Peter Finch: Golf's Set-up Essentials

Peter Finch explains how golf's set-up essentials like grip, posture, and stance have a huge bearing on where you'll be at impact and the resulting flight

golf's set-up essentials

Peter Finch explains how golf's set-up essentials like grip, posture, and stance have a huge bearing on where you'll be at impact and the resulting flight

GOLF'S SET-UP ESSENTIALS It's important to recognise that set-up essentials like grip, posture, and how you stand to the ball have a huge bearing on where you will be at impact and the resulting ball flight.

Check your grip Your grip is the main controlling factor in what the clubface does at impact - strong grips generally close the clubface to target and weak grips generally open it. Many golfers who hit big hooks have a strong grip in which the left hand sits too much on top of the club and the right hand too much underneath.

Grip, posture and how you stand to the ball are all important factors at set-uo

The opposite is true of slicers, who typically have a weak grip – the left hand sits too much under the grip and right hand too much on top. This isn’t always the case as some golfers are able to compensate with their wrist angles, but if you’re struggling with a troublesome ball flight, check your grip first.

Watch all 7 videos in Peter's 'Keys to Consistency' series...

Shoulder position at address Many golfers suffer from a slice, especially with the driver, and generally it’s because the path moving to the left of the target line with the clubface open to both path and target line.

If both shoulders sit more or less at the same height at address - so your left shoulder isn’t higher than your right - they will also be open to the target, encouraging a swing path too much off to the left.

Conversely, if your right shoulder is too low, you’ll close your shoulders too much and encourage a swing path too much from inside to out, which can cause a hook.

If the right shoulder is too low you're likely to swing too much from in to out

You can alter your ball flight surprisingly quickly just by adjusting what your body and shoulders are doing at address.

 

Jeremy Ellwood
Contributing Editor

Jeremy Ellwood has worked in the golf industry since 1993 and for Golf Monthly since 2002 when he started out as equipment editor. He is now a freelance journalist writing mainly for Golf Monthly. He is an expert on the Rules of Golf having qualified through an R&A course to become a golf referee. He is a senior panelist for Golf Monthly's Top 100 UK & Ireland Course Rankings and has played all of the Top 100 plus 91 of the Next 100, making him well-qualified when it comes to assessing and comparing our premier golf courses. He has now played 1,000 golf courses worldwide in 35 countries, from the humblest of nine-holers in the Scottish Highlands to the very grandest of international golf resorts. He reached the 1,000 mark on his 60th birthday in October 2023 on Vale do Lobo's Ocean course. Put him on a links course anywhere and he will be blissfully content.

Jezz can be contacted via Twitter - @JezzEllwoodGolf


Jeremy is currently playing...

Driver: Ping G425 LST 10.5˚ (draw setting), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 55 S shaft

3 wood: Ping G425 Max 15˚ (set to flat +1), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 65 S shaft

Hybrid: Ping G425 17˚, Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange 80 S shaft

Irons 3-PW: Ping i525, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 50˚ and 54˚, 12˚ bounce, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Putter: Ping Fetch 2021 model, 33in shaft (set flat 2)

Ball: Varies but mostly now TaylorMade Tour Response