BEGINNER GOLF BASICS - PART 1

Hello, welcome to MeAndMyGolfTV, and welcome to Beginner Golf Basics. Now, we've designed a four-part video series for all you beginners out there, or even if you play for a short period of time, and we're going to help you learn the essential basics that's going to help you hit the golf ball straight, into the air, strike it consistently, and even hit it a good distance off the tee. This video series is going to stand you in good stead for the rest of your golfing career. We're going to show you the setup, the grip, and how to build a consistent golf swing to give you the confidence to get onto the golf course. We're even going to show you how to hit the most exciting club in the bag, the driver. So by the end of this series, you'll understand exactly what you need to do, you'll have built a solid, repeatable golf swing, and have much more confidence to step onto that golf course. Let's take charge of your game. Okay, so you've joined us here on the 15th of the Faldo course at Amanduera Resort here in the Algarve in Portugal, Paris. Beautiful place, isn't it? So before we get started in the video series, there are a few essential key items that you need for the rest of the series. So Piers, what do we need for the series? Well, there's a few things you get in golf clubs. I mean, so it being as easy as possible, we've got the driving club here, we've got a 7-iron here. So it could be a 6-iron, a 7-iron, or an 8-iron. The best thing you can do though is go to your local professional shop and they'll advise you on the best ones for you. Because whether you're a senior golfer, a lady golfer, or even a junior golfer, they all do this for the club too. So let's say we've got a 7-iron and a driver, we'll be using a glove as well, sometimes a glove for the lead hand. I'll be using a glove for the majority of the videos. This can help give you a little bit more grip. And some tee pegs. Some tees as well. Very important for this. Definitely. And also guys, all you need actually is a driving range or your local practice facility where you can go and put into practice what we're going to tell you. So that leads us into the setup basics, Piers. Shall we get started with that? Let's do it. Okay, so part one is really going to focus more on how to hold the golf club. But before we get into that, Piers, we're going to focus on some simple setup basics. And all we need for this is a 7-iron, don't we? Just got a 7-iron here. Yeah, so let's actually talk about what is the different parts of this golf club. So start with a grip, okay, so that's obviously where you hold it. We call this the shaft. Now, the reason we're going through this is we may need to reference these throughout this video series. So we have the shaft, and then we have the club head. Now on the club head, it makes sense that we would have a face, so we have the club face. Now, the main part we're going to be talking about now when we're setting up for the golf club is this front part of the golf club here. We call that the leading edge. Perfect. And that really is where we're going to aim. So as we sort of move into that, Piers, let's talk about some of the simple stuff that you guys at home can really get right to start with as we sort of move into getting to talking towards that. And the good thing with this video series is that you can stop and play back at any point here, but we're very much going to brush over the simple parts to start with. So, first of all, I need to know where I want to hit the golf ball. So I'm going to aim for the middle of this fairway, okay? So I'm going to aim for the middle of that fairway. Now what I need you to do is to imagine that there is a 90-degree line coming right out of the leading edge of the golf club. Now that is pointing to the middle of the fairway, okay? So we've got that in place now. Now you'll notice my feet are together. What I'm going to do next is I'm going to step my feet either side of the golf ball so my feet are approximately shoulder width. So if we were to draw a line down from my shoulders, you'll see it goes down to my heels, okay? You'll then also notice that the golf ball is positioned ever so slightly forward of the center of my stance. That's kind of an approximate at the moment, you know, that may change as your style changes, but that's where we can start with it for there. Now from there also, you'll notice my feet as well. You'll see that both feet are flared out ever so slightly, so they're not pointing straight on in front of me. They are flared out to the side. That's going to help sort of as we get into the golf swing later stages there. Yeah, absolutely. So now once we've got the feet in position, the ball in position, we now need to aim our body. So when we talk about aiming our body, we talk about the feet, the knees, the hips and the shoulders. Now you'll notice they're all running parallel to the line that's coming out of the leading edge of the golf club. So we call that a target line. So my body alignment is parallel to my target line. Perfect. So Pierce now is in a very good setup and he's aimed the golf club and aimed his body very well. And really these are the simple things that you guys can just sort of get right to start with as we move into more of the finer details, the all-important grip, which I think we need to go to now. Okay. So you now understand the setup basics about how to aim the golf club and your body correctly and position the feet and the golf ball. Let's get into the most important part of part one, which is the hold. Now golfers come to us for golf lessons and whether they've been playing 12 months or 10 years, it's the first thing that we're going to be looking at to see if it's having an effect on the golf ball, Pierce. It's so important, isn't it? It really is, Andy. And if you've got a bad hold, you'll probably have a bad swing or you will do compensations in your golf swing because the whole objective of the hold is you've got to be able to control the club head as you're swinging it around your body, you've got to be able to present it squarely to the golf ball, hit straight shots, to hit it in the air even, but consistency as well. People are always asking for consistency. Well, hold it properly and you've got a good chance. Definitely. So if there's one thing you're going to pay attention to, guys, and there's a few things that it's important to get right with the hold, so you've really got to pay attention to these finer details because if you're going to play golf for the next 20 years, it's something that you're going to really work on week in, week out to get right, and it's going to make a massive difference to your golf moves. We will be stressing this a lot, okay? So let's just go through a few things. So the lead hand, everything we're doing obviously is for a right-handed golf, so lead hand for me is the left hand. So really important you understand how the club sits in this hand when we're holding it. So from here, we have my thumb or the bottom of my thumb. Now, directly underneath that, we have the heel pad. Now, what you need to do when you're holding the golf club is the golf club should run diagonally from underneath just below the heel pad up to the bottom of the forefinger, okay? So if you can get it running through there, you really have got a good chance. A lot of people get this really wrong, so it sounds easy, or just let's just hold it, let's just hold it. This is actually the most important part of what we're talking about right now, okay? So from there, what are we going to do? Let's get into that position we had earlier when we were going to set up for the golf ball. We hold the golf club up in front of us with the trail hand. Now, you'll notice I'm pointing the leading edge straight up in the air, and I've got it at around about head height. So this is great because I'm standing nice and tall, it's not hurting my back, and I can see everything that's going on. So with the lead hand now, I'm going to place it on the golf club so you can see that the handle there, sorry, the handle of the golf club is going underneath the bottom of the heel pad, and it's running up to the bottom of the forefinger. So it's running diagonally through the hand. Now, again, I'm making sure that leading edge is pointing up. All I'm going to do from here is close my hand on the golf club. Now, when I close my hand on the golf club, notice I said close, not wrap or grip. Close the hand on the golf club. You'll notice that the thumb is going ever so slightly down the right-hand side of the handle. And also, we've created a V between the thumb and the forefinger, and that's kind of going up towards my sort of right ear, so just right of my chin. One important key thing to remember, guys, when you're doing this, if you go back to when you position your hand piece now, what you're going to want to do, a lot of you guys are going to want to go underneath the handle here and get the palm facing yourself. Now, it's really key when you do this that you get the back of your hand facing the target. So as you can see there, Pierce's back of his left hand is facing the target there. Really key to do that. Okay, so again, I've just closed it on there from there. That's kind of how the grip is formed now. So we've got a good position there. We're pretty happy with that. So let's take that right hand off. Again, notice that leading edge is pointing straight up in the sky. So with the right hand, we always say be nice to the golf club, so let's shake hands with the golf club. So from here, we are literally with my palm facing toward the target, the middle of the fairway. I'm going to bring my palm in so that it comes onto the handle. You'll now notice again, it's running diagonally through the fingers at the bottom there. Look at that placement. And then from there, I close my hand on the golf club. And then I just sort of slide those hands together so that the right thumb is sitting on top of the left thumb. And again, I've created a V between the thumb and the forefinger, and that's going up to a similar place to the left hand. Apply that right here. Perfect. So now you have the hands nicely close together, but positioned in the right way. And really important, as you mentioned, Piers, the leading edge of the club is still up in the air. That's so key to think about when you're building this grip, isn't it? So what you need to do, obviously, is maybe sort of relax a little bit. You need to be able to control the golf club when you're holding it. You don't want to be strangling. A lot of people strangle it. You'll probably find when you've been doing this already that you're getting a bit tense, so keep it loose. And one thing we like to be able to get people to do is just to get their hands out and push them away from the body and just see if they've got the movement. See if they can actually get the golf club and sort of move it around like this. If you've got this movement, this is what a good grip or a good hold will give you. Okay, so again, one of the questions you might ask at home is, well, how tight should I be holding it? And what Piers is demonstrating here is we call it a hold and not a grip because we don't want any tension in the hands, the arms, and the shoulders. We want to hold the golf club to allow us to create this freedom of movement with the wrist, which is really key to create the power and also control this club face when we do the golf swing. Absolutely. If I hold on to it really tight now from here and then try and lift that club up, it's very difficult and you can see that's a really big problem with people, especially when you hit a bad shot. You hit a bad shot, the next time you hold on to it, you're going to grip it even tighter. Definitely. So some great checkpoints there for you guys. Again, as Piers mentioned, you can actually pause this, rewind it, go back and have a little look at that. But if you check this over and over again, you don't actually need to hit golf balls doing this. Put some simple checkpoints there and you're going to find you're going to build that perfect grip to help you hit good shots. Right, let's get into actually helping you guys understand what the body does in the golf swing. Okay, so let's talk about the body motion in the golf swing. It's really important for you guys to get a clear image of what we're trying to achieve from the body in the golf swing as we go through parts one, two, three, and four. So Piers, the pivot motion, talk us through it and why it's so important. Okay, so we're going to start off without a golf club, which is good news because you can practice at work. Don't tell the boss. What we're going to do is we're going to get you to hug yourself. So you're going to hold underneath your rib cage and your oblique muscles, so to speak. From there, put yourself into your stance that we've already learned, okay? So you're in this stance, ready to move. Now, really important that when you move back or what we call wind up, you'll notice the lower body is stable as I'm turning into it. Now, from this position here, we're going to get you to move your body toward the target and then turn. Okay, let's keep doing this a few times so you can replicate this. So solid, stable lower body, good wind up with the upper body, then body moves towards the target and then you turn through. Now, I'll hold there, Andy. The weight is all into that lead leg. You'll notice the spikes of my shoe are pointing behind me and that right knee is on top of that left knee. Let's do that a few more times. Let's do that one more time. Let's just talk through it. So as Piers is winding up here, he's creating a bit of resistance in that lower body. He's moving his weight and then he's rotating to face that target. And as he mentioned there, the sole of his foot is facing behind him. And this is just a very simple body drill and body motion you can do to warm up and practice when you're down at the practice field riding range, Piers. Yeah, definitely. And you can see a lot of people when they start swinging, they think they should move over here and then move over there. Not at all. So we want to wind up and then push the weight and then turn through. And then as we sort of get better and better at this, this is going to really help when we get that golf club in our hands, Piers, to understand again what we're looking to achieve from that body. And that's going to help us get that golf ball going exactly where we want it. Practise it lots and lots. OK, let's get into the golf swing. OK, so we've taught you through the setup. Let's get you hitting some shots. Now, Piers, for the guys at home who want to practise, obviously they've got the setup now. For the guys at home who want to practise hitting some shots now, how should they start? OK, well, what we're going to do first of all, let's hit a golf ball. OK, so the golf ball is on a tee. Now, I'm going to actually hit this one with a very short swing. So this is where you're perhaps best to start. So I'm just going to go through the routine very, very quickly. So the better you get, or the more you do this routine, the better you will get at it. OK, so I'm in place there. So what we're going to do is get you to do a mini swing. So sort of back here and through to here. Now, if you can do this, that was a good result. Now, if you can do this and get good results and you think, hang on a bit, I want a little bit more out of it. So we're going to lengthen the swing. It's well worth having a practice swing. I suppose the key thing at this stage as well, Piers, is just make it a contact. We want to get that ball out of the middle of the face, don't we? Yes, definitely. So again, a lot quicker. I'm going into it that way. So let's have a think about let's go back a little bit further and let's actually swing through now. And even on the practice swing, hold that position. Now, we're not bothered about where the arms are. The most important thing is let's get those legs good. Let's get that right knee on that left knee, because that tells us that we've moved toward the target, that pivot motion that we talked about. Absolutely. So let's have a go again. I'm lining it to the middle of the fairway. You'll notice now the second time I'm setting up for the golf ball, I'm doing it all down in this sort of golf position. And then from there, I'm having a little bit of a look. I'm getting more golf mannerisms now, back further, all the way through into that position. I'm going to hold that balance, hold that balance, hold that balance till the ball hits the ground. Come on, hit the ground. And then from there, I'm pretty happy with that. So if you feel you can do that comfortably, then give that a go. But if not, if you just have to continue with the short swings, that's fine as well. OK, so sort of building up at a, I suppose, a swing length that you feel comfortable with. And I think until you can do that, you know, until you feel confident that you can strike the golf ball. And one thing that Pierce mentioned there is, look, you don't have to just hit shot after shot. Have a practice swing, have a little practice of what you want to try and feel. And that pivot motion there at the end, Pierce, is a massive part of it. You'll be better doing the movements as opposed to hitting the shot to start with. So practice many movements to stand and feed in the shot. There we go. OK, so there you have it. That is the end of part one. As we said, the most important part with that is that you now know how to hold the golf club correctly. Please work at that as much as you can. And Andy, if they want to go and see parts two, three and four, where should they go? Head over to meandmygolf.com. Click on the link in the corner, guys. It'll take you straight there. Three fantastic parts coming up that's going to get you playing some great golf this year. Thanks for watching. Post any questions you have down below and we'll get back to you soon. And don't forget to subscribe to the channel also for lots of videos every single week. Thanks for watching, guys. Thanks for watching.