There is One Perfect Grip

Watch any Professional Tour event on television and you will quickly see that there are a wide variety of different grips in use among the world’s best players. Some players use overlap grips while others use interlocking grips. Some grips are weak, while others are strong, and some fall in between to what we term neutral. If the best players in the world are utilizing a wide variety of grips to be successful, how can there possibly be only one perfect grip in golf?

Quite simply, there is no one perfect way to hold the club. The grip is simply a connection of the golfer to the golf club. If a player can return the clubface squarely to the ball with speed and consistency, they have found the perfect grip for themselves.

There is a best way for each individual to hold the club and the grip you choose should be based on a number of factors:

• What is your preferred ball flight – draw, straight or fade?
• Are you physically strong, average or a little weak?
• How big are your hands?
• How are your hands positioned when your arms hang naturally by your side?
• Do you swing the club with a predominantly body motion or hand action?

The answers to these questions will help to determine the best grip for you as an individual golfer.

Regardless of whether you utilize an interlocking or overlap grip, whether it is strong, neutral or weak, there are certain factors which are consistent with all good grips:

• The hands should be linked in some way.
• The hands can be overlapped, interlocked or connected in some other way, but when the hands are linked it is easier for them to operate as a single unit in consistently returning the club squarely to the golf ball.
• The grip is held more on the fingers than the palms. When the grip is held more towards the fingers, you will be able to move the club at greater speeds and have finer control over the club head.

So, how do you know what is the best grip for you? Your first check is your current ball flight. If you consistently slice the ball then you may need a stronger grip (hands positioned more to the right on the grip). The opposite will apply if you consistently hook the ball. If you lack club head speed and consistency, check that you are gripping the club towards the fingers rather than the palms of both hands.

You should also talk to your local PGA Professional about your grip. They will be able to analyze your swing and ball flight and suggest a grip that will match your body type and ball flight.

Club Lie Angle and the Address Position

 

One of the first things we check at the start of every lesson is how a player sets up to the golf ball. The address position has a huge impact on how the club is moved and thus the overall swing pattern. There is no one way that is universally correct for every player to correctly address the golf ball, but some fundamentals consistently apply for all of us.

When the club comes into contact with the ball most players correctly recognize that the sole of the club should be flat to the ground at impact. This will mean the sole of the club creates a divot that is equally deep on the toe end of the club as it is on the heel end. Thus it will be easier for the club to stay square through impact and give you a better chance of producing straight golf shots.

Unfortunately, many players take this idea a step too far and try to set the sole of the club flat on the ground in their address position. This is not correct. As you swing the club into impact the hips have rotated and there is more weight on your left leg than the right as you pivot around the left leg. In doing this the hands enter the impact zone in a higher position than they were at address and it is at this time the sole of the club will be flat on the ground.

If you address the ball with the sole of the club flat on the ground, you will create too much tension through the wrists and forearms, as well as setting the wrists in a position which will make it more difficult for them to hinge correctly in the backswing. A lack of wrist hinge can lead to a variety of problems, the most obvious being that the hands can not set the club correctly at the top of the back swing and you will lose considerable club head speed.

In an athletic address position the arms hang comfortably from the shoulders with a slight cocking of the wrists as you grip the club. The toe of the club should be off the ground slightly, with the club resting more on the heel of the club. From this set up position it is easier for the wrists to cock correctly and set the club at the top of the back swing.

A simple check to see if you have the club resting correctly on the ground at address and thus the wrists are well set, is to take your normal address position on a hard surface like your asphalt driveway. If you are setting up correctly you should notice the toe of the club is off the ground and the club is resting more towards the heel. If you are able to do this exercise indoors with a mirror to check your wrist position you should notice an angle between the forearms and the shaft of the club. If this is a straight line then the wrists are not set correctly and you should also check how the club is lying in the ground.

By ensuring you have the club resting on the ground correctly at address can solve many back swing problems. So be sure to take a few minutes and check this aspect of your set up and you will make it much easier for your wrists to set the club in the back swing.

 

Keep Your Head Down

How many times have you been told to keep your head down after you have just topped a ball and watched it roll down the fairway? Too many I am sure. Not only does hearing such advice straight after topping the shot upset you further, it is not even a good piece of advice. Keeping your head down is one of the great myths of golf.

Topping the ball is a common fault amongst golfers that can have a variety of causes. You may have too much tension in your hands and arms, causing the arms to be bent at impact thus the club head cannot reach the ball. Your weight may shift to your heels during the downswing, moving your swing center too far from the ball. You may be swinging up through the ball in an attempt to lift the ball into the air and thus presenting the leading edge of the club to the ball rather than the clubface.

Possibly the most common fault though is a loss of spine angle during the swing and it’s this which is often misinterpreted as lifting your head. A loss of spine angle refers to you raising your upper body so that the angle that you create between upper body and hips at address is changed during the swing. This results in the swing center, center of your chest, raising up and thus away from the ball, making it difficult to get the club back to the ball consistently.

Too often we see players who have taken keeping their heads down to amazing levels. So much so that the ball has flown a good 50 yards and they are still staring at the divot they have made on the ground. This places excessive pressure on the back, does not allow the body to turn freely through the shot and decreases the transfer of energy to the ball. There are some players on the Professional Tours who never see the club head hit the ball and are still extremely successful players. Annika Sorenstam, David Duval and Robert Allenby are all in this category with their head rotated down the target line when the club strikes the ball.

If you want to stop topping the ball, check that you are maintaining your spine angle throughout the swing. A great drill to help with this is to hit balls while resting against a chair. Take your address position with a 7 iron. Then place the back of a chair up against your rear, being sure not to rest your weight on the chair. It is important that your weight stays on the balls of your feet. Take some practice swings and be sure to keep you rear turning along the chair throughout the swing only allowing you to leave the chair to complete your finish position.

As you do this drill you may feel that your chest is staying more over the balls of your feet than you are used to feeling. But this is the move you need if you want to keep your swing as simple, and thus, consistent as possible. After doing this drill several times, place a ball on a tee and hit a few half shots, ensuring that you maintain your spine angle as you did during the practice swings.

If you find this drill difficult and are still lifting your upper body, there may be other issues involved that need attention. It is possible that a lack of flexibility in the back and legs prevents you from making this move correctly. If you believe that this may be the problem check with your local PGA Professional to confirm that you are correct and then they can then suggest some exercise to help improve your flexibility in that area.

 

Keep Your Lead Arm Straight

One of the more common myths with the golf swing is that to have an effective swing that produces distance and consistency you need to keep your left arm straight (for a right hand golfer). This is simply not true. There are great players on the world Tours, Chris Demarco being one, who have a very consistent swing but allow their left arm to bend at the top of the backswing. Many golfers are simply not flexible enough to keep their arm straight at the top of the back swing. There is no one way to swing the golf club, but there are parameters that we should all try to work within to give ourselves the best opportunity for success.

Width in the golf swing refers to the distance your hands are from your swing center, the middle of your chest, during the golf swing. It is accepted that if you are able to keep your hands away from the body, thus having good width in the swing, then you will be more consistent and hit the ball farther. This has often been misinterpreted to mean that the left arm must stay straight in the back swing, as this will give maximum width.

In reality what we are trying to do is to simply take the distance between the hands and the center of the chest at address and maintain that distance for as long as possible throughout the swing. The less this distance changes during the back swing, the less you will need to make the equal and opposite change in the down swing to get the club back to the ball.

At address the left arm is bent slightly and the goal should be to maintain that same slight flex to the top of the backswing. This will keep the arms and hands relaxed and allow them to react correctly to the body’s change of direction at the start of the downswing. If you try to keep the left arm locked straight, tension levels increase and the added tension will slow the club head down as you swing back to the ball.

Keeping that same slight flex will also guarantee good width that will promote consistency back to the impact position and club head speed as you will have more room to move the club. It is important though that the left arm does not bend excessively. Too much bending, or collapsing of the left arm can cause tendonitis in the elbow due to it straightening and then meeting resistance in the form of the ground at the completion of the extension. It will also produce inconsistency as the bending going back and straightening coming down are two additional moves that you now need to coordinate correctly.

So what is the correct width in the backswing and how can you practice it correctly? A great drill for this is done using a piece of string. Take one end of the string and tie it to one of the buttons on your shirt. Take the other end and tie it to your right thumb, so that in your address position the string is taught. Now go to the top of your backswing and try to keep the piece of string the same stretch throughout the backswing.

Your ability to maintain the tautness of the string will depend on your levels of flexibility, but your goal should be to keep it as it was at address. Take several practice swings with the string before trying to hit a few shots with the ball on a low tee.
 

Keep Your Head Still

If you play golf then at some stage in your golfing career someone has probably told to keep your head still. In many other sports that we play we are asked to hit a moving ball, and it is far easier to hit a moving ball when you keep your head and thus eyes as still or level as possible. With the object you are trying to hit in motion, having your head also moving around makes focusing on the ball that much more difficult and thus it is harder to hit the ball cleanly.

In golf however the ball is stationary. It is important for you to keep your head on the same level during the swing as up and down movement of the head is a reflection of your body movement, and thus swing center moving up and down. If your upper body lifts up in the back swing then it must move down an equal amount in the downswing in order for you to make contact with the ball. It is far simpler for you to keep your body at the same angles as at address and thus keep your head level during the swing. Level but not still.
In your address position your weight is evenly distributed between the left and right feet. As you make your back swing, as in any other sport where you are trying to propel an object forward, there is a weight transfer to the rear leg. In golf we make this shift by rotating the upper body over a stable lower body.

Keeping your head still while trying to make a back swing will result in a couple of moves that are detrimental to good ball striking. The hips will slide and your weight will either move to the outside of the rear foot, or fall back onto the front foot, depending on your levels of flexibility. In doing this you have placed a great deal of pressure on your lower back and hips which over time can become painful. You have also not loaded your body correctly behind the ball, effectively losing balance and your ability to use your whole body to hit the shot, resulting is a loss of distance.

In an athletic back swing, the player will maintain the upper body flex from the hips created at address and allow the upper body to pivot around the right hip. In doing so the head will move well behind the ball, the weight will move to the inside of the right foot and there will be a definite loading around the right thigh. Studies have shown that the best players in the world move their heads anywhere from 1.5 to 7 inches away from the head’s address position during the back swing.

A great drill for you to learn the correct head movement during the swing is to use your shadow. In your address position place a golf club across your shoulders with your arms crossed. Be sure the sun is at your back so that your shadow falls on the ground in front of you. Note on the ground where your shadow falls and then turn into your backswing by turning the upper body until the left shoulder is above the inside of the right knee. The left shoulder should turn slightly lower than the right. You will notice that the weight has shifted to the inside of the right foot and that your head has moved to the right during the backswing, as it should.

So the next time a well-meaning friend mentions that you are moving your head and you should keep it still, don’t change anything and take it as a compliment. The head should be moving laterally during the swing, but it should not be moving up and down.

 

Take the Club Straight Back

A common swing tip for the new golfer is that they should take the club straight back along the target line to start the backswing. This is simply not true and can cause many swing faults for the player who attempts to start their backswing in this way.

Firstly, the move can result in a lateral weight shift rather than a coiling of the upper body over the right hip. In moving laterally the weight will move to the outside of the right foot and a loss of balance occurs. Such a straight back move can also result in a disconnection of the arms from the body. The arms now swing the club separately from the body and rather than them working together to produce maximum power, they work independently and power is lost. A straight back takeaway can also promote a closed clubface making it easier to hit shots to the left of target.

The golf swing works in an arc, where the center of that arc is the center of the chest between the two shoulders. As long as you have two hands on the grip then this will be true of every golf swing. Thus, there is no way the club can be swung fluently and work in a straight line at any time during the swing. Our goal is to maintain width in the backswing and allow the club to stay on plane for as long as possible. An on plane swing is one in which the shaft of the club is either pointing at or parallel to the target line at all times. The more time the club is on plane, the more consistent your shot making will be.

So your goal is not to take the club straight back along the target line, but rather to move the club away on plane. A great drill to help you improve this area of your swing is to use a mirror and your 5-iron.

Take your set up with a mirror to your right side and holding the 5-iron at the bottom of the grip. Place a second club on the ground to represent your target line. Now slowly make your takeaway while watching your movements in the mirror. Your goal is to ensure the club you are holding is always either pointing at or parallel to the club on the ground at all times. When you can do this, you are swinging on plane.

The next step is to take your normal set up and repeat the exercise until you can perform the action at half swing speed and a three quarter backswing and follow through. Then you can tee up a ball and hit a few shots being sure to focus on the movements and not react to the ball flight. When you can keep the club on plane the ball flight will start to become more consistent.

This drill is one you can always go back to when you feel your swing getting off line. It will reinforce good swing mechanics and is simple enough to do anywhere. It is a drill that you just cannot spend enough time repeating and is one that should be in every golfers practice regime.