I’m baaaaack. It’s yet to be proven on the course, but I feel so much better now after I had a revalation in My 10 Minute Lesson. I have been to the range 3 times now since then and I have hit the ball amazingly straight and comfortably long. I have been saying for a while now that I lost about 2 club-lengths in distance on all of my clubs. Well, I think I gained about 1 to 1.5 club-lengths back.
This is about the best illustration that I could find to show how I used to grip the clubs. My right hand (I’m right handed) was turned way over to the left (counter-clockwise). I did this about a year ago or so, which was around the time I lost all my distance. Gripping the club like this did 2 things for me: It helped me “feel” my hands release and it helped control my slice for a long time. I think I actually started doing this after reading Ben Hogan’s book and have never gone back to the way I used to grip it. I must have misread it, because I can’t find out where he suggests it. Although it did fix my slice for a while, it did eventually come back, and it had a vengence. Not only was I slicing it (100% because my club-face was open), but I was hitting the ball like a 5 year old (100% because my club-face was open).
Per the head pro’s suggestion, I started gripping it with my right hand more open. This picture shows a pretty neutral grip. My right hand is actually a little more open (clockwise). The explaination behind this makes perfect sense to me too.
This picture shows the natural, “comfortable” position for your hands. No matter what you try to do, your body (your arms and hands) will try to gravitate back to this position. If I close my right hand at address like I used to and my hands go back to this position, my face will be wide open. If I open my hand at address, when my hands get to the moment of impact, the face will naturally be more closed.
That’s the easy part. The other thing I’m doing to help my swing is to force myself to “feel” my hands release. Because of the way I used to grip the club, I know what this is supposed to feel like, so it’s not really that difficult to do, it’s just kind of hard to explain. It’s also something that has to be automatic, like keeping your head down. At this point, I still have to remind myself to do it, but I’m hoping it starts to come more naturally.
More at http://golfcomplex.com/?p=129
