How this common golf swing match-up mistake can ruin your ball-striking

This article originally appeared in the Golf IQ newsletter, which you can receive weekly by subscribing to Golf Digest+ right here.

The golf swing is a machine with a lot of moving parts. But for the purpose of this newsletter, think of it as a machine with just two parts: a top and a bottom.

That's how legendary Golf Digest Top 50 instructor James Leitz explained it last week during his presentation at the 2025 Open Forum, a teaching conference during the PGA Merchandise Show which doubles as an annual gathering of the biggest golf nerds on earth.

Leitz used the high-powered 3D golf swing system GEARS to place dots on the centers of mass of golfers' upper and lower bodies - one on the top and another on the bottom. He called them grapes. The goal for golfers is to manage the placement of those grapes as they swing.

This is important because there are two different options depending on how your golf swing works, Leitz says. Match up with the right one, and it'll make it easier to make better contact...

Option 1: The Lagger

You've probably heard the phrase "lag" before. If not, it's this: the angle between the club and the forearms on the downswing.

Generally speaking, chasing more and more lag is a bad idea, but some golfers naturally hold onto more of it than others. They release more with their body, with a big rotation through the ball. Overdone, they may struggle with a chicken wing.

These golfers, Leitz says, tend to hit the ball better when they get the X on their upper body further behind the ball on the backswing—then keep it there on the downswing. You can see it in Wyndham Clark's and Min Woo Lee's swings below.

"Their upper body being a little further back gives the lagger more time to get the clubhead past their left arm," Leitz says. "If their upper body is more on top of the ball when they hit the ball, suddenly the shaft is leaning forward too much and they can't hit the ball in the air."

Option 2: The Thrower

Other golfers (I count myself as one of these) have no problem releasing the club with their hands. Their problem may be the opposite: they tend to scoop or flip the club with their hands and not turn their body enough.

If these golfers got their upper body as far back as the laggers, they'd have too much time to release the club. Leitz says this group does best when they keep their upper body more on top of their lower body at the top of the backswing. And while their upper body is still behind their lower body by impact (that's normal and good!), it's not excessively behind their lower body.

"I don't tolerate throwers moving their upper body way off the ball on the backswing," Leitz says. "That moves the low point too far back and the swing out to the right. It lengthens the circle of the swing too much. You'll hit chunk-hooks."

Here’s a couple noteworthy throwers Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson here…

Ultimately, this comes down to two things: What helps you put the clubface on the ball? And hit the ball before the ground? Maybe you have too much space, or not enough. Every golfer has a sweet spot. To find yours, listen to Leitz. Manage the grapes.