An overlooked detail of the setup is nonetheless important – having the weight of the club in your hands before you take it away.

Most of us rest the clubhead on the ground before we take it away. That is a bad habit.

The moment you do take the club away, its weight, which was on the ground, comes to your hands, primarily your leading (left) hand (right hand, for lefties), causing you to squeeze slightly with that hand, creating tension that you don’t want.

Before you put the clubhead down behind the ball, make sure you feel its entire weight in your leading hand and keep it there by resting the sole no lower than on the tips of the grass blades.

Now you have pre-set your leading hand grip, tension-free, and there will be no more gripping introduced when you take the club away.

As well, if you rest the weight of the club on the ground, you have to lift the club slightly for it to clear the ground and not slide along it, which lifting can transfer to your shoulders, causing them to lift. You don’t want that to happen, either.

Here’s a second point. You might also find that when the weight of the club is in your hands, it hangs down with the shaft leaning backward (away from the target) just a bit. Keep it like that.

If you make the shaft go straight up and down at address, you will notice tension into your leading wrist and forearm. Bad.

Do these two things, not resting the clubhead on the ground, and allowing the shaft to lean backward as it wants to, to promote a smooth, tension-free, and effortless swing.