Tiger and Jack never did it, should you?
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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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TZ
Dec 26, 2018 at 11:44 pm
Even the players who took a practice takeaway waggled the club before the swing. Very stupid to show a video of a player taking a practice takeaway then hitting a bad shot when we could show hundreds of great shots that follow, especially a tour pro.
smz
Dec 25, 2018 at 6:14 pm
The “practice takeaway” is not helpful to the swing takeaway because your muscle memory vanishes completely when you then start your swing takeaway. Doing the practice takeaway is more like the “monkey see, monkey do” juvenile mentality so common in golf.
Just take a deep breath at address and then swing away… and if you fail miserably that means you haven’t practiced your golf swing often enough. Maybe a New Year resolution will motivate you to practice… and maybe not.
Speedy
Dec 24, 2018 at 1:14 pm
For woods, I like a short waggle to loosen muscles. For irons, a very short practice takeaway, not breaking wrists.
Bill
Dec 24, 2018 at 12:21 pm
I like to think of a rehearsal takeaway as an “anchor” in sports movement. It raises our attention level for the task ahead and reduces anxiety as we get a feeling for the first movement. Every time Oscar Robinson crossed the midline in the NBA he nodded his head. He was probably not aware of it, but this movement help signal himself to see the floor and set the play going by triggering his attention and helped him gain confidence. I favor a rehearsal takeaway over a a waggle as it replicates the actual movement. I am not a sports psychologist although I have worked with some pro’s on the Symmetra and other tours. I am retired as a clinician and just wanted to add my two cents.
lance
Dec 24, 2018 at 2:08 pm
I submit that the “rehearsal takeaway” is a fully conscious movement… whereas the full swing takeaway starts with a conscious command and then quickly morphs into the unconscious mode. A fully conscious rehearsal takeaway may alleviate address anxiety but it mucks up the full swing takeaway neuro-muscular pathways. They are two very different psychological worlds.
Tom Tucker
Dec 26, 2018 at 10:47 am
This comment is right on. The rehearsal takeaway is something that I teach to all of my students, and it’s been very helpful in producing good swings. “Muscle memory” or more correctly stated – your neural pathway for a swing – is actually refreshed by this movement, not negated as mentioned in a previous comment. The rehearsal takeaway also helps focus on getting the clubhead into position for impact, an external focus which has been proven to be successful when teaching the golf swing. This video was way off the mark.
geohogan
Dec 24, 2018 at 11:49 am
Though Freudian psychology is mostly discredited, most of our mental activity is indeed subconscious. Think about walking, engaging hundreds of muscles in exquisitely orchestrated coordination without thinking how and when to contract each muscle. The subconscious is playing a major role in everything we do.. Dr David Eagleman
geohogan
Dec 24, 2018 at 1:17 pm
David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and the New York Times bestselling author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain and Sum. He is the writer and host of the Emmy-nominated PBS television series The Brain. Eagleman is an adjunct professor at Stanford University, a Guggenheim fellow, and the director of the Center for Science and Law. He has written for the New York Times, Discover Magazine, The Atlantic, Slate, Wired and many others, and he appears regularly on National Public Radio and BBC.
lance
Dec 24, 2018 at 2:02 pm
subconscious (noun) — the subconscious part of the mind (not in technical use in psychoanalysis, where unconscious is preferred).
THERE IS NO “subconscious” MIND AND ANY LEGITIMATE NEUROSCIENTIST KNOWS THIS … WHICH EXCLUDES YOU AND YOUR PRATTLING.
Tom
Dec 23, 2018 at 1:22 pm
Practice takeaway can help reduce tension prior to actual swing. It’s up to each player if it helps….no big deal.
Potus
Dec 23, 2018 at 12:43 pm
Articles on this site are fake news!!!!
Tony
Dec 23, 2018 at 4:38 am
Settle down guys. It’s not that important.
Dan
Dec 22, 2018 at 6:47 am
What a load of baloney!
Southbound golf
Dec 21, 2018 at 11:44 pm
These guys are going south
Steve Wozeniak
Dec 21, 2018 at 8:05 pm
Nope….the attention is NOT ON THE BALL!!!!!! Try again, can you think of what else that might have there attention???? I promise it’s simple.
ogo
Dec 21, 2018 at 10:12 pm
External focus on the clubhead? Target focus on where the ball will land? Fantasy focus on that babe in the crowd?
geohogan
Dec 23, 2018 at 12:13 am
@steve wozeniak, the fulcrum point
ogo
Dec 23, 2018 at 3:05 pm
Where is this “fulcrum point”? … explain yerself!
geohogan
Dec 24, 2018 at 8:41 am
@ogo, Ive replied to steve w, not to you.
For you, a lump of coal. Merry Christmas.
ogo
Dec 24, 2018 at 10:17 am
I just gave you a chance to respond to your cryptic comments.
IIRC, you believe the fulcrum point is between the hands, which of course is totally wrong… it’s the “pivot point” of a hand couple. I hope that’s not too technical for your shriveled Hogan Manual mindlet.
4RiGHT
Dec 21, 2018 at 7:35 pm
Every player has what works, why don’t you make a video about that! How many majors have you won?
the dude
Dec 24, 2018 at 9:20 am
I love the “how many have you won??” comment…..dork
IMO
Dec 21, 2018 at 7:27 pm
The ball isn’t the focal point either. I visit many PGA and LPGA tournaments around the country. What I do notice is a good percentage of the players while on the range do rehearse among other aspects of their swing, a practice backswing as a part of their swing development.
Looper
Dec 21, 2018 at 7:32 pm
I agree completely with IMO. What Jordan, Justin, Ricky, and others that do have a practice backswing, it most likely came from a drill done with their instructors…
Eric
Dec 21, 2018 at 3:31 pm
Doesn’t it depend more on what the player’s thoughts are during this time? Who cares what the movement is.
James
Dec 21, 2018 at 3:22 pm
Just to be a contrarian I went to the range this morning and employed the “practice takeaway”. I’ve never hit the ball so well! So put me in the Justin Thomas/Mike Weir camp.
Golfist
Dec 21, 2018 at 1:36 pm
The practice takeaway is definitely a distraction! I’ve tried both and for me the waggle is the most reliable method of starting the swing, allowing full concentration on the ball rather than thinking where the club should be going on the backswing.
lance
Dec 21, 2018 at 7:22 pm
So you waggle before starting the backswing. When you stop waggling do you pause to concentrate on the ball and engage the various brain neural waves… alpha,beta, gamma delta, theta… to enter into an inner peace to let the swing flow?
lance
Dec 21, 2018 at 12:28 pm
I recall an early video of Tiger when he hooked up with Harmon and Butch made/forced Tiger to alter his BS takeaway for 6 months until his brain was reprogrammed. Tiger said he hated the drill… go figure…
Bill Kroen
Dec 21, 2018 at 11:41 am
As a psychologist, I feel that the “practice takeaway” is a great idea. It is more of an immediate rehearsal than practice. It helps a player start the club back in the correct position and reduces anxiety. The waggle gives a feel for the club head only. Showing the tour players rehires a takeaway and then hit a poor shot is meaningless. Thomas, for one, had his best year since incorporating the move.
lance
Dec 21, 2018 at 7:17 pm
As a psychologist, you must be aware of the many “memory” modes that encode, store and retrieve when needed. How does a “practice takeaway” utilize the memory modes?
Memory is not a perfect processor, and is affected by many factors, like neuro-muscular capability. We await your professional opinion on memory rehearsal and practice memory. Thanks.
lance
Dec 21, 2018 at 7:21 pm
So you waggle before starting the BS. When you stop waggling do you pause to concentrate on the ball and engage the various brain neural waves… alpha,beta, gamma delta, theta… to enter into an inner peace to let the swing flow?
geohogan
Dec 24, 2018 at 8:55 am
The golf swing is a preprogrammed chain action in the subconscious.
The practice takeaway is a conscious contrived movement, totally separate and unique from the golf swing. The golf swing is too complicated and happens too quickly for it to be a consciously controlled movement.
As a psychologist you must know, that a portion of our brain resorts to ritual, to reduce anxiety. Golfers go through many preswing rituals. The practice takeaway is a ritual. If it reduces anxiety, it serves that purpose only.
The waggle can be done as a ritual or it can have a meaningful purpose, as Ben Hogan described in 5L.
lance
Dec 24, 2018 at 10:26 am
subconscious (noun) — the subconscious part of the mind (not in technical use in psychoanalysis, where unconscious is preferred).
Properly, “The golf swing is preprogrammed chain action in the unconsious part of the mind.”