Having Trouble Gettings Hands to Roll Through Impact

[slinkee]

I'm having a lot of trouble getting my hands to roll over through impact. What's happening is I'm letting my right hand stay underneath the club, despite starting out with a fairly neutral grip (right hand goes on top of the club a little more to aid in the release of the club head) and it leaves the face open. I've been doing the waist high drills where I take the club back making sure the toe is up, and then follow through the same distance doing the same thing but I just can't seem to make this work.

I know you cannot consciously think about it in the down swing so is there anything else I can do to help me let the club release on it's own?

[jjb333]

I used to have this exact problem which led to a ballooning fade with my irons and a nasty slice with my driver. All did to figure it out was as soon as I get close to impact I kind of snap my hands over. Once I did this, perfect ball flight over and over again and now I don't even think about it and I do it.

[slinkee]

I used to have this exact problem which led to a ballooning fade with my irons and a nasty slice with my driver. All did to figure it out was as soon as I get close to impact I kind of snap my hands over. Once I did this, perfect ball flight over and over again and now I don't even think about it and I do it.

That's my exact ball flight right now with my driver. Did you do any particular drills to get you to start pronating through impact? I simply cannot control that part of my swing consciously.

[jambalaya]

Do you have a nice flat left wrist at the top of your backswing? Getting it flat may delay impact just enough so your natural body turn will get the club sqaure in time for you.

[Finnstang]

For a drill, I was told to rotate my left hand down slightly at the top of the back swing and then swing through the ball. Also, make sure your grip isn't too tight. If your grip is tight then your wrists are tight and you won't be able to release.

[dave s]

another drill to possible help you get that feeling of rolling the hands:

Rather than drill from address or golf stance, stand up. Take a club and swing it around your body, more like you're swinging a baseball bat. This really helps establish the feeling of your hands turning over during the swing. And since there isn't anything to restrict the hands (the ground!) it's easy to manipulate the time (and location) at which the hands turn over.

Give that a shot and see if you don't get a better 'feel' for getting your hands through the shot.

dave

[LottaBalata]

One thing I've heard countless times is "Shake hands with the target." In my mind, it gives me a visual of keeping my swing arc continuing on the proper path. . .It doesn't always work for me. This has been my MAJOR ONE PROBLEMO with my driver since the beginning of time.

I have good days, bad days. . .things may change after 3 or 4 holes. . .No consistency for me personally with the Driver. I feel your pain.

[Mr.Wedge]

I'm having a lot of trouble getting my hands to roll over through impact. What's happening is I'm letting my right hand stay underneath the club, despite starting out with a fairly neutral grip (right hand goes on top of the club a little more to aid in the release of the club head) and it leaves the face open. I've been doing the waist high drills where I take the club back making sure the toe is up, and then follow through the same distance doing the same thing but I just can't seem to make this work.

The question suggests you are manipulating the hands into position during the upswing; starting neutral and hitting right palm up. The hands and arms will return to address position if you let them, but if you attempt to position your hands during the course of the upswing, that natural principle will not work, forcing you to manipulate them on the down, which in my view, destroys swing freedom.

If you are using the hands and forearms to achieve club position, you are in for a long struggle IMHO. The small muscles involved cannot be depended on from round to round to remember position such. I do speak from experience. After many years of struggling with this issue and getting older to the point that arm manipulation no longer provided any power, I finally learned to swing with the core and leave the hands alone, allowing them to hinge and unhinge with the dynamics of the swing; wish I had learned that at a younger age. To answer your question specifically, grip the club just tight enough that it doesn't slip in your hands, swing the stable arms triangle with your large torso muscles, and allow your hands to react to the swing dynamics.

[JaY_B]

Simple drill that will encourage you to release your hands through impact (do these swings at slow speed, you are simply encouraging and training a feeling and slow swings will speed up this process).

Its a pretty easy drill, you simply set up to the golf ball normally, but instead of gripping the club normally your bottom hand (right hand for a right handed golfer) down to the bottom of the grip, there will be a gap between your two hands, swing normally although do not expect a pure strike and really focus on turning your hands over at impact.

After hitting 4/5 balls using this drill go back to your normal grip and swing the club as you usually would, still focusing on releasing the hands through impact.

[BudMan]

I am not a golf pro, or instructor, in fact I am not even a very good golfer, but I have the exact same problem, and your same ball flight. I was at a demo day two weekas ago hitting high fades and slices, figured my swing must be outside to in. A teaching pro stopped buy and watched a few shots, and told me my swing, and swing plane were fine but I was not closing / rolling my hands thru the impact zone, then he left. Well through trial and error I had to figure out why if my swing was good, why do I have this problem? I found that my hands roll over as they pass my belt buckle, I also found that I was pulling my head off the ball ( to see where it went) before impact. This was causeing my shoulders and upper body to go with it, getting my body ahead of my hands. My hands still roll as they cross my midsection, but due to this, that happens AFTER impact, which leaves my clubhead open causeing the fade/slice. Today, after 9 holes of the same old thing, on #10 I started making myself keep my head/eyes on the TEE until after the ball was gone. This resulted in straight or slightly hooked drives the rest of the day. I don't know if this will help you out or not, but it seemed to help me.

[Guest]

I have the same problem and there is no doubt I suck horribly at golf, but I'm improving and here's why:

I recently went on a cruise and decided to get a lesson from the golf pro on board. Like another poster above, my swing was generally not the problem. But what he really emphasized was my grip. I needed to roll my right hand over a bit more for one. But he also made me roll my left hand over (left to right) until I could see two knuckles (I had read about this several times but it never felt right so I disregarded it). This felt very unnatural, just as it had before, but with his insistence and a few swings I bought in and it actually makes perfect sense. With practice and persistence I am seeing improvement...at least enough to keep me motivated.

[glebert]

The question suggests you are manipulating the hands into position during the upswing; starting neutral and hitting right palm up. The hands and arms will return to address position if you let them, but if you attempt to position your hands during the course of the upswing, that natural principle will not work, forcing you to manipulate them on the down, which in my view, destroys swing freedom.

That is some real wisdom, right there. Kudos, to you, Mr. Wedge.

[Petden]

When I started golfing, seriously, 5 years ago, I wanted to hit the ball as far as I possibly could, so I picked up a driver and started swinging. After about a year of slicing about 95% of my shots I got some help.

I was told to pull the club back as far as you possibly could. This would allow you to establish a visual aid of the motion the club must take on the down swing. Next I was told to only pull back slightly and use only the wrist-roll motion to strike the ball. Trying to time the wrist-roll with such a shallow motion was difficult but in the end it seemed to help. I am not very good but my drivers are generally fine.

[Mudcatwilly]

11 years late from the original post, but I thought I would comment because I have struggled with the same issue. Yep, driver starts straight and leaks right, then keeps leaking OB. Been there too many times. Two problems caused this: 1. Approaching the ball from the outside. 2. Not releasing the club.

Fix #1: Imaging hitting the ball to right field in baseball. At the start of the downswing, swing way out to the right. Exaggerate it at first. This helped me shallow the club, eliminate the over the top swing, and gets the club head on the correct path.

Fix#2: Release the club. Just before impact, the right forearm rolls over the left. This squares the face and also adds distance. Distance because you reduce or eliminate side spin and it creates the whip action, speeding the club up.

Side note: Hit up on driver a little bit. This also reduces spin, which adds distance. Not to mention, its cool to hit a high majestic driver shot!

I have two swing thoughts only.....Hit it to right and turn the club over. Try it out.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Mudcatwilly said:

Fix#2: Release the club. Just before impact, the right forearm rolls over the left. This squares the face and also adds distance.

Oh man. Please no.

Square the face properly.

[Foot Wedge]

*Picks up rusty shovel*

"Back to the grave with you..."

*Decapitates zombie thread*

[Carl3]

On 9/17/2008 at 8:45 PM, slinkee said:

I'm having a lot of trouble getting my hands to roll over through impact. What's happening is I'm letting my right hand stay underneath the club, despite starting out with a fairly neutral grip (right hand goes on top of the club a little more to aid in the release of the club head) and it leaves the face open. I've been doing the waist high drills where I take the club back making sure the toe is up, and then follow through the same distance doing the same thing but I just can't seem to make this work.

I know you cannot consciously think about it in the down swing so is there anything else I can do to help me let the club release on it's own?

I like to pick a target at say 100 yards and then hit long clubs and even up to driver to it. Nice, easy swings where the goal is to get the ball towards the target.

[leftybutnotPM]

On 8/28/2019 at 12:15 PM, Mudcatwilly said:

 

Fix#2: Release the club. Just before impact, the right forearm rolls over the left. This squares the face and also adds distance.

Good grief.

Do you advise doing it precisely 36 milliseconds before impact or somewhere between 15 and 75 milliseconds?

I mean.... you can almost live with Johnny Miller's "trap draws" and Faldo's "compressing the ball into the ground", but seriously... where do people get their information?