If you hit the ball badly and want to improve your golf, unless you adopt the correct mental attitude your goal is almost impossible. You can stand on the practice ground all day long and hit as many balls as you want, but with the wrong attitude there will be insignificant improvement. However, with the right attitude, it takes hardly any time at all to build a swing that will help you hit the ball more consistently for longer drives, and crisp iron shots.
Improving with Golf Lessons
Over the years I have taught hundreds of golfers who have come for lessons to help cure their bad golf. Pupils turn up frustrated and annoyed at the awful golf shots they hit and often I feel they would try literally anything if only they could find the middle of the club face. Almost anything that is except change their grip. The excuses come in torrents: ‘it feels uncomfortable like that’. ‘my friend says the grip’s not that important’, 'okay I’ll try that tomorrow but can we concentrate on swing plane today?' Yet the grip is responsible for all of the following important basics.
- a smooth one piece takeaway
- the correct swing plane
- downswing transition
- solid compression of the ball through impact
If a golfer can improve the way they hold the club then they will start to swing the club better - in a little while. But getting a pupil to stick to a grip change, for long enough, is staggeringly difficult. It’s understandable I suppose – we are creatures of habit. None-the-less, without making a change to the grip a pupil will rarely improve.
Three Important Grip Checks
- The ‘V’s created by the index finger and thumb of both hands must point to the right shoulder.
- The last three fingers of the left hand must have a secure hold of the club to firm up the hand action at the top of the back swing.
- Always make sure the top of the left hand is fully on the club. To make sure, take hold of the club an inch from the top of the grip
Simple way to Check Grip
How well you grip the club shows up in the wear and tear of your golf glove. If there is excess wear on the left thumb then at the top of the swing the thumb is moving on the club. To cure this make sure that the thumb is not poking down the shaft too much is what is called a ‘long left thumb’.
If there is wear on the palm of the left hand then there is slipping going on during impact. Make sure the left hand is placed on the club showing enough knuckles. Nearly all wear on the pad of the left hand is due to a ‘weak’ grip.
The Correct Attitude to Better Golf
A change to the grip will in time alter the swing for the better, the key words being ‘in time’. A golfer must get used to the new grip and comes down to how tough they are mentally. To improve there must be change and as we all know change is difficult, but without sticking to to the new plan it will fail and it will be back to square one - again!.
John Hoskison - John is a class 'A' member of the British PGA and author of the acclaimed book 'Inside - One Man's Experience of Prison'.
