Question:
Thanks, George.I’ll try to look up Randy’s comments. From what I said, is that the feeling I should have? To be honest, I’m not as concerned with what happens after contact in terms of distance but in terms of whether the ball flies straight. Once I know I’ve got the right grip, concept, I can start working on distance with wrist cock and the other elements that add to it. Right now, the fact that the ball is coming off straight-not skittering left or a dead slice right is immensley important. I can live with failing on the delayed release, the improper hip turns or loss of power from other moves that I can’t work into my fragile swing if I just know that my basic grip/feeling is the right one to work on. If it is, I plan to do nothing more than to work on hitting good short irons until I can build enough confidence to work on the longer irons and woods and to work on increasing distance. As I’m sure you know, just hitting it straight with some loft, even though the distance is lacking, is a new world for me at this point. I’ve spent many, many days and buckets of balls just trying to get the ball to fly off the ground, or tee, in a fairly straight line. I’m thinking now that if I have right grip feeling andswing keys to keep the right hand/shoulder from killing any shot I try to make, I’m at least on the right track.
Response:
I’ve been working on being sure I have a strong left hand and a weak right hand grip because, with anything else, my right hand just takes over, pulling my right shoulder over and any chance for a good shot is just gone. This might sound strange but I’d appreciate it if someone could describe to me what the club should feel like when you have the right grip. For example, today I got the club tightly in the fingers of my left hand, near the end of the club. When I laid my right hand over, with a weak grip, it felt like the right hand almost wasn’t there. When I approached the ball, the feeling was that my left hand and arm were in complete control. In taking the club back, same feeling. The big change was when I brought the club down. It just felt so natural for the left hand to control things with arm, shoulder and club coming inside out and as result, I had the best iron shots I’ve hit in some time. I never had the feeling, as I usually do, that the right hand and shoulder were going to charge in at the top of the swing and screw up the whole thing. I don’t know, maybe that’s the way I should have always done it but it felt really strange to not feel my right hand doing ANYTHING-just riding along. Does any of this make sense? Guess my question is, again, is that the way a good grip SHOULD feel or is it just something that worked for me once and
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’ve been working on being sure I have a strong left hand and a weak right hand grip because, with anything else, my right hand just takes over, pulling my right shoulder over and any chance for a good shot is just gone. This might sound strange but I’d appreciate it if someone could describe to me what the club should feel like when you have the right grip. For example, today I got the club tightly in the fingers of my left hand, near the end of the club. When I laid my right hand over, with a weak grip, it felt like the right hand almost wasn’t there. When I approached the ball, the feeling was that my left hand and arm were in complete control. In taking the club back, same feeling.
The right hand in many swings does more harm than good because it "wants" to manhandle the shaft. This invariably results in two serious problems: driving the club out of a smooth orbit, and doing so prematurely, squandering a ton of the energy way too early and leaving a powerlessly slower speed of clubhead to hit the ball with. The secret of the RIGHT hand is that it should ONLY assist in moving the FULCRUM of the club forward, never the shaft (except for special shots). It pushes the top of the left thumb down on plane and through impact, acting on the fulcrum of the club with the butt or wristbone ONLY – never the palm. Those who experience "benefit" slapping with the palm might be getting more distance than if they do not, but that is illusory and a bandaid for a swing lacking proper release technique. The proper release technique is the core of great and good golf swings. It invoves centrifugal release from a 90 DGREE WRISTCOCK that explodes, starting when hands reach about waist high on the downswing. If right hand has "helped" the shaft to advance and increase the 90 degree angle at ALL prior to this time, the swing is already doomed to less than its potential. The clubhead will just plain not move as fast at the ball no matter how hard one "tries", since the potential energy of the wristcock has already been somewhat dissipated. Your "discovery" is very important, and if you inform it with this additional information, you can improve a lot and embed this into your swing. Randy’s posts on this very point in the last day or so confirm this same concept. George Hibbard – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The big change was when I brought the club down. It just felt so natural for the left hand to control things with arm, shoulder and club coming inside out and as result, I had the best iron shots I’ve hit in some time. I never had the feeling, as I usually do, that the right hand and shoulder were going to charge in at the top of the swing and screw up the whole thing. I don’t know, maybe that’s the way I should have always done it but it felt really strange to not feel my right hand doing ANYTHING-just riding along. Does any of this make sense? Guess my question is, again, is that the way a good grip SHOULD feel or is it just something that worked for me once and