Most Golfers Have One Of These Swings Faults. Are You One of Them?

Nearly every golfer will have one of these swing faults. Even the best players in the world can struggle with these from time to time, but in this article (you can also watch the video below), Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Alex Elliott is going to show you how to fix them.

Our PGA pro has plenty of tips on how to hit longer, straighter drives, plus some fantastic advice on how to strike your irons purely and hit your wedge shots close. Take it away, Alex...

COMMON SWING FAULTS... FIXED

Alex Elliott

Alex spent three years caddying on the DP World Tour before taking his PGA qualifications. Since then he has created a thriving social media platform on Instagram and YouTube, where he offers a whole host of tips and advice to help viewers shoot lower scores.

1. Poor takeaway (driver)

If you start a journey to the airport and you take the wrong first turn, it takes a lot longer to get there. It's the same with your golf swing - it's going to go all over the place, which can get quite distressing, just like a messy journey!

When you're setting up, think about the relationship of the toe to the heel in your driver takeaway. I never like to see the heel start, and I never like to see the toe start.

I like to see the toe and the heel of the driver move away together, which simply helps to keep the clubface square.

You might want to try building this into your pre shot routine. My checkpoint is two waggles before every single shot of getting the right position (watch in the video above).

2. Open clubface at impact (driver)

When you come into impact and the clubface is pointing to the right of your path and target line, you're going to end up on the right (for a right-handed golfer).

There are a couple of fixes that you might want to try. Firstly, rotate your hands to the right side of the golf club.

By doing this, you're going to make your driver have a chance of pointing a little bit more closed to your path by the time you're striking the golf ball.

If we create a golf grip like this, we need to match it in a release style. If you're somebody who's a little bit less mobile, I reckon you'll be able to steal a few extra yards with your driver by doing this.

I would like to feel that if I was rotating my hands to the right, as my way of controlling my clubface, I would need to feel a little bit more roll of the forearms and wrists through the release (see below) to help me to square the clubface.

The second option is more for those golfers who are a little bit more athletic with some side bend through the golf ball.

If you're someone who has a grip that's a little bit on the weaker side, what you might want to feel in your driver downswing is a fraction more flexion as you start down to allow the face to come in squarer.

I should stress that this second option does require the golfer to have more flexibility, but it's definitely one a lot of golfers can learn and bring into their game.

Take these swing fixes to the range and out on the course where you're under a bit of pressure, and see which one works best for your game.

3. Driver swing with irons

You can't think of the driver swing and iron swing as the same.

Think our two dots: one in your sternum and one in your belt buckle. With driver, I want you to feel that at the top of your backswing the dot in your sternum is slightly behind your belt buckle, and that at impact it stays slightly behind.

With your irons, I want you to feel that the two dots sit on top at the top of the backswing, and at impact they also sit on top.

This is going to encourage more of a downward strike with your irons, as opposed to an upward strike that you're looking for with your driver.

4. Cupped lead wrist

I set a lot of very cupped lead wrists at the top of the backswing, which is an issue because it causes an open clubface.

With an iron this tends to create a 'scoopy' contact, and with a driver it can lead to shots that travel way off to the right.

One way to fix this swing fault is to take some one-handed swings. Swing to the top. If you're cupped and you do nothing, you'll notice that your clubface ends up pointing way off to the right at impact (as I show in the video above).

Then, you're relying on a save or a 'scoop' to get you out of trouble, which isn't going to get you very far in the long term.

The fix is to hook your right arm under your lead arm (see picture below). Practice getting the logo of your glove at the top of your backswing to point to the sky.

This drill is going to create a squarer clubface and a much more reliable release pattern.

5. Poor pitching set-up

I see a lot of golfers play 75-yard pitches as if they were full iron shots, whereby they adopt a really wide stance. From there, the tempo is often very fast, and it often results in fat and thin strikes.

Start by gripping down a little bit and narrow your stance. In terms of ball position, I recommend moving it slightly back in your stance.

Whilst keeping your weight on your lead side through the shot, I want you to feel like you could almost have a conversation at the top of your backswing.

Watch the video above to see exactly what I mean. On the way down, it's almost like gravity is hitting that shot away.

This is a great way to regulate distance and give you control from a range of yardages from 100 yards and in.