Instruction

“Let go” for power

Published

11 years ago

Mar 5, 2013

In my first article we discussed topping the ball, the reasons for topped shots and what you can do to improve matters. This article discusses how to generate power, but some of the faults mentioned here can also attribute to thin, topped and ‘air’ shots.

Understanding the swing sequence

In later articles, I will help you to understand the way a swing should work and fundamental elements a good one has. The coordination and timing of the movements of your body, arms, hands and club are vital to both generate power and hit the ball consistently straight; this sequence of movements must happen in order for a swing to be powerful. When a swing is sequenced correctly the build up of power is released through the speed of your hands allowing the club head to fire through the ball.

In golf, power comes from fluidity and a free-wheeling movement of the golf club. Therefore, if the pressure in your hands and arms is tight, all this momentum will be lost. The problem is that we naturally tense up for power, if you lift a heavy weight your arms tense to lift it. When boxers punch their opponent, they will tense their hands and wrists to enable the punch to be powerful.

A lot of problems I see every day are people whose forearm and wrist pressure is too tight at the beginning and during the swing.

An added thought for you is this — what do most people think of at the top of their swing? Answer — hitting the ball.

The “hitting from the top” fault leads to sliced shots and loss of power because their hands are tensed up to hit the ball and the swing sequence is altered.

Another few questions to consider

Have you ever had a golf lesson that you worked on a specific position in your backswing?
Do you try to shorten your swing to be more consistent?
Do you feel total control over your back swing?
Do you top, thin or miss the ball?

Most times, when a golfer tries to get into a certain position, shorten their swing or control what’s happening, the result is a tightening up of grip and forearm pressure. An over-control of the golf club is one of the big power losses in the swing. Over the years I have found it can be very hard for some people to let go of control of their swing.

If your forearms and wrists tighten up at impact, the muscles in your arms contract. In other words, the length of your arms shorten and in turn the arc of your swing becomes narrower. Try it — address the ball with your club head on the ground, tighten and tense your arms and hands –- what happens to the club? It lifts off the ground; imagine that happening at impact when your arms and hands tense for power.

The feeling you should have is that the club is doing what it wants you are basically guiding it in the right direction. The more you control you exert, the less rhythm, timing and power you will have. To remain relaxed and get the correct grip and forearm pressure at address and in your swing, try the following keys:

Keep your mouth open in the swing.
Make sure you breathe and take a deep relaxing breath.
Waggle the club before you swing to set the correct grip pressure.
Let your arms hang at address.
Hum through your swing, a sudden high pitch shows tension, try for a constant even tone.
An uncluttered brain is a relaxed one, think less to play more naturally.
Think about your swing rhythm and allowing yourself to finish movements –- don’t rush.
Play within yourself.
Movement creates power, allow yourself to move and don’t restrict yourself.

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Instruction

Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?

Published

1 day ago

Apr 24, 2024

Shawn Clement

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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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

Published

4 weeks ago

Mar 29, 2024

Terry Koehler

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.

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Published

2 months ago

Mar 4, 2024

Shawn Clement

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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