Golf Tips: The Perfect Set Up

By KOSTA RAMIREZ, PGA, Treetops Resort

Why is set up so important? If you set up incorrectly you are most likely going to make a poor motion in your golf swing. 

We first make sure we are holding the club properly. When we hold the golf club, we must make sure it is held in the fingers and the thumbs are on the opposite side of the center line of the grip. If held properly you should be able to see 2 to 3 knuckles of your top hand. 

Next, we focus on our weight distribution. This will change for different shots and lies, but your flat lie, mid iron shot I like the weight evenly distributed 50-50. After the weight is evenly distributed, I want you to think ATHLETE. Golf is an athletic sport, so we need to set up as an athlete. Our knees are slightly bent, which allow our upper body to bend forward from the waist. If this is done correctly you should feel the weight in the balls of your feet and the butt end of the club pointed to your lead hip. 

Once we have the proper set up, it’s time to align ourselves to the target. I always recommend standing behind the golf ball first and picking your target. Once you have your target you then address the golf ball. The club head will be pointing at your target and your feet parallel to your target (left of the target for right-handed players and right of target for left-handed players). 

The biggest mistake I see with amateur golfers are, lining up their feet to the target. This will most likely promote the golf ball to start offline and start to produce poor swing characteristics to compensate for misalignment. Always practice with alignment sticks when you’re on the range (as you see in the pictures below). With these checkpoints in your setup and alignment, your body can now move correctly and hopefully lead to more birdies on your next round.