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Strong Grip Only When "Hitting Up" On Ball


MConstantineJr
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For the most part I have a neutral grip with my irons, hybrids, and fairway woods when I am digging and I'm pretty accurate and have good distance with maybe a tiny fade in the woods and hybrids and small draw with irons. The problem is when I tee up a driver, FW wood or hybrid I MUST assume a pretty strong grip or else it's slice city. I've tried for the last 6 weeks at about 1200 balls a week on the range and just can't find it with a neutral grip teeing up the 3 aforementioned clubs. I can hit my 17* FW wood off the tee box deck with a nice divot and carry about 215-230 pretty consistently and am debating always hitting off the deck as it feels more natural rather than changing my grip to strong just for the sake of teeing it up with a driver. However my driver is about 10-30 yards longer on average. I'm also contemplating a 13* FW wood and hitting that off the tee box deck rather than teeing up a driver in hopes of gaining the yardage I would lose with my 3w. I guess what it comes down to is I'm more comfortable with a neutral grip and hitting down and compressing the ball rather than hitting up on the ball teeing it up. Does anyone flat out hit down on the ball with every club and totally abandon any other type of swing?
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I can hit my 17* FW wood off the tee box deck with a nice divot and carry about 215-230 pretty consistently and am debating always hitting off the deck as it feels more natural rather than changing my grip to strong just for the sake of teeing it up with a driver.

Thats extremely impressive for an 18 cap (And a consistent 223 yard average straight with a 17* club would be impressive for a 10 cap IMO).  Are you sure this isn't just mental?  Meaning, sometimes we "like" a feel and think we hit it better that way when its really just the same.  Just throwing this out there - its very unlikely you are actually doing this with an 18 cap.

Quote:
Does anyone flat out hit down on the ball with every club and totally abandon any other type of swing?

I do, but I am trying to change it.  I hit down with the driver and all the other clubs, and I hit a fade 95% of the time.  The key thing to understand here is that it isn't your swing that should change, its your setup.  If you want an upward AoA, move the ball forward.  Now, if your head is moving (more below) this doesn't work.  However, if you have a consistent swing bottom, you can get a postiive AoA by simply moving the ball forward (as it will be just in front of the bottom).

As usal, having a consistent swing bottom is the fix.  You get that by getting the first three keys IMO (steady head, flat left wrist, weight forward).

Quote:
The problem is when I tee up a driver, FW wood or hybrid I MUST assume a pretty strong grip or else it's slice city. I've tried for the last 6 weeks at about 1200 balls a week on the range and just can't find it with a neutral grip teeing up the 3 aforementioned clubs.

Its hard to tell without a video.  However, it is probably likely your head is moving forward in the downswing.  Taking a strong grip will close the face to the target, but leaves it open to the path, producing a fade.  A neutral grip probably leaves your face open/square to the target with an out-to-in path, producing a slice.

I had this exact same problem.  When your head comes forward, your angle of attack gets really steep, and you throw the club outside.  Further, when your head comes forward, you are shifting your swing bottom forward, which means you will never hit up.

What has worked for me to help this is to have a swing thought of keeping my chin glued to my chest and making half-swings.  Making full swings with this swing thought isn't great as you can get hurt, but little half swings can give you the impression of a stable head with some power.  This little drill has helped me a ton.

You should really post a video, though, as its hard to tell without one.  Your problem sounds like my problem (complete with straightening it out by gripping stronger).

Instead of just pounding away at 1200 balls per week, try putting an alignment stick in front of you about square.  Make half swings, concentrating on keeping your head still (but moving forward with everything else) and starting the ball to the left of the stick (for a fade).  This is a great drill to feel the proper clubface rotation with a neutral grip and the head staying still.  Hit 5 or 6 like this and then hit a full swing and repeat.  Isolating the problems (head moves forward, open face at impact) helped quite a bit.  It also helped me quite a lot to get an adjustable driver and put most of the weight in the heel.

That said, if you're hitting a 17* club 230 yards consistently striaght at a 18 cap I'd just strengthen the grip and go work on something else :).

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Thanks John! Let me start by saying I'm an 18 cap because I can't hit a driver and give up 8 plus strokes easily per round and my putting is below average at best. Anything I have to hit with a descending blow I am pretty good with. I don't have an actual handicap per say. I usually shoot high 80 to low 90 so I just assume 18 handicap. I don't actually know how to calculate that. I'm about 6 foot 195 lbs and played a lot of baseball so I can generate pretty decent distance (not implying baseball is the same thing) so that's why I think I can hit a 17* fairly solid. I'd say most often I carry 215 to be fair and not exaggerate. Probably 220-230 with a good roll. So please recant my initial carry statement. I'm able to do this by taking a good sized divot and descending blow. I'll work in posting a swing sometime soon. But my gut tells me to play my driver strong gripped and move on to focus on putting.
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Note: This thread is 3545 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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