Hey, guys! This week we have a jam session with a drumming legend, Mr. Peter Appleyard Jr. He’s the son of Peter Sr., who played with the likes of Benny Goodman in the ’60s and ’70s. In this video, we talk about and play the perfect 6-4 time that matches up beautifully with the golf swing. We worked it down to the perfect BPM (beats per minute) that match up with the 7 iron.
Songs like “Time is on my side” by the Rolling Stones and “Tennessee Whiskey” by Chris Stapleton are perfect tunes for practice and to hum in your mind when you are playing. They will keep your thinking mind quiet and tune in your best timing and tempo to your task — that of releasing a nicely compressed ball hit in the direction you want to start the flight.
Thank you for such a treat, Peter. This was a priceless and fun jam session, and I can’t wait for my next practice session. I also learned a thing or two about music in the process. What. A. Blast.
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Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
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My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
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Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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Rick
Sep 4, 2017 at 7:27 am
Sam Snead said the golf swing is a waltz many years ago. His rhythm and movement is astounding. He started the swing with the right knee, and put his swing in rhythm.
TT
Aug 31, 2017 at 5:05 pm
“For me it’s personally fast” – Shawn
Changing the 6/8 metronome beat rate is not the answer because the golf swing does not follow straight time beats. That’s because you thrust down on your rear foot longer than on your lead foot.
The problem is you are doing a standard waltz “box” stepping when you should be doing a “hesitation” waltz step for your backswing. Look up “hesitation waltz” on YouTube and you will see what I mean.
Drummers sit and know rhythm and tempo but cannot dance worth a snot.
Mo Zart
Aug 31, 2017 at 6:15 pm
That’s correct musically speaking.
The golf swing should be divided 1-2-3-4 for the back swing and 5-6 for the downswing. When you hear ‘1’ you start and at ‘2’ the club shaft should be horizontal. The rest of the upswing is 3-4 to the top. ‘5 and 6’ is the downswing into impact.
It’s a kinda syncopated action with most of the count in the backswing. The hesitation is in the backswing at takeaway but not at the top of the swing.
Shawn Clement
Sep 1, 2017 at 5:11 am
Very cool! Hesitation Waltz; going there right now! That is very much how I feel about it; did not know that existed so thanks!! Shawn
TT
Sep 1, 2017 at 12:07 pm
The golfswing is not a smooth set of actions; the feet, legs, body and arms are doing different things at different rates in the kinetic chain. In your multiple ball drill you were straining to stay with the 6/8 tempo, and it showed to somebody who is familiar with music and ballroom dancing dynamics.
As in dancing, what leads and what follows in the golfswing? The music must match the swing, not the swing to music. Forget the club and study the body motions.
You tried, Shawn, but it wasn’t well coordinated, but you succeeded somewhat because you have a superior body control and you were able to contort your swing to the accented waltz music rhythm beats. Did you notice it got better as the metronome beats slowed down and you were able to apply your swing cadence? You went from a fast unconscious state to a slower conscious state. Did you feel that too?