The Basics

Fundamentals – Go through the same fundamentals that you have worked on from the house.

Start High, Go Low – Start with teeing up the ball and then progressively lowering it until you are comfortable hitting the ball from the ground. Besides on the tee shot (first shot off each hole from the tee box, all other shots are played with the ball laying on the ground. It can get frustrating, because you need to hit down through the ground, and the ball will go up! Learn how to hit from a tee first, then progressively lower the tee until you are comfortable hitting from the ground.
*Drivers will always be used off the tee, not hit from off the ground because drivers do not have much loft on the clubface.

Learn how to turn in posture – the hardest thing for beginners to learn is how to turn while in the bent over set up position. The golf swing is simple – the upper body turns in posture, while the arms swing freely up and down.

Tempo – Just like any sport, golf shots require timing and tempo. If you can learn how to turn in posture and have a consistent tempo, you will learn how to hit solid shots very quickly!

Remember – The full swing is just a longer version of the pitch shot. If you can learn how to hit a pitch shot correctly, you will quickly learn how to hit the ball solid on the full swing

Practice at the golf course

Warm up with pitch shots – the first thing golfers need to learn is how to contact the ball solidly with small pitch shot swings. The pitch shot swing (waste high to waste high) is the core of the full swing. When we make full swings, we learn bad habits when we are beginners, resulting in poor contact with the golf ball. If you start with pitch shots, you are swinging smaller at a slower speed so not much can go wrong. Therefore you groove a perfect impact position and solid contact.
1. Warm up with 30 shots, trying to fly it only 20 yards.
2. Pick a spot to aim at and see if you can land your ball on it

Tempo and balance – Feet together while you swing, this will work on your balance (see video demonstration). This simple drill helps you groove all the proper technical positions of the golf swing. I wont go to in depth, just do it every time you go to the golf course!
1. Use a shorter iron (7,8, or 9 iron)
2. 20 shots

Full swing 7-irons – Place an alignment stick for your feet slightly left of target (for right handers or right for left handers), place another alignment stick at the target for club face. Do this for every full swing shot on the range.
1. 15 shots

Full swing drivers – tee it high and let it fly. Keep the good tempo and focus on balance and holding your finish for 3 seconds after you hit the ball
1. 10 shits

Finish with the impact zone – like I said, pitch shots are the core of the full swing. Finish your practice with 10 more pitch shots (hip high to hip high)
1. 10 shots trying to fly it to a target 20 yards away

Video Demonstrations

Turn In Posture Drill

Feet Together Drill

Golf Swing

Hit Down On Irons

Basic Ball Flights

Stance

Set up

Turn In Posture

Ball Position

Ball Position/ Alignment

Athletic Set Up

Final Thoughts

Practicing technique at home develop a solid golf swing and putting stroke so you can take the good technique you developed to the golf course and have more fun!

Do NOT over look the technique practice at home Most PGA Tour players work on their technique at home and the gym. If you have played any golf, you will realize the mind is the hardest part of golf. By working on your technique at home, you are building good swing technique and muscle memory. At the golf course, you want to be an ATHLETE. Yes, I said ATHLETE. You want to have your technique ingrained, and focus on being athletic at the course.

Make it simple, be an athlete at the golf course “reacting” when hitting a golf ball is the ultimate goal. REACTING is being able to set up to a golf ball and NOT think about technique, relax and use your natural athleticism to execute. If you are thinking about the technique then you will not be able to be ATHLETIC.