Improve Your Golf Takeaway: 3 Tips for a Better Backswing

When your clubface and body work together from the beginning of the backswing, you have fewer things to correct later.

That is one of the keys to building a repeatable golf swing: reducing unnecessary variables.

In the first few inches of your backswing, you already set the foundation for how your club, clubface and body will move throughout the rest of the swing.

Mistakes in the takeaway often require compensations later in the swing. The better you structure the first part of your backswing, the easier it can become to return the club to the ball consistently.

In this article, I’ll show you three important things to focus on if you want to improve your golf takeaway.

1. Start Your Golf Takeaway With Your Shoulders

One of the most important parts of a good takeaway is how your shoulders move.

Try not to move the golf club back mainly with your hands or arms. Instead, initiate the backswing with the movement of your upper body.

Nelly Korda golf takeaway showing shoulder movement

Your lead shoulder should move down and in while your arms and hands follow the movement.

At the same time, try to keep your wrists relaxed.

Nelly Korda takeaway with relaxed hands and wrists

An easy way to think about this is through your grip pressure.

If 1 is an extremely light grip and 10 is as tight as you can possibly hold the club, try to stay somewhere around 3 to 5.

Too much grip pressure can create unnecessary tension in your hands, arms and shoulders. This can make it harder to move the club naturally.

When your shoulder movement and grip pressure work together, you create a good foundation for getting the club into a solid position during the takeaway.

2. Check Your Clubface

The second important part of your takeaway is the position of the clubface.

When the club shaft is roughly parallel to the ground, check how your clubface is positioned.

A good reference is to have the clubface roughly parallel to your spine at this point in the backswing.

Nelly Korda clubface position during the golf takeaway

Why does this matter?

The better you control the clubface early in the backswing, the less you have to compensate later to get it back into a good position at impact.

One of the biggest factors here is your golf grip.

Your hands are your direct connection to the golf club. That means your grip has a major influence on how the clubface moves throughout the swing.

If your clubface is noticeably open or closed during the takeaway, don’t simply try to force your hands into a different position. Check your grip first.

3. Pay Attention to Your Weight Shift

Your weight shift also starts early in the golf swing.

During the first part of the takeaway, you can shift some weight slightly away from the target. But that does not mean your entire body should slide toward your trail side.

The key is to stay relatively centered.

Your hips should not move excessively toward your trail foot.

Golf backswing weight shift and recentering

After this initial movement, the recentering process already begins.

Your body starts moving back toward a more centered position so you do not finish the backswing with all of your weight stuck on your trail side.

This gives you a much better starting position for the downswing and helps you use your lower body more effectively.

Conclusion: A Good Golf Swing Starts With a Good Takeaway

If you want to improve your takeaway, start with these three areas:

3 Takeaway Keys

Start the movement with your shoulders while keeping your hands and wrists relaxed.
Check your clubface position when the shaft is parallel to the ground.
Shift your weight slightly away from the target early in the backswing without letting your hips slide too far, then start moving back toward center.

These movements may sound simple, but that is exactly why they are worth practicing.

The better your structure is at the beginning of the backswing, the fewer compensations you need later in the golf swing and the easier it can become to strike the ball consistently.