Full Swing Drills

By
, GolfLink Editor
Updated August 29, 2023
Man practicing his golf swing on the driving range
  • DESCRIPTION
    Man practicing his golf swing on the driving range
  • SOURCE
    jacoblund
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    Getty Image license

Whether you're just learning the full swing, maintaining the swing you have, or making small improvements, you always have to dedicate a good chunk of your golf training to your full swing. These drills and lessons will help you build a strong foundation for a rock-solid golf swing.

Triangle Drill to Improve Your Golf Swing

Try this drill from Jimmy Ballard to build a solid and repeatable takeaway.

Lee Trevino Golf Swing Drill

A couple of things that I want to mention about Trevino's swing that I think can help anybody.

  1. One was his right side. He went forward and straight through and carried down through the shot.
  2. The other thing that Trevino did that was very interesting is that he wanted to copy the ball flight of Hogan but he could not do it with a normal stance. What he did was aim way to the left. What this allowed him to do was to get the club a little bit more out in the backswing and then drop it in to what I call the slot.
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Golf Swing Practice Drills to Improve All Aspects of Your Full Swing

Here are five practice fundamentals to become a better golfer:

  1. Practice a good routine where you put that left hand on and slide that right one down.
  2. Practice your posture in front of the mirror, bow and flex. You could do this at home and get very comfortable with a good setup.
  3. Practice your arm swing, make it nice and free but make it work with your body. Get that club to work up above your right shoulder and up above your left.
  4. Practice swinging with a head cover.
  5. Practice using your body so you get the distance that you need.

A Simple 2 Step Drill to Improve Your Golf Swing

One of the things we do with beginners is give them what we call the two-step swing and that's learning two positions.

  1. Halfway Back: Get a good set-up position, nice and balanced and from there we practice taking the whole triangle which is your arms and your shoulders away together, halfway back. At the halfway back position you want to see the toe of the club up or in the square position. Do not get the toe down or the toe over; this is actually the worst thing that could happen, rolling the club over, which quite a few folks do. As a beginner we try to get them to sense the club and get into this nice halfway back position. Toe up, little space between your hands and your body.
  2. Finish Position: Now from here we have them just slowly and easily swing the club through to the finish position. I love to see people go to a good balanced finish. At this position lots of nice things have happened, I'm over on my left side, I'm facing the target, I'm up on my right toe.

This two-step swing is a terrific drill for beginner golfers and we use it all the time.

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Women's Golf Tips: Practice with a Baseball Swing

A great drill for beginners, women and juniors is to do a baseball swing to get a feel for how the hands, wrists and arms work in the golf swing and for a better body pivot.

  • I am going to hold the club up at waist height and I am going to do some circle swings around me that demonstrate a baseball like swing.
  • One of the important things I am going to do is make sure the face of the club rotates to the sky on the backswing and I am going to rotate the face of the club over during the swing so that the face of the club points towards the ground on the through swing.
  • That is the proper hand, wrist and arm in the golf swing that people do not fell very often when they tend to scoop, hold on or have a little chicken wing.
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How to Practice Proper Swing Technique at Home

Now remember our items to control: the ball; the club; the body; and the mind. Well how does the mind work?

I am sure that many of you have gotten what you thought was a perfectly good golf lesson, you thought you hit it pretty well when the pro was there. Then you went out to practice and tried what you learned and the same old stuff started happening over and over again.

Swing the Club Better With Improved Body Motion

Here are two drills to help you make sure that you have the correct body motion.

  1. Number one is to put your golf club over your shoulders (parallel to the ground) and get set up to a golf ball on the ground. Now make a practice backswing and turn your shoulders 90 degrees.
  2. Now on your downswing, take the club and put it on your hips. Your first move in your downswing should be a slight hip bump to the left and the club should stay pointed to the right of your target. The bad way would be to start with an immediate turn. What this does is it sends the club on the outside or it makes you have that over-the-top move.

Those are two drills that should help you swing the club better.

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Practice Your Golf Swing at Home

You can practice so many aspects of your golf game at home.

One thing you can do is work on your grip. You can practice while you are watching TV. You can practice your posture in front of a mirror. You can practice your arm swing in your backyard or in your house if you have tall ceilings. Finally you can work on your pivot.

Practicing at home is so helpful for you because you can get to the golf course and just hit a few shots to warm up and your muscles are already in tune with what they need to do.

Golf Drill to Improve Coordination

Here is another advanced players drill, it is called the two club drill. What I am going to do is swing both of the clubs in unison back and through. This is a lot harder than it looks. I have seen some really good players on the range work on this at PGA Tour events. It gets everything working together. We try to get half way back and then half way through.

For all players, start small and see if you can go to half way back without clanging them and then half way through without clanging them.