Grip it and release it

Again a dot-point post courtesy of my iMac mini.

- Strengthened my grip to almost 4 knuckles (knuckles are a rough measure)
- Made sure my shoulders were square or slightly closed at address (parallel to target line)
- Passive hands combined with a body-turn release (watch a Zack Johnson swing video)
- Smooth and easy from the top (transition) to avoid as far as possible an over-the-top swing.

Hit some great irons, effortlessly. Only danger is in not turning aggressively enough - the ball will want to go left. Contact was great with no need to think about weight transfer, etc.

With driver, played the ball just behind front heel, careful to set up with club well behind the ball (8-10 inches) so shoulders were square (parallel to target line). Result: club face slightly closed at impact, with the ball being struck slightly on the upswing for an ideal drive trajectory.

The strong grip / body-turn release is probably best suited to the players who have not had success with a neutral grip / hand roll-over release, which requires good timing and therefore maybe more practice - or more ability. It might also be better suited to chronic slicers, noting that a strong grip alone is not guaranteed to prevent a slice.

I enjoyed my first (serious) outing with my Zack look-alike swing - 3 birdies on the first nine before we retired to the clubhouse to escape the 100 plus degree heat.

Bottom line: grip it strong, release it with strong body turn.

Too much to ask

Maybe I was tired, but playing golf today I realised that I was so sluggish, no swing keys like the compression and weight transfer keys were going to work. I hit the ball appallingly for quite a few holes before, in desperation, I strengthened my grip to try to regain some kind of feeling of power.

I know this was a quick fix, and wrong, wrong, wrong.

However, I have since viewed the Mark Crossfield vid on stronger grip and the one on not slicing the driver. This is what I learned.

A strong grip gives a golfer a better chance of releasing the club well. A weak grip requires too much hand manipulation for most amateurs. A strong grip requires more body action, of course, but then so does a weak grip, just a different kind of body action, with better timing - the timing I for one haven't got.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not abandoning my first amigo - a smooth swing and constant tempo for all clubs and shots. I still think this is very important.

On the subject of not slicing the driver, Crossfield talks about grip, basically strengthening it a little if it's too weak - too much in the centre of the palm and not close enough to the base of the fingers. See above on that.

He also talks about clubface awareness, which we actually chatted about at one point on the course today. His view is that the golfer must be aware of how open or closed the clubface is during the backswing, in fact that it is slightly closed. This will confirm that the grip is correct.

This actually relates to the flat left wrist theory, because keeping the clubface slightly closed is achieved by keeping the wrist fairly flat on the backswing. But the key point is that the clubface should not be opened up some of the time - through arm rotation or whatever - and closed some of the time on the backswing; it should always be slightly closed. Clubface awareness is therefore necessary.

The third element was the need to move to the front foot on the downswing - the need to get the weight forward. This has been one of my keys for a while, but I liked the way Crossfield expressed himself - that is. more in terms of hitting through the ball, making a good forward move, rather than expressing it in more technical, weight shift, terminology.

All in all, I think I can work with these three approaches to all my golf shots - stronger grip, clubface awareness and positive move through the ball. I felt part of this today when I changed my grip; I just need to work on that greater clubface awareness and weight shift, while maintaining a good smooth rhythm and constant tempo.

Is that too much to ask?

Transition is the thing

Using my iPad so dot points only.
- Transition is critical - but abandoning much of the flat wrist, power, lag, and similar technical ideas. However, staying with the no sway and swing easily approach.
- transition starts with a slight weight shift forward with the hips starting to turn - needs to start first since big muscles move more slowly
- is accompanied by a slight squat as the arms and club start to drop
- the shoulders only turn once these moves are well under way
- apart from pre-swing preps such as grip, setup, alignment, this is all one should think about during the golf swing
Transitioning like this helps generate power with control and accuracy.