Instruction
Do What the Best Do! The First Move
There is as much bad information and untested theories about the golf swing as there are different clubs and balls. That’s why I have a saying that I use with my students,
“If you want to be the best, do what the best do!”
What I’m trying to get across to my students is that if they hope to play to the level of a tour pro, they likely need to emulate certain things that the tour pros do.
There are many teaching pros that concentrate on impact; they try to get their students to control the clubface at the bottom of the swing arc. However, the truth of the matter is that having a great impact position is the product of great positions throughout the entire swing.
After getting in a good athletic posture, the first thing golfers need to concentrate on is the first move of their backswing. For years, many instructors have been telling students to roll the face of the club open in the backswing until the toe of the club is pointing up when the shaft is parallel with the ground (thus the term “toe up.” See Figure 1).
Figure 1: The “old school approach.”
For many golfers, this information could not be any more incorrect! There was a time when “toe up” made sense, but equipment has evolved and so has the way we teach golf. When teaching pros use this outdated information, it makes their student roll the club head too far inside, which gets the club head behind their back (See Figure 2).
Figure 2: Too far inside and behind back.
If you have this problem, I have a fix for you. The next time you are at the range working on your swing, place a tee on the target line about eight inches directly behind the ball (See Figure 3).
Figure 3: Tee behind ball.
Now take your club head straight back over that tee (See Figure 4).
Figure 4: Take the club straight back over the tee.
As you take the club back, make sure you do not roll your wrist in your backswing. You will notice that once your club is parallel to the ground, the clubface has not rolled inside and the face matches your spine angle (see fig 5).
Figure 5: Club face matches spine angle
For longer and straighter shots, it is essential that golfers get their club head in this position. Look at tour players on the Internet or TV and notice that just about all the guys making money do this.
Stay tuned, as I will continue to dispel bad tips from the past with fresh information for today’s game.
The LPGA Tour is kicking off its 2026 season this week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, and the pros are dealing with something most Florida golfers rarely face: freezing temperatures.
“It’s colder here than in the UK at the minute, which is a first,” said England’s Charley Hull during Wednesday’s media day at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
Even Lydia Ko, who lives at Lake Nona, seemed surprised by the cold snap. “We’re pretty much getting to below zero in celsius here, which maybe in other parts of the country they would be thankful, but when you’re in Florida it is a little bit of a surprise,” she said.
If the world’s best players are adjusting their games for cold weather, recreational golfers should, too. Here’s how to play smart when the mercury drops.
Understand What Cold Does to Your Game
Before you change anything, you need to know what you’re fighting against. Cold air is denser than warm air, which means your ball won’t fly as far. Period.
Hull noticed this immediately during practice rounds at Lake Nona. She mentioned hitting a gap wedge into the 18th hole during a previous win but needing a 4-iron during Tuesday’s practice round. That’s a difference of four or five clubs for the same shot.
Action item: Expect to lose 5-10 yards on every club in your bag when temperatures dip below 50 degrees. Plan accordingly and don’t be stubborn about club selection.
Layer Up Without Restricting Your Swing
Hull admitted she wore three pairs of pants during practice. While that might be extreme for most of us, staying warm is critical to playing well in cold conditions.
Your muscles need warmth to function properly. When you’re cold, your body tightens up and your swing gets shorter and faster. Neither of those things help you hit good golf shots.
Action item: Wear multiple thin layers instead of one bulky jacket. Look for golf-specific cold weather gear that stretches with your swing. Keep hand warmers in your pockets between shots. And don’t forget a good hat because you lose significant body heat through your head.
Take More Club Than You Think You Need
This is where ego gets in the way of good scores. When it’s cold, the ball doesn’t compress as well off the clubface. Combined with denser air, you’re looking at serious distance loss.
The pros at Lake Nona are dealing with a course that measures 6,642 yards but plays much longer this week. If they’re adjusting, you should too.
Action item: Take at least one extra club on every approach shot. In temperatures below 40 degrees, consider taking two extra clubs. It’s better to fly the ball to the back of the green than to come up short in a bunker.
Adjust Your Expectations on the Greens
Cold weather affects putting in ways most golfers don’t consider. The ball is harder and doesn’t roll as smoothly. Your hands are cold, making it harder to feel the putter. And if there’s any moisture on the greens, they’ll be slower than normal.
Ko mentioned that she still sometimes reads the greens wrong at Lake Nona despite being a member for years. Cold weather makes that challenge even tougher.
Action item: Hit putts more firmly than usual. The ball needs extra speed to hold its line on cold greens. Take a few extra practice strokes to get a feel for the speed before you putt.
Embrace the Mental Challenge
Hull said something interesting about cold weather golf: “I like the mental toughness of it.”
That’s the right attitude. Everyone on the course is dealing with the same conditions. The player who stays patient and doesn’t get frustrated by the extra difficulty will come out ahead.
Action item: Lower your expectations by a few strokes. If you normally shoot 85, accept that 90 might be a good score in 40-degree weather. Focus on solid contact and smart decisions rather than perfect shots.
Warm Up Longer and Smarter
This might be the most important tip of all. Cold muscles are tight muscles, and tight muscles get injured easily.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul revealed she’s been protecting a wrist injury that bothered her late last season. Cold weather makes those kinds of injuries more likely if you don’t prepare properly.
Action item: Spend at least 20 minutes warming up before your round. Start with stretching, then hit easy wedge shots before working up to your driver. Keep moving between shots on the course to maintain body heat and flexibility.
The pros at Lake Nona this week will adapt and compete at the highest level despite the cold. You can do the same at your local course by following these tips and keeping a positive attitude.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour, and whether you love him or hate him, the guy knows how to win when it matters. After his LIV Golf stint, the five-time major champion returns this week at the Farmers Insurance Open.
What makes Koepka fascinating? He doesn’t fit the mold. His swing isn’t textbook. He doesn’t obsess over mechanics. Yet he’s won three PGA Championships and two U.S. Opens, regularly making it look easier than guys with prettier swings.
So, what can average golfers learn from someone who treats the game so differently? Quite a bit.
Stop Overthinking Every Shot
Koepka describes his approach as “reactionary” rather than mechanical. While most tour pros grind over swing thoughts, Brooks sees the target and hits it. No mental checklist.
This might be the most valuable lesson for weekend golfers who’ve watched too many YouTube swing videos.
How to actually do this:
On the range, hit five balls where you stare at the target for three seconds prior to addressing the ball. Don’t think about grip or stance. Just burn that target into your brain. You’ll be shocked at how pure you hit it when your brain focuses on where the ball is going instead of how you’re swinging.
Next time you play, give yourself a rule: Once you pull the club, you’ve got 15 seconds to hit. Koepka is one of the fastest players on tour because he doesn’t give his brain time to sabotage him.
If you feel tension in your hands at address, you’re trying to control too much. Koepka’s grip pressure is famously light. Loosen up until the club almost feels like it might slip, then add just enough pressure to hold on. That’s your swing thought: soft hands, see the target.
This approach works better under pressure. When you’re standing over that shot with water left and OB right, the last thing you need is a mental checklist. See it, feel it, hit it.
Play to Your Strengths (Even If They’re Not Pretty)
Koepka uses a strong grip that wouldn’t pass muster in some teaching circles. But he’s built his game around what works for him, elite driving distance and recovery skills. He doesn’t try to be someone he’s not.
Here’s how to build your game like Brooks:
Look at your last five rounds and figure out where you’re actually gaining strokes. Bombing it off the tee, but can’t hit greens? Lean into it. Play courses where distance matters more than precision. On tight holes, grip down on your 3-wood instead of trying to thread a driver through a keyhole you’ll miss seven times out of ten.
Koepka knows he can scramble, so he’s not afraid to miss greens. If you’re deadly from 50 to 75 yards, start leaving yourself those distances on the par 5’s instead of going for them in two every time.
Know when to take your medicine. Koepka in the trees at the PGA? He’s punching out to 100 yards, not trying to bend a 6-iron around three oaks. You’re in the rough with a flyer lie and water short? Hit your 8-iron to the middle and move on. That’s not playing scared, that’s playing smart.
Save Your Best for When It Counts
Here’s a wild stat: Koepka’s putting average in majors is often more than a full stroke better per round than in regular events. He elevates when pressure is highest.
How does an amateur tap into that gear? It’s not about trying harder, it’s about caring differently.
Here’s what actually works:
Decide which rounds matter to you. Club championship? Member-guest? That annual trip with college buddies? Circle those dates and treat them differently. Koepka doesn’t care much about regular tour events, but majors? That’s when he locks in.
Two weeks before your big round, change your practice. Stop beating balls mindlessly. Play nine holes in which every shot has consequences. Miss the fairway? Hit from the rough on the next hole too. Three-putt? Twenty push-ups. Koepka’s practice intensity ramps up before majors because he’s rehearsing pressure, not just swings.
Develop a between-shot routine that resets your brain. Koepka is famous for his blank expression after bad shots. Try this: After any shot, take three deep breaths while walking, then find something specific to notice, a tree, a cloud, someone’s shirt. That’s your reset button. By the time you reach your ball, the last shot is gone.
The Bottom Line
Brooks Koepka’s return reminds us there’s no single path to success in golf. His “substance over style” approach proves that results matter more than looking good.
You don’t need a perfect swing; you need a reliable one that holds up under pressure. You don’t need to hit every shot in the book; you need the shots you can count on. And you don’t need to play great every time; you need to play great when it matters.
Welcome back, Brooks. Thanks for the reminder that golf is ultimately about getting the ball in the hole, not winning style points.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Blades Brown made a big impression last week in the California desert, and not just because he’s only 18. He put up numbers that would catch any weekend golfer’s attention. Most of us won’t hit 317-yard drives or find 86% of our greens in regulation, but there’s a lot to learn from how Brown managed his game at The American Express.
Here are three practical lessons from his performance that you can use on your own course this weekend.
Step 1: Give Priority to Accuracy Over Distance Off The Tee
Brown’s driving stats are impressive. He averaged almost 318 yards off the tee, ranking 12th in the field. More importantly, he hit 76.79% of his fairways, tying for fourth place in the tournament.
Think about that ratio for a second. Brown could have swung harder, chased more distance and tried to overpower the course. Instead, he played smart golf and kept his ball in play.
Your Action Item: Next time you’re on the tee box, ask yourself a simple question before pulling the driver. Do you need maximum distance here, or do you need to be in the fairway? If there’s trouble lurking or the hole doesn’t demand every yard you can muster, take something off your swing. Grip down an inch. Make a three-quarter swing. Do whatever it takes to find the short grass. Brown’s approach illustrates that fairways lead to greens, and greens lead to birdies. He made 22 of them last week, along with an eagle.
The math is simple. When you’re hitting three out of every four fairways like Brown did, you’re giving yourself legitimate looks at the green with your approach shots. That’s when scoring happens.
Step 2: Commit To Hitting More Greens
This is where Brown really separated himself. He hit 62 of 72 greens in regulation, an 86.11% clip that tied for first in the entire field. Read that again. An 18-year-old kid tied for the lead in one of the most important ball-striking statistics in professional golf.
How did he do it? By keeping his ball in the fairway (see Step 1) and giving himself clean looks with mid-irons and wedges.
Your Action Item: Start tracking your greens in regulation. You don’t need a fancy app or a statistics degree. Just mark down whether you hit the green in the regulation number of strokes. Par 3s in one shot. Par 4s in two shots. Par 5s in three shots.
Once you know your baseline, set a goal to improve it by 10%. If you’re currently hitting five greens per round, aim for six. The beauty of this approach is that it forces you to think strategically about club selection and shot shape. Brown’s strokes gained approach number was positive (0.179), meaning he was better than the field average. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be on the dance floor more often.
When you hit more greens, you eliminate the need for heroic short game shots. Brown only had to scramble 10 times all week, and he got up and down 70% of the time. That’s solid, but the real story is that he rarely put himself in scrambling situations to begin with.
Step 3: Minimize Mistakes And Stay Patient
Here’s the stat that jumps off the page: Brown made only three bogeys all week. Three. In four rounds of professional golf against the best players in the world.
He also made just one double bogey. That kind of clean card doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you play within yourself, avoid the big miss and trust that pars are never bad scores.
Your Action Item: Before your next round, decide that you’re going to play boring golf. No hero shots over water. No driver on tight holes just because you can. No aggressive pins when there’s a safe side of the green.
Brown’s performance shows us that consistency beats flash every single time. He didn’t lead the field in any single strokes gained category, but he was solid across the board. That’s how you post numbers and cash checks.
Give these three steps a try. Your scorecard will thank you.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
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Devin
Nov 10, 2013 at 11:55 pm
Great tip! The last time I took a lesson the instructor made mention of this very thing. He pulled up a video of Adam Scott and compared the face angle and spine angle.
craig@tourimpactgolf.com
Oct 5, 2013 at 12:41 pm
The takeaway as described has been a remedy that has worked for me many times. I also believe it prevents creating a short backswing ( another problem I face now and then).
Anna M
Oct 3, 2013 at 11:07 pm
Bob:
I’ve incorporated this tip into my practice and game and I am making much better contact and consistent shots. I shot the best round of my short golf career this week. Great Article!
Duane G
Jul 27, 2013 at 9:03 am
I was taught this years ago and got away from it…can’t wait to get back on the range and burn it in.
Eric
Jul 25, 2013 at 2:19 pm
When moving the club head over the tee, is this done by pushing the arms away from your body, or by turning your shoulders steeper (compared with the rolling outside takeaway)?
Matt
Jul 28, 2013 at 11:59 am
That is a great question Eric. Both approaches have profoundly different impacts on the swing. I myself prefer to use more left tilt which helps the club acsend instead of just pushing my arms which could lead to me losing connection and lifting my arms in the backswing
Wayne
Aug 20, 2013 at 6:03 am
Matt can you explain what you mean by “more left tilt”? thanks
Shelby
Jul 25, 2013 at 12:17 pm
I find when I do this I get stuck. I’m not sure if my chest and hands are a bit out of sync near the top of the backswing, but this is what I feel. I also feel that my right elbow wants to disconnect and sometimes I chicken wing. Lastly, sometimes I also feel like my shoulder plane gets really steep. Any suggestions?
andrew
Jul 25, 2013 at 10:14 am
I’ve started doing the same drill with a golf ball instead of a tee recently and has helped me become more consistent with my ball striking. Will give the tee a go instead of the ball now though as I want have to rake the ball bake into position. LOL!
joe Aslam
Jul 25, 2013 at 3:29 am
I am a big believer in lessons and have just had one with my local pro
he tells me to close the gap between my left thumb and finger so as the fleshy bits touch.
How important is this minor tip on a scale of 1-10?
yo!
Jul 24, 2013 at 10:38 pm
this is good advice … it may not work for everyone, but one can commit to it and experiment with it and see if it works for them. I think its a rather fundamental principle. an athletic person can adapt to a nonfundamental swing and still do well
HHGC
Jul 24, 2013 at 2:49 pm
This seems to be along the same lines as initially take the club back in the line of the ball and have the club shaft be parallel to the line when the club is parallel to the ground. My question is, once the rotation of the body stops, do you think about setting/hinging the wrists as a golfer normally would, or should there be another thought in setting the club at the top? Thanks and appreciate the swing thought. B
Steve Connolly
Jul 24, 2013 at 12:39 pm
Nice article Bob!
Jack
Jul 24, 2013 at 1:04 am
This is a great tip! I’ve been trying to figure out how to keep my clubface returning to square at and through impact. I think forearm rotation, or lack thereof, is going to help it!
WM
Jul 23, 2013 at 11:02 pm
This is the most confusing part of the swing. Since the club is hooded, where the right arm is above the left, how do you get it to the top?
Stu
Jul 23, 2013 at 8:39 pm
Bob. I have to agree with you. The way I was taught 30 years ago when I was a kid was to roll it toe up. As I got bigger and stronger I had to cup the wrist to avoid getting it hugely shut at the top. I’m in a process of reengineerimg at ten moment and this move that you highlight is key. All the really consistent $$$ earners on the tours do this as it reduces the amount of hand manipulation you need to do on the way down. You can get the club in a neutral slot which enaes you to fully release through the ball.
I used to think this made the club look ‘closed’ on the way back, but actually fanning it toe-up makes it easier to get it in a nasty face-to-sky position at the top, leading to have to hold it off through impact an stopping a full release.
On the right lines??
JB
Jul 24, 2013 at 12:14 pm
Phil doesn’t. He is a classic roll release old school feel turn in a barrel player. Ball striking is over rated, and so is this tip.
Little Lefty
Jul 25, 2013 at 7:19 am
Actually, Phil does hit this position on the takeaway. Virtually every single Tour player, from the best to the worst, hits this position. This tip is beautiful in that it’s simple, yet incredibly effective. The misconception about this tip is that you are hooding the golf club. Actually, keeping the clubface “closed” is keeping it square. That’s why everybody does this.
As for your second comment, ballstriking is overrated, but this tip is essential for at least maintaining a baseline of competency.
Jason
Jul 23, 2013 at 8:10 pm
There are many ways to swing a club and hit high quality golf shots. The BEST way for any individual to swing is whatever way allows them to achieve consistent impact conditions. Golf swings are like fingerprints, no two are alike. I happen to agree with Mr. Palmer, find your fundamentals ans swing your swing.
Bob Krause
Jul 23, 2013 at 8:33 pm
Jason, I too like Palmers approach. However, if you are finding yourself too far inside and behind, this is a quick way to get on plane. There will always be exceptions however, the bottom line is the more the club head is on plane, the further and longer you will hit the ball.
Jack
Jul 24, 2013 at 12:32 am
If you’re on plane and hitting the ball straight every single time, then go ahead and swing however you like. I guess I am not so lucky.
I get what you are saying though, but how do you give advice to the ones with unconventional swings if they are not hitting it straight? Just square your clubface at impact?
mark
Jul 23, 2013 at 8:00 pm
What about Ray Floyd or Doug sanders
snowman0157
Jul 23, 2013 at 2:49 pm
Do you recommend this move/position with Driver also or just the irons?
Bob Krause
Jul 23, 2013 at 8:28 pm
Snowman, Thanks for your question. Yes, I recommend this move with Irons and Woods.