Common Junior Golf Swing Faults and Simple Fixes

The faults coaches see most often in young golfers, what each one looks like in ball flight, and a simple drill for each.

Every junior golfer develops a few quirks as they learn, and that is normal - golf is a genuinely difficult motion to coordinate, especially in a growing body. A handful of faults come up again and again in junior coaching, and most have simple low-pressure fixes that do not require overhauling a child's whole swing.

Two warnings before the list. First, fix one thing at a time; a child given three swing thoughts will do none of them. Second, several of these 'faults' are the body's sensible response to equipment that does not fit, and no drill will out-argue a club that is too long.

The fault finder

Grip pressure that is too tight

Many young golfers grip the club far harder than they need to, especially when they are excited to hit the ball hard. A tight grip restricts wrist hinge and speed and often shows up as tension through the whole swing. The toothpaste cue works well: hold the club firmly enough to control it, gently enough that you would not squeeze anything out of an imaginary tube.

Over-swinging in search of distance

It is natural for kids to want to hit the ball as far as possible, and that often leads to a backswing longer than the body can control. Rather than telling a child to swing shorter - which they experience as being told to hit it less far - shift the focus to balance. Can they hold their finish position for a few seconds after the shot? Chasing a balanced finish naturally shortens an over-long swing without the child feeling restricted.

Early extension

Standing up out of the setup posture as the club approaches the ball is one of the most common faults in junior golf, usually caused by instinctively trying to help the ball into the air. Have the child make slow swings with their backside staying lightly in contact with a chair back or an alignment stick a few centimetres behind their hips, so they feel what maintaining posture through impact is meant to feel like.

Looking up too early

Lifting the head and eyes before the swing is finished causes thin and mishit shots. Because it is driven by excitement rather than technique, the best fix is usually patience and reassurance - and a small game where the child tells you what the strike sounded like before looking up. That gives them something to do instead of looking, which works far better than being told not to look.

When it is the equipment, not the swing

Several classic junior faults are manufactured by ill-fitting clubs, and drilling them is futile.

• A club that is too long forces the hands high at address and encourages standing up through impact
• A shaft that is too stiff produces low weak flight no matter how well the child swings
• A wrong lie angle produces a persistent one-way miss that looks exactly like an alignment or path problem
• A grip that is too thick for small hands prevents proper hand action and encourages an armsy swing

Length is the first thing to rule out - see the junior golf club length guide.

Then flex, in golf shaft flex explained, and lie angle, in its own explainer.

How to help without over-coaching

The most common parent mistake is volume of instruction. A junior who receives comments after every shot stops swinging freely and starts performing for an audience.

• One thing at a time, for a whole session
• Ask before telling - 'what did that one feel like?' gets far more than 'you looked up'
• Praise the process, not the outcome: a good swing that finds a bunker is still a good swing
• Let a bad shot go. The child already knows

There is more on where the line sits in how much should parents get involved in golf.

Video helps, in small doses

A slow-motion clip from face-on and from behind shows a junior more in ten seconds than a paragraph of description, and it settles arguments about what is actually happening. Keep it occasional - a child who is filmed constantly starts swinging for the camera.

How to film it usefully is covered in recording and reviewing your child's swing.

Growth spurts change everything, temporarily

A junior who suddenly cannot find the middle of the club may not have developed a fault at all. Through a growth spurt, limb lengths change faster than the coordination that controls them, and clubs that fitted six months ago no longer do. Both effects show up as a swing that has fallen apart.

• Re-measure height before assuming the swing is the problem
• Expect a temporary dip in consistency and say so out loud, so the child is not alarmed
• Reduce technical work and increase playing and short game while it settles
• Watch for aches in the back, wrists and knees, which warrant a rest rather than a drill

The equipment side of this is covered in junior golf club fitting reassessment.

Faults that are actually fine

Not every unusual-looking thing in a junior swing is a problem. Children commonly have a flying trail elbow, a slightly strong grip, a bit of lift, or a swing that looks nothing like a textbook - and many of these resolve on their own as they get stronger, or are simply how that player swings.

The test is not whether it looks conventional but whether it works and whether it hurts. A repeatable swing that produces decent contact and no pain does not need fixing because it looks unusual on a video.

When to hand it to a coach

When to hand it to a coach

A parent can usefully maintain grip, setup, alignment and enthusiasm. Anything involving the sequence of the swing - how the body moves and in what order - is coaching, and a few sessions with someone who works with juniors will save months of guesswork.

How to choose one is set out in choosing a junior golf coach.