help for quick hands

[nor]

Hi all,

Please excuse my first post as a request for help. Promise i'll do my best to help others.

I'm after some help to tame down my quick hands to eliminate some destructive shots. I hit 9 shots out of 10 pretty much as i like but that one bad one is quite far off and its down to my hands. It's hightened by my slight in to out swing plane.

Background: I have a compact swing, with a good standard grip (slightly strong left hand) but i seem to struggle achieving a consistent take-away plane. Generally i pull the club too far out, drop it on the inside at the top and strike at the ball from inside to out, whipping my hands thru very quickly at impact (reasonably similar to sergio garcia). This leads to a nice 15ft draw but the bad ones are a straight push or a pull, depending on wether or not i've released the club properly. Slowing the swing tempo down results in hands getting too active and i pull it every time. Too quick and i get right inside it resulting in a block with the irons. Too quick with the driver and its a very large cut.

I generally have a good take-away tempo but i'm very aware of being too quick from the top at times.

Recently i've tried 'swinging it with the big muscles' type of swing thought which seems to quieten the hands a bit but i've a tendancy to shift more weight back and get stuck behind the ball with this and fail to release my hands so i'll hit it a club shorter with the irons or a big cut with the driver.

So, any suggestions to help me quieten the hands and achieve a good turn without the excessive weight shift onto my right side? I'm always gonna have quick hands but if my timing is spot on my ball striking is up there with the best of em.

Current quick fix swing is to drop the ball back in the stance a bit and keep my hands ahead (stops me releasing early) but i dont complete the swing as well so shot shaping is more difficult.

Willing to lay bare more info if anyone has any good suggestions. Also, i hit a 6 iron 180 yards if this helps you picture swing speed. I also use custom steel in my driver to help slow my hands down.

Apologies if this seems like a novel to read!

SG

[Timothy Slaught]

Re: help for quick hands

Hey Nor:

If you are hitting 9 of 10 spot on then you probably do not have a whole lot to improve. Especially if your 6 iron flies 180. I'll look for you on tour soon......

Anyway, you are on the right track trying to minimize hand action but by the same token, you describe your swing as "whipping the hands through impact" which sounds like a handsy technique?

Generally, the modern golf swing points to body rotation for the power and fairly passive hands. This can really only be achieved with an on plane swing. It can be one or two planes as long as the route back to the ball is on the correct plane. Both techniques are sound. Any deviating from the prefered plane for example, on top of as you describe your takeaway or inside, up and over which is more common, will result in hand action to compensate. This compensastion is basically your hands trying to correct the less than perfect plane. The on plane swing is the most effecient and requires the least hand action.

Also, the Nike driver you use as with most drivers made today are designed for a lighter graphite shaft. Did you have to make any tweaks to the swingweight to get a good feel with this club? I have not seen a 460CC driver with a steel shaft in some time. Just curious.

[nor]

Re: help for quick hands

I think you're right there, it's clearly a swing plane issue that is forcing my hands to help compensate. I dont have a handsy swing, just very fast hands thru the ball.

The nike driver is cutom made on the pga tour van, so the swing weight has been altered to allow more feel of the club head / face.

Def not gonna be on tour anytime soon. I used to play at div 1 ncaa college level when i was in the u.s but i've not had as much time to play recently.

Any suggestions how to achieve a more consistent plane then? I used to be flat when i was younger, then moved very upright and now im falling somewhere in between. I played yesterday and actually hit 2 in to out shanks with the 8 iron!

[Timothy Slaught]

Re: help for quick hands

Hey Nor:

Yes, there are several methods to work on your plane. There is a lot of debate these days as to whether we should swing on one or two planes. In reality it is not truly possible to swing exactly on one plane so it is simply a matter of trying to get close to the single plane or more upright (two plane). This has more to do with the second part of the backswing as well as your posture at address.

To me, the most critical position and really the easiest move to practice is what is commonly refered to as the end of takeaway position where the club shaft first reaches parallel to the ground in the backswing. The club should be parallel to the target line and as close to matching directly above your toe line as possible. To achieve this position you are in effect working on an on plane takeaway. Perhaps the most important move in the swing. Use a mirror get used to hitting this position. You see pros working on this all the time in their preshot routines. They take it to the end of takeaway and look to see that it is in the correct position. It is also very important that the clubface be either slightly closed (face tipping ever so slightly towards the target line or square which would have the toe pointing straight up. Never should the face be open or pointing to the sky at this juncture.

Try to practice this move and use your currect backswing plane and see how things go. As you indicate, your game is pretty sound, so I would not try to reinvent the wheel. By executing a correct takeaway, however, that is on plane, usually the rest of the backswing finds it's natural plane based on your body demensions, setup and tempo.

Most errors in the swing occur as a result of an off plane takeaway. With the clubface maintaining the correct, square relationship to the arc, you will need far less hand manipulation. Your body turn and subsequent rotation will do the work. Aslo keep the flex in your right knee as this plays a role in keeping your swing more on plane during the latter portion of the backswing from end of takeaway to the top. This is where many players lift up and throw the entire body out of position and the club off plane in the second part of the backswing.

Good luck.

[nor]

Re: help for quick hands

Thats exactly what im looking for, thanks buddy.

It's something i'll be working on from Oct thru to March (uk winter) so i'll have plenty time to get used to it. I believe most of my distance comes from my hands, so i think short term im gonna need to get used to hitting it shorter, perhaps a club. I'm also replacing some equipment soon which should help the 'big change'.

Your advice is well balanced, can i ask what your golfing background / coaching background is?

Thanks

[Timothy Slaught]

Re: help for quick hands

Nor:

Thanks for the response. The practice techniques I recommend can be worked on anywhere. I use a mirror set up directly behind my target line and I use a piece of tape marked on the mirror to match my shaft plane at address. This way I can see that i'm taking the club away on that line to reach the end of takeaway position. As you work on this, try to maintain keeping the club face square ( or looking at the ball) as you perform the takeaway. You should feel the shoulders and torso making this move, definitely not your hands and wrists as they should remain fairly passive.
To get the feel of this move, you can place a basket ball or football (soccer ball for you guys over the pond) directly behind your clubhead and work on pushing the ball away as you begin your swing. As you do this, feel the large muscles of your shoulder and back making this move. the weight of the ball will force the larger muscle action. Again, monitor your end of takeaway position as I described in the previous string of responses. I really think this can help you.

In the past years, three players on the pro tours really make this takeaway check a part of their preshot routine or waggle. They are Chris DiMarco, Mike Weir, and Karie Webb. Lately I see many more players doing this including Anthony Kim who is one of the hottest players on the mens US Tour. If it is important enough for players of this quality to work on regularly than it can probably help us.

My backround like many on this great website, is simply that of a person who loves the game of golf and wants to play the best we possibly can. I have studied the game through many angles including books, DVDs, personal instruction and mostly by taking every opportunity to watch world class players in action. The fundementals are the key to the game in my opinion. I am not a proffesional but I do instruct many friends and they have improved by following some of my suggestions.

There are many other aspects to the fundementals including the proper grip, stance, alignment etc...which I assume from your posts you already have a strong grasp on. Still, I find the takeaway to be a constant source of error because, if done incorrrectly, it sets up a trend of compensations that often cannot be overcome even by the players with great athletic ability and hand eye coordination. On the other, hand when players understand the correct takeaway concepts and perform the move correctly, they become much more consistent.

Let me know how things go and again, best of luck.

[BrianW]

Re: help for quick hands

Timothy,

Very good information and as usual expressed in an articulate manner.