Instruction
The causes and cures of ‘flipping’
In this era of the modern golf swing, “lag” has become the be all and end all of all pursuits. Creating the smallest angle possible between the left arm and the shaft in the downswing has been the windmill, and the golfing public is Don Quixote. The problem is the golf instruction industry has played the Sancho Panza and joined us on our quest.
With that being said, it would make sense that “the flip,” which is the opposite of the lagging motion, would be the root of all evil. But in actuality, all of the party line methods for curing the flips is quite often direct action to improve lag, and that is attacking the effect and not the cause.
Now, flipping is a huge issue, but what most people don’t understand is that there are two different kinds of flips, and the prescription that is being written for them is the same — hold on to sustain or add more lag. In the same vein that the side effects of some drugs are often worse than what they cure, the same can be true for lag.
Flip No. 1
For a right-handed golfer, the angle between the left arm and shaft is thrown away well before impact, which makes the right wrist bow at impact. This is also known as a cast.
The often prescribed solutions for this are to:
- Hold the lag.
- Start float loading.
- Go wide to narrow.
- Even try to actively add lag by reducing the angle with the wrists and hands on the way down by doing things such as “ringing the bell.”
There is a technical term for what those kinds of actions produce. It’s called a shankopotomus.
Flip No. 2
Just before impact, the body stalls and the hands flip the club shut.
The miracle cure for this is to hold off the release. I have even heard that golfers should try to lead their downswings with the heel of the club. The problem is, if most golfers hold off the release on flip No. 2, they get what I call it a “chili duck snipe” or a “Gloria Allred.” Left, ugly, nasty and hurtful to your manhood.
For the sake of differentiating between these two completely different swing faults, let’s call Flip No. 1 an “early flip” and Flip No. 2 a “late flip.” And let me be upfront by saying that golfers don’t fix either of these issues by holding lag. As a matter of fact, the throw away is a necessity to actually hit the ball and the body knows this.
The Early Flip
The early flip happens for several reasons.
- A backswing that is too long,
- The upper body moves laterally toward the target and gets in front of the ball at impact
- The dreaded over-the-top move.
Quite often, two or even all three of these issues exist.
No drill or holding the of the lag is going to help any of this. Why? Because if your swing is too long, you aren’t going to generate enough rotational speed and no one is strong enough to hold the angle for that long with no rotational speed.
If your upper body is getting in front of the ball during the downswing, the angle of attack will be too steep and golfers will have to flip the club early or they will dig a grave where they could bury Rosanne Barr. Even if the upper body (head) moves toward the target a very small amount in the transition, it nearly always causes some degree of early flip. So if a golfer is over the top and does some lag creating move, well, just thinking about it makes me feel like a teenage girl at the latest version of the movie “Saw.”
Above: An exaggerated view of the upper body moving too far in front of the ball, causing a steep angle of attack and an early flip.
Ways to cure an early flip:
- Don’t whip the club so far inside. That will make it easier to:
- Shorten your backswing. That makes it easier to:
- Keep your upper body behind the ball (allows the lower body to shift to the left side while the upper body stays back).
The Late Flip
The late flip is the body’s way of getting the club back to the ball when club face is open to the path or the path is too far right, and sometimes if the angle of attack is too steep because the downswing is too narrow (from trying to add lag with the hands). When the path is too far right or the face is open to the path, the body senses this. Your body doesn’t want to hit it way right, so it stalls the turn and the hands flip the club face shut. Quite often, the symptom of a late flip is that the body stalls so badly at impact that the impact position looks nearly the same as address. The picture below shows as much.
Above: Often, when the club comes too far from the inside it causes the body to stall. This give the hands a chance to flip the club on line.
Knowing that, wouldn’t holding off the release just makes this worse?
Most of the root causes of a late flip is pulling the handle from the top of the swing and/or coming too far from the inside to “swing inside out” to hit that magical push draw. Holding off the release is just pulling the handle harder, and it often makes the arms get behind the turn and the right elbow get behind the right hip (for a right-handed golfer). When you hear the term “stuck,” this is what it is referring to.
Ways to cure late flip:
- Let the body shift and unwind from the top. This allows more time for the right elbow to get in front of the right hip and link the arms up to the turn. That makes it easier to:
- Allow the left arm (right handed golfer) and the club to rotate from the top. Everything continues to rotate together, which makes it easier to:
- Use the body to rotate the path and club face more left.
Here are two specific scenes I saw play out, but have seen this happen hundreds of times.
Guy 1
Guy 1 is an early flipper. He has a decent swing, but he gets his upper body in front of the ball. His friend says:
“You are flipping the club before impact and that is why you are losing all your power. Power comes from having as much lag as possible and you need to use your hands to pull the grip at the ball to maintain that lag angle.”
He initially hit the ball dead straight with every club, but now after the lag-producing elixir was introduced he is alternating chunks and shanks.
Guy 2
Guy 2 is a late flipper. He was bombing it 300-plus yards. The problem was he was hitting some hooks, but I would actually call them slight pull draws more than hooks.
He had a great swing. His hip turn was a little out of sequence and it made his path come too far from the inside with a club slightly open to the path.
“You have a massive flip at impact, you need to hold off that release longer and swing more out to the right,” his well-meaning friend told him.
After that, the over-draw turned into one of the worst diving snipes I have ever seen. Balls that were going over 300 yards were now diving out of the air at 230 and going left of left. Why?
“You aren’t holding off the release long enough,” his friend observes.
I have two bald spots from where I pulled out chunks of hair from experiencing these two incidents.
And you guys wonder why I rant so often.
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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.
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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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This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.
For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.
Setup
You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.
While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.
Get a Better Shoulder Turn
Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.
In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.
Stay Better Connected in the Backswing
When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.
Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.
Conclusion
I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.
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Jason
Apr 10, 2015 at 9:30 pm
I have question. Can you have a little of both types of flips during the swing? On video my head is a little ahead of the ball at impact, but at the same time I was getting stuck and flipping. On the downswing everything looked great until about hip level and I start losing my angle and at impact club has passed my hands. I think I would be in the late flip group but I am also move upper body in front of ball at impact. Thoughts?
peter
Jul 13, 2014 at 2:34 pm
Monte, first of all thank you for answering the many questions, much appreciated.
I like to remove the hands from the golf swing. That is to say I bow the left wrist going back and then try to return the club face to the ball using the lower body and torso. My question to you which is causing me great grief is the following:
At the range I set the club face and body to the target line and then open my body slightly to hit a fade. At the range it all works very well (that is to say I rarely hit a draw) but when I get to the course I will actually hit some push draws.
I know it is hard to give a recommendation without seeing a video but
would you be able to offer up some possible solutions. This problem is driving me around the bend!
Note: I have a habit of moving ahead coming down and also losing my spine angle at impact. I am practicing hard on both
thx Peter
joel waldman
Oct 17, 2013 at 6:11 am
I enjoyed and found this very helpful…and love your humor…perfect description of Allred. As I’m sure you’re aware, it is brutally hard to stop that upper body forward slide at the end of an overlong backswing/start of downswing…any further suggestions.
Ps…sending in my second video to golf fix in a day or two…have been working hard on your last suggestions…thanks, Joel
Jake
Oct 15, 2013 at 3:02 pm
Monte, great stuff as usual. I have dug several graves for Roseanne Barr in my lifetime with the early flip from OTT and upper body slide as you well know! Love the interjected humor!
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Michael
Oct 5, 2013 at 9:49 pm
Monte,
I have read so much info and could never figure out my late flip until this article! YEARS of snipes, your photo of impact is me. What do you mean by allowing the left arm and club to rotate from the top? Do you mean instead of dropping it under, getting the arms/clubs out in front of you and in front of your right hip?
Thanks, this is awesome!
naflack
Sep 18, 2013 at 3:06 pm
Monte, you could make a killing doing the “ridding the country of forced lag” tour. You could write off the expenses as charity 🙂
Nick
Jul 2, 2013 at 2:21 pm
Like other’s I am a litte unclear on the prescription to cure the late flip. I am definitely late flipping. Misses are long and left every time with the occasional snipe hook. “Shifting to the left side” is not a phrase I understand… At this point I am taking it to mean a more connected down swing as opposed to a hard spinning of the hips that can leave the arms and hands behind such that they must flip to catch up or else hit pushes.
Monte Scheinblum
Jul 2, 2013 at 4:29 pm
That sounds about right.
Mike
Jun 27, 2013 at 9:06 am
I infested the driving range with a flock of “diving snipes” myself yesterday! The kind that made my buddy say “dude, how the hell are you getting the ball to do THAT?” This helps. Also…wouldn’t your old “plane and release by feel” drill be a good way for either type of flipper to get back on track?
Tom
Jun 26, 2013 at 10:04 pm
Monte,
I hit straight shots with my 56* through PW. My 9-7 have a slight draw, and my 6-3 are nasty hooks 75% of the time. What kind of flipper do you think that I am? Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Tom
Monte Scheinblum
Jun 27, 2013 at 12:22 am
Late flipper. Ball position I’d first thing to check. Might be too far back with longer clubs.
Jeff
Jun 26, 2013 at 12:45 pm
Hey Monte,
I am trying to figure out which flipper I am and how to fix it. My flip causes me to hit super high short shots directly to the right. I can not get the face on the club to close no matter how much I try. I have never hit the ball left of where I am aiming if I hit it in the air ( I have rolled balls left before) Everything always goes straight or right. If I hit a seven iron straight I can hit it about 170. But 65% of the time I hit it really high and way right and ball is lucky to go 140.
Any suggestions.
Thanks,
Jeff
Monte Scheinblum
Jun 27, 2013 at 12:22 am
Sounds like early flip from getting in front of it.
Scott
Jun 26, 2013 at 6:11 am
Monte,
Great article, i get ahead of the ball and my body stalls, does this make me a “on time” flipper? Haha
This needs a video……..
Thanks buddy
Trent
Jun 24, 2013 at 9:44 pm
I would like a little more help on fixing a late flip. My instructor says it starts because I go past parallel and across the line. Then I drop it to much in the slot and come way from the inside. His drill is a glove under the right arm or put my left hand on my right bicept and pull down to impact. Basically we are trying to get my right elbow from separating from my body right before impact. Trying to keep my wrist connected. I need help. My takeaway is basically spot on now.
Marcus
Jun 24, 2013 at 8:30 am
Hey Monte,
Great article – i’m a scratch player and have HUGE troubles with the shorter clubs – 8-LW, All because of the flipping issue.. What is your thoughts on hands thru impact ?
Monte Scheinblum
Jun 24, 2013 at 12:50 pm
The hands are reactive to how your backswing and transition work. If the hands are doing something bad, the backswing and transition is where to look.
ssf
Jun 23, 2013 at 9:14 pm
i flip after impact … when i don’t, i know i’m flipping early
rtylerg
Jun 23, 2013 at 12:38 pm
Very nice article and completely relevant to my swing problems. I’m a quintessential late-flipper. I’ve studied my swing on film and I’ve noticed that the club drops the inside just fine, but the face is open and my body stalls while my hands catchup and turn the club over. I’ve been using two drills and I just want to verify with you that they will eventually cure my issues. I place a towel stretched accross my chest just below both armpits and hit balls. Then, using the towel, I pause at the top of my swing for 3 seconds and start my swing from the top letting everything unwind and finishing in balance. Are those good drills for this issue? Do you have any others that are good? Thanks
Monte Scheinblum
Jun 24, 2013 at 10:40 am
Be careful with towel drill. Only do short shots or you will get overly connected.
There is a root cause why club is open and you have to find that.
Dolph Lundgrenade
Jun 28, 2013 at 10:54 pm
Agreed… Towel drill with longer shots can result in torn muscles etc. Too connected means your left arm is too tight to the body. Not only can this cause injury, but it can get you in a stuck position at the top of your back swing causing you to flip to get the club back around to square in time.
Your hands and torso need to work in concert, but they shouldn’t be taking each other home at night- that’s too close!
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Wells
Jun 20, 2013 at 10:18 pm
What exactly do you mean by letting the body shift and unwind from the top. Clearing the hips and getting to your left side post faster?
Monte Scheinblum
Jun 20, 2013 at 10:54 pm
No. People who clear the hips too fast end up with a late flip. Shifting into the left side and allowing the arms to reconnect before the hips turn too much.
Damon
Jun 20, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Monte, top notch as usual….question, wouldn’t mr. late flipper also be partial to the local grazing livestock, mainly the goats?
Monte Scheinblum
Jun 20, 2013 at 5:16 pm
Yea, that definitely has possibilities.
Jeff
Jun 20, 2013 at 4:06 pm
I’ve been an early flipper for years. I start off every season pretty well but after a few weeks of working on the range trying to add lag I turned into the classic shankopotomus – every year without fail. Every. Year. Never understood why. NOW I do!
Most helpful article I’ve read in a long time. THANK YOU.
g
Jun 20, 2013 at 1:49 pm
I’VE BEEN LATE FLIPPING ALL SPRING!
Monte Scheinblum
Jun 20, 2013 at 2:03 pm
If it makes you feel any better I late flipped from 1982 until 2011.
I was taught to hold off the release and told to do it even more if I hit any hooks.
marty
Jun 20, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Nice little embedded dig at a Lady you don’t respect in there.
Chris
Jun 20, 2013 at 10:51 am
I have no idea what this article was trying to convey. Maybe I have jet lag but I seriously didn’t get it??
Monte Scheinblum
Jun 20, 2013 at 12:46 pm
There are two different errors that are called the same thing…and the fixes that are used do not fix the root problem.
Andrew Cooper
Jun 22, 2013 at 4:30 am
Not really understanding this Monte. What’s the difference between a late flip and a good release? And is the above photo of the tour player there to show a good release or a flip?
Monte Scheinblum
Jun 22, 2013 at 11:53 am
In the late flip the body stalls. That release looks fine.
jabrch
Jun 20, 2013 at 10:51 am
Monte – this is AWESOME stuff. Thanks!