Colin Montgomerie’s fix for the mistake he ‘guarantees’ every amateur makes during their golf swing

Add as preferred source on Google

While everyone’s swing is unique to them, there are common trends that separate amateur golfers from professionals.

Without professional training, we can all fall victim to the same tendencies and develop the same flaws, which prevent us from progressing to the next level. 

Now, we’re not all trying to become a scratch golfer, and we aren’t all able to dedicate hours upon hours to improving our golf. But there are some simple and easy changes we can make that can lead to massive improvements. 

Colin Montgomerie, a 31-time winner on the European Tour, once identified the mistake he sees every amateur golfers make, which can be resolved before they even swing the club.

Colin Montgomerie’s fix for the big mistake he sees every amateur golfer make

All of us have felt the first tee nerves. We step onto the tee box with butterflies in our stomachs, grip the club tight, and hope to hammer one onto the fairway.

As we get tense, so do our hands and arms, and that’s something that affects every amateur golfer’s swing, according to Montgomerie.

He said, “I guarantee every one of you would grip the club tighter than I do at address. Every one of you would strangle the club at address, not allowing you to do the most important part of the swing, which is finishing the backswing.

“A lot of you rush. If you see your swings on a video, you would be shocked at how quick it is, normally. I take about a second from the time I swing to come down and hit it. You’ll be .8 of a second, which is much quicker. That‘s because you’ve strangled this club at address.

“The tighter you grip, the less you can get back, because the forearms are tense, everything is tense. So what we do is reduce the grip, allowing us to finish the backswing. Light hands at address, enabling us to finish the backswing.”

Colin Montgomerie told amateurs how to improve their follow-through

Something all amateur golfers can work on is their contact point with the ball. Bryson DeChambeau has a drill to improve the low point of your swing, and says scratch golfers can successfully complete it 10 times in a row. 

But Montgomerie said that instead of focusing on where the club meets the ball, focus solely on the swing, and treat the ball simply as something that gets in the way of your golf swing.

He explained, “We never hit at the golf ball, we hit through it. Big, big difference, because when you swing at something, you tend to stop, and you don’t follow through. People ask me, ‘Where do I hit the ball?’

“Well, from the top of the backswing right through to the finish. That’s the hit, the ball just gets in the way.”

So next time you’re feeling tense on the course, remember that the best thing you can do is relax your hands and swing through the ball.