Two knuckles!

[Sheriff420]

I have been playing for just over a year and it wasn't until about a month ago that the two knuckle deal finally sunk in. I have heard that you should see two knuckles when you set up and after checking a couple times I pretty much forgot about this part of the set up. I used to have a big slice issue with the driver. I tried rolling the wrists, going strong with the grip on my right hand and snapping the hips. I got the driver down to a strong fade and an occasional straight ball but I still wasn't too happy. I got fairly accurate with my irons by closing the face at setup - big time, meaning that the face would be facing about 40º left of the target line. I had it all wrong.

I don't remember what made me think to try it but I tucked the pad of my right hand into the base of the palm on my right hand and forced two knuckles to show even though it felt all wrong (bad habits were burned in pretty good). Well it worked and that is what made me realize that the top hand leads the club and makes the face close. So now I have the proper grip with a bit less grip pressure with the right hand and two knuckles showing on the left hand. For the last 6 or 7 games my drives have been going straight or with a bit of a fade/draw depending on ball position so I'm happy. The game before last I didn't think about ball position and was hitting low draw/hooks but I fixed my ball position with the last round so it's all good again. I also started using the proper grip with my irons so now the irons lay naturally, facing the target line at setup and they're going straight without a really bad overcompensation for a bad grip. I hit the irons fat for about 6 out of 10 shots but I'll get it down eventually, I have a bit of trouble swinging from the inside but I'm working on it.

Am I right in my way of thinking that if the ball is too far forward in my stance that it will produce a draw and too far back will produce a fade? My way of thinking on this is that too far forward gives the face more time to close and too far back doesn't give it enough time to close. I know that you're supposed to close your stance and aim a little right for a draw and open it while aiming a little left to produce a fade. I have noticed that if I play it off my toe instead of heel that it will draw and if I play it an inch or so to the right of straight out from the heel that it will fade.

[Nole77]

Typically:

Ball Position Forward =Promotes Fade

Ball Position Back = Promotes Draw

If your ball position is forward, depending on how far forward, your path will generally be more out to in.  In other words, If your face is closed to the target but still open to the path, you'll end up with a pull fade.  If your face is closed to the target and closed to the path, you'll end up with a pull draw.

Do a search for "ball flight laws" on this forum.  It should tell you everything you need to know.

[Sheriff420]

I've been fighting the out to in swing path since I first heard about it. What you're saying makes sense, I wasn't thinking about the swing path when I thought about ball position.

I'll read up on the ball flight laws when I get back from my round.