Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

[pinyo8]

This just my theory so far but I just want to hear some opinions on what i have noticed recently about the left hand grip and how it affects the top position of the backswing.

1) If your left hand grip is neutral (say the back of the hand is facing the target), at the top of the backswing where your left hand is flat and not cupped, the clubface will be parallel with your hands.

2) However, if you left hand grip is strong (say you can see three knuckles), at the top of the backswing your clubface will looks like as if it is shut and point up to the sky eventhough your left hand may be flat and not cupped.

I have found this out as I have been trying to get rid of the clubface pointing up to the sky at the top of backswing and noticed the two above points. I thought it may have had to do something with my takeaway but now I think that it is to do with how I grip. I have always had a left hand grip that is on the strong side and my bad shots tendencys are hooks or pulls as stronger grips tend to make your hands more active naturally. I have tried many times to go to a neutral grip but could never maintain it. And when I do use the neutral grip I dont really feel comfortable with it and I really have to fire the hands through to release and my swing feels completely different. Also with a stronger grip, ball contact feels much more solid.

My questions are as follows:

- Is this theory correct or is it really is my backswing that is causing that to happen?

- Should I bother to change my grip or should I leave it just the way it is? I do hit it well now except for the tendency to hit shots that go left. I want a swing that will hold under pressure without having to hold back.

Thanks in advance for any inputs.

[nickwbryant]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

If you have a strong left hand grip you will need to have a little cupping at the top for the club face to stay neautral, if your wrist is flat with a strong grip then yes you would have a closed clubface. So in answer to your first question it is most likely it is something in your swing that is causing the closed clubface.

As for changing your grip - that's a tough one. I think most good player's bad shots goes left (right in my case being a leftie), regardless of grip. I would be wary of changing your grip but simply put if you have a strong grip and your shots are going left then you should be able to weaken your grip a touch with not too many issues.

just my thoughts

nick

[msklar92]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

There are many great players who play with both strong and weak grips. Duval - very strong. Hogan - neutral grip - to prevent a hook. Trevino had a shut club face aimed left and blocked shots down the middle of the fairway. Recently read from Hank Haney, basically that consistenty is the main thing in the swing do what comfortable and work with it.

[RichieWinch]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

a strong left wrist is good for power which is good for what Tiger wants to do, If tiger's problem was as simple as that, he'd have sorted it out.

[pinyo8]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

This means that I have been doing something wrong in my swing all my golfing life. I dont intend to get the wrist flat but it just happens to be like that. I must be correcting that fault somehow in the downswing.....
Perhaps now I should try to keep the wrist a bit cupped at the top then?

[pinyo8]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

Instead of going to the gym today, I went to the driving range today to try out my new thing which is to actually to cup the wrist and I felt like there was a revelation to my swing (I think that help me stopped being too handsy as well). I feel like I can actually really keep that lag in the wrist now and attack the ball. The impact is much better with the trajectory being much stronger and straighter. The consistency is not there just yet but I feel like it will really come together. I am playing this weekend so hopefully it will translate onto the course.
Wow, and to think I have been doing this mistake all these years and somehow managed to go down to 3....

[pnearn]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

Maybe its just me but I try hard to set up with a neutral grip, palms facing each other, club in the fingers light grip, I think dont even think about my wrists and hands in the swing

The ONLY time I do is when I want to shape the ball, then I'll try and hold the face open a little longer through the release or for a draw i'll try and release the club quicker by deliberately rolling my forearms .. and both of those are hard to time with longer clubs so I just stick to what I know works

My own view is strong grip leads to you having to manipulate the club on the way down which cant be a good thing and will likely lead to other issues

[msklar92]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

Just a thought to easily visualize this. Try the toe up to toe up drill. That is when the club is parallel to the ground on the backswing the toe of the club should point straight up. Same on the follow through. Now try this drill with a strong and weak grip. I think you should see that the stronger the grip the more cupped the left wrist. Once that wrist position is set, it should not change to the completion of the backswing.

[Simon Woo]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

Very interesting. I have a very neutral grip and my left wrist still cups at the top. It was just a natural thing for me right from the first day. I now realise that I was being too handsy. Pinyo8, I'm not really sure if it's such a bad thing for you to have a strong grip yet flat left wrist at the top. Have you verified that with more people? I'm pretty sure I see a lot of pros with relatively strong grips but flat wrist at the top? I could be wrong though...

[nickwbryant]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

piny08 - be really interesting to see how you get on with this. I sometimes feel i get my club face a bit shut and when that happens i can never swing through the ball and release properly. When i get the clubface neutral (for me that means i really have to feel it fanning open in takeaway) all of a sudden i dont have to think about the rest of the swing and the hit is effortless.

Fred Couples is perfect example of a strong gripper who has the clubface open at the top (wrist cupped). Hardly anyone hits the ball as pure as him. Will look forward to seeing how you get on at weekend.

nick

[pinyo8]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

Ok, on the practice range, I am a gun. However, it didnt quite translate in the course. It wasnt all bad (78, 41 + 37) and I definitely saw better accuracy when I did hit them well especially with my short irons. My excuse this time would be that I went out with my new driver and set for the first time.

What I have noticed is that when I have too much of a cupped right wrist position, it makes the club face closed. Again, will keep on practicing trying to have a takeaway where I can get more neutral at the top.

[nickwbryant]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

I thought you were cupping your left wrist not right? Funnily enough my course was closed this weekend so i went to the range and decided to try the right hand drill. Although my striking was good i was hooking everything miles and this was because i was getting the clubfaced closed (confirmed this in a mirror). I managed to get onto the course the next day and confirmed that if i do the right hand drill i will not keep the ball on the fairway! I have concluded that the right hand drill is not for me and think the better players do it naturally. Also having looked through my many golf books i see that hardly any pros have a dead flat left hand at the top, there is always some cupping, however small. The weaker the grip the less the cupping.

sounds like you had quite a lot on your plate with new set as well as these swing thoughts so I guess you'll have to have another game soon!

nick

[pinyo8]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

Just to explain about which wrist I was cupping..

Originally, having an already slightly strong left hand grip (I can just see three knuckles), my right wrist has to be cupped for my left wrist to be flat.

So what I am trying to fix was to kind of force myself to cup my left wrist hence not cupping my right wrist as much at the top.

The main reason why I am trying to fix this is:

I know that I tend to try to hold my right hand from releasing to stop the ball going left. Obviously, I cant force myself to do this all the time. So by having a more neutral position at the top, I shouldnt have to worry about firing through as much hence less thought when swinging especially when the pressure is on (or when there is an OB on the left hand side ).

In the first post, I did mention if I should get my grip to be more neutral. But after trying many times and failing to do that, I figure that I would be much more comfortable with a slightly strong grip and a neutral position at the top.

[chappy01]

Re: Effects to swing depending on left hand grip

I am not sure if this is relevant to your problem, but I have noticed that if my right hand grip does not mirror my left, it causes all sort of problems in the wrist cock. If the right grip is weak, i.e. turned to the left, it will cause cupping of the left wrist and actually cause the left wrist to uncock early. I learned this problem when practiciing Greg's right hand drill. Mirroring your palms, allows a natural cocking and uncocking of the wrists. It also seems to stop the dreaded over the top move I had aquired.