Fundamentals

[iacas]

Today I played with a fellow on a golf course. We played the back nine first, and the guy barely broke 50.

On the first tee, I said "put your right hand a bit more on top of the club. Put it far enough forward that it's as uncomfortable as you can bear, but no more. Then trust it."

He shot 39, and of the three bogeys, one was a three-putt, the other was from a flared drive right with water left, and the third was a bad short game shot. He hit 5 GIR and just missed the sixth, from which he got up and down quite easily.

Sometimes, the fundamentals are all you need to look at. I just recently THOUGHT my stance was slightly open, but it wasn't.

[CG031]

Yeah, if you have good fundamentals of the basic things your golf swing will work well. Sure you may not be on the PGA tour with just the fundamentals, but you can enjoy the game while shooting a pretty decent score. Too many people look at things beyond the fundamentals, when, really, they haven't mastered the basic things yet.

[Dent]

Agreed, I find my fundamentals are fine, I just have something little in my swing that can mess me up right now. Its unfortunate when someone can't hit a ball and decides to go through a whole swing change, but by doing so they dig themselves deeper into their problem.

When in fact the solution may be something simple.

[colin007]

On the first tee, I said "put your right hand a bit more on top of the club. Put it far enough forward that it's as uncomfortable as you can bear, but no more. Then trust it."

??? were his hands/palms facing each other after doing that? i thought they were supposed to mirror each other. so you suggested a very weak grip?

[Soup Fan]

Yeah I would like clarification on this magical mystery grip too!

[JaY_B]

Iacas was just neutralising the players grip, I think he means the players right hand grip was to strong (Too 'underneath the club') and moved the hand more on top of the club so that the V created by the thumb and finger is pointing more towards your right shoulder which puts the right hand in to a neutral position, not a weak position.

This isn't a 'miracle' grip, just the correct one, hence the title of this thread; "Fundamentals".

[NBGC]

Those are the best lessons imho. Learning stuff and reinforcing them at the range with a pro is ok, but nothing like getting out on the course and having someone there help you thru it.

To bad David Leadbetter charges 10 grand for a practice round session, How much do you charge Iacas?

[rebby]

One of my favorites -> How to Master a Great Golf Swing

Has a very deep focus on the fundamentals of the golf swing. I picked up the first edition shortly after it was published (1992 IIRC) and my game improved drastically. I constantly go back to this book to keep me on track.

I think that the basic fundamentals of the golf swing are one of the most overlooked aspects of the game. Everybody is always looking for the quick tip to gain yardage/spin/whatever while not realizing that if you just go back to the fundamentals of the golf swing, these things will work themselves out.

[Big Lex]

That's a great story.

I was on a golf vacation once and got into a terrible fit of hooking, progressing almost to smothering. It was a very helpless feeling. I tried, on the course, everything I could think of...was I addressing the ball closed? Was my grip too strong? Was I re-gripping strong? Releasing early? "Hanging back"? No matter what I tried, I couldn't fix it that day. I fixed it that evening, making slow swings and watching my reflection in a window. Even though I knew I must have the face shut and the club swinging too much from the inside, it was only when I could actually see it that I was able to fix it.

The last round I played, I started hooking. I got depressed and was going to walk in after 9--I had lots to do that day. Waiting for my playing partner to get a coke before the 10th hole, still contemplating quitting, I teed a ball and made a very small adjustment. I addressed the ball more forward in the stance, and stood closer to the ball. The first swing was the first flush, non-shut face shot I'd hit all day. I shot 36 on the back 9.

Sometimes I can figure it out, but sadly, more often, I can't.

So in iacas's case, which was it--neutralizing the guy's grip, or telling him to "trust it?" Maybe both. Maybe the grip and address position change did more than change his clubface position. Maybe the slightly uncomfortable feeling slowed his tempo, or changed his transition. Maybe it altered his weight distribution at address. Maybe moving his hands forward changed his shoulder position and alignment at address.

Somewhere on this site or in this forum I read someone's suggestion that many swing tips or new swing theories work for people because they sort of distract them away from making their usual flaws, allowing decent striking for a while. Then, when the tip or new swing pattern becomes comfortable, the old flaws start to creep back in. I had a teacher who said "people aren't creatures of habit, they're creatures of comfort. To learn golf, you have to break out of your "comfortable" errors."

I agree, fundamentals are 'it.' The problem is, there are quite a few of them, and the trick is knowing which one is out of whack.

[lolzzlolzz]

Can someone explain why the hands need to face each other? Mine are not; my left V points to the right eye while my right V points directly to my chin.

Also, I can't stop stating this... the only thing you need to score in the 70's consistently is a simple and fundamentally correct swing .

[kc8kir]

There are actually two schools of thought on hand placement. One says that the palms must always face eachother (assuming that makes them work together by aligning the wrist joints). The other thought is that the left goes on in a natual position and the right hand palm always faces the target. The right palm mirrors the clubhead.

Different gropes for different blokes.

[Soup Fan]

In steering wheel parlance, my hands are at 9 and 3 on the club.

Where, in relation to that analogy, did you move the player's grip from and to, Iacas?

[Chas]

Interesting post Erik. Examining my own grip in light of what you wrote, I see that my right hand is also somewhat "strong" or shifted clock-wise from the neutral, palm-on-palm position. Unlike the left hand position, frankly I've never given the right that much thought (other than trying interlocking for a while). I've gone through my golfing library at home (Els, Woods, etc etc) and see that most of the pros bring their right hand around clockwise to a palm-neutral position when they lay it on the left. Hmmmm, no instructor has ever mentioned this to me (not that I've had many).

To adopt this neutral right hand grip I find that I naturally drape my right pinky over just the knuckle of my left index finger, rather than laying it deep in the groove between index finger and middle finger as I do with the stronger grip. This feels a bit odd, but I seem to release the club better with the more neutral right hand grip - in practice swings at home anyway. I have a tendency to push/block the shot to the right, which in part results from going too far inside on the backswing and getting off plane, but I'm wondering if the strong right hand grip might be part of the problem as well.

I shall take it to the range and report back. If this makes a difference I'm going to be owing Erik something ......