Clubface Control
- Thread starter Kamloops
- Start date
- Status
Chip Putterman
New
Try the Manzella Neutral Grip or Ben Hogan's Five Lessons Grip. With both, what your left wrist does, your clubface does.
Richie3Jack
New
You have to find a grip that allows you to square up the face consistently and do it with speed. For me, it's a simple slightly strong grip. I have other friends who need a weak grip. I personally think you're best off starting with a weak grip and keep making it stronger until you find the grip that finally starts to square the face up consistently. I think that's why Hogan had a weak grip...he could square it up consistently with that grip....and why Azinger had a super strong grip, had he tried anything weaker, he probably wouldn't square up the face.
But clubface control is related to pivot IMO. The better your pivot, the better you will control the clubface. That's why it seperates the men from the boys.
3JACK
But clubface control is related to pivot IMO. The better your pivot, the better you will control the clubface. That's why it seperates the men from the boys.
3JACK
I concur. If you are trying to control the clubface while hitting the ball with your hands and arms, you will never be as consistent as if you learn to hit the ball with your pivot. The key to clubface CONTROL is to use a grip that allows you to consistently MONITOR the clubface, but then to hit the ball with your pivot, not the clubhead.
For many who have not yet learned to control the clubface, a Manzella neutral grip is a great start. I think a neutral grip also helps because with a neutral grip and a NO pivot swing, the face is going to be open. In some cases a strong grip will allow someone to square the clubface but without their learning how to actually monitor or control it. When you switch someone like this to a neutral grip you take away the "reward" of the strong grip and they have to learn how to square it up with a proper pivot/swivel/etc.
I agree and...
It can work the other way also. With a strong grip you better have a pivot that can keep your hands quiet or your going to see a lot of the left woods if your a right hander.
Everyone is different there's is no specific grip that is better than the others it all depends on what the individual needs. IMO. How do you find out?, do what Richie suggests.
Last edited:
Jim Kobylinski
Super Moderator
Honestly i agree with a lot of things 3jack posts but i don't with most of this. When you have someone who really isn't any good at clubface control and generally that means they fall on the slicer side and/or too open of a clubface (most of the time anyway), giving them a slightly stronger grip is nothing more than a band aid because they never really learn how to properly rotate their lead arm through the ball. It's better to learn with a hogan-ish manzella neutral grip and learn to rotate that face consciously even before your brain ingrains it. It's a far better long term approach imo. At some point the person will learn how to control that part and you can move them to a stronger grip or something they prefer. As brian says, almost everyone should learn how to do a NSA style swivel through the ball at some point in their golfing life.
Also generally the better the pivot the harder it is to control the clubface because if you have a good sound pivot that is generating some umph you are torquing the club open and it makes it difficult to make sure you either 1 don't let it open too much and/or 2 make sure you close it enough in the downswing. Again its a main reason why slicers slice it worse when they try to "hit it hard."
I am a perfect example of this. I fixed my clubface to a good extent, then started working on a better pivot and just as you say I lose the clubface control a lot more with the more dynamic pivot. It feels exactly like the club torques open from the transition with a stronger pivot.
Jim Kobylinski
Super Moderator
It's because it does; you aren't imagining it. Employ a bit of "hold the twist" on the downswing to combat it.
Jim Kobylinski
Super Moderator
It's kinda a chicken and an egg thing. Not everyone can do the twistaway long term. Like i said it's kinda more of a thing you learn to help make you more aware of where the clubface is and to feel where rotation in the clubface happens in swing. I *prefer* for people to be able to at least be able to do it and do it on command before they move to a stronger grip type swing just so they know how that lead arm rotates so they know the diff between rotation and a flip.
You can even use some twistaway with a stronger grip, obviously you'll need less but you can employ it there too.
This had been my issue, so I believe it; I'd always fought losing it right, no matter how strong my grip was, especially when I went after it. My question is, why do some better players tend to hook it more when they go at it harder? I've heard this quite a bit and it never made sense to me. Is it because when they hit it harder, they're doing it with their hands/arms rather than their pivot?
Forearm rotation and grip.
A stall of the pivot will cause the forearms to rotate sooner. A spinning pivot will cause the forearms to rotate later.
Because a spinning pivot FEELS forceful a lot of people delay the release (forearm roll) and have to make up for it with a stronger grip. This is not technically sound though because a spinning pivot also leads to a re-routing of the club and a steepening of the path often known as Over The Top. Over the top even with a strong grip usually leads to slicing because the path is so far left.
A stall of the pivot will cause the forearms to rotate sooner. A spinning pivot will cause the forearms to rotate later.
Because a spinning pivot FEELS forceful a lot of people delay the release (forearm roll) and have to make up for it with a stronger grip. This is not technically sound though because a spinning pivot also leads to a re-routing of the club and a steepening of the path often known as Over The Top. Over the top even with a strong grip usually leads to slicing because the path is so far left.
- Status