5 Common Beginner Golf Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

Hello, Adam Bazalgette here, founder of Scratch Golf Academy. Today, we’ll discuss the five most common mistakes beginners make and how to fix them.

I’ll show you what they are in sequence throughout the swing, at least my version of them, and I think they’d be helpful, I hope, for any golfer.

Mistake 1: The Grip

Okay, number one on my list, the grip. Now, this is a boring one, so I’m going to make this a brief, quick look, close up, then we’ll get out and tackle number two. So what I see is people grab the club and they get it up in the palm, they get this thing lined up too much.

You want the club down diagonally across the fingers, under the big heel pad, then your hand will naturally wrap over, and you’ll have leverage. That pad there will give you leverage. That grip being wrapped over a little bit will help you to square the club. Don’t wrap it, just get it in the fingers enough that it naturally wraps a little bit.

Mistake 2: Weight Shift Backswing and Downswing

Number two on my list, golfers shift too much weight on the backswing and fail to shift enough weight on the downswing. We’ll have a quick look at me in slow motion, then I’ll give you a drill for this.

It’s a nice centred setup there. I want you to notice that, even though I was on force plates, there would be some registering of pressure building in the right foot due to the swinging motion of the arms and momentum going away from the target. There’s no lateral shift of my right leg or hip there. They just coil. Notice the lean in the leg, the leg is not straight up and down, that back leg there. And in all great players, not saying I’m a great player, but in all great players, at about this point is where there’s the most pressure on that back leg.

As the arms start to move back behind you and towards the target, the pressure begins to go to the front foot, and there’s the weight shift you see. So coming in, the weight’s well to the front leg, there’s a lot of lean in the back leg.

Weight Shift Drill

Hope you’ll consider picking up the free Scratch Golf Academy app. There’s a link below this video. It’s free, tempo trainer, full swing tempo trainer, putting, green reading trainer. I think you’d enjoy it.

Let’s go through, not too bad. Okay, stick an alignment rod in the ground, slope slightly towards you. And I’m going to put that about an inch to the side of my right ankle there.

And the idea is this little bit of space in here should stay roughly the same, actually slightly increase as I pivot going back. So I should see a little more space. And then of course, coming down, I should see a lot more space.

I would set this up to the side of where you’re hitting balls, just a couple of feet over, go over, rehearse these moves a little bit. When you get a feel for it, hit a few balls, come back and forth.

Mistake 3: Taking the Club Back

So number three on my list, golfers tend to take the club back. That is to say, they use their hands too much, and they just take the club away without engaging their body, which almost always leads to a flat takeaway, which is trouble. The club tends to get steep from there.

And secondly, it’s a weak move. You don’t engage your body enough to be able to really store energy. Let me show you some good ways I think to feel it, then we’ll move on.

So get this lead arm turned under a bit, not the wrist turned under. We talked about the grip earlier, but the elbow and the arm, so that there’s some connection, and you want to feel a consistent connection, the arm staying under.

Most of the time, when people take it back, you see this gap. So the right arm is fairly steady, the left arm certainly sliding on the shirt a bit, but staying nice and stable, nice and turned under. It’s okay to have a tiny bit of push down with the wrist, but not to take it back this way. That connection will really get you going properly.

Mistake 4: Swinging at the Ball Instead of Creating an Arc

Number four on my list, you bring a ball over here. Golfers are trying to hit the ball; they’re swinging at the ball. That’s not your job. Your job is to come towards the back of the ball from the side of your body and move the ball in that direction.

So here’s a mental tip for you. Worked for Ledbetter for years and years and years.

Great, great coach, obviously. He’d grip the club in the tips of his fingers there, no palm on the club, choked down, the club would be above the ground. He would start to get some movement, and he’d start to show people how the club naturally starts to take an orbit and have a consistent circle. That’s what should be in your mind.

Can I create a consistent arc, or can I attack the ball on the way down?

Mistake 5: Trying to Help the Ball in the Air

So number five, this is an eight iron. Golfers are trying either to get under the ball to help it in the air or, at a minimum, to use what I call 100% of the loft. These clubs are designed to be hit with the handle forward, with less loft than they’re built with. This allows you to compress the ball, apply pressure and hit the ball before the ground.

I get a lot of questions on this. Why turn an eight iron into a seven? Why not just use a seven?

Let me show you Tiger Woods in slow motion, then we’ll tackle our drill. There’s the great man in his downswing, and have a look here.

First off, you see how much lean is in the leg. You see how much his weight is over to the left.

Secondly, though, and more importantly to our purposes, notice if I draw a line straight up from the ball, his hands, the grip end of the club, are beyond the ball before he hits it. So he’s hitting it with a forward lean.

Again, you can see the wrist tilting down more.

We’ll get into that momentarily with the drill. That is tilting the face onto the ball and helping him compress it and hit the ball before the turf.

Compression Drill

So to help with this final drill, I’m going to take a tee, put it there, and bring the strap over so that this tee sticks out. It’s going to give you a great sense of what’s happening with your hands.

Okay, put the club in front of you. Practice tilting the loft towards the ground like that. I’m not doing this with my arms. I’m just tilting the wrist, tilting that tee.

Now, the way you hold it, which we said was number one, is going to be important to allow you to do that.

And secondly, remember we talked about the weight shift. Very important, your weight’s forward. So practice this. I’m going to rehearse it to the ball, tee tilted down, weight forward, and hit some little punch shots. And I can feel the front edge of the club leaning into the ground. I’m compressing the ball. I’m not trying to get under.

You do some of these things, or all five of these things, I hope, in an improved way, you will start to hit the ball better. I hope these are helpful for any golfer.

Watch and Learn More

For more in-depth golf swing tips, beginner golf mistakes, and grip fundamentals, watch the full video on Scratch Golf Academy’s YouTube channel here.