Want to understand how the legends move their core and their spine in the golf swing? There are some subtle (but very important) core movements that are often misunderstood.
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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 T.
Feb 8, 2019 at 1:08 pm
I think its only fair to Lucas to post the following from Steve W from 2012. Its from an article he wrote about Dustin Johnson….which described what was “killing this kid” :
THANK GOODNESS players like DJ ignore these pseudo teachers with their comfort zone mentalities!!
Steve W., who I followed for years is a typical example of a teacher stuck in a swing model…who has never advanced, absolutely certain, despite advanced modern camera evidence to the contrary, that their “model” (now outdated and flawed) is the only model. And the disrespectful arrogant reply?, he has done this same useless behavior with other sincere teachers as well…pretty classless.
Terry
Mar 6, 2018 at 3:20 pm
Love the trend lately of golf instructors becoming experts in everything from physics to human anatomy. If you want advice on how to move your spine without injury, ask those who actually have had extensive formal education in that area(ie orthopedics) instead of a golf guy throwing out some big words he learned third hand from some other golf dude.
OB
Mar 6, 2018 at 1:51 am
Most recreational golfers lead a sedentary life… at the office.. at home.. in the car.. in bed….. and their bodies adapt to this sedentary existence. When they try to swing a golf club in a rotary motion their bodies cannot adapt for consistency and power. It’s just not there and the sedentary lifestyle will overwhelm any golf swing and override and cancel out any attempted changes.
Not only are their legs weak, their core is very inadequate. They attempt to swing from the clubhead inwards into the hands arms and shoulders… rather than from the feet, legs, hips, torso and shoulder. They want to learn the golfswing bass ackward.
Ray Bennett
Mar 5, 2018 at 6:11 pm
Those tips should wreck quite a few spines. Another reason not to watch you-tube golf instruction. Golf advice needs to be extremely precise not hazy given the complexity of the disipline. Every movement leads to another movement, get one wrong, miss one or exaggerate one and we are in repair mode (all in under half a second
Joro
Mar 5, 2018 at 2:20 pm
I had the occasion to play with Arnold Palmer a couple of times and we talked about the hlt. He said he liked the way I did it cause I just swung at the Ball and hit the Hell out of it with my left hand, I am a Left Handed player. He said that was his theory also and that it make the swing natural and not contrived. He also said the way it is “taught” today, using the word Taught loosely causes way too many problems. This was about 40 years ago.
Too many “GURUS” out there ruining Golfers.
ogo
Mar 5, 2018 at 12:37 am
Didn’t Tiger have lower back problems requiring spinal fusion? Maybe that happened cause his daddy forced him to improperly swing a golf club from the age of 2 and it all showed up 40 years later.
The Truth
Mar 5, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Id take a little fusion after 40 years of GOD like golf that the world will never see again…Just sayin
ogo
Mar 4, 2018 at 4:54 pm
“hollow body” and “tightening of the core”?
That means if you got a pot belly you have a “full body”!
Good luck tightening that… even your belt doesn’t help. Suspenders for you!
Steve Wozeniak
Mar 4, 2018 at 11:02 am
WOW!!!!!! Feel sorry for this guys “students” they are going from bad to worse…..
Need to bone up on physics and how the body works bud……
Steve Wozeniak PGA
ted
Mar 4, 2018 at 2:23 pm
… and the different body shape physics too. His spine mechanics only applies to athletic golfsrs who can practice endlessly… not recreational golfers who are out of shape. A stout man’s spine functions very differently from a slim man’s spine.
Jalan
Mar 5, 2018 at 5:03 pm
Curious as to why you say this. Can you give us some insight to support your opposition. I’d be interested in what you have to say.
Lucas WALD
Mar 5, 2018 at 5:35 pm
Steve, Thanks for viewing the video. We have documented case studies and consult with physicians before publishing anything on anatomy…I can gladly put you in touch with a doctor if you’d like to further discuss what was said in this video…as to physics, I’d recommend Dave Tutelman, my views align with his papers as well…he will gladly answer your questions involving math/physics… Our numerous case studies are available as well and you will find many happy customers that have gone through the training process….at the end of the day we teach the common elements of the greatest swings of all time….If you’d like to share some information or document some case studies that differ from those elements–please post somewhere as I’m always looking to learn more. cheers, Lucas
Steve Wozeniak
Mar 12, 2018 at 12:41 pm
uh….Tutelman along with THOUSANDS of so called physics and math majors have NO CLUE how to align with what they know to the golf swing, you simply prove it yourself in the video, I have dealt with a hundred of these guys in my 30 years of teaching and prove them wrong every time…..I have met a handful that know what happens, sadly you have not…..yet….but hey cheers…..double cheers to you.
Jalan
Apr 7, 2018 at 10:38 pm
I’m curious, you have bashed the author of this column as well as the references he provides. Yet, not one word on how people should use their body. You just cite your “30 years of teaching” as all the references you need to be critical of others.
Perhaps you could upload a video you’ve produced showing us the ‘correct” way to rotate, and provide some detailed knowledge and data on why your way (whatever it is — you don’t elaborate) is superior. I’ll wait.
John
Mar 3, 2018 at 8:03 pm
#Tathatagolf!
jeff
Mar 3, 2018 at 11:23 pm
yep. BH and I talked for hours about this
Sir Charles
Mar 3, 2018 at 7:36 pm
I heard Tiger could move his middle like no one else. Especially on those trips to work on his “game” in Vegas.
steve
Mar 3, 2018 at 5:31 pm
Very insightful video on spinal dynamic positioning throughout the golf swing.
Now, on your “hollow body” or tightening of the core. I assume you are referring to the tightening of the stomach abdominals into the downswing and through impact. This works well in the athletic golf swing but not for most recreational players.
Here’s the problem for obese men, they let their bellies hang out because their abs are stretched out. Because of this added belly momentum they are forced to block their core rotation and straightened up as a normal reaction. Have you encountered this situation in your teaching and what did you recommend? Thanks.
George
Mar 3, 2018 at 3:08 pm
This teaching is right on the money. If everyone would learn to move like this it would put the rest of instruction of business.
steve
Mar 3, 2018 at 2:24 pm
Very insightful video on spinal positioning throughout the golf swing. Obviously the spinal column flexes and unflexes as you swing and your explanations clarify what actually should happen.
Now, your “hollow body” or tightening of the core. I assume you are referring to the tightening of the stomach abdominals into the downswing and through impact. I do this but I have also kept my belly loose to experiment particularly on wedge and chip shots. It works for slow speed swings.
Here’s the problem for obese men, they let their bellies hang out because their abs are blown. Because of this added belly momentum they are forced to block their core rotation as a normal reaction to protect the spine. Have you encountered this situation in your teaching? Thanks.