Perfecting Your Golf Swing Takeaway (Easy Drills and Tips)

If you can get the golf swing started the right way, you’ll give yourself a chance of completing the shot you had in mind. Your golf takeaway can make or break the rest of your golf swing. These tips and drills for perfecting your golf swing takeaway are all things you can implement into your practice routine today.

The hands and body must work together

If your hands take off on a path of their own before you have initiated some movement in your body, you will have difficulty synchronizing your swing.

Focus on avoiding excessive hand movement or wrist action as you start the swing. Maybe you’ve heard the concept of “one-piece takeaway” in the past. The shoulders, arms and hands move together as the lower body starts to rotate.

Practice this first with small swings and then increase to the full golf swing when you get the movements down.

Keep the clubhead outside the hands

The takeaway is the first move away from the golf ball. If you are struggling for an exact position for your club, make sure the clubhead is just outside the hands.

To work on this, put an alignment stick on the ground between your golf ball and your feet. Make sure the alignment stick is pointing down your target line.

As you swing back, keep your hands on one side of the alignment stick and your clubhead on the other. This is a great drill for golfers who tend to get the club “stuck” too far inside on the takeaway. Creating some consistency in this first move away from the ball should help with your ball striking.

Slow your takeaway

A slower takeaway helps build the foundation for better control. If the takeaway happens too quickly, you’ll notice more variations in the clubface angle impact. One way to improve this and gain control over the face is to take the club back slower.

Experiment with this at the driving range so that you can find a speed that works for your golf game.

Maintain connection with a training aid

Staying more connected in the takeaway can help improve power and precision in your full swing. Some golfers practice this concept with a towel under both armpits. They try to keep this towel in place as they take the club back.

Another way to practice connection in the takeaway would be to use something like the Tour Striker Smart Ball. It’s a training aid that hangs from your neck. It has a ball on it that is placed between the forearms as you swing back. 

You’ll drop the ball if your takeaway is disjointed or the hands and wrists try to take over.

Focus on clubface control

The clubface should stay square to the target line for the first few inches of your golf swing. It’s important to avoid excessive opening or closing of the clubface.

Take a few practice swings where you stop when the club is at first parallel (about halfway up your backswing). 

In this position, look to see if your clubface is shut (pointing towards the ground), open (pointing towards the sky) or square with the toe pointing into the air.

If you’ve started your takeaway and closed or opened the clubface, you’ll spend the rest of your swing trying to get it back to square.

Most golfers are unaware of the clubface position throughout their golf swing. Developing a little awareness can be the ticket to lower scores. The angle of the clubface determines your shot outcome at impact.

Driver versus iron takeaway

Now that you have the basics of a perfect takeaway down, we have to address the issue with which clubs this takeaway works. The driver and iron takeaway are mostly similar but there are key differences.

Angle

The driver swings at a shallower angle because it is a longer club. When you take the club back correctly, you’ll feel the swing is a bit flatter and on a shallower plane. The iron takeaway is steeper so that the impact creates a descending blow.

Width and extension

With the length of the driver being longer and the goal to increase total distance, the driver swing benefits from a wider arc. Keep your arms more extended but maintain the same positions with your hands and wrists. An extended position with the driver helps to generate power.

The same thoughts of low and slow with the hands inside the clubhead will apply when working on both the driver and the irons.

Conclusion

Your golf swing takeaway is a great thing to work on during your next driving range session. Bring an alignment stick, a towel or even the Tour Striker Smart Ball with you.