Tuesday, 7 January 2014

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?

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