Instruction
The goal of golf: Put the ball in the hole
Imagine you have never played the game of golf. You arrive at the course and your friend explains the rules of the game. After a few basic questions, you grab your clubs and head to the first tee.
Prior to hitting your first shot, your friend reminds you of something relatively important to the game:
“The objective of the game is to PUT THE BALL IN THE HOLE.”
You smile, pick your target and swing. It’s a perfect strike down the middle, so you’re positioned right in the middle of the fairway. You get ready to hit your next shot, and once again your friend reminds you:
“The objective of the game is to PUT THE BALL IN THE HOLE.”
You smile, pick your target and swing. Whoooosh, it’s another great shot. Now you’re lying in the center of the green. Eagerly, you step up to the ball and get ready to hit your putt. But before you do, your helpful golfing friend is ready to share his simple putting tip with you.
He stands behind your ball and shows you how to envision a line going from your ball to the hole. He then has you stand over the cup, and pick the exact blade of grass where the ball will enter the cup. He tells you how important it is to get very specific with your target on EVERY putt. You then walk back to your ball and get ready to putt.
Standing over the ball, you are focused on that exact blade of grass you saw. Totally fixated on it, you feel like that is the only thing that exists in the world. As you stare at it for a couple of seconds, you start smiling. You’re smiling because you know you are going to make it. All your energy is totally committed to putting the ball in the hole. WOW, what a great feeling!
You hit the putt and watch the ball roll over the imaginary line you saw in your mind. Your eyes are now widening, as you watch it roll closer and closer to the hole. You rejoice as you watch the ball fall into the cup, and make this beautifully unique sound. You high-five your friend, thank him for the great advice and head to the next hole.
It is imperative when you play golf to really focus on your target. It is equally as important to remember the objective of the game.
“PUT THE BALL IN THE HOLE!”
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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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Bob
Feb 4, 2019 at 11:45 am
I had a laminated card under the glass on my desk which read “ Get the ball in the hole” it apples to more than golf.
Pingback: The goal of golf: Put the ball in the hole | My Mental Game Coach
Sean
Jun 7, 2013 at 11:42 pm
You wouldn’t know that reading some of threads on the equipment forum. 🙂
John
Jun 7, 2013 at 7:09 pm
Best instructional article in a while.
Greg Liberto
Jul 10, 2013 at 11:20 am
Thanks John, glad you enjoyed it, please feel free to share with your golfing friends !!! Greg