Help with shots going left

[Alohaed]

Hey,

Had a lesson with video. Aside from my "too much backswing" and no extension of my left arm, I was told I had too weak of a grip. I was told to strengthen my grip. The instructor drew to circles on my left hand's two knuckles. It did help, yet now my shots go left, him telling me that I am closing the face at impact to make up for my weak grip, I understand that because I am not used to it, the grip is uncomfortable. Yet I can barely see my first knuckle, and I can not grip the club to see both knuckles. Is this normal? I've read on this site about strong grips seeing not only 2 knuckles, yet 3???? Could this be my gip size?  And what can I practice to stop me from closing the club face?

[Hammer 4]

In my case, and I use a strong grip is, if I don't swing in to out, I hit pulls, pull hooks and god knows what else..lol All this is due to my swing coming from out to in. When I do swing in to out, my ball has a nice draw, or if I get lucky and square the face real well, my shots will go pretty straight. These shots would include 4i through my wedges. We won't get into how my 3 wood, and driver go...

Maybe one of the resident pros can weigh in on this and more info. to offer you.

[Strandly]

Hey,

Had a lesson with video. Aside from my "too much backswing" and no extension of my left arm, I was told I had too weak of a grip. I was told to strengthen my grip. The instructor drew to circles on my left hand's two knuckles. It did help, yet now my shots go left, him telling me that I am closing the face at impact to make up for my weak grip, I understand that because I am not used to it, the grip is uncomfortable. Yet I can barely see my first knuckle, and I can not grip the club to see both knuckles. Is this normal? I've read on this site about strong grips seeing not only 2 knuckles, yet 3???? Could this be my gip size?  And what can I practice to stop me from closing the club face?

This seems weird to me.  I mean do you have like giant gorilla hands with incredibly short fingers or something?  haha  Based on how I do it my grip isn't uncomfortable at all and I can see 2 knuckles pretty easily.  I just have the grip of the club run (mostly) across where my fingers connect to my palm and then fold the palm up the side of the grip and my thumb lands right on top pointing down the shaft.

Anyway if you're closing the clubface maybe you're trying to muscle the club through the ball with your right arm (assuming you're right handed) and it's snapping the clubface closed or something.  If you can do a video that's probably the best way to get help.

[Hardballs]

I had a similar problem, and the cause was me not getting my hips through fast enough!

[boogielicious]

Hey,

Had a lesson with video. Aside from my "too much backswing" and no extension of my left arm, I was told I had too weak of a grip. I was told to strengthen my grip. The instructor drew to circles on my left hand's two knuckles. It did help, yet now my shots go left, him telling me that I am closing the face at impact to make up for my weak grip, I understand that because I am not used to it, the grip is uncomfortable. Yet I can barely see my first knuckle, and I can not grip the club to see both knuckles. Is this normal? I've read on this site about strong grips seeing not only 2 knuckles, yet 3???? Could this be my gip size?  And what can I practice to stop me from closing the club face?

@Alohaed ,

I would ask your instructor this question.  For me, the over draw occurs from:

1. Not getting my weight forward enough at impact. Key 2

2. Not having my swing going outward enough (a bit over the top), Key 4.

There are drills to work on these, but I would recommend discussing with your instructor.  Do many different drills can mess you up a bit.  You should be working on your priority piece.

[joekelly]

Hardballs speaks true.  Adult learners have a hell of time moving the hips correctly and on time. Keep your mind off your hands and arms, practice just moving the hips and letting the arms swing free.  For this practice forget , as far as possible, about where the ball goes.  Keep the head still, rotate, move the hips.

[peiserma]

I know you asked about the grip, and you`re working with a pro who seems to have helped you. But I felt compelled to 2nd what hardballs and joekelly said. I just, in the last two weeks, figured out how to (mostly) keep my arms in synch with my hips. I had the same problem (irons went consistently left), but once I got my hips moving in a better sequence, golf balls went straight. So its worth looking at hips as a potential cause.

[bendport]

If you have an overswing at the top of your backswing chances are, unless you are a very good player, you will be casting the club from the top of your backswing this will then be putting you over the top causing the shot to the left.  Work out why you are overswinging would be my advice although it's hard to comment without seeing your swing. Quite often, people with big overswings don't have the club travelling fast enough through impact so they swing it longer to try and gain power, unfortunately this long swing is a waste of energy as they don't store the momentum down into impact with the correct lag.  Try this drill to help you shorten your swing, good luck!!

[iacas]

The 2 things that affect the shot shape are the swing path and the face angle AT IMPACT. That's why there are so many different swings on tour but, at impact, they are all pretty much the same. If your grip is too strong your face angle at impact will be closed and therefore will produce a hook or pull/draw and if too weak the exact opposite will happen, slice/fade...

That's not really true. Certainly not always, and perhaps not even most of the time.

Please also don't spam the site. We have rules about what companies can do to promote themselves here. Please send a PM to @mvmac about this.

[Alohaed]

I see what is going on. Went to the range this morning. Still, all balls going left. When did my swings very slowly, I am turning my hands(wrists left) over at impact. Realized I had no "flat left wrist".  Then when I do the "flat wrist" my ball goes straight. I do have a question(problem maybe?). For this I need to, with my left hand, grip the club stronger(tighter). When I do this my swing speed somewhat decreases.  And my distance is less than when the ball goes left(I think). Is this common? How can I increase swing speed, IF this is the problem? Any drills?

On another note, I want to have my swing video analized: paying at the range, of finding a buddy to do this, then post this to the "member swings". Which is best: from behind, or frontal view or both?

[boogielicious]

I see what is going on. Went to the range this morning. Still, all balls going left. When did my swings very slowly, I am turning my hands(wrists left) over at impact. Realized I had no "flat left wrist".  Then when I do the "flat wrist" my ball goes straight. I do have a question(problem maybe?). For this I need to, with my left hand, grip the club stronger(tighter). When I do this my swing speed somewhat decreases.  And my distance is less than when the ball goes left(I think). Is this common? How can I increase swing speed, IF this is the problem? Any drills?

On another note, I want to have my swing video analized: paying at the range, of finding a buddy to do this, then post this to the "member swings". Which is best: from behind, or frontal view or both?

You can get a tripod or something to mount the camera or smartphone on to film.  This is how a lot of us do it.  I would not worry about the grip as much as what your key priority is.  For me, ball hooking left is an indication that my weight is not forward enough at impact and the my swing is too steep or coming over the top.  My priority piece right now is flattening the shaft from A4 to A5 to attain a better sweet spot path.  That is what I am working on with my instructor.

Check out the weight forward, flat left wrist and diagonal sweet spot path videos.

[Wangus94]

I have the same problem with hooks except weight forward usually makes it worse I thought? I tend to slide my hips forward aggressively and drop my right shoulder too low. My weight is totally on my left but that side bending pushes my swing way out to the right and I flip my hands to compensate. Every instructor has easily noticed this ...lol. I keep getting told I need more turn less slide buts it's a bitch to do consistently... Feels like I'll hit a huge slice hahaha banana ball of the planet baby