Grip it right and some geometry

It didn't take long yesterday for the palm grip to bring on disaster or for me to realise that while such an extreme grip can result in great running draws it can also result in wild hooks from which there is no return.

Consequently, I have settled for a strong, slightly palm oriented, right hand grip, combined with a normal, though strong, left hand grip. That is, a grip where the palms oppose, set in a strong 3 - 4 knuckle position.

This grip encourages the face to close at impact without producing the extreme closures of the ultra strong right hand palm grip. It is a sensible compromise that I will hopefully stick with for the foreseeable future.

A very important realisation came to me yesterday, however, and that is the crucial role the trailing elbow plays in controlling the swing plane. I recently saw a video on this. The point made was that the club and hands change planes on the backswing, as the arms lift during the turn, but the elbow stays very close to or on the same plane on the backswing because it bends.

This means that awareness of the elbows position is very important in maintaining a consistent swing plane and therefore consistent ball strike. This is not about tucking the elbow, which would very likely mean a change in elbow plane and loss of consistency.

There was another important discovery yesterday (more like confirmation of a theory) and that was the essential role maintaining the triangle of the arms and club play in both producing consistency and power.

In short, the hands and wrists should stay in the set up formation for as long as possible in the seing. That is, the arm/club triangle formed at address should be retained throughout the first part of the backswing. The elbows should stay in the same proximity to each other (the trailing elbow bending to accommodate this). A chicken wing will upset this relationship as will any rolling or other manipulation of the wrists.

So, there should be no rolling of the wrists and no early setting or cocking of the wrists. The wrists will cock automatically with the club's upward momentum (and uncock at the right time on the downswing). The wrists and hands should remain passive in the sense that there should be no conscious attempt to manipulate them.

All one needs to think of (hopefully without tightening the muscles) is the retention of the triangle created at set up. There is no need to think about release or any other manipulation of the hands or wrists. The release and closing of the clubface will occur automatically. Provided the swing plane is OK, the ball will be delivered in the right direction.

There is another important advantage of retaining the triangle, which is that the release of the clubhead on the downswing will be delayed, again automatically, because, as physics can prove, the momentum of the swing will cause the clubhead to catch up with the hands at the right time - actually just after impact. This results in optimum power, which combined with consistency of contact, very good distance control. Optimum clubhead velocity cannot be consistently achieved via hand and wrist manipulation.

This triangle theory is down to Jimmy Ballard, the rebel PGA professional and teacher, but as he mentions, there is another triangle (which has to be maintained) that is mentioned by a couple of other teachers. This is the triangle formed by the left arm, the club and the shoulder line. The good thing is that the ideas are compatible, in fact fully interactive, since retention of one triangle means the other triangle will be retained.

Anyway, the key point is that the wrists and hands should be passive, left to function unconsciously and in accord with physical laws. The golfer should concentrate on balance, rhythm and relaxation, like our old friend Peter Lightbaum suggests.

A final word, for me and most average golfers: 'don't try to hit hard - EVER'. Trying to hit hard is ALWAYS counter productive. Swinging smoothly and with relaxed limbs will generate sufficient power for almost all occasions. When there is a need for an extra few metres, it is even more important to swing smoothly and easily, and to keep the muscles loose. The unconscious mind will take care of the extra power, just like it does with putting control, unless overruled by conscious manipulation, by speeding up the hands and wrists. Average golfers who try to consciously speed up their swings always sabotage the attempt by tensing up their muscles. upsetting their rhythm, losing their balance and actually slowing down their swings.

Take 2 on right hand grip

Having pointed out the dangers of the strong palm grip in the right (lower) hand it didn't take me more than two holes yesterday to revert to that same grip.

For some reason I now feel comfortable with it, perhaps because it takes the slice, but not the occasional fade, out of the picture. The reason I'm wary of it is, as stated before, because of the potential to hit hooks and pull hooks.

The necessity to hit through the ball with no rolling of the wrists and only a little release is one of things that need to be mastered to minimise the dangers of the grip. If I manage to do that, I end up with a straight and penetrating flight that gives me twenty metres over my former fade with a driver and maybe ten or so with 3 and 5 wood.

While I had previously looked at Zac Johnson and thought what a whacky swing (Whacky Zacky) being my nickname for him, I now realise he was doing just what I need to do - hold the wrists relatively stiffly and swing out and through with plenty of body turn through the ball.

Speaking of stiff wrists, it took me about 16 holes yesterday to realise how to hit a mid iron. A bit of an overstatement perhaps, but in fact the feeling of hitting a good iron shot is sort of an extension of the above.

The image or feeling that you need to go with is of retaining the triangle - left arm, right arm and club. It is all about not releasing the right (lower) wrist early in the always disastrous attempt to lift the ball. The release will occur by itself, you just have to swing with the triangle in place. It makes for far more consistent contact and consequently better distance control (and distance itself because of the late release and speed that generates).

By the way, hold the triangle, which I've actually read about in a couple of places, but not taken in and used, does apply to all clubs from putter to driver. But it is most important with the short and mid irons where good contact is critical.

Anyway, it's back to the palm grip and hold the triangle for my next game. Let's see what  happens.

Right hand, Man!

For several weeks I've been messing around with my right-hand (trailing or lower hand) grip. In part, this stems from the ostensibly contrary view of CJ Goecks and the Perfect Golf-swing people who advocate a palm rather than a finger grip for the trailing hand.

This palm grip has two major consequences for the golf swing - one good and one bad - in my humble opinion. The bad consequence is so bad that I have come to the conclusion that the grip is too dangerous to use. I will elaborate.

Firstly, I should describe the palm grip. The club is held at the base of the fingers, that is, where the fingers join the palm. In contrast, a finger grip is where the club is held higher in the fingers, between the middle knuckles.

A palm grip causes or forces the trailing or lower hand to rotate under the club at address with the consequence that the trailing hand is now in what is referred to as a 'strong' position. A strong grip (in either hand) increases the tendency of the player to roll the wrists coming into impact - as a result of the compensatory or automatic adjustment that the hands make (courtesy of the brain's instructions).

This rolling of the wrists and hands closes the face of the club more than a less strong (a so called neutral or weak) grip. And although the resultant hook or draw spin might be just what was intended, the hook spin can be excessive, with the result being a disastrous low curving ball that doesn't even sniff the fairway or green.

The above scenario is about tendencies only. There are compensatory moves that can and are being made by good golfers who have strong grips. However, the main move that is needed is an active body rotation through the ball - not the easiest move for older and less agile (or skilful) golfers.

Before summing up, I should mention the positive outcome of a strong lower hand grip. This is the encouragement that such a grip gives to the golfer to keep the trailing elbow down on the backswing and close to the hip on the downswing. The positioning of the right elbow is very important. It is one of the few common elements identifiable in the swing of good golfers, because it indicates a downswing plane that is from the inside - rather than from outside or over-the-top swing plane that is common in poorer golfers. There is an added bonus in having your trailing elbow in sound positions: it feels good and powerful.

My desire to develop a sound swing plane and to make sure I close the clubface at impact were the two main reasons I chose to experiment with the strong lower hand grip. The lower hand grip experiment helped to reinforce my view that the trailing elbow position is crucial, however, it also revealed to me the dangers inherent in such a grip (mainly out of control hooks).

What I will have to do now is adopt what will probably be a neutral to strong grip for both hands and find a way to ensure that my trailing elbow finds the correct positions in my swing. I also need to remember to swing down and out through the ball - not always the easiest thing to do - but essential nonetheless.

Winter of discontent

It has been a wet and muddy winter here in downtown Melbourne. We have had preferred lies on our course, which is great, but it gets really tiresome to have to clean your ball after every shot.

Excuses out of the way, I have to admit to a downturn in my scoring ability and shotmaking over the past few months. As usual, I have been trying to find that extra 10 percent in my game and, as a result, have lost 20 percent. I haven't abandoned my hard-won insights into swing sequencing, effortless arms and so forth, but I have complicated things with some new thoughts about weight transfer, elbow use, lag and impact positions.

The new thoughts came from the realisation that there is a common factor in all good ball striking, particularly with the clubs other than driver and other woods off the tee, and that is the impact position or location of the bottom of the swing arc. This bottom of the arc starts at the ball - not before it - and results in a divot in front of the ball position. This means that the ball is struck first and the ground second. It sounds too simple, but it is verifiable via ALL video of ALL pro golfers' swings.

The question that arises is: how do I achieve this type of ball contact? This is where I started to complicate things by looking at hand position, weight transfer, foot movement, loading, lagging, etc. etc. I was not happy just coiling from the top and uncoiling from the bottom, which had been my mantra. I wanted to add in all of these other (perfectly correct and reasonable) elements, but in the process I have now lost some of the freedom and consistency I had built up.

Anyway, having realised that I have been complicating things, I think it is time to settle on a few keys that I can call on in my full swing, which I will list below. Before that, however, I should make it clear that when it comes to scoring well (as low as possible) it is essential to realise that the short game is the crucial area of concentration. No point in hitting the ball far and straight if you can't chip and putt well - no point at all!

That said, my swing keys or areas of focus are as follows:

1. Balance - roll the feet and don't sway or move your head excessively.
2. Swing plane - use the trailing elbow correctly - ie.  it should face up at set up so it stays close on the downswing, keeping the club on plane. Ideally, lag is maintained by not releasing the trailing wrist too early.
3. Coil from the top and uncoil from the bottom - bearing in mind that the weight must shift almost entirely to the front foot at impact (though not quite so much with tee shots).

This is enough (maybe even too much) to think about. But with time I hope to be able to achieve these elements of my full swing - and have more time to work on my short game.

September 2012