Improving Your Golf Performance

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Every year around this time, I get my golf game in order, and it'll carry me into the fall season. As a golf instructor, I’m fortunate to watch my students make progress throughout the spring and summer months. But I always remind them, and myself, not to lose momentum as we head into the fall and winter.

As an exercise physiologist, and a Titleist Performance Institute-certified golf fitness specialist, I’ve developed a sharp eye for spotting faulty movement patterns. In fact, most of my lessons focus on trying to diagnose bad swings based on bad movements, rather than on fixing how someone holds or swings the club.  

With that said, I wanted to share a few of the most common tips I give during the summer, which can carry your game strong into the fall season:

1. Swing harder. While smooth, easy swings are in your head, they are not always the answer. Most amateur golfers do not swing fast enough. That doesn’t mean you should be swinging at 100% effort on every shot, but you should incorporate a few max-effort swings in your range sessions. Even if you lose some accuracy, this kind of training helps activate the fast-twitch muscle fibers essential for building a more powerful, explosive swing. Golfers shouldn’t try to just hit it 80% all the time, they should just look like they are. Trust me, when pros clock swing speeds at 120 mph or more, they’re not holding anything back.
2. Work on a proper release by swinging your clubs upside down. One of my favorite drills for improving release mechanics is simple, swing your club upside down. Grip it just below the chubhead and take a few practice swings. Try to make the club “whoosh” at the right time. If you hear the “whoosh” in your right ear, for a right-handed golfer, then your release is early. If you hear the “whoosh” as the club gets in front of you and mostly in your left ear, then you’re doing well. Take this one step further by hitting shots immediately after and imagine the fastest part of your swing occurring one foot in front of the ball.
3. Rehearse your swing in parts. Many amateur golfers take too many full practice swings. Break your first few swings down into segments. Practice 15 take-aways, 15 “to the top” swings, 15 swings from the top to impact, and 15 follow-throughs. Do this in front of a mirror and you’ll spot poor positions before they become habits. Fix them before you head to the course.
4. Work on a balanced finish. This is another great drill to try in front of a mirror. Print out a picture of your favorite professional golfer posing for a finish. Put it in front of you and try to mirror the finish during some practice swings. It’s not just about looking good—a proper finish means you likely used the ground correctly, transferred your weight towards the target, and squared the club face.
5. Maintain your spine angle. This goes hand in hand with your balanced finish. One of the most common swing faults in amateur golfers is loss of posture. The easiest way to practice this is to hold a club or aiming rod across the front of your shoulders. Get in your address posture and turn your back away from the target, one end of the club should be pointing just outside of your normal ball position. Now turn your body like you would during your normal golf swing to a three-fourths finished position. The other end of the club should be pointing at the same spot as in the backswing. This means that you’ve kept your spine angle from the top of the swing until almost finished, which will really aid in consistent ball striking.

If you’re not sure that you made progress during this summer’s golf season, search for a TPI-certified golf fitness specialist in your area.

At Move by BJC, we perform TPI mobility screenings, video swing analysis, and provide personalized golf fitness programs to optimize your golf muscles. We also team up with local golf professionals for golf lessons at the Highlands Golf and Tennis Center, just across the street from Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Additionally, if you have a golf related injury or an injury is stopping you from playing, we work together with the TPI-certified medical professionals at the Washington University physical therapy clinic, located next to Move by BJC.

- Aaron Gutjahr, fitness center manager, exercise physiologist