grip

I Gave Myself A Chance

March 7, 2009 by admin

“I gave myself a chance” was Moe’s way of describing how he prepared himself to play and perform his best. This was the way Moe maneuvered his golf game and his life. He prepared himself and played golf from a place of preparation and process, not an expectation.

Whenever I play golf events and tournaments, I only have one goal – to be ready. That’s it. I don’t place expectations on my score or try to hit every fairway and every green. My only expectation of myself is to be fully prepared. Then, once prepared, I go through the process of playing one shot at a time.

We are now approaching golf season and many of you are just weeks away from your first round of the year. Are you ready? If not, how do you get ready? In this article, I want to help you learn to prepare yourself to play golf.

Only one word describes the type of practice necessary to prepare yourself for your first round, the word is: FUNDAMENTALS.

You must start some fundamental/basic training practices so that when your first round arrives, you are able to play your best golf. Let me describe exactly what fundamental practice is and how I work on these fundamentals.

Fundamental practice is the foundation of a great golf swing. To start this preparation, you must first ask yourself how is your address position? This is the best place to start. As Moe said “If you don’t have a great address position, you ain’t got nothing”. How true this is and this fundamental starting position starts with your hands on the club.

The Grip

You must make sure your hands are correctly aligning the face and shaft from the two lines we describe in our Single Plane teaching. I developed the GGA Training Grip/Club for exactly this purpose. It solves my grip issues and helps me get the club-face aligned.

Learn more about the “Feeling of Greatness” Training Grip/Club HERE

Arm alignment

Furthering your address position, you must work on how the arms align the club with the body. We call this the two-line address position consisting of the club aligned with the lead arm and the club aligned with the trail arm. I usually use a mirror to check this position.

Check out the Single Plane Position Trainer HERE

Arms aligned with Body

Next, you must align the two lines with the body referring to the pivot point where the club is beneath the nose (Face-on view) and the club aligns through the mid-spine intersect™ point. These lines can only be accomplished with the proper leg position (straight with a slight bend in the knees) and the proper bend from the waist. I use a mirror to check this position also.

Stance Width/Ball Position

Next, I make sure I am standing the ideal width with the correct ball position. I developed the GGA Alignment and Ball Position Trainer to help me make sure I have this issue correct each time I practice.

Find out more about the Alignment and Ball Position Trainer HERE

After I have reviewed my fundamental address positions, I am ready to begin a few target ball-striking sessions.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you start your best year of golf ever.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us anytime.

Good Luck.

A Hook Waiting to Happen

October 27, 2008 by admin

Had a couple of great email questions this past week and then spent today playing in a ‘marathon’ golf match in Wichita, KS that reminded me again of “A Hook Waiting to Happen”.

First will describe the match and what I saw, then will discuss a couple of emails from this past week; hopefully will give everyone a little insight to their grip, etc.

Yesterday, July 7th, I was playing in our annual South Central PGA Match Play Championship. This year it was held at Terradyne Country Club in Wichita, KS. Teradyne is a great golf course – a links style course (very few trees) with extremely large mounds on most of the holes, many bunkers and too “top it off” a second cut of the round that is over waist deep. In fact, rough is so deep, when I asked one of my fellow pros what he thought of the golf course (after our practice round) – he responded, “I’m not worried about my matches, I’m worried about running out of golf balls!”

In the quarter finals, I was paired against a new/young professional named Bobby J. Bobby is a very nice young man who recently graduated from the PGA school in Southern Mississippi.

As we prepared to tee off, I was introduced to Bobby (for the first time – he is a “rookie” in the section) and watched him tee up his first shot of the day. Something quickly came to my attention.

As Bobby set up for his first shot, his lead hand (Bobby’s left hand) had an extremely strong grip. In fact, the V formed between his thumb and forefinger of his lead hand pointed to his right shoulder and the V formed on his trail (right) hand pointed right of his right shoulder. In his backswing, this grip caused his club face to be shut and in order to not hit the ball to the left every time, he “held on” at impact (or in other words, greatly minimized his release).

As Bobby hit his first shot, I couldn’t help by telling myself “There’s a hook waiting to happen”.

The match went on, and to be honest, Bobby did a pretty good job keeping the ball in play and Bobby is a very good putter. I played the front nine 3 under par and was 3 up at the turn (Bobby won the first hole, I won 4 of the next 8). When we made the turn I was pretty confident the match was going my way today…

Then the match turned a little. On the 10th hole, I hit my drive in the first cut of rough, cut a little “flier” on the 2nd shot and didn’t get up and down – Bobby made par – now I was 2 up. We halved the next 3 holes with one birdie and 2 pars, and on number 14 and 16 Bobby made great putts to make birdie and even the match. He was doing a great job “holding on to the club” to keep from turning over, it was obvious he practiced a lot and I keep thinking to myself, it’s a good thing he has a “young” body, I can guarantee my 40+ body couldn’t take his twisting and turning he needed to compensate for his strong grip.

On number 17, I hit my best shot of the day – a downhill 550 yard par 5. Bobby hooked the ball off the tee into the 2nd cut of rough. He hit a long drive, but due to his lie, couldn’t go for the green (creek short front of green). He laid up to 100 yards. I was 220 yards out with a 20 mph cut wind, slightly into my face. I took out my Cobra 3 hybrid – told myself this was “all or nothing” and hit a high cut 3 hybrid which landed and stopped within 5 feet of it’s divot about 6 feet from the hole. I went on to make the putt and go one up.

As good as I played 17, this “pro” committed match play “sin” on number 18. We both hit good drives and Bobby was away. He hit his second shot in the left bunker – pin high. I was 170 yards out, and instead of playing safe (sure par would win) I hit a solid 6 iron (into the wind) and caught it “too good” – the ball skipped to the back of the green – 40 feet away with an incredibly difficult putt (looked like a “roller coaster”). Bobby hit is bunker shot 2 feet from the hole, I put to 8 feet (to be honest, was a good putt to get it that close). I slipped out – and gave Bobby his putt – we were even – needless to say, “I was STEAMING at myself!!”

Off to sudden death.

Holes number 19 – 21 – we halved with pars. (Number 19 and 20, Bobby had 15 footers to win match, missed both. Hole number 21 – I had a 18 footer to win, missed.)

Hole number 22 – Needless to say, I was wearing down. This is a par 4 uphill (carry about 250 over water for short cut) or can hit to right and add about 20 yards to the hole. Bobby had the honors and hit his drive in the first cut of rough to the right. I thought, let’s do it here; I took the shot cut – hit a thin drive into the wind and saw a splash, match was over – at least I thought it was. I went to the other side of the lake, looked for a couple of minutes and Bobby found my ball literally floating between a patch of moss and the mud bank. I stepped into the mud and hit backwards toward the fairway (all I had). Now I was 150 yards out – still further than Bobby. I hit a 8 iron uphill to about 20 feet. Bobby played conservatively and hit to about 30 feet below the hole (thinking match was over..). Bobby put to a few inches, guess what – I made my putt; match continues.

Hole number 23 – into the wind – tight par 4 – only about 380 yards. Bobby has the tee and is pretty shook up after the last hole. Pulls out driver – HOOK – not a small hook, but out of play to the left hook. Ball is gone. I put away my driver (little “mind game” pulling out driver – wasn’t going to hit anyway) and hit a 2 hybrid down the middle. Bobby hits a 2nd ball (provisional for the first) – now with a 3 wood – HOOK – again out of play. Before he leaves the tee box, he removes his hat and shakes my hand – match is over….. I win one up.

Couple lessons to learn here- 1. Never say die and never say never (I reminded myself of this one today.)

Grip – you may think you can get away with a mediocre or “bad” grip with a lot of practice, but I can guarantee when the pressure is on, when it is on the line, (maybe when you are about to shoot your best score, or whenever you feel some pressure) – your poor grip fundamental is going to haunt you. I have seen it too many times. And here is the kicker – the worse the grip, the more practice you will need to even be able to keep in play or play consistently at all!!!

Bobby will learn in time, and with his short game, I guarantee he will be a player to watch in our section.

Email # 1

From: “Rudy” <rudy@***.com> To: timg@swinglikemoe.com Subject: Thank you for your website Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2008 14:01:34 -0500

Dear Sir: I wanted to thank you for posting the many informative instructions you have on your site. I am an avid Moe Norman student and have been playing [ ] golf for the past few years. Recently I developed some habits that caused me to hook the ball something awful and produce very low ball flight.

I stumbled upon your site while trying to find some Moe Norman information to try and analyze my problem. I found that my grip had lost it’s correct position and I had too strong a grip with too low a swing plane. I just got back from the range and was able to correct all my issues based largely on the correct grip mechanics and swing plane adjustment.

Thank you for your efforts to help the amateur golfer.

Rudy C… Dallas, Texas

Email # 2

From: “RICHARD J.” <dicj**@****.com> To: “Tim Graves” <timkgraves@sbcglobal.net> Subject: Re: Question Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2008 08:51:46 -0600

Tim:

I have the [ ] grips purchased for $49.00. I assumed they would be better for the [ ] Swing since they were recommended by (that company). I wear a medium-large golf glove. I assumed a larger grip would promote a fade. I usually have a hook no matter what grip size I use. I had a wrist problem for a while and the doctor advised using a larger grip. Should I take off (those) grips? I would have no problem doing this.

Thanks, Dick J. Answer:

Here is a question for everyone out there – If you were going to run a race or walk and wore a size 10 tennis shoe, would you walk into a store and buy a size 13 shoe to wear? If you were wanting a new golf glove and wear a medium, would you go into a pro shop and buy an XL glove?

You need a grip that fits your hand size. One size grip DOES NOT fit all hand sizes. If a grip is too big, it will inhibit leverage which will, in turn, decrease your distance, solidness of hit, etc.. Your recommended grip size (at the biggest) would be a mid size grip with 4 additional wraps under the lower hand, 2 under the upper (for a ML hand size). This will allow you to hold the club properly and create the maximum leverage and thus distance with your club. You can see more about recommended grip sizes on our free club fitting page of our website.

All our recommended grip sizes are based on Moe’s grip size and correlated to different hand sizes. For example, Moe had a medium cadet hand size and his grip size (on his clubs we have and when Todd measured his grip size when he played golf with Moe) would equate to a mid-size grip with 2 additional wraps under the lower hand, 0 under the upper.

Please see our chat at: http://swinglikemoe.com/index.php?pr=Free_Club_Fitting&=SID (middle of the page).

Remember – grips that are too big will not allow for proper hold of the club which will in turn not allow for proper hinging of the club which will in turn not allow for proper leverage (angles) during the swing which will in turn dramatically DECREASE power at impact which will in turn DRAMATICALLY decrease distance and solidness of impact.

Easy solution – Put on grips that fit your hand size.

Tim Graves, PGA timg@swinglikemoe.com

NEW GGA GRIP ANNOUNCEMENT

The Graves Golf Academy will soon be releasing our new grip – a grip that is USGA confirmed, can be used on all clubs and has markings so you will be able to put your hands on your clubs exactly like Moe gripped his own clubs.

Todd (Graves) put a plan in motion about 4 years ago.

First part of the plan: Develop a grip training club so everyone (whether they are with us in person or 1,000 miles away can put their hands on the club correctly and feel “Moe’s Feeling of Greatness” everything he/she grips the club. He produced the grip, and it has been a “best seller” for the GGA – if you don’t have one yet – just ask the 1,000s that have it…. ask them what it has done for their game. Imagine – every time you go to the range, pulling out the grip training club, hitting shots with “perfect” hands on the club. You can see more on our Training Grip and Club page of our website (short video about the grip/club).

Second part of the plan: Produce a video teaching everyone how to hold the grip training club and how to grip the club “just like Moe” so everyone can then work on other fundamentals to swing like Moe rather then always “fighting” their grip. This was done and with every training grip club order – the training video/DVD is included.

Third part of the plan: Produce a grip that can be used on the student’s clubs, is USGA conformed and is a “good looking and good feeling” grip that has the same markings as the GGA grip training club (without the molding). So, now EVERY student can train with the GGA Training Grip Club and then match the same markings on their clubs (with the GGA grips) and grip their own clubs just like Moe – perfect EVERY time.

The third part of the plan was completed early this year, the grips are on their way and are expected to arrive in a couple of weeks. We have already received the first 100 – they are AWESOME. They are already on our clubs, many of our demo clubs, and hopefully all our student’s clubs soon.

Fourth part of plan: A video on our website (free) – how to install the grips and tips to using the grips. Due out later this week.

And now the first public images of the GGA Transitional Grip. By the way, in ONE grip, both right AND left handed golfers (yes lefty friends, you read that correctly) can now feel Moe Norman’s grip. Here’s the pics:

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Right Handed side Left Handed side

Finally – hopefully by now, everyone reading our e-tips knows the importance of a good hold/grip on the club. Without a good hold/grip on the club, you will be building continual compensations to make up for your grip – and I guarantee this will create poor/inconsistent golf.

We are hoping by creating these new grip “tools” they will aid everyone and help shortcut the process of developing their swing to Swing Like Moe!!!!

Please watch upcoming e-tips and emails about our new GGA grips – we GUARANTEE you’ll love the look and feel of the grip and who doesn’t want to hold the club like Moe???

Remember – Always Practice with a Purpose.

Good Luck!!

The Grip, grip, grip, grip

February 20, 2008 by admin

Want to give everyone a quick story… hopefully will help you a little as the season begins, as you are trying to get your game in shape again, or maybe you are just beginning your journey toward the Moe Norman single axis swing.

We started our 8th year teaching golf schools yesterday here at our academy at Eagle Creek GC in Orlando. With each 3 day school, at the end of the 1st day, Todd performs a ball striking demonstration for the students and anyone else interested in attending.

Yesterday was no different, except for one thing… Todd had not hit a golf ball for a couple of months. You all may think we practice all the time… you would be greatly mistaken. With our teaching schedule, with all our responsibilities to our business and spending the winter months away from the warm Florida weather – doesn’t give us much practice time over the winter… if any. And this winter, Todd has been busier with more business responsibilities than ever… a great thing for our business, but a different story when trying to keep his game in shape.

Anyway, needless to say, Todd was a more than a bit rusty. He knew he needed to “knock a little rust off” before the demo, so he did something he very rarely does, he came to the school early in the morning and hit a few balls… As Brent and Ben were setting up the school, Todd was knocking the rust off his swing.

Now, most of you are thinking, “Ya right, I’m sure two balls into it, he was hitting just like he always does – just like Moe”…. if you did, you’d be greatly mistaken. Needless to say, wasn’t a real pretty picture when he began. It was obvious things were uncomfortable to him and obvious he wasn’t hitting the ball to his normal expectations and no way ready for a ball striking demo.

What to do??? About 1/2 hour till the school began, no time to get ready for the ball striking demo at the end of the day (teaching all day…)… what to do???

He could hit balls and hope his “swing” would return… He could guess and guess as to what was wrong with his swing…. He could find one of us (his other instructors to help him), but to be honest, we were too busy getting ready for the school to give him much help…. what to do???

He did what any “good student” would do in a situation like this. He started the check list in his head. Grip, stance, set up, take away, backswing, top of swing, downswing, impact… what was the issue?

Grip – check the grip. Maybe it had changed in the past few months. Not hitting balls, grip can change….. if you think it can’t, you are fooling yourself.

What is the easiest way to check the grip? Grip Training Club (Todd better use it – he designed it…….)

Todd picked up one of our grip training clubs (we have one at every station of our school…. pretty easy to find…)

As he put the grip in his hands, checked the position of his hands on the club (by the markings on the grip), he quickly realized something, his lead hand (left hand) had slipped a little to the right. In other words, it had gotten a little “strong” over the winter months.

He knew, from experience (ALOT of experience) – strong grip will lead to a closed club face in the backswing – a closed club faces in the backswing and hence top of swing, will lead to closed club face on the downswing, which will lead to a hook or pull. Also because of his experience, he knew he could feel this closed club face in the downswing and would try and “not release” the club to keep the ball from turning over. The result, poor/inconsistent ball striking.

Solution – check his grip with the training club. Take a few practice swings with the practice grip training club trying to “feel the club face” in the correct position. Next, hit a few balls 1/2 speed with the practice training grip club trying to again regain the feeling of solid impact. Eventually working into full swings with the training grip and finally with his own club…. problem solved.

In fact, even after only hitting a few balls (after figuring out the grip/closed club face with his issue) and teaching all day, the demo went off without a hitch. As usual, he “wowed” everyone – perfect shot after perfect shot after perfect shot – almost an hour demo – not missing a shot – you’d never have believed it if you saw him in the morning…..

So, how can this help you?… What can you do to help your game?

As I say in our schools, “Let me give you a hint…….” A BIG HINT – use this story to your advantage. What tools do you have to check your swing/game? If you don’t have any, you better find/create some. If not, you are going to fall in the average golfer’s trap – you are going to turn your golf swing/game into a guessing game. And guessing games get you nowhere, and worse of all, can sometimes make your worse. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not guess as to what I need to do.

Tool #1 – LEARN the swing. If you haven’t attended one of our schools/camps (even if you have) – get some information as to what you are trying to learn.

You can go to our website and see many pictures/descriptions written by the GGA about the grip (and other swing issues). Our Unified Hands Etip is specific grip.
You need to get a reference to learn the grip – the absolute best we offer is in our Total Game Overview and 7 Principles of Golf Instruction. If you read my e-tips in the past, I tend to “beat around the bush a little when it comes to purchasing our instructional material”…. our alumni are convincing me differently, and I am now agreeing with them – tell them what they need …. You need to get reference material – if you want to learn Moe’s swing CORRECT – you need the Total Game Overview and the GGA 7 Principles of Golf Improvement. Everyone asks me how to “short cut” the process – how can I learn if faster – this is it. If you don’t have our core instruction – you’re behind the 8 ball to begin….
Let’s see – Todd needed some help with his swing – where did he go first… the training grip he designed. Maybe that would be good for all of us???? If you think different, you are kidding yourself. Why do you think Moe called Todd “Little Moe” – because he acted like him… no, because he hit the ball like him…. and when he needed a little help to tweak his swing – first thing he pulled out was the GGA training grip. For all those that already have the training grip club, when is the last time you reviewed the DVD that comes with the grip, when is the last time you compared your grip vs. the markings on the training club grip, ALWAYS a good time for a refresher. (For those who want more information about the GGA Training Grip Club (and online video), you can go to the Training Grip page on the website.

Okay – let me give you the GGA Business Model – It’s very simple…. think you will appreciate it…

We will do everything in our power to help you improve your golf game by using the Moe Norman Single Plane swing as the core to your improvement.
We have produced instructional material and products (and schools/camps) to help you with your improvement. Will help you “short cut” the process of trying to do it yourself.
You use our instructional products, get help by the GGA (whether through our forum, emails, schools/camps) and you get improve.
You get better, your game improves, your handicap lowers.
You tell your friends why your game is improving (they will notice)
Your friends/fellow golfers become interested in the GGA and Moe’s swing because of your improvement.
More and more golfers become interested in the GGA – and I’ll be 100% honest with you – our business increases and gets bigger…!

So, let’s summarize – we help you get better at the game, your game improves, our business gets bigger… sounds like a great model to me!! As I tell our school students, “It’s a beautiful thing!”

So, here is another question for you….. would we recommend anything to you that wasn’t set up to make your game better? And, if we could get you better faster, wouldn’t that benefit everyone??? ABSOLUTELY!!!

I’ll be 100% selfish if you want – I NEED YOU to get better so my business will increase.

(So far, I think it is working – when we started 8 years ago, our schools had 4 to 5 students max., now they are all selling out… sounds like the GGA alumni are getting A LOT better and definitely spreading the word).

So, what do you need to do to help my business – IMPROVE YOUR GOLF GAME!!!!

Where do you start? Don’t guess anymore. Start on the path to better golf. START NOW!! If you are already working on the path, take it to the next level. Review the fundamentals, work on the “weak areas” of your swing, you are only as good as the weakest part of your game… Let us know what else we can do for you.

To see the GGA Path to Great Golf – Please go to the Path to Great Golf Page on the website.

This is our path to aid you in playing your BEST GOLF EVER!!!!

As always – please, please PRACTICE WITH A PURPOSE.

Good Luck, Please let us know if we can do anything else for you.

The Grip cont.

April 5, 2005 by admin

This is a busy time of year for us and great things are happening. Our Orlando Academy is booming, and with construction of our building underway, I can only imagine the great things to come in the following months and year.

After teaching in Orlando for the past three months, once again we see the majority of the problems starting with how you, our students, hold and hinge the club. In other words, the way you hold the club is inhibiting the way your hands move. This grip problem causes arm movement problems and the entire swing is affected by poor hand placement. Since your hands and arms produce a majority of the speed in the golf swing (up to 90%), you can only imagine how much the grip is affecting your ability to produce speed. I have said this before, you can not spend too much effort understanding the grip. And you can’t spend too much time learning how to hold the club and move your hands and arms. With our expanding 2005 schedule and our new academy, I can’t imagine a more important addition to the Graves Golf Academy product line than the upcoming Training Grip / Club product. It has been a long time coming and FINALLY, we will have a product that will teach the foundation of Moe Norman’s golf swing….the grip/hold on the club.

So, with great enthusiasm for our newest product and as I continue to emphasize the importance of the grip, arm position and arm movement, I want to discuss some common grip issues, problems and the things that the Graves Golf Academy, Transitional Training Grip will address, help and solve.

The Grip: Most Common Problems and their effects

Moe Norman overlapped his trail pinkie over his lead hand index finger for the majority of his career until 1994. If you take a deep look at Moe’s hands, you find that the club did not sit directly across the lifeline of his trail hand. It couldn’t. If it did, there would be nowhere to place the lead thumb. The fact is that Moe’s grip was perfect in the sense that the way he held the club aligned the club correctly with the arms. His lead arm aligned with the club shaft forming the “Rod” and the trail arm aligned forming the single axis. This arm and club shaft alignment are significant. It indicates that the hands and arms are together in this piece of the golf swing puzzle. This means that if you hold the club incorrectly, your arms will also be incorrect.

One of the beauties of Moe’s golf swing was the way he moved the club shaft. The way he hinged his hands and the club moved on plane with tremendous hand speed.

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Cause: Holding the club too far in the Palm of the Trail Hand

Effect: Loss of Speed and Correct Angles

By holding the cub too far into the trail hand palm, you inhibit hand action. You limit the RANGE OF MOTION of the hand and it’s ability to move the club fully. In effect, you minimize your ability to move the club shaft. This means that you have reduced the ability to produce speed. The reason each club has a long shaft is to help your project the club head with hand movement. By holding the club in a limiting position, you aren’t using the tool (golf club) in a full capacity. And, I’m not talking about a little speed

here, I’m talking about major speed issues. Just think about it, If the trail hand produces 75% of the speed in the golf swing, and you inhibit the movement of the hand and arms which move the shaft, the snowballing effect is significant.

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Cause: Grip On The Club is Too Big

Effect #1: Holding the club in the Palm of the Lead Hand

Effect #2: Hands (set up) too high at address (above ideal single axis set up)

Effect #3: Inability to feel proper pressure points

Often we see students holding the club in the palm of the Lead hand especially when the grips on our student’s clubs are too big. When the grips are too big, it becomes difficult to hold the club far enough down in the lead hand in the fingers. Subsequently, a grip that is too big will also make it difficult to hold the club into the correct position of the trail hand. The club should be held in the fingers of the lead hand where the fingers hold the club under the heel pad of the hand not the THUMB pad. Holding the club under the thumb pad creates a weak and un-hingable (new GGA word) position where the lead hand can not hinge correctly and produce the necessary leverage angle. This position also places large amounts of stress on the lead wrist. Many students complain about pain and stress on the lead wrist joint. **************

Cause: Grip on Club Too Small

Effect #1: Poor Grip and Arm Position Below Single Axis

Effect #2: Inability to feel pressure points

Effect #3: Poor Clubface position and hand rotations

Grip size is an important issue since each of us had different hand sizes. Let’s review what is important about the grip to see why a grip that is too small can cause problems. First, it is important that the club aligns with the lead arm (Rod) and trail arm (Claw) where you hold the club in the fingers of the lead hand and in the proper rotation and position of the trail hand. With the arm and hand positions correct, it is important to address correctly and hinge the hands correctly. A grip that is too small can keep you form pure single axis. Second, it is important that you can feel the pressure points in both the lead hand last three fingers and the trail hand trigger point. These pressure points are important and if your grip is too small, you will have a hard time feeling these places. Without the correct pressure points, it can become difficult to hinge the hands and “feel” the club. If you can’t feel the club, you can not move the arms correctly. The correct hinging of the hands combined with the movement of the arms is what produces speed and keeps the club in the correct plane. Last – a grip that is too small will have a tendency to slip/twist in the hands, causing club head to twist into incorrect positions at impact.

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Cause: Grip too Weak

Effect #1: Club face is open leaving shots weak and right of target (right handed player)

Effect #2: Loss of Leverage and speed

Effect #3: Many swing problems to compensate

Another common problem is a grip that is too weak which means that the lead arm is not aligned with the club correctly in the Rod position. This causes huge problems when it comes to correct club movement. Usually, the hands are unable to hinge which causes an enormous loss of speed. And because of the incorrect hinge and leverage, you lose the correct angles of the club into the impact position causing fat shots or shots that are swept because the club is coming in too shallow. But most of all, a weak lead hand leads to many swing compensations such as head movement, poor arm movement and unnecessary lateral motion. There are many others but my point is that a weak lead hand means trouble.

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Cause: Grip too Strong

Effect #1: Hooks

Effect #2: Rotation of body to compensate for hand position

Effect #3: Stress on back

Effect #4: Other Swing problems to compensate

Having a Strong lead hand means that the hands are rotated too far away from the target. Although you can produce speed from this position because you can leverage the club, it is difficult to release the club when your hands are too strong. This causes many swing problems such as hooking the ball, shoulder problems, rotation of the torso to make up for the inability to release the club and the weight staying back on the trail foot because of too much body rotation. You can also find stress being put on your back because of your inability to release the club. The Worst of All the Grip Problems: Lead Hand Weak, Trail Hand Strong On a final note about the grip, what I find might be the most troublesome is to have a lead hand that is too weak and a trail hand that is too strong. This combination of faults is rapidly becoming more popular as

we see students exaggerate unfortunate PALM idea. The fact is that Moe had his hands in the correct placement to move the club in an ideal single plane movement. This single plane / single axis included correct hand hinging which produced correct angles into impact and club speed. The lead hand and trail hand must work together as the lead hand hinges and trail hand cocks they are UNIFIED. This unification moves the club and club had correctly where you can move the club with minimal effort and maximum speed. This ideal mechanical advantage of the hands allows the body to stabilize and the arms to move correctly creating a simple golf swing that Moe called, “The Feeling of Greatness”. Good luck working on your grip – remember – you must START with your connection to the club – your grip… get it right – swing is made easy.. grip not right – continuous struggle with compensations making up for improper grip.

Please feel free to contact us anytime with any questions or comments. Remember – Always practice with a purpose.

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THE

SWING

START YOUR NEW GOLF SWING