The Golf Drill Guru
It’s a simple fact, 85% of the golfing population slice the golf ball. Many slices are caused by something as simple as a poor grip. For all slicers, a weak grip is one of your worst enemies. We are not talking about grip pressure here…a weak grip has both hands rotated to far to the left on the grip as shown in this diagram (lefties are the opposite).
When you perform a swing, your wrists will move into the position of least resistance – in this case, one where your hands are in a more neutral position. A clapping position – with both palms facing each other and thumbs on top of the club is considered neutral. So naturally if your grip is weak to begin with, your clubface will be open at impact.
Now, if you can hit the ball straight with a weak grip, great, but this means you’re making another ‘quick fix’ elsewhere in your swing to compensate for this to square the clubface.
The most common ‘quick fix’ is over-active wrists at impact or an in to out swing path. This may help to straighten the ball flight for a couple shots, but chances are 9 times out of 10 you will either slice the ball even more or develop a snap hook.
Another common ‘quick fix’ is releasing the club early from it’s lagged position, also known as casting the club, this leads to a massive power drain into impact, but occasionally a square clubface.
The truth is, in golf two wrongs can make a right, but as you can see – there are many drawbacks. If you’re looking for consistency and repetition in your swing, stick to proper fundamentals. A neutral grip will produce dependable results without forcing yourself to make ‘quick fixes’ throughout your swing. Once again, your fundamentals are key.