Importance of the Right Hand

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I WIN I WIN

Sorry, my bet was that was going to be their new name!

Boog

Great to hear from you.

Safe journey back and forth.

Talk to you soon,
Dick

Ted,

You might try oversized grips rather than standard grips to see if they're more comfortable for you to hold firmly.

I swear this is the fourth time a Jerry as posted this exact question. It might help to use the search function for "hitting too high" and read through comments to see responses to the question.

Just for your future understanding, a neutral grip has the palms parallel to each other and perpendicular to the ground. Rotating the hands so that the forward hand is under the trailing hand is a weak grip, and rotating the forward hand over the trailing hand is a strong grip.

Stan,

Check your setup to be sure that you're properly preloaded right. Also be sure that you're not getting into a reverse weight shift with the driver (straightening the back leg as you take the club back and up). Check that you're maintaining your spine angle and not lunging at the ball, and check that you're beginning the transition by shifting your weight from your back instep to the front foot with the lateral bump. Any/all of those things can cause you to strike the ground before the ball.

This what the PPGS manual says about the grip of the left hand:

"You should position your left hand
so that the back of it faces the target.
When you do this, the left thumb must
be slightly right of center, around 1:00 to
2:00 o’clock if there was a clock on the
end of your grip. This position of thumb
has the thumb in line with your forearm
(Figure 6). Note: just hold either of your
hands in front of you, or hang them at
your side and look at your thumbs, they
are inline right up your forearm. This thumb to forearm alignment means
your hand and arm are in “Dynamic Balance,” the best position for Peak
Performance"

Golf certainly is a game of inches.... or maybe millimeters..... the difference between my left thumb at 1 o'clock vs. 2 o'clock was a slice on my long clubs.

Steve

Thanks for the update. Great day with Mike. Glad for you both.

So, you had to end with a food network update. Thanks, now I have to go raid the pantry before I go to bed.

Dick

Hey Ronnie

Where you been?

Dick

We had my grandson's 4th birthday party at the ice skating rink, and of course PaPa had to take him out on the ice for his first time. He decided he did not want to stay out there after falling down twice. I had not skated in 15 years, so I decided to take a turn or two around the rink - VERY BAD IDEA 8-{ I had rental skates that did not have a good edge and went flat on my chest - very painful. With numerous aches and pains, I figured that would kill my golf for a while. I went outside, got my 4-metal out of the van, stepped into the grass, and took a couple of easy swings. No pain during the swing at all. The Surge Swing, as advertised, is very body friendly. I may not be able to do much else for a while, but I can definitely still swing a golf club. Thanks Surge!

Kevin

Turkey burgers have to be spiced properly to taste good. Sweet potato fries are heaven. Splash a little Tobasco on them. Mmmmmmmmm.

Maybe you should leave your driver in the trunk and tee off with that three wood.

What you have decribed is certainly a strong grip and helps reduce slicing. There is nothing inherently wrong with this.

Stan,

Like Robert says, there are a couple of things that could be causing this. One thing I found on Saturday that could cause it is starting the transition before completing the back swing. Because the driver is so much longer than the other clubs and, for most golfers (those not fitted by Doc), a much larger club head, we want to get to the ball faster and try to move forward while still moving backward. With me on Saturday, doing that caused me to do a supplemental wrist cock (totally against what Surge teaches) as I started the down part of the FUS. That, in turn, caused me to drop my right elbow into my side and I sank down on my right side, hitting the ground 4-6 inches behind the ball.

As soon as I corrected by keeping a firm left wrist and not allowing the right to take over (keeping both hands working together), all the other problems went away. I maintained the angles through the back-swing and the forward-upswing, in balance, nice and relaxed. As a result, I then hit my longest and straightest drives of the day. Timing is one of the critical parts of the golf swing and completing the back-swing must be done before the FUS begins.

Use the search box on the right side of the screen to find "ring the bell" for a good example of when the back-swing is complete and how to start the FUS.

Good luck and keep it vertical.

Kevin

As I understand it, speaking of the left hand grip..... the grip is "weak" if your left thumb is at 12 o'clock and "strong" if it is at 1 to 2 o'clock. I am sure some one will correct me if I am wrong. The only time I use a "weak" grip with my left hand is when I am putting and chipping.

Steve

That "moment" is closer than even I thought.

God help us,
Dick

Kevin

Get up off the floor pal. You have been rolling around on the floor or ice all day.

You are going to hurt yourself down there.
Dick

Kevin

That is funny, it is what I posted when I first came on tonight.

Glad you are doing pretty much ok.

So, you have your own ball retriever. You are one blessed man.

Dick

Is the old site name full of "baggage" now and not a good idea, or can the Surge have it back? If you click old PPSG site you are directed to the new one, when does Surge get his old following redirected to him? Just curious.

Dick,

I was feeling a bit stiff earlier and went out in the sunshine to do my Tai-Chi stretching exercises. I then did some of those that Bruce Chaffin teaches. I got out my 7-iron and did some easy half-swings, going in both directions - left and right - as Bruce suggests. Took me about 20 minutes to loosen up. Bending over is a bit difficult, but otherwise I'm feeling pretty good. It would be difficult to bend over to pick up the ball out of the cup.

I then hit some of my Almost golf balls with the half-swing, staying nice and relaxed so that I would not strain anything. I was hitting them better than before I got hurt. I think I have commented that I tend to play better when I am hurt, and this is one more indication of staying relaxed enabling me to swing faster with less effort. If I could only remember this when I am not hurting, my golf game would improve immeasurably. My grandson used his new John Deere electric lawn tractor (birthday gift) to go pick up my golf balls and bring them back so I could hit them again.

Kevin

Heh. We don't want to open the whole strong grip weak grip thing again. :) Suffice to say that a strong grip is one where your forward hand is rotated slightly more on top of the club (and I've seen some rotational guys who do a lot more than slightly, as in the left hand rotated so far on top that the palm completely faces the ground). Ideally you want a relatively neutral grip, where only the first and possibly second knuckles on the left hand are clearly visible to you at address (depending on the size of your hands and the size of your grips).

Changing your grip can be a short-term fix for slicing in a round, but it's a bad long-term habit. The slice can be coming from any of a number of places, as addressed in Surge's banana ball video and in my commentary on yesterday's video in response to several other people who were suffering from fades and slices. It's best to find out what in your setup or performance of the swing is creating the slice and fix that, rather than add an adjustment for certain clubs that you tend to slice more. You're just putting in more room for error.

Don do have any tips for my swing? I am left handed but play like a right handed person. My left hand is my dominate hand. I was just listening to your video on the importance of the right hand.

Kevin Mc Tried to wish you well hours ago, I think perhaps it is when 'certain people' allow me to access this site eventually!!! Nod nod nudge nudge wink wink. YOU take it easy sunshine!Used to rollerspeed skate in my youth. Had never been on ice skates in my life until Christchurch New Zealand. Went to the ice rink with ex and the children. Up on them for the first time, then the trouble started. Firstly I was told to "speed up" by the rink staff, and 15 minutes later I was told to SLOW DOWN!Must admit, I was flying, first and only time ever on ice skates.
Hope that you are soon on the mend and don't overdo it until you are. We want you around for a long time to come ; - ) Keep it long and vertical

Only 50 more to go.

Ouch! Careful with the swinging, too, even if it doesn't specifically hurt while you're doing it. You can still be straining body parts--particularly soft tissues and ligaments--that were injured and could use a little time to get better.

In addition to what Doc and Robert Meade pointed you to, work on maintaining constant grip pressure with the last three fingers of your forward hand. I actually begin my daily swing practice by swinging with the club held only in those last three fingers. I don't put my right hand or the index finger and thumb of my left hand on the grip. I do that first with a weighted club, then with my SwingRite (with the setting turned down to about 7 or 8). A firm but not tight grip with those three fingers activates the muscles along the outside of your forward arm that will help you control the lift and release of the swing without activating the competing muscles on the other side of the arm.

Thanks. Boy did I need this. having reasonable success with the irons (5-PW) in transitioning to the swing, but having difficulty with the Driver and 3 wood (tendency to slice). Hopefully, paying more attention to the thoughts in this video will help.

Robert

I clicked on his picture and brought up his past comments. You are right. That is all he ever posts, and he has posted it 4 times on different daily blogs.

Dick

Or rupturediscgolf.com

Kevin, one of the biggest problems we all have, and one of the biggest things slowing down people's swings, is the tendency toward tension in the muscles when we swing the club. Power without tension takes a lot of practice to get used to (and a lot of reminding yourself, especially after you've just mucked up a hole or 17).

Ive been learning this swing for 2 seasons now. i love it and am shaving strokes off my handicap. One question i have is what is the first move in the swing. is it lift or turn first

Robert,

This is the story of my life - I am a certified life-time member of Klutz's Anonymous. Maybe not so anonymous. Everyone knows who the Klutz's are. LOL!

I don't have any golf planned for this week. With it being Holy Week, I will be really busy at church with preparations.

Kevin

Kevin Mc Tried to wish you well hours ago, I think perhaps it is when 'certain people' allow me to access this site eventually!!! Nod nod nudge nudge wink wink. YOU take it easy sunshine!Used to rollerspeed skate in my youth. Had never been on ice skates in my life until Christchurch New Zealand. Went to the ice rink with ex and the children. Up on them for the first time, then the trouble started. Firstly I was told to "speed up" by the rink staff, and 15 minutes later I was told to SLOW DOWN!Must admit, I was flying, first and only time ever on ice skates.
Hope that you are soon on the mend and don't overdo it until you are. We want you around for a long time to come ; - ) Keep it long and vertical

Know the problem. My wife keeps telling me when I do something stupid like that too. I am older and still running around like a man half my age. It tends to treat us twice as badly as men twice our age.
Left Germany in Aug 1980 for the last time.I bought a head massage brush in Hameln of Pied Piper fame in 1979, used it this morning.Made in W Germany it says around the rim.History.
Had an historic visit into East Berlin [in uniform] and spent the day touring.Later in a pub,having a quiet beer after lunch in a restaurant, we were having some laughs with some of the locals, when the Stasi arrived.One of them collected a young girl came and joined us and sat her on his knee. When it came to buy a round. I asked everyone what they wanted and then turned to him and said, in German, "And what would you like, you *ssh*le?". He spluttered and said he was just an ordinary German worker, like everyone else there! I still kept saying no you are an *ssh*le! I knew what he was immediately he came in." Look at your clothes, your manicured fingers, and your clothes smell of moth balls,you are indeed and *ssh*le!" How I was not arrested I will never know. The silly things we do hahahaha.

You play better when you hurt. Perhaps you should work that into your set up routine,ie, add a 'P' to the set up letters I adopted after seeing it, GBSAPS make yours GBSAPPS.
Grip-Ball posn-Stance-Alignment-Posture-PAIN-Swing ; - )
Get well soon and swing easy

You may just have the ball slightly too far forward in your stance at address. Try adjusting the position about a quarter of a ball width. As misses go, it's about the best miss there is as the ball should still go straight and will probably have more roll. It just won't get the height and distance of a properly hit shot.

Steve, maybe your driver head is just fooling you visually with its alignment. Are you sure that you're setting it up square to the target line at address and not accidentally 10* right? It may just be that the design of the head is sufficiently different from your old club that you loved, that it's tricking you.

As for your son, I think he's depressed that you're out hitting him with the irons. Tell him if he wants to change, he should look at your Swing Surgeon stuff. Otherwise why break what was working unless it was starting to break him?

Today is the 17th of April. Just checked the old site and the ppgs is gone and the new name is Revolution Golf.com. Just thought I would pass this along.
Hal

Jerry, Here are a couple lessons that may be helpful to you. As mentioned by Robert, the search block in the right column is an excellent source for more information. Good luck

http://www.swingsurgeon.com/Da...

http://www.swingsurgeon.com/Ho...

Aaah Kevin, I love seeing a man with his priorities right

Injured -
First thought = Can I still swing a club
First action = Get a 4 metal & find out
Result = I can't do much else but I can play golf
Effect = Happiness & praise
Nice to see someone else infected with the greatest disease ever

I lopped the tip off my finger a while ago - tested my golf grip before stopping the bleeding
Jack

I have a grandson 12 soon to be 13. He is 5 ft 2 in tall. Can you tell me approx. how long his driver should be. I think the new one his dad just bought him looks to long. Thanks for your help Chuck

Don has said that the first thing he does is start his right hip and shoulder back at the same time as he starts the head of the club moving into the catcher's mitt. I find it easiest to get it all started if I imagine the catcher crouched on the target line with his mitt set for a slightly inside fast ball and I try to put the toe of the club into his mitt. It starts the turn and lift at the same time.

Dick,

Had a nice BIG slice of triple layer, triple chocolate cake and 4 different kinds of pizza. Also had a unhealthy helping of macaroni salad when we got back home.

Kevin

Absolutely Jackoz, I had a disagreement with a DaDao [Chinese cleaver], and cut my left forefinger to the bone, about half a cm behind the first crease joint. There followed expletives in around a dozen languages.Did it stop me? Na! [PS my wife's favourite english expression], All I did was use a reverse overlapping grip, with the abused pinky sticking up at about 45*!!! It is indeed an addictive disease. It frustrates us, but it more than makes up for it on the happiness side. Keep on Swinging in Oz!

Dick,

Thank you. I am indeed very blessed. The Lord has been very good to me. I just wish I had my mother's patience. She was/is a saint. She put up with me and my three brothers for 17 years after my dad died. She did an absolute miracle of a job raising us.

Kevin

Kevin

I was thinking it would be revulsiongolf.com. ;-)