Instruction
Hamilton: A trick I give my students to make their ball position automatic
The author, Scott Hamilton has created a comprehensive video series on his keys to hitting the driver. He has made the first seven videos of the series free to GolfWRX readers. You can check them out here or check out his website, OnTOURgolf.com.
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A good setup is the catalyst to the chain of events in your golf swing that makes good impact possible. If you make a mistake early, you spend the rest of the swing trying to compensate for it. Instead of a good first move that sets in motion a chain of other good moves, you get a bad move that requires recovery throughout the swing. That’s why what you do before you hit your driver is so important.
I made a full series on how I teach the driver for my website, but I made all the pre-swing videos free because getting the start right will help a ton of people.
In the video above, I talk about driver ball position. Having your ball position up near your front foot is nothing new. It’s probably one of the few things you won’t find many Tour players or coaches disagreeing about. Even so, I see bad ball positions all the time.
There are lots of reasons why players might not follow the age old advice of playing the ball near their front foot. Having the ball way up in the stance for the driver can just feel funny when it’s the only shot played that way. That’s why it’s easy to let the ball creep toward the middle of your stance, where it feels more comfortable. Watch the video to learn the trick I give my students to make their ball position automatic.
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Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
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
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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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
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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Derick S
May 3, 2016 at 1:17 pm
Mr Hamilton,
Just signed up for your membership…
Thanks for the video post.. Was straight to the point, easy to understand, and very helpful…
Even though I’m 3 handicap, I still tend to put the ball back in my stance here and there….
For long irons, say 3i-6i, do you set up differently or stay the same!!
These are the clubs i have trouble with… I do got a 2 hybrid 16.5* and hit it like my driver and FW Woods…
Any tips for the long irons would be much appreciated Sir…
1SG Derick S.
U.S. Army (retired)
2nd Ranger Bn
RLTW
Mark H. Davis
Apr 21, 2016 at 6:35 pm
DAMN! That’s good advice. Much appreciated. (PS: this is exactly how I putt, to find that ball position too.)
Michael
Apr 20, 2016 at 9:04 pm
Great video Scott. So for guys who block or push the ball out to the right do you think on top of moving the ball well forward in your stance that also putting the ball writing visible on the back when you tee it up and then make sure you can read it all the way till impact is a good idea?
Scott Hamilton
Apr 21, 2016 at 12:18 am
Man- I don’t know. I can’t say that I’ve ever known of a good player telling me that they try to see the ball until impact. If I wash pushing it- I’d be looking to get the face more shut at impact or the path less in-to-out.
Carter baker
Apr 20, 2016 at 8:53 pm
I wish I had learned this trick much earlier in my career
Shallowface
Apr 20, 2016 at 3:25 pm
Really appreciating these tips. Thanks, Scott!
Cory
Apr 20, 2016 at 2:08 pm
Love the forward ball position except that it leads to open shoulders. How do you combat that?
mhendon
Apr 20, 2016 at 5:12 pm
You tilt your shoulders back in other words lowering your right shoulder. If you do it right you won’t open your shoulders.
Scott Hamilton
Apr 20, 2016 at 7:04 pm
You’re right, sometimes people open their shoulders when they setup to a ball in the front of their stance. Get a friend to check it for you or use your phone to help yourself.
Ben
Apr 20, 2016 at 12:27 pm
this was a really good video Scott. Concise and short and to the point, would love to hear more.
Scott Hamilton
Apr 20, 2016 at 1:14 pm
There’s a free video in a course called “Solid Contact Series” that I did that gives another good system for ball position with your irons. You can get in on the homepage of my site.
http://www.ontourgolf.com
Matt
Apr 20, 2016 at 12:19 pm
I’m guilty of this in my golf game. Ball position has creeped back towards inside of my left heel. True enough, my fairways hit % has dropped too. Thanks!
Ian
Apr 20, 2016 at 12:16 pm
Great, do you have any tricks for ball position throughout the bag?
Ben
Apr 20, 2016 at 12:28 pm
I wonder if you could take this same idea except right before you move your trailing foot back, move your leading foot forward a certain amount (depending on club).
Scott Hamilton
Apr 20, 2016 at 1:20 pm
That would just mean that your ball would be off your rear foot instead. For other clubs-I like when the ball is placed the same distance inside the front foot and then drop the rear foot. It’s similar to this technique.
Scott Hamilton
Apr 20, 2016 at 1:16 pm
Hey Ian- I got a similar question above. There’s a video in my “Solid Contact Series” that goes over the rest of the bag. You get free access when you sign up for the free membership level. Just go to http://www.ontourgolf.com and sign up.
Ian
Apr 23, 2016 at 1:16 pm
Hi Scott. I took your advice and signed up on your site. When I saw your video on iron shaft lean/face direction something clicked. I used to have shaft lean but got rid of it over the last year (thinking that it was better not to have it). Played this weekend with shaft lean again and my ball striking was significantly better! 12 greens and 4 birdies (not a brag, just enjoying the game again). So thanks again! Oh and not a hint of a shank (which was starting to become common place).
Scott Hamilton
Apr 24, 2016 at 10:03 am
That’s really cool man. Thanks for joining the site. Shaft lean is critical for good iron play. Post your swing up in the Swing Review section and I’ll give it a look.
Joe S
Apr 20, 2016 at 11:32 am
Thank you. This was very good and simple!
Scott Hamilton
Apr 20, 2016 at 10:52 am
Hey GolfWrx-
I didn’t travel to this weeks TOUR event in San Antonio. I’m teaching today but will check back here later to answer questions. So post em up!
-Scott
RS
Apr 20, 2016 at 9:52 am
Anyone else getting a privacy setting error when trying to play the video?
Zak Kozuchowski
Apr 20, 2016 at 9:55 am
Sorry, RS. Give us a few minutes to sort this out, and please check back.