Arnold Palmer’s 10 simple (& brilliant) pieces of golf advice

Golf instruction is ever-evolving, but the best advice stands the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Timeless Tips, we’re highlighting some of the greatest advice teachers and players have dispensed in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today, we have 10 swing tips from Arnold Palmer, first published in our February 1964 issue. For unlimited access to the full GOLF Magazine digital archive, join InsideGOLF today; you’ll enjoy $140 of value for only $39.99/year.

There’s no course that features a challenge quite like Augusta National. We’re reminded of that fact each spring when some of the best golfers in the world visit the hallowed grounds. This week, the ladies will face that challenge at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, followed by the men at next week’s Masters Tournament.

Earning a green jacket is one of the grandest feats in all of sports. Once you slip on that coat, you join a fraternity that few else can claim. And winning four times? Well, that’s rarified air.

Just three players have ever won more than three green jackets — Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus — with each being among the game’s greatest ever players. Palmer, the first to ever exceed three jackets, won his fourth Masters title in 1964. And just two months before, he shared with GOLF Magazine 10 easy swing tips for our readers to learn from.

Read them in full below.

1. Grip: Your hands tell a story

When your grip is correct, your hands are unified and act as one throughout the swing, yet each has separate functions: the left hand is the guide, while the right supplies the power. The pressure points are the last three fingers of the left and the thumb and index finger of the right. The club should be gripped firmly as if you were carrying a fishing pole to the water. Never exert extra pressure. Squeezing the club or adjusting the hands once they are placed will tend to throw the original grip off-line. | recommend a strong grip with the thumb of the left hand along the side of the club.

The right hand should approach the club as though you are about to shake hands and, when you close the right, the tips of the index finger and thumb touch, which forces you to extend the forefinger down the shaft and thus cradle the club in the two pressure fingers. This grip should produce a hooking action as the left thumb along the side of the club will force you to take it back inside and come back to the ball the same way. Do not alter your grip to correct or produce a hook or slice. The grip must remain consistent if the results are to be consistent. Alter your stance. It is more effective.

2. Dial in your practice

Advancement to the highest possible degree is almost impossible without practice. I’ve known persons who have played for many, many years and have improved only slightly, while others who have allotted time for lessons and practice were rewarded by getting their games up to levels they had not previously thought possible, and in little time. You can learn more about the game on the practice area than anywhere else, if you use the time wisely. Concentrate on what you are doing and always keep the important fundamentals in mind. Start off easily by using a 9-iron or wedge. The biggest mistake you could make would be to take the driver and begin booming the ball out of sight. Your body is not ready for the demands of a big hit, and your golf game would be hurt, not helped, by it.

Select a target and hit to it. I’ve seen many golfers stand on the practice tee and hit shots aimlessly. This carelessness is bad, because the oversight is often carried on to the course. I remember a good friend of mine hitting a perfectly executed iron shot on a par-three hole back home and, as the ball went straight off the clubface, he said, “There’s one of the best shots I’ve ever hit.” But then he looked up to see the ball go straight out of bounds! He had failed to align himself properly, a fault that originated on the practice tee. It’ll pay to analyze your strong points as well as your weak ones and then to satisfy any curiosity about the mechanics of the game through practice. It is this approach that is responsible for the high degree of expertness now in the game.

3. Nail your stance

The start of the golf stance is the most natural thing in the world. Just stand with the weight evenly distributed between both feet that are spread approximately the same distance as the width of the shoulders. To make certain you are aiming correctly, place a golf club on the ground with the head of the club pointing in the direction you want the ball to travel. Place the toes of both feet in line with the club and you have a square stance, which is the normal one for any shot in which you desire distance. | walk up to the ball and take a stance before choosing a club. When an imaginary line from my right toe to my left points at the target, I can visualize the line of flight.

Now, to get ready to start the backswing, flex the knees as if you were going to dive off the edge of a swimming pool. You should have the feeling that you are about to sit down in a chair. I have noticed from time to time that when a player wants to hit the ball a long way, he unconsciously widens his stance. Actually, this is exactly opposite of the correct way, for when you widen your stance, you restrict the turn and the result is a short backswing and a smaller arc. So, stand naturally and concentrate on distributing the weight evenly for firm and proper foot action during the swing when the weight shifts to the right foot and then to the left.

4. Keep your head still

For a good golf swing, the head must remain motionless. Any movement will throw the swing out of alignment. For instance, if the head is moved to the right side at the start of the swing, the circle of the clubhead will move back, too, causing the clubface to expend its maximum speed before making contact. Many are confused after a bad shot because they insist they have kept their eyes on the ball throughout the swing. It is possible to keep the eyes on the ball and still move the head, either from side to side or up and down.

A good checkpoint to proper head position is the left heel. It should be anchored to force the body turn to be correct. With the left heel on the ground, the pivot will move in one piece. You can practice without a club in your hands by concentrating on moving the left shoulder under the chin and then coming back with the right shoulder replacing it. The position of the head must be behind the ball from start to finish. If it gets in front, it will force you to scoop the ball —  hit it almost entirely with the arms and hands — and will restrict the follow-through since the body will be in the way. Distance is gained by a long arc of the club that generates clubhead speed. 

The bigger the turn, the more chance for a power swing even though the hands, the hips and the feet also have to perform their functions. But the turn should be the primary concern because then all components are positioned and the chances for a long hit are increased.

5. Nail shots from uneven lies

The uneven stance of hilly lies creates a push or a pull that must be counteracted if the shot is to come off properly. When the ball is on a sidehill lie, higher than your toes, the swing flattens, and thus, the danger of hooking is dominant.

Choke up on the club and shorten the backswing, play the ball a little right of center and change your stance to allow you to aim a bit to the right of target. When the ball is lower than the toes, the reverse is true: the downward pull will lead to a push or a fade. Line up so as to aim to the left, with the weight more on the heels than usual. With an uphill lie, the left side is naturally withdrawn a bit. From an open stance, take the club straight back and hit down and through as you would for any regular shot. Normally, however, the ball will travel in a higher trajectory, so compensate by using a little longer club, and keep your balance. Offset the awkwardness of a downhill shot by bending the uphill knee so that the hips are level. Keep the swing smooth and uninterrupted, let the clubhead follow the ground’s contour, and hit down on the ball without raising the body at impact. Especially the shoulders, the hips and the head.

The hilly lies may not seem like real problem shots, but it would be well to prepare yourself for these eventualities in advance of your round, because, unlike the straightaway conditions of the practice area, the course you play is seldom level, and these situations, which may not be your personal problem when you’re reading about them, might suddenly confront you.

6. The secret to a perfect takeaway

If a poll were taken among the touring pros, undoubtedly the club picked as the most important would be the putter, overwhelmingly. However, I have yet to see a player who could score if he didn’t consistently drive the ball accurately and with distance. It is the big tee shot that puts you in position to attack. In this respect, it seems odd that the most important part of the drive is the 12 inches away from the ball at the start of the swing. 

The club should be taken back slowly, parallel to the ground for the first 12 inches, the hands doing all the work. Then, in unison, the shoulders, hips and knees turn together with the left shoulder and arm bringing the club back to the top of the backswing. | cannot emphasize too strongly that this movement has to be slow and deliberate. The downswing is begun by shifting the weight back to the left side with a pulling of the left hand guiding the club into hitting position. The left hip, meanwhile, must turn out of the way to ensure a proper follow-through. The follow-through is just as important as the hit and ensures the clubhead speed will keep generating while the clubface is contacting the ball. It will also force the player to shift all of his weight to the left side, where it rightfully belongs.

7. Bomb it long

As a youngster, | used to swing at the ball so hard both my feet would leave the ground. From the very beginning, I wanted to hit the long ball, and I still do, I might add. But I am often guilty of that common error, too fast a backswing, with the result that I lose, not gain, yardage. The lesson is clear. There is more to the big hit than brute strength. You cannot get distance with the woods if you are impatient to swing and, in the process, do not set yourself up properly to ensure a smooth, rhythmic swing. Timing is the key to the long ball. 

That is why you see so many players who are not as physically endowed as the strong boys hit the ball a long, long way. These players have practiced endless hours in perfecting a smooth swing. Some of them have fast backswings, to be sure, but those long hours on the practice tee have made them do things correctly, even though they may do them fast. For the average player who doesn’t have time to go to the practice tee daily, the main concern is to slow down. If you start fast, there is a tendency to jerk the club away from the ball with the hands, and the body cannot move as fast as the hands. Think of the body turn throughout the swing, and it will automatically slow you down and give the body a chance to stay in tune with the hands. There will be no loosening of the grip at the top of the backswing, and the weight shift will become routine and assure good contact with the ball.

8. An easy trick for long irons

Because his drives are not long enough, the average player faces long shots to nearly every green, and it is a struggle just to reach the putting surface. As a result, a pessimistic fear of the two-, three- or four-irons builds up in his mind. 

This psychological affliction causes a preliminary worry and reduces to the bare minimum the chances of getting off a good shot. Although hitting with the long irons is the same as hitting with every other club in the bag, the player feels he must hit harder than with the shorter clubs to gain more distance. That is a false notion. The clubs are made so that if you use the same swing with all irons, comparative distances will result. Trying to hit the long irons harder with an exaggerated power swing makes it impossible to hit the ball the same way twice. It ruins the timing and produces a half-hit. Swing right down into the ball, and don’t worry about the ball getting airborne; the club will do the work. It is not necessary to try to lift at impact. 

The value of learning to play this shot with the same swing as with the shorter irons is the biggest single thing in the transformation of a high-handicapper to a low one. Aim for the middle of the green, hit down into the ball, and it will go up as your scores go down. Of this you can be absolutely sure.

9. Learn to work the ball

It is not a crime to hit a “crooked” ball. Being able to produce a hook or a fade around a partial stymie, or a high shot over one, or a low ball into the wind is the mark of an advanced player who is on his way to more confident golf and more pleasant rounds. I do not change my grip to hit type shots. 

For a hook, I close my stance and hit from the inside out, closing the face of the club according to the degree of hook needed. To fade the ball, I open the stance slightly and take the clubhead a little on the outside. A return to the ball in the same plane will make it move from left to right. The lofty shot is best obtained by playing the ball up forward, with the hands a bit behind the clubhead, and to hit it low, I keep the hands in front of the clubhead throughout the swing, which, by the very nature of this shot, must remain smooth. The ability to hit type shots can be the difference between a fair golfer and an outstanding one. 

You’ll never know when a ‘maneuvered’ stroke will win a tournament for you. Most championship courses are designed to feature holes protected by a fairway tree, which rewards a tee shot with a draw, a pin hidden behind a trap that requires a fade or a high, floating approach and an undulating green that opens only to a well-placed tee shot. When faced with these challenges, knowing how to manipulate the ball can be the winning difference.

10. Flag your short irons

The short irons are the control clubs and are regarded as scoring weapons. Accuracy with them has helped reduce more scores than an oversized handicap. The closer you can plant these shots to the hole, the less reliance there is on the putter, a fickle stick at best. The feet are positioned close together with less than a foot of daylight in between and the left is drawn back from the ball so that the left side of the body is pointing to the target. Place the clubface squarely behind the ball before the start of the swing and restrict the backswing to a point where the hands are somewhere between the hips and the shoulders at the top.

The backswing is much shorter than with the other clubs, but there is a concentrated hitting action with a full follow-through to force the club down and through the ball. Moving back into the ball, do not attempt to speed up the swing but let the left hand pull the club down. The feet stay firmly on the ground throughout the execution of short iron shots, and the weight shift is negligible. Unlike the long irons and woods, distance is not a factor to be considered, only a clean, crisp hit. The weight is concentrated on the left side during the shot, so there is less margin for error than on the longer tries where a shift of weight from left to right and back again is an integral part of the swing.