most slicing golfers have is their stance is imbalanced and out of line. An excellent tool for correcting a lousy stance is an alignment stick that you can find at any golf superstore. When you practice, keep it at your feet and make sure your toes align to the target.

Finally, let’s talk about the takeaway and the downswing. Yes, it’s nice to have a good grip and proper alignment but neither put the juice to the golf ball to rifle it 300 yards down the fairway.

On the takeaway, your biggest goal of correcting your slice is not to move the club with “busy” hands. Slicers tend to open the clubface by twisting the club open on the takeaway. You want to move the club back naturally and to a position where the butt of the club is at a 45-degree angle to the golf ball.

On the downswing, the club returns along the path while the body rotates and the hips open to drive the club toward impact.

So where do golfers who slice breakdown from a physical perspective and what can they do to change?

Since so much of the golf swing is related to the chain of back muscles – the glutes, hamstrings, traps, and lats – having a weak link in any section of this chain can cause you to get stuck on your back foot during the downswing and unable to fire through the golf ball.

If you are looking for a few strength exercises to help you combat the slicing blues, then start at the beginning with some non-weight bearing hinge drills and work your way up to using a kettlebell for two-handed deadlifts and swings.

These exercises will integrate the entire use of the chain of muscles needed for fairway-busting power.

Problem 2: Why am I hooking the golf ball?

When a golfer finds themselves hooking the golf ball, it is because something in their fundamentals is TOO strong. Perhaps it is their grip or their weight shift forward is too quick for the rest of the swing, regardless, something in the swing has to lose its edge and become more rounded and softer.

Let’s go back to the beginning with the grip. Like the slice, you want to see two knuckles on your left hand if you are a right-handed golfer. If you are left-handed, then the opposite is once again correct. But we want to see no more than two knuckles on the bottom hand, any more than that and your grip is too firm.

When we talk about the stance of someone who hits the ball with an extreme right-to-left “hooking” flight path, another error can be a misaligned approach where the front foot is farther out than the back foot. This stance creates an inside-out swing that creates sidespin on the golf ball creating ugly hooks off the tee box.

So like the slice stance correction earlier, let’s get a good alignment stick and use it on the range to get our shoulders square and our feet pointing alongside the direct path to the target area.

If the golfer has a fundamentally sound grip and solid stance, then the next area of focus is how the club leaves the golf ball and how it returns for impact. For a hook to happen, the clubface is essentially “closed” when the golf ball is struck. This closing occurs either with hands that are too strong forcing the face to close or a downswing that is offline in respect to the proper path to the golf ball.

Golfers make the mistake of twisting the clubface closed during their takeaway then hurt their swing by bringing the club far too inside, creating an inside-out swing path. This is particularly true when the club is a wedge. Like the advice we gave you on the slice, the takeaway is effortless and without twisting.

Once the club gets into position at the top of the swing, the downswing is all about a smooth weight shift to the front foot and clearing the hips to allow the club to meet the golf ball squarely at impact.

Problem 3: Why am I hitting behind the golf ball?

This common problem is far easier to solve than a hook or slice. When we hit behind the golf ball consistently, it is because our body weight is not shifting forward crisply through the golf ball. Another reason we hit behind the ball is that we lower our body on the downswing rather than staying level and rotating through the impact zone.

Here’s the correction for the weight shift problem. At the end of the swing, you want to feel that weight on the outside of your front foot with a proper follow through that moves the abdomen directly at the target. (Again, think belly button is in alignment with the target.)

During your next practice session, go slow with your swings especially if you’re a senior golfer using a driver. First, practice without the golf ball and when you take your first swing, freeze with the club at the top of your stance. Slowly bring the club down into the impact zone but pay attention to your hips opening to move the belly button to the target line while your weight shifts onto the front foot. Start slow but then speed up that feeling with a golf ball.

Regarding creating a proper rotation that doesn’t lower the shoulders, here’s a solution. At the range, imagine a rod that runs down your spine and into the ground as you take your stance. You want to rotate around that “rod,” making a full turn that gets your front shoulder behind your chin before you start the downswing.

Those are our fixes for these three common problems.