Instruction
Subtract, Don’t Add for a Better Golf Swing
Speed and power sell, but repeatability and simplicity lowers scores. Now with swing coaches partnering with with fitness companies, I see more swings on the range getting longer with the body moving in every direction. Students come to me saying they can’t hit a draw because they aren’t flexible.
Don’t get me wrong; fitness has a place in the game. It can be very beneficial, preventing injuries and creating longevity. Cross-sport training is even better. Just make sure it’s a supplement to your swing, not adding movements to try and swing like certain Tour players.
Golfers are better served looking to subtract from their swing, not add. Whenever we can eliminate moving parts, we have a greater chance of repeatability with no loss of speed or power. Simplicity equals consistency.
Quoting Steve Elkington, PGA Championship winner and host of Secret Golf, “Your golf swing has to be as simple as possible or you can’t repeat it.” So how do we simplify the swing? Simply look to rid your motion of those needless movements.
Don’t Set Up Like a Shortstop
The common instruction of “feel like a shortstop, be athletic” works great for baseball, but not for golf. We don’t need to set up to the ball so we can move left or right.
Rather, the closer we set up to our impact angles, the less movement is required to get back to the correct impact position. To do this, set up with slight pressure on your left foot (right-handed golfer) and make sure you have your upper half set behind the ball.
Look back at the article “The difference between pressure and weight” to get the proper setup. This is nothing new, as many of the greats — past and present — have addressed the ball this way. Below is a photo of Jack Nicklaus and Peter Thomson.
Make sure you address the ball so you can coil behind the it with no lateral movement necessary.
Stop the Shift
If you set up to the ball correctly, there is no need to shift laterally in the backswing. A shift will just require you to move even more in downswing to make solid contact. In fact, not only is shifting a wasted movement, it will actually slow you down. Think of a swimmer, who wants to swim in a direct line. The more side-to-side movement the swimmer has during their stroke, the less speed they produce.
Below is a great way to get the proper feel of a coil. Set up in your posture with your arms tucked in at a 90-degree angles. Pull your right arm back and move your left arm out. Let your right glute move back slightly as well. You will notice your shoulders have naturally moved back and there is no shifting of your hips.
Think of your backswing more as a coil, not as a shift and turn. Work on rotating or coiling with your body in the same position for the most efficient swing possible.
The Over-Swing
A common swing complaint among first-time students is they feel their swing is too long and tough to repeat. They are usually correct.
Getting too long with your golf swing is usually a product of your body motion. The “shift-and-turn” tip leads to several faults, the most common being too much rotation. Add a long swing with a shift and a player will usually tilt back toward the target, which is a difficult position to recover from.
A great drill to shorten your swing and develop arm speed is to simply hit balls with your feet together. Below is an example.
When doing this drill, feel like you are holding your body and swinging the shaft with your arms. You will notice your shoulders will still have moved back and around without a conscious “turn.” For more speed, hold your body and swing the shaft faster. Soon, you will notice you can hit the ball close to the same distance with much less movement than before.
Remember, anytime we can limit wasted movement in the golf swing we have a greater chance of better contact. Better contact and a simplified swing will equal lower scores.
There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.
And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.
But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.
When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.
Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.
For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!
Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.
Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.
If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.
1. Cultural mindset
What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!
It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.
2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling
Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.
3. Learning theory basics
It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.
As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.
So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!
Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.
The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).
But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.
Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)
Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.
What Woad did:
• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances
• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins
• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets
• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”
Why most golfers mess this up:
• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”
• Distance becomes more important than accuracy
• They try to be heroic instead of smart
ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.
The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire
Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.
How she responded to pressure:
• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th
• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys
• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th
• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked
What amateurs do wrong:
• Get conservative when they should be aggressive
• Try to force magic when steady play would win
• Panic when someone else makes a move
ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.
Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game
Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.
Her mental approach:
• Focused on her process, not the competition
• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)
• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”
Her physical execution:
• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)
• Methodical iron play
• Steady putting
• Everything effective, nothing spectacular
ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.
Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built
The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”
Her winning mindset:
• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself
• Focused on playing well and contending
• Made winning a byproduct of a good process
• Built confidence through recent experiences:
- Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
- Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
- Each experience prepared her for the next
What this means for you:
• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up
• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine
• Commit to every shot
• Stay present in the moment
ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.
The Real Lesson
Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.
The fundamentals that won:
• Hit more fairways
• Find more greens
• Make the putts you should make
• Stay patient under pressure
That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.
FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.
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” on RG.org 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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lef
Mar 5, 2017 at 11:08 pm
I think this is great advice for someone like me at a 10 hdcp. A few months ago I started locking my left elbow. This has the effect of abbreviating my backswing to as far as my hips and shoulders can rotate, which isn’t very far compared to DJ or Rory. So I have a pretty short back swing, but I make consistently better contact than when I would allow my left elbow to bend at the top. On average I haven’t lost any distance, but I have gained consistency. I’ll admit I was a little self-conscious about how short and un-manly my swing was. A week ago I went to the range with a friend who is a 2-3 hdcp, and he noticed almost immediately that I was puring most of my irons. But he didn’t say “wow you swing like a old man now”, instead he said, “wow, you’re striping it”. So, at least for me, a smaller more simplified swing is helping me make better contact and hit more greens and fairways.
Bobalu
Mar 5, 2017 at 2:42 pm
Wow. I do not agree with what you are advocating here. Virtually all top coaches teach that at address that your hips should start centered between your feet, and then secondary tilt of spine away from the target is added (only a couple of degrees with an iron), while keeping the hips centered. You are advocating creating this upper body secondary tilt by bumping the left hip toward the target at address, rather than starting with hips centered, then tilting back the upper body. Your way restricts clearing hips on the downswing. The correct way results in a centered pivot and no obstruction to clearing hips on downswing. A small amount of linear motion of the hips towards the target will naturally occur on the downswing of course, but pre-setting the hips forward, then tilting back- like you advocate in your picture- is just flat out wrong and harmful.
Bobalu
Mar 5, 2017 at 5:46 pm
Shawn Cox (on Secret Golf) recommends this left hip forward setup at address for ‘short’ shots. I don’t really follow his logic on why, and I disagree when he states that virtually all PGA players set up for short shots this way.
Kelvin Kelley
Mar 5, 2017 at 6:24 pm
B, Thanks for the comment, I guess the impact position is “harmful”. All great players find the proper “shape” on the downswing. Clearing of your hips will come natural.
ButchT
Mar 5, 2017 at 8:35 am
Thank you! One of the very best explanations I have seen posted on Golfwrx! Butch.
Kelvin Kelley
Mar 5, 2017 at 6:26 pm
Thanks for the comment Butch!
Ronny
Mar 3, 2017 at 9:40 pm
Can’t disagree. Video would have been better to prove his point. Thx
Jack
Mar 3, 2017 at 8:01 pm
The correct top of the backswing shortened just doesn’t look right with the hips and body shifting back and hips bumped forward. The incorrect one has a better shoulder turn but the correct one didn’t just reduce shoulder turn the entire plane changed. Looks like a push slice waiting to happen.
Sonny D
Mar 3, 2017 at 9:25 pm
Correct. Right arm lost connection and changed the plane.
Nice pick up.
chip
Mar 3, 2017 at 2:13 pm
It is a pretty universal idea that for an amateur, shortening the swing is a great idea. I hover around scratch and shortening my swing has done wonders.
Howard
Mar 3, 2017 at 12:37 pm
Excellent article and excellent advice. Agree with your basic philosophy. Many thanks.
Kelvin Kelley
Mar 4, 2017 at 11:39 pm
Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed it !
N. D. Boondocks
Mar 3, 2017 at 10:51 am
About a million years ago, when I was a kid (yah, the dark ages were still a fresh memory), I had the only golf lesson I ever truly remember that still works when I need help. There were 4 ‘rules’.
Think of roating around your back leg for the driver.
Think of rotating around your bum for fairway woods.
Think of rotating around your front leg for irons.
Don’t rotate for a putter.
Scott
Mar 3, 2017 at 9:24 am
One of the best articles on the swing this site has ever had.
Kelvin Kelley
Mar 4, 2017 at 11:39 pm
Scott, appreciate the support!
Someone
Mar 3, 2017 at 6:49 am
Didn’t an article from golf wrx before, say that the feet together drill was in the top 5 worst drills for golfers?
Anyhow, what did you mean by “tilt back toward the target”? Sounds a little contradictory, no? While I’d be putting pressure on the left, I don’t think there’s ever a time I’m leaning toward the target. Could you elaborate please?
Kelvin Kelley
Mar 3, 2017 at 11:25 am
Tilt meaning your upper half of your body starts too bend or tilt back towards the target. The opposite of the preferred set up position. Hope this helps.
Someone
Mar 4, 2017 at 11:33 pm
So basically straightening up and moving your weight forward?
Kelvin Kelley
Mar 4, 2017 at 11:42 pm
At the top of the swing, a tilt would be your upper half (torso) moving back towards the target from face on view. Check out the pressure and weight article, I think the pics on that article will help.
Tim
Mar 2, 2017 at 11:16 pm
If you watch the Golf Channel, just today they had Gary Player on (not a bad record as golfer) and what did he say “the first wrong thing you hear from instructors today is shorten the back swing..NO you need to get more back swing….. Is Gary Player wrong>>>>>>>>>>
Kelvin Kelley
Mar 3, 2017 at 12:33 am
There have also been several great players that have had what you think/call “shorter” swings. It’s more about understanding how not to lose your body shape when you coil, turning in the right direction. Think of throwing a ball, do you turn down and rotate your back all the way to to the target to throw the ball? You wouldn’t. It’s a false sense of power. With the concept you have you may as well run into the ball and do a 360 before you hit it.
Steve S
Mar 3, 2017 at 2:50 pm
Is Gary Player wrong? Maybe. If you watch videos of Gary Player he never had a long backswing that I can find but he did have a “wide” backswing. Sometimes pro golfers say one thing(because that is what they think) but do or mean another. And most times the best golfers are not the beat teachers because most of the rest of us CAN’T do what they do and many of them don’t understand it. One of the greatest examples of realizing this was Mickey Mantle in baseball. He was offered many managerial and coaching jobs and turned them down. He claimed that he couldn’t teach what he did because he really didn’t know how he did it; he just PLAYED!
mikee
Mar 2, 2017 at 9:11 pm
Excellent!…..tilt (as in the pictures),pivot (as in the pictures),separate (start the downswing with the lower body) and extend (down the target line)….all done without “overswinging”…….simple!.
Jay
Mar 2, 2017 at 8:05 pm
Doesn’t this general swing philosophy contradict the swing philosophy of Shawn Clement, who had an article this week also ?
I am not trying to start anything, just a bit confusing for an average guy like myself to figure out which is more helpful for an average golfer
Kelvin Kelley
Mar 3, 2017 at 12:43 am
Jay, I would suggest anything that simplifies the golf swing for you, making solid contact!
Scott
Mar 3, 2017 at 9:31 am
Are you talking about cutting the dandelion? If so, I think that these are complementary. This article appears to be able to get you in a simpler position do do what Shawn suggested. Shawn’s video had too much head bobbing up and down for me. I think that you can accomplish the same smooth swing – probably even easier – with what demonstrated in this article.
jacob
Mar 2, 2017 at 2:54 pm
Great article…thanks
Kelvin Kelley
Mar 3, 2017 at 12:34 am
Jacob, glad you enjoyed it!
SoCal
Mar 2, 2017 at 10:28 am
I’d rather set up like a shortstop instead of the setup in the pic. Horrible position for his feet. Just look at Jack in his pic… And about not moving left or right, you need to get on a force plate. Check out COG and COP… SHANK
Jalan
Mar 2, 2017 at 9:44 am
On the occasions I’ve been able to watch tour players practice, I’ve been amazed at how efficient their swings are; and how little excess movement they have in their swings. They rotate back, and then they rotate through the ball.
Easier said than done.
NolanMBA
Mar 2, 2017 at 8:43 am
Man I can totally relate to the over swing. I have plenty of hip and shoulder turn but my arms just keep going back… and back… and back…
Markallister
Mar 2, 2017 at 8:15 am
the pictures are obviously misleading. bad advice.
Ronny
Mar 2, 2017 at 2:11 pm
Okay so- why?
Markallister
Mar 3, 2017 at 8:57 pm
the so-called “overswing” position, is no overswing. it is pretty good.
Dave
Mar 8, 2017 at 8:51 pm
To me, it looks far from “pretty good”… the overswing pic on left looks like the spine tilted toward the target…which prob causes and imbalance….then the pic on the right looks like the golfer needed to sway his hip toward the target in order to counter that and initiate the downswing, instead of rotating… probably a hundred different faults could happen from there (I’ve had them all)… getting stuck, stalling your hips, spinning out, flipping, etc… think that’s in the ballpark of the point he was trying to make.