Fundamentals

I might suggest you take a look at the Instruction category on this Titleist website. There are great instructors giving helpful tips and drills that might be exactly what you are looking for. Best wishes in your progress.

I'll play along here. I'm a big fan of trying to help others with their golf game. Unfortunately, most people cannot verbalize how the golf swing works. I've spent the better part of the last two years working on how to put the golf swing into words so that ordinary people can understand it regardless of their age, sports background or handicap. I like to start with the upper body and arms because the upper body is 90% of the swing. You can say all you want abound using the ground forces and mobility etc. but Tiger Woods post car wreck is all the proof you need to see that using your upper body and upper body strength can create a lot of power if you know how to use it correctly.

So let's start with the right arm because that's where I see 95% of recreational golfers struggle the most. Actually, let's clear up a few definitions and terms that are mis-used first. Like for instance...the shoulder. People say the shoulder does this, the shoulder does that and it is really used incorrectly. For instance, you hear a lot of instructors talk about how the shoulder externally rotates. Well...no...it doesn't. The shoulder is a connecting point for 3 skeletal bones: the clavicle (collar bone), the scapula (the shoulder blade) and the ball joint of the humerus (upper arm). What they should be saying is that the humerus externally rotates. The clavicle and scapula have an entirely different job.

So how and why does the humerus rotate externally and why is it important? The how: so sit down at the table and put your elbow on it like you are about to arm wrestle someone. Now imagine your imaginary opponent is winning. While your elbow stays in a fixed spot, your hand and forearm push back behind your elbow. If you do this freely on your own and don't fight it trying to win the arm wrestling match...that is external rotation of the humerus. You should be able to this motion with both arms for proper mobility in the golf swing. If you stay there sitting at the table go ahead and notice that you can straighten your arm by dropping your hand closer to the table top and still externally rotate the humerus. The angle between your upper arm and forearm do not need to be 90 degrees or less to do this, nor should you want them to be during the backswing. I'll use a right handed golfer for all this instruction.

At setup, both hands hold the grip near the center of your body. This means that the right hand is on the target side of the right elbow. During the takeaway we want to externally rotate the humerus to get the hands behind (on the trail side) the elbow. You want to keep externally rotating the right humerus all the way to the top of the backswing as your right arm bends close to but not all the way to 90 degrees. I'm going to skip the hands and forearms for now as we go into the downswing.

Now at the top of the swing it is CRUCIAL that you DO NOT TRY TO WIN THE ARM WRESTLING MATCH as you start and complete the downswing!!! The right humerus stays in this externally rotated position as you bring your arms down into impact. All you do is straighten your right arm and if anything you try to increase the external rotation by forcing the right elbow more towards the center and in front of your body. You will notice how this keeps both hands on the trail side of your body...that's where they need to be. Your rotation will bring your hands and the club back to the ball.

If you can get this movement correct with your arms you won't "cast" or come "over the top" or have a "chicken wing" going back. You will be able to have a flat lead wrist into impact wile your trail wrist stays cupped as it should and you will be able to release the club properly into the back of the ball from the inside. But there's a lot more instruction that goes into all of that.

And again, that is why so many people correctly say to "go see an instructor and get lessons". Because if you are not interested in knowing every little facet of the swing in precise detail, or if you are not prepared to explain the swing in precise detail you probably shouldn't be asking or giving tips on a discussion board, honestly.

But here we are! So if you understood that and can correctly implement it into your swing on your own then awesome! I'll be happy to explain more to anyone that wants to ask.