One of the biggest mistakes I see with low experienced players is an incorrect grip. The hands are the only piece of the body that connects players to the tools we swing to hit the golf ball. These tools more commonly known as clubs. When incorrectly held, the club can be extremely hard to swing correctly and produce consistent impact. When addressing the golf ball, we help build alignment consistency and comfort with what I refer to as our One, Two, Three address routine. This is important because one of the biggest mistakes made when addressing the ball is having the club griped first. This mistake leads to both stance and posture inconsistency due to the hands being in front of the players eyes. This can easily be fixed by:
1) laying the club head naturally to set the correct target line
2) double checking that our feet are equal distance to the ball
3) having the two Vs of our hands grip the club
To produce the most consistent impact, our hands are not doing the same thing but rather working together to swing the club. The best way that I help describe these hands not doing the same thing but working together is by shaking hands with each player. When shaking the player’s hand, I turn their hand into three different positions. First, we showcase a neutral shake. This is when my palm is facing the left and the other facing the right. Next, showcasing my hand on top with my palm facing down and the player’s facing up. Lastly, showcasing my hand on bottom with my palm facing up with the player’s facing down. I do these gyrations, to highlight what happens when the players allow the club to “shake their hand” rather than having full control and “shake the clubs hand”.
The V’s in the golf grip refer to the V created from our index finger and thumb. These Vs are synced together when the V of our right hand is pointing to our left shoulder. As well as our V with our left hand is pointing to our right shoulder. These V’s are produced to look in these positions when we are holding the club, gripped, up to our eyes where we can properly analyze the placement of our hands. Another analogy I make to describe the golf grip, is the basketball jump shot. When shooting a basketball our hands do not have the same role but rather work together for the proper shot to be achieved. The only difference between these motions as right handers is the “engine hand” in basketball is the right hand when in golf that is our left. So before teeing it up for your next round double check that your Vs are in the correct positions.
