Nearly every golfer has one of these swing faults. Even the best players in the world struggle with them from time to time. In this article, I’ve included plenty of tips, plus fantastic advice on how to hit longer, straighter drives, strike your irons purely, and hit your wedge shots close.
Common Swing Faults
1. Poor Takeaway (Driver) – Pic 1
If you start a journey to the airport and take the wrong first turn, it takes a lot longer to get there. It’s the same with your golf swing—it’s going to go all over the place, which can be quite frustrating, just like a messy journey.
When setting up, think about the relationship of the toe to the heel in your driver takeaway. I never like to see just the heel or just the toe start moving first.
I prefer to see the toe and heel of the driver move away together. This helps keep the clubface square.
2. Open Clubface at Impact (Driver) – Pics 2 and 3
When you come into impact and the clubface is pointing to the right of your path and target line, you’re going to end up hitting it right (for a right-handed golfer).
There are a couple of fixes you might want to try. First, rotate your hands slightly to the right side of the golf club.
By doing this, you give the driver a better chance of pointing a little more closed to your path at the moment of impact.
If you create a grip like this, you’ll need to match it with a compatible release. If you’re someone with limited mobility, I believe you can gain a few extra yards with your driver by doing this.
If I were rotating my hands to the right to control my clubface, I’d want to feel a bit more forearm and wrist roll through the release to help square the face.
The second option is for more athletic golfers who can maintain side bend through the ball.
If you have a weaker grip, you might want to feel a bit more wrist flexion at the start of your downswing to help square the face at impact.
This second option does require more flexibility, but many golfers can learn and benefit from it.
Take these fixes to the range and then out on the course—under pressure—and see which one works best for your game.
3. Driver Swing with Irons
You can’t think of the driver swing and iron swing as the same.
Think of two dots: one on your sternum and one on your belt buckle. With the driver, I want you to feel that at the top of the backswing, the dot on your sternum is slightly behind your belt buckle— and stays slightly behind at impact.
With irons, both dots should sit on top of each other at the top of the backswing and again at impact.
This encourages a more downward strike with your irons, as opposed to the upward strike you’re aiming for with the driver.
4. Cupped Lead Wrist – Pic 4
I see a lot of golfers with very cupped lead wrists at the top of the backswing, which causes the clubface to open.
With an iron, this creates a “scoopy” contact. With a driver, it often leads to shots that veer way right.
To fix this, try taking some onehanded swings. Swing to the top. If your wrist is cupped and you do nothing, the clubface will end up way open at impact.
You’ll be relying on a “save” or a scoop—neither of which are sustainable long-term. The fix: hook your right arm under your lead arm (see picture).
The fix: hook your right arm under your lead arm (see picture). Practice getting the logo on your glove to point to the sky at the top of your backswing.
This drill creates a squarer clubface and a much more reliable release.
5. Poor Pitching Set-Up – Pic 5
I often see golfers play 75- yard pitch shots like full iron shots—with a wide stance and too much speed.
This leads to fat and thin strikes.
Start by gripping down slightly and narrowing your stance. I recommend positioning the ball slightly back in your stance.
Keep your weight on your lead side throughout the shot. At the top of the backswing, imagine you could pause and have a conversation—this promotes better tempo.
Refer to the picture to see what I mean. On the downswing, let gravity do the work—it’s almost like gravity hits the shot for you.
This is a great way to control distance and improve consistency from 100 yards and in.
