Simple grip question

I have a simple grip question that probably has an obvious answer. When you grip a golf club, are you holding it open at address. What I mean is if you were to completely let your arm/wrist muscles go limp should the clubface stay square or deviate from that?


The reason I ask is because I noticed recently that relaxing my wrist/arms completely causes the club face to shut almost entirely. I assumed that that was wrong and changed it. I now lose everything way right or I hook really bad If I try to snap my wrist through on the release. I really feel like I have no control even in my backswing when I'm not holding the face open against some amount of tension in my wrist to close it. Hope that makes sense.

Yeah the club should be square at address. If I'm trying to get extra height, I may open the face a little bit, and same thing if I'm trying to get it to go a little lower, shut the face just a bit. But nothing severe. For your basic shot try to always have it square.

That's not what I was asking exactly. I guess it's harder to explain than I thought. I'm saying if you were to address the ball like you would normally and then just completely relax your wrist and arms would/should the club face move to a slight to very closed postion?

I understand that at address in any normal situation you want a as square as possible club face. I'm asking if your wrist are holding the clubface square against some amount of tension that would otherwise change the alignment of the face of the club.

I guess you would have to actually grip a club maybe to understand what I'm asking. The wrist are held in place when gripping the club but If you were to relax them should they turn naturally to a closed postion.

As an amateur I think my natural tendancy is to close the club face drastically with relaxed muscles but I hold it open at address against the tenision of my wrist. The result of this might be that I'm not releasing the club through impact but rather bringing it straight down without much release. My question is, is this supposed to happen?

A better explanation would be if you place your right hand in the middle of your stance by itself without a club and hold in to where your thumb is facing out and then relax your wrist your hand will turn to a closed position on its own. Should the clubface be square when your holding you hand straight or when its in a relaxed postion?

This depends on your posture as everyone is different. When you stand normally with your arms by your sides, do you palms face the sides of your body, or more backwards. If they face backwards, its likely your chest is tight and your back is too relaxed, which makes the shoulders rotate forward. Its quite a common postural habit, especially as most guys (not saying you in this case) love to bench as much as they can, but not work the back equally.

Yes, I tried this now and the club face did close.

At address, your hands should follow your arms. Your left arm should be fully extended, while the right arm should be slightly bent. Your left elbow should point directly to your left hipbone, while your right elbow should point directly to your right hipbone. Then, examine your club face, it should now be square.

What grip style do you use? interlocking, overlap or baseball? Biggest thing I see is not having the pad of the left hand/thumb (for a righty) "on top" of the club enough. This essentially forces you to release the club face through contact, thus reducing a slice.