Ringer

There are so many things to do but I'd like to point out something mentioned in another thread. Make sure you are not gripping too far at the end of the club. This does wonders for accuracy if it's been off. The other thing I recommend is hitting some 5 irons at the 100 yard marker.

I actually just did a video a few months ago on swinging the driver. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Vc0g_BD5I

I actually just did a video a few months ago on swinging the driver. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Vc0g_BD5I

Far too many people grip too far at the end of the club. There should be about a half inch between the pad of your palm and the end of the grip. I've seen some people with part of their pad off the end of the grip altogether.

Heh.. still says I'm an unknown quantity. I guess having 2 bad reps and 8 good doesn't balance out the way you'd think it does. Thanks though guys. I appreciate that you find the videos helpful.

Boy do I get this question alot. In this golf lesson I discuss some tips on how to hit the driver. I also explain some reasons golfers have a difficult time swinging the driver.

Changing to another brand with "newer technology" won't solve the problem if the shaft is still not right for your swing. You may not need to buy a new head, just install a new shaft with the right flex. It's a hell of a lot cheaper.

Whenever someone is having an issue with one club but not all the others it's usually because the shaft is a completely different flex.

That's what I teach people to do who need it.

I guess I say something right once in a while.

I try to set up square to the clubface. This avoids all the potential problems with aligning to the target.

Here's a picture of the grip from above. Although the clubface is open in this picture to prepare for a bunker shot, you can clearly see that the thumb is off to the SIDE of the grip and not directly on top.

I think he just mis-stated. Move your thumb to the right side of the shaft. But you DON'T ROTATE the forearm.

Quick explination of my observations. It starts close to the axis, and moves out along the swings radius...but ALWAYS on plane. You start the clubs motion with a slight tug on the body started by the legs and hips. This STARTS the swing on a particular plane. It is then up to the shoulders and arms to continue to apply force ON THAT PLANE. It IS POSSIBLE to do it with only arms and no lower body, however it is not as powerful.

Answer: Both.

Hmm, i'm not sure about the "ok" sign, but keeping the thumb in line with the top of the forerarm (or tendon as you pointed out) is fantastic. I hadn't even noticed that alignment.

This deserves another thread....

What will hold the club up if not your thumb? Your only other option is the right hand. Well if you're trying to swing at all with your left arm, you've just blown that. Here, just a quick demonstration. Grab a cup with your left hand and hold onto it tightly. Now with your right hand, try to pull it out of your left hand. You can ONLY pull it out of your left hand through the gap between your fingers and thumb... right? Essentially there is no pressure on that part of the cup to resist your pull. No matter how tight you hold the cup, you can pull it out if you go that direction. Now put your left hand on the club with your thumb snug up against your index finger so that it's on top of the shaft. Notice that you can pull the club in the same direction out of your hand that you pulled the cup? But if you put your thumb slightly to the side, that gap between your fingers and thumb is closed and you can no longer pull it out that direction.

Sorry that it wasn't written as well as I had it in mind. Bottom line, you should set up with the left thumb slightly to the right of the grip. The reason is two fold. 1) When you swing forward, you need pressure on the BACK side of the shaft to push the club forward. Your thumb is that pressure point. If you start off with the thumb on top of the shaft, then you must rotate the clubface open to put the thumb on the backside of the shaft when you swing forward. 2) At the top of the backswing the left thumb needs to be directly under the shaft in order to keep it from comming loose. If you put the thumb ON TOP of the shaft at the setup then you must cup your left hand when you reach the top.

Rats, now you know my secret. The more difficult I make it to follow the less likely someone will argue! BRILLIANT!

There are so many points to cover in this topic that I know I won't be able to cover all of them. But there are some things I think people should understand. I'm just going to talk about this from the right handers perspective and if you are left handed please excuse me for not being multi-cultured enough to include you. It just takes up so much dang time to flip it around. First, the placement of the left thumb. Why do I bring this up? Because so many people get it wrong that it's not even funny. I've even heard some golf instrutors get this wrong. It is only natural to place the thumb close to the first knuckle of the index finger. It feels tighter on the grip, but this is 100% WRONG. It will encourage the bending of the left wrist AND SLICES! I will explain why in just a moment. The correct placement of the left thumb is just slightly to the side AWAY from the knuckle of the index finger. The reason for this is because it acts as the ONLY pressure point that the left hand has on the back end of the shaft. Think about this for a moment here. When you get to impact, where do you want the pressure you are applying to be?? On TOP of the shaft pushing DOWN, or BEHIND the shaft pushing FORWARD? Your instict is to put that pressure point BEHIND the shaft and push it forward with your thumb. This is the "karate chop" motion. If you just make a backhand motion with your thumb on top of the shaft, you will feel weak and helpless to control the club. So your natural inclination is to rotate your left forearm so that the thumb is behind the club at impact. Well guess what that does to the clubface! It opens it up and there you have your push slices. Also, look at the top of the backswing. Your left arm does not go straight up vertically, it goes at an angle accross your chest. So do this little experment for me. Put just your left hand on the club with the thumb on top and lift your arm up accross your chest over your right shoulder. This puts your forearm at an angle. Now because of that angle, this is going to put your thumb to the SIDE of the shaft at the top where it cannot support the shaft. Your only option is to cup your left hand to get the thumb under the shaft. So a left thumb on TOP of the shaft causes two things. A cup left wrist at the top, and promotes an open clubface at impact. The other thing about the grip that I would like to mention is a simple thing that most people don't really think about too often. The clubface angle (open or closed) rely's on the rotation of your forearms at the setup and their ability to reach that same rotation when you get to impact. If you take a strong grip, you have rotated your forearms clockwise slightly. You must reach this clockwise position when you get to impact. In order to do that, you must "hold off" any sort of natural rotation of the forearms or else you'll hook the shot. This is also known as blocking. Your lead arm also has an inclination to hold the club at an angle between your left forearm and clubshaft. You NATURALLY want to hold the club shaft in an L shape to your forearm. This is commonly refered to as lag. With a stronger grip, you will be less likely to release this angle for impact and have your hands much further in front of the ball than if you had a neutral grip. Now I'm all for the hands leading ahead of the clubhead for impact but often times this is exagerated to the point where the club is delofted by nearly 2 clubs. So your 8 iron becomes your 6. As a result I see a lot of people with strong grips try to hit the ball UP into the air and wreak all sorts of havoc. That's just aching for shanks and duck hooks. Another result of a strong grip is what I call the "Left Side Twistaway". The left hip pulls hard away from the ball which pulls the left shoulder open and causes a big outside to in swing path with the HANDS. With a strong grip though the CLUBHEAD comes from the inside so what you have is and inside to out clubhead direction and an outside to in hand direction. If timed perfectly it can produce a straight shot, but if not then there will be dramatic changes in ball flight from swing to swing. Probably the best golfer to date that has perfected the "Strong Grip With Left Side Twistaway" is Rory Sabatini. Anyway, the point is that if you are looking for a proper release to get that awsome compression feeling, I suggest you look to your grip first... and be careful about some of the advice that's out there on the grip. A lot of people make observations about what everyone else is doing and not enough observations about why they're doing it.

Start well + finsish well = Swing well

Hmm.. I didn't notice the little flip at the bottom until you said you tend to push it. Very active hands. If you aren't hitting a hook now, you will be soon with that grip and finish.

Focus on doing this in your setup. Push your front hip forward so that it is directly over your front foot. Tilt back so that your back shoulder is over your back foot. Got it? Front hip over front foot... Back shoulder over back foot.

He does. He also slaps at it with his hands, hence the right arm up in his face on the finish.