Golf Swing Follow Through for Beginners – Finish Your Swing in Style

January 31, 2022 Dan No Comments

So far the covered parts in the golf swing for beginners series are the stance, the backswing, and the downswing. The final part is the golf swing follow-through for beginners which does not just help you finish in style but also tells a lot about your whole golf swing execution. The more your pose at the end of your follow-through resembles one of the pro golfers on tour, the better the chance your swing was good.

It does not have to look exactly the same, but close enough is preferred. If the backswing and downswing are well executed, it naturally translates into a good execution of the follow-through. As soon as something is off and out of position, it reflects in the follow-through.

Here is the breakdown of the moving parts in the follow-through:

Arms Movement – tells how the contact was, tells us the ball trajectory, tells the intensity of the swing.
Wrists Movement – helps to release the club on time.
Legs Movement – helps to complete the turn.
Upper Body Movement – it helps to complete the turn and helps with stability through the swing.
Hips Movement – helps to transfer the energy to the lead side, and helps to complete the turn.
Shoulders Movement – helps the arms and the club to complete the turn in a circle.
Head Movement – helps to complete the turn.
Club Movement – shows how the contact was, tells the ball trajectory, tells the intensity of the swing.

Arms Movement

The arm movement in the follow-through tells a lot about the swing. Just by the final arm position, it is possible to know how hard the swing was, the ball trajectory, and if the contact was good.

Lead Arm – stays straight after impact until parallel to the ground then starts bending as the arms are wrapping around the lead shoulder to finish fully bent in the elbow at the end of the follow-through. If the swing is not full, the final position is somewhere between parallel to the ground and fully wrapped around depending on the intensity of the swing.
Trail Arm – stays straight after impact until parallel to the ground then starts bending until bent about 90 degrees in the elbow at the end of the follow-through. Same as the lead arm, the final position depends on the intensity of the swing.

Wrists Movement

The wrists do not move through impact and only start unhinging to release the club a few feet after impact. Once the club is released, the wrists start hinging again when the club is parallel to the ground. That helps the club to keep moving naturally until the end of the swing.

Legs Movement

Along with the hips, the leg movement helps to complete the body rotation through the swing.

Lead Leg – it starts straightening at the beginning of the follow-through until is completely straight when the swing is completed. A good checkpoint is to see if the whole body can be balanced on the lead leg once the follow-through is completed.
Trail Leg – it stays bent the same way it was at the end of the downswing, and it keeps rotating toward the target. Once the follow-through is completed the knee and the thigh are facing the target.

Upper Body Movement

Just before the transition from the downswing for the follow-through at impact, the upper body is facing toward the side of the target. It continues to move in a circle around the body axis until it turns towards the target at the end of the follow-through. The upper body movement in the follow-through helps with stability and shows how the swing was executed.

Hips Movement

Once the transition to the follow-through happens, the hips remain in the same relation to one another with the lead side hip staying higher than the trail side hip. As the body keeps rotating, the hips start leveling up. At the end of the follow through the hips are level with the trail side hip slightly closer to the target in relation to the lead side hip. The hip movement helps to finish the rotation through the swing, and it helps with the energy transfer to the lead side.

Shoulders Movement

At the beginning of the follow through the shoulders are in the same relation to one another, the lead shoulder is higher than the trail shoulder. As the follow-through continues, the shoulders start leveling up. Once the follow-through is complete, the shoulders are level with the trail shoulder closer to the target than the lead shoulder.

Head Movement

From the neutral position at the beginning of the follow-through, the head starts rotating toward the target a few moments after impact. The head movement makes the whole body rotation easier, and when the follow-through is complete the head faces the target.

Club Movement

At the beginning of the follow through the shaft still leans towards the target, and it stays in the same position until a few feet past impact. A few feet after impact the wrists unhinge to release the club to put it in the position as an extension to the arms.

From that point, the club follows the arms in a natural circle movement until the end of the follow-through. It forms again an angle with the arms, as the wrists hinge again past the point when the club is parallel to the ground. The final club position will depend on the intensity of the swing, with the full-swing final position being right behind the head.

The Follow-Through Reveals a Lot

If the execution of the golf swing is proper, it usually shows in the follow-through. In the same way, you can tell if something went wrong during the swing. It is as important to finish the swing properly as it is to do a proper backswing and downswing. In the end, it is not important to look like a pro while finishing the swing because of aesthetics, but because if you do look like a pro it means you are doing things right.

It gives you confidence and helps with consistency on the course. Whichever part of the follow-through you have to work on, make sure you focus just on that. It is not very productive to work on multiple things at once. This is the final part of the golf swing for beginners series, in case you want to check the other ones you can do it here; stance, backswing, downswing. Keep on practicing, and remember to enjoy your time on the course.

Golf Balls World