Golf swing for beginners”: Is there an easy way to learn this beautiful game that captivates so many, yet leaves the same amount of people, whether playing as an amateur or full-on professional, sandwiched between total frustration and elation?
Sadly, I have to say a big fat “no” to that dream, and simply because it would destroy the very nature of the game, the DNA of a game that has become an extremely lucrative sport from what was essentially, a long walk for gentlemen!
You can read more about golf being a gentlemen’s game here.
Of course, everybody plays golf today and just take a look at the Ladies tour and see how far the sport has progressed over the years.
But, my dear golfing friends and aspiring golfers, let’s get down to the basics when it comes down to learning the sport and getting the most enjoyment at it.
The chances are that you are just like me — you want to outdrive your friends every week, beat your clients, and simply be the best at your game and I am going to tell you about my own personal journey, the instruction I received and hopefully help you avoid some of the mistakes I made.
So let’s begin with a warning — this article is going to be a long one…but it will benefit you, I promise!
Why Did I Start?
I’ve been an entrepreneur and businessman for just over forty years, at the time of writing this — I took up golf simply because I thought it would be good for business because so many people do business over a round of golf.
I talk about golf and business more in this article and it’s worth a read if I might say so myself!
Today, I’m a business coach and mentor, plus I am part of an amazing company — actually called the amazing brokerage, a real estate brokerage based in my former home city of Dallas, Texas.
Now, you have some background and I’ve got all of the relevant links out of the way and you know my motive for starting!
Entrepreneurs have a unique way of thinking…to me at least and that means that we think differently from most people.
We strive to be the best we can be, are not afraid to challenge the status quo, and generally think we can do anything — it’s a form of “free thinking,” and to me, it’s liberating.
I need to give you some more details about my passions — I’ve written so much about business and entrepreneurship, so now it’s time to let you into the rest of my world, so look out for articles on martial arts, music (especially playing the piano and drums), cooking, wine, my children, boxing, soccer, Olympic weightlifting…I could and will go on.
Golf, however, has become a serious passion and I must also tell you that I have a severely damaged left hip (through my years of martial arts and weightlifting), so I’ve had to adapt my golf swing, and considering I’m also nearing sixty, I can hit the ball pretty well and my best golfing handicap was around 6-7 about ten years ago!
My aim in this article is to tell you how to become your own teacher through conducting your own research and trusting your judgement.
Golf Swing For Beginners: Where Do I Start?
OK, so here is the #1 thing you have to understand about golf and I guess it applies to most things — there are literally a million ways to play this game and so many instructors trying to tell you how to play it.
Some are very dogmatic and insist on the “my way or the highway” approach, some are extremely open-minded and many are in-between.
At the end of the day, it comes down to how many shots it takes you to get the ball in the hole and it does not matter how you do it…period.
Do Your Homework
There are many ways to hold the club, many ways to swing it, or hit it, many ways to start the backswing, finish at the top of the swing, transition through the downswing, arrive at impact, and look beautiful at the finish, so don’t over-obsess with any of them.
A little research goes a long way in this game and just like I advise in business, do your research now, before you start to pick up and swing a club…try a few ideas and swings…and enjoy.
You can refine your swing later and I am going to give you some people who have influenced me and who might be able to influence you…but you must do your homework…your research.
Otherwise, you are going in blind and will be at the mercy of your first instructor, just like I was and that could set you down a path of dogmatic teaching and a one-dimensional belief system.
Ultimately, you have to find your own swing — it cannot be bought!
I urge you to look at all of the names I mention in this article and simply try the ideas out — do it early and find the common denominator between all of them…it’s a challenge and requires some homework, but it will save you a small fortune in lesson fees and help you to focus on becoming your own teacher.
I’m going to go through a list of people who helped shape my current swing and I will give you the reasons why.
I’m not going to go into individual teachers because that is a personal decision you have to take for yourself — all of the people I mention below have an impact on the swing I use today, which I will cover in a future article, but for you, I suggest you suck up all of the info — some of it may seem contradictory, but remember, that is the nature of the game.
Also, I would like to state that I have no financial interest in any of the people I mention, this is purely to help explain my journey and you must remember that I am an entrepreneur at heart and I will try anything and frequently move back and forth between many methods…but that is who I am.
Finally on this matter — if you commit to any of the philosophies concerning the people I mention here, you will have success, and the choice is yours…there are many ways to skin the proverbial golf cat!
Peter Croker
I met Peter when I attended a golf school in Oregan, USA and at the time, I had taken instruction from two local golf professionals in the UK and at my local driving range — one of them warned me off Peter when I mentioned his name, which came about after I bought a golf swing trainer and his name was mentioned in the accompanying literature.
Being an entrepreneur by nature, as soon as someone warns me against something, I investigate and when I relocated my business from London to Dallas, back in 2005, I had the opportunity to attend one of Peter’s golf schools in the US.
I don’t want to do Peter any injustice by trying to explain his lifetime’s work in a few words, so I will give you my take on his approach and what I gained from him.
To me, the essence of his swing is that the “swing” is actually a “hit.”
You can google the terms to get the difference but for Peter, you throw the clubhead at the ball from the top of the backswing and I emphasize the word “throw.”
From Peter’s perspective and I agree with him, this generates a tremendous amount of clubhead speed and when I first read about his views on the swing, after purchasing a weighted gold club training aid, I went out on my local course in Westerham, Kent, in the south of England and simply took that thought to the round that day.
My playing partner was astounded at the new distances I had achieved and bear in mind that I had no instruction other than what I read and this was just my own interpretation.
I then bought Peter’s DVDs and when I arrived in the US, I booked a place at his school soon after!
Peter was an excellent hands-on teacher who believes that you need to follow the right process in learning — from the putt back to the drive.
He believes that you need to work in small steps and gain mastery of each step and his system, if that’s the right word, is designed to take you through those steps and I will say that I haven’t found anything as comprehensive since.
Peter is dedicated to the game and if you are committed, you will gain a massive amount of success, so why did I explore other avenues?
It’s in my nature and it’s nothing more than that.
From my previous instruction, Peter gave me a sense of freedom — as a martial artist I had learned to hit and this allowed for the “hit.”
Now, Peter’s system starts with what he calls “educated hands” and it goes against much of the teaching that the body powers the golf swing — he explains that the hands are the source of motion and when you initiate and concentrate your efforts into your hands in the golf swing, the body will follow.
When I put the same thought into say, boxing, I know that you need to use the body to generate power, but the intent to throw a punch at someone comes from your hands!
If you commit to Peter’s teaching, you will hit some very long and straight shots for sure.
Larry “Wedgy” Winchester
I met “Wedgy” through Peter Croker and he ran a course under the Croker Golf School in Salt Lake City, Utah, which I attended.
Wedgy was perhaps the most open-minded golf instructor that I met — and I think this was because of what he is doing in the video above…trick shots!
He was a former tour professional who became a trick-shot artist, and also the winner of the 1984 world Long-Drive championship.
Wedgy and I would talk for hours and he had a fantastic sense of humor that involved the endless sharing of jokes — he taught me the freedom to explore the golf swing in my own way and his comment when I told him about my latest “discovery” in the swing was:
“Are you shooting par yet?”
The closest to shooting par was when my handicap reached the six to seven mark, so sadly I could never say “yes.”
Wedgy would entertain me with stories from the tour including teaching a well-known UK golfer to hit his tee shot with a putter, something he tried to teach me but I couldn’t master.
In fact, we played a few holes of golf together where he would tee off with a putter, against me using my driver — he won every hole!
Perhaps the story that really got my attention was when he talked about the next person who had a tremendous influence on my golf swing…
Murray “Moe” Norman
Hailed by many as the greatest ball striker of all time, this man to me, is the unsung hero of golf.
With a totally unconventional golf swing, he hit the ball as straight as you could imagine and in the words of Wedgy, he could hit it where he liked and long…contrary to the people who say he was a short hitter!
In the same manner that I tried Peter Croker’s swing, I tried the swing of Moe Norman and I could not believe the consistency and accuracy that I gained…but, my shots were definitely shorter!
So were the people right?
I guess you will have to look at the golfer Bryson de Chambeau to answer that question and he definitely has some Moe Norman influences.
Like anything, there is no substitute for proper instruction, but you cannot get the spirit of the entrepreneur out of the entrepreneur!
Remember that I have a bad left hip and this was in place when I started golf, so all of my swings are going to be affected by this, no matter what person I try to emulate.
When I first tried to emulate Norman, I was missing a huge chunk of information relating to his swing, but then I started to do more research and I began to isolate the power leaks that were obviously missing.
Today, if I am having a bad round, I will revert to that swing to get me out of trouble — so why do I not stick to it and be done with this golfing journey?
You know the answer!
The essence of the swing is to remove all of the unnecessary parts and to keep the swing as close to a “one swing plane” as possible — this means having straight arms at the address, as when gravitational force comes into effect on the downswing, your arms will straighten anyway, so why not start in this manner?
It makes total sense and when you incorporate the wide stance and limit the movement of many parts, you can feel the power in the shot, as well as see the accuracy.
It’s well worth a try and one you may stay with!
Mike Austin
This is the swing that enabled me to play the best golf of my life and that got my handicap down to the lowest.
All with a damaged left hip and I wonder how good I would have been if I had two good hips!
As with all the other swings, I tried this one out cold — and from the start, it worked like a dream.
Everything made so much sense and it combined the use of the body, with the correct hand action, and I very quickly learned to hit solid, powerful, and accurate shots.
I can honestly say that if I had two good hips, this would be the swing I would focus on, and in my own swing that I use today, I keep the essence of the Mike Austin swing…there is a caveat to this, which you will understand from when I talk about Kelvin Miyahira.
The essence is that the body works like a pendulum — the spine swings under the C7 vertebrae and that allows the weight to swing from the front side to the back side and then back to the front, all while hitting the ball solidly and with tremendous accuracy.
I will warn you right now, there are many versions and interpretations of the Mike Austin swing and you have to conduct your due diligence!
I started by watching videos and listening to explanations from the man himself — there is no substitute for learning from the source, but you have to be careful to make the right interpretations.
I believe that Austin was a genius and he had worked out the mechanics of the golf swing in a manner that nobody else did.
He broke the swing down into each component part, just as Peter Croker had done, and then required you, the golfing student to learn, practice and apply it — I do exactly the same with my business coaching…I won’t spoon-feed you, but I will provide all of the help and advice I can to put you on what I believe is the right path.
Austin was a no-nonsense man from what I can gather and the trouble now is that there are many Austin devotees, who try to explain their version of the Austin swing, many of whom fall short of what I believe that Austin taught.
You must do your own research.
John Hensby & Martin Ayers
Let me start with the easy one…John Hensby (JH) is the guy with the white hat and is very similar to me in that he researches the golf swing endlessly.
Martin Ayers is a genius, or he is completely nuts!
They are clearly good friends and I will stay on the side of genius when it comes to Martin, although I have followed him for years, but still cannot fathom out the essence of his methodology…if that is even the right word!
JH however, kindly gave me a lot of time when I asked him for some ideas as to how to play golf without causing pain in my left hip — he actually did a personal video for me which gave me the basis for the swing I use today, which I will cover in a later article.
If JH has a belief in Martin, then I do too and you only have to look at the channel for JH to see the sheer amount of work he has put in regarding the golf swing and he is like me — he will never stand still in the pursuit of excellence, so you must check him out.
I don’t know what more to say regarding Martin as he has put a lot of information out there and it is well worth looking at, but as I said, I struggle with the essence of what he is saying.
Maybe you can help me decipher it!
Kelvin Miyahira
I’ve saved the best for last.
I came across Kelvin Miyahira by pure accident and for me, he put all of the pieces together regarding the golf swing, but the essence of his swing was based on his explanation of how the spine works in the golf swing.
Moving away from all of the physical gym conditioning that so many golfers and coaches talk about today, he brought the “energy” of the swing down to the way the spine works and more specifically, about the role of fascial tissue in the golf swing.
For me, he was light years ahead of his time and I had the privilege of having a couple of online lessons with Kelvin, and sadly, he suffered a stroke, from which I believe he is slowly recovering.
Kelvin for me, was a genius who could easily explain himself and a modern-day Mike Austin, who really dug deep into the mechanics of the golf swing.
I’m not comparing Kelvin to Austin, just giving you my perspective as I believe he was on to something very special when he talked about the role of the spine and the spine “engine” in the golf swing.
I called Kelvin to ask if he could help me as a golfer with a damaged left hip (I am a right-sided golfer by the way) and after explaining my condition in more detail he told me that he wouldn’t charge me if he couldn’t help in the first lesson!
I insisted on paying him simply because I thought it was unfair as he would be using a video link for the lesson and wouldn’t see me in person — and he would have booked out an hour of his time.
The lesson was a godsend as I could now put everything together and based upon the true “engine” that powers the golf swing — in business, I always talk about getting to the root of the problem which usually comes down to a lack of sales or cash flow.
In golf, I believe that it comes down to understanding how you generate the correct movement and then the amount of power for the shot you want to play.
Thankfully, when you understand the spine engine motion, you can apply it as much or as little as required.
There are a few good videos of Kelvin teaching on YouTube and I strongly advise you to check them out.
Today, I use the essence of both the Austin swing and the teachings of Kelvin Miyahira to continue to play golf at a reasonable standard, and once you understand the source of motion and power, you can apply virtually any golf technique you choose.
Conclusion
I hope you are not confused by the above varied and somewhat contradictory methods of playing the game of golf!
My intention is to stimulate your mind to work out the process for yourself and not to be a slave to any system, methodology, or teacher.
You have to become your own teacher.
There are many ways to play the game of golf and it is important for you to understand that most, if not all of the methodologies, systems, and swings out there will work.
The trick is to find out what works for you and the ones that you can apply consistently.
As a beginner, you have certain advantages — you have not been subjected to any “way” and ingrained bad habits — you have an open and free mind, so use it.
My final piece of advice to you is to simply go out and play, no matter what the consequences and learn from your mistakes, just as I have learned from mine!
To good golfing, lower scores, and to your golfing dream!
Neil Franklin
neiljcfranklin@gmail.com
Golf Swing Golf Swing For Beginners Stop Slicing
Last modified: July 17, 2025
