Frank Beard was not a range-gadget guy. He was a Tour winner who treated setup as the whole job.
Joseph Franklin Beard (born 1939) won 11 times on the PGA Tour, including the Tournament of Champions in 1967 and 1970, and led the Tour money list in 1969. He also won on what is now the Champions Tour. He played the majors well enough to finish third in the U.S. Open (1965 and 1975) and posted top-10s at the Masters and PGA Championship. Before the Tour he studied accounting at Florida. That shows up in how he talked about golf: fewer moving parts, same checks every day.
This page is not a claim that Beard endorsed a modern training aid. It is what he treated as non-negotiable — and which tools on this site map to that list if you want a physical check.
The “PGA” checklist
Beard kept the pre-shot list short: posture, grip, alignment. Same three, every day. If those were identical, he trusted the swing to settle itself. If they drifted, he did not add a fourth swing thought. He put the constants back.
That is the useful part for a weekend player. Most “I have no idea where this ball is going” rounds start with a different grip on Tuesday than Saturday, or feet aimed one place and shoulders another.
Mental realignment. Beard’s public point on aim was simple: a lot of ugly swings are the body trying to save a shot that was already aimed wrong. Get the target and the body line honest first. Then the swing has less work to do.
Grip actually mattered in his career
In 1975, during a long slump, Beard went to Paul Runyan. The diagnosis was the grip — specifically the trail hand sitting too strong. He weakened that hand, rebuilt the hold, and immediately played better, including a Sunday charge at the U.S. Open at Medinah. He said the change took minutes to make and days to understand.
So if you steal one thing from Beard, steal this: the grip is not a personality trait. It is a setting. When the setting is off, the rest of the swing becomes a compensation.
Aids that match the checklist
These are modern tools for his three constants. They are not period equipment.
1. Alignment sticks — posture and aim
Two sticks on the ground give you the railroad track Beard was talking about without a coach standing behind you: one on the target line, one along the toes. Check feet, hips, and shoulders against the inner stick before you add swing thoughts.
2. Grip It Rite — the same grip every day
Grip It Rite is a training grip that fits over your own club and adds a small alignment scope. The grip wells keep hand placement from wandering. The scope is there so you can see when the face and the “forward lean” you think you have are not the same thing.
That is the closest match on this site to Beard’s “same grip every day” rule, and it is closer to a real grip than a clip-on sleeve. It is still a trainer. Use it on the range, then take it off and hit the next eight balls without it. If the hands do not return to the same place, you are not done.
How to use it the Beard way: ten slow grips, five half-swings, then a small bucket with it off. You are checking a constant, not wearing a new swing.
A short practice you can actually finish
- Put one stick on the target line and one along your toes.
- Take your hold on Grip It Rite. Look at the scope. Square the face.
- Make the same posture three times in a row before you hit a ball.
- Hit six shots with the trainer on, six with it off.
- If the second six spray, the problem is still setup. Do not invent a new takeaway.
That is the whole session. Beard’s point was that the list stays short on purpose.
Disclosure
If you buy through the Amazon links on this page, we may earn a commission. Alignment sticks and Grip It Rite are current training aids used here as stand-ins for Beard’s fundamentals, not products he sold or used on Tour.
