Flat chat

My doubts over the benefits of a strong grip are getting stronger. Yesterday, I played golf with a more neutral (maybe slightly strong) grip and tried to maintain a flat left wrist at the top of the backswing and as much as I could through impact. The results were very good. By the way, I'm right-handed, hence the use here of the term 'flat LEFT wrist'.

In fact, I played some good golf at times and felt more comfortable, less strained, and much freer than I had been with the strong grip. I used this marginally strong grip for all shots and actually felt at times that it was still too strong when combined with a flat left wrist. That is, the clubface tended to close a little too much at impact.

The point of trying to maintain a flat left wrist throughout the swing is to try to keep the clubface in a square position, not open and not closed, so that there is no need to make corrections, or try to make corrections more likely, on the downswing in order to strike the ball with a square and closing (emphasis on the 'ing' in closing) clubface at impact. I'll explain what I mean below.

Some research suggests that the clubface must be 6 or 7 degrees closed at impact - I think mainly with a driver - for the ball flight to be straight. This could explain why shots with a driver are perhaps helped by having a slightly closed clubface - provided of course that the swing is not severely outside-in (over the top). Therefore, with a driver it is probably important to have a feeling that the clubface is closing into impact, which should reduce the likelyhood of leaving it square or open and creating too much slice spin.

There is more technical stuff on the physics of the swing plane, but it's not really necessary to go into that (let's leave it to the Homer Kelley 'The Golfing Machine' disciples). But there is one effect of trying to maintain a flat left wrist that should be mentioned.

The flat left is a trade off. By maintaining a flat left wrist at the top of the backswing, the backswing is necessarily a little shorter for most golfers (especially ageing ones). When I say backswing, I am referring here to how far the club goes back, not the pivot or turn, which is another (important) issue. This shortening will probably reduce for most golfers the potential distance they can hit a ball.

But, as I said, it's a trade off. With a square clubface and a slightly shortened backswing comes greater consistency of ball striking - provided the other principles I've mentioned previously are followed, that is: no sway, no attempt to over-hit, and no back foot shots.

I'm going to persist with the flat wrist for a while and incorporate a neutral grip. I might, however, keep a slightly strong grip for my driver. Let's see what happens.