Right Thumb

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sthompson42

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I have always had my right thumb straight down the club instead of towards the target side of the shaft. I know this position was not correct, so I recently practiced on the range several days with my right thumb in a better position. I have had inconsistent contact usually with a push for my irons, but also a few shanks.

When I totally take my right thumb off the club (not just a little but almost the most I can raise it up to a straight position without tension), I hit many more consistent shots with a little draw and far. I have heard this right thumb off the club being used as a drill here on the forum, but why does it work? What fault is it correcting?

Thanks.
 
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holeout

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sthompson42 said:
I have always had my right thumb straight down the club instead of towards the target side of the shaft. I know this position was not correct, so I recently practiced on the range several days with my right thumb in a better position. I have had inconsistent contact usually with a push for my irons, but also a few shanks.

When I totally take my right thumb off the club (not just a little but almost the most I can raise it up to a straight position without tension), I hit many more consistent shots with a little draw and far. I have heard this right thumb off the club being used as a drill here on the forum, but why does it work? What fault is it correcting?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

It's forcing you to "lag the sweetspot". This is, essentially, having the clubface look more at the ball approaching impact. It helps solve a lot of contact issues as well as open clubface issues. The pressure from lagging the sweetspot is felt largely on the right index finger (for a righty).

The reason having the right thumb off the club forces you to lag the sweetspot is because if you have the thumb off, the club would slip up between your right thumb and index finger if you didn't turn the clubface down at the ball, putting that pressure on your right index finger. Having the thumb there lets you cheat it and lag the hosel of the club, rather than the sweet spot.

Make sense?
 
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sthompson42

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Yes, that does make sense. I just took a couple of practice swings with the right thumb off and I can feel the role of the right index finger. It also explains the shanks. I wonder why when I move the right thumb towards the target side of the shaft, that does not produce the same effect. I must be still trying to use the right thumb even though it is in a better position. I guess I'll focus on the right thumb having very little pressure on the shaft.

Any other ideas for eliminating the right thumb from taking over?

I'll check out pressure point #3 as well in the forum.

Thanks for the replies.
 
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softconsult

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We are assuming that your left hand grip is sound. If it is not, then perhaps, that is why you have learned to use that thumb as you describe.
 
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sthompson42

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I have been experimenting with the right thumb and still having issues. I have also been employing some twistaway on the backswing (NHA solved my hooks, but I never thought I had an open club face issue until I started to hit shanks with my irons and came here for answers; I have never come close to hittings a slice even after NHA, just shanks with irons.)

My iron play is still inconsistent and no shanks with twistaway, but it feels like I flip with the shorter irons causing high shot consistently 10 to 15 yards shorts with my wedges. This with my right thumb in a better position to the left (my left looking down) of the shaft.

When I use twistaway and put my right thumb more left, over on top of and in between my middle right finger and trigger (instead on the side of the grip and slightly connecting with the trigger finger of the right hand), I get very good contact. The club feels like "wobbles" at the top just slightly and I think that is why I had the right thumb so on top, to provide stability. It also feels like I have no choice but to release the club in this right thumb position instead of steer it with that right thumb. Interestingly, my driver is not impacted as much my this thumb issue and I can pay less attention to it.

So my question is, if you can picture how I have my right thumb, is this something that I should not be doing. Are there inherent issue with the right thumb over the middle finger that should push me to find a better solution?

On the grip question, I try to have a neutral grip because of my hook problem. Softconsult - what issue were you thinking of exactly?
 
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softconsult

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You keep focusing on the right thumb. I am suggesting that the reason your right thumb has so much influence could be a faulty left hand grip. Club not stable in left hand, right hand has to take over some of the control. Let me share a story.

I have had one lesson with Brian. I had two issues for him. Driver and chunked chips and pitches. I have played for a long time and always around an 8 - 12. He had me hit a 6 iron draw, done. A 6 iron fade, done. He says, ok, you know how to play. Then he watches for a while. Takes out the Casio and shows me how open my club is at the top.

We spent the next 30 minutes on how to properly take the left hand grip. Exactly, with precision, how to roll the heel of your hand on to the top of the grip. Do it right and it stabilizes the grip in your left hand. Now I wasn't exactly a rookie at gripping the club, but I had it wrong. You might also have it wrong.

I asked about the right hand. He said, looks fine and wasn't concerned. Left hand is the key. I don't have a solution for you.
 
Chip Putterman

Chip Putterman

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If you go to any public driving range, I would say that 99% of the golfers have a faulty grip. Ben Hogan, in his book Five Lessons, spent 19 pages on the grip alone. Arnold Palmer, when he speaks about his father Deacon, always tells the story about how his father taught him to grip the club. Fix the left hand first and the right hand is just there for a ride.
 
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sthompson42

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Ok, that makes a lot of sense. If I have the left pad on the side of the club, it does feel more wobbly at the top. When I focus getting the heel pad on top, it does stabilize the club at the top correctly. Funny, I was watching NSA this morning where Brian in showing how to grip the club with the left hand properly. Good advice. I'll focus on that and see how it goes.

Thanks for letting me know it might a left hand grip issue.
 
Richie3Jack

Richie3Jack

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Thumb on shaft is a 'strong' right hand. Thunb across the grip is a 'weaker' right hand. You could very well be opening up the clubface more coming into impact. Wide open is a push, extremely open is a shank.





3JACK
 
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holeout

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I'm getting the sense now that you might have an over-rotated left arm wedge. What parts of NHA did you focus on when you started using the pattern?
 
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sthompson42

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I do feel like I pop out a bit on the backswing. I tried a soft draw like backswing at the range today with the NHA downswing and contact is better but the pull/hook cames back sometimes.
 
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sthompson42

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I thought I would provide an update. A few days after these posts I went on a Buddies Golf Trip to Hilton Head with 11 friends. We played 108 holes in 72 hours. I went to the range after I landed in HH. I focused on a few keys:

1. Heel pad on left hand on top of club (NSA video)

2. Focused on the trigger finger on the right hand when taking the grip. Made sure it pointed 45 degrees like the NSA video and making sure there was a space between the trigger and index finger. Really tried to feel pressure on PP#3. Then just rested the right thumb down without thinking about it.

3. Stopped the NHA backswing. At first I yanked it too far inside but it was still better than before. I remember in a post Brian describing a Baby Fade backswing and tried that. Over the week I just focused on feeling pressure on PP#3 in the backswing along with Twistaway and that worked perfectly.

4. Smooth transition and used the NHA downswing.

The results? Not one shank. Hit my driver very, very well. Although not perfect, hit my irons well, better than I have in a long time. Played very consistently for all 108 holes (I started to lose the driver on the last 18 with some pushes and a few hooks but I think I was getting tired.

Thanks to everyone for their responses and previous posts. Getting the NSA video (even though my miss had been the hook) was a big key.
 
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