Righties: Right-Hand Grip

[lia41985]

The grip is important. Most of my recent posts have focused on hand path and tumble but these components work in combination with the grip. I have a preference for a neutral grip. Here's a good explanation for why:

If you look at the most envied swings, you will typically see super vert hand paths coming down that allow the player to steepen the shaft/face combination as much as they want. They have zero concerns of skanking it or hitting it steep. They typically have a more neutral grip so the shaft can tumble as much as they want without fear of a hook. ...

Have a grip that allow you to steepen the shaft without fear of hitting it left

I'm very non-ambidextrous. If you don't want me to play well force me left on the basketball court, hit to my backhand on the tennis court, and teach me the golf grip by focusing on the left hand.

I've found a way to get my right hand grip right, for me.

Here's how (pardon the junior club I use to practice swing indoors):

1.) I set my hand open:

2.) I set the back of the clubhead flat against my hand:

3.) I slide my hand down the shaft to the grip, making sure the shaft doesn't rotate:

I want my right hand cued into what the face is doing. This is the best way I know how to insure that, for me--much better than thinking about where a "V" is pointing. Maybe it'll help you too! Please let me know if you try out my method

 

[Bigwill]

I like it.

 

[drewyallop]

Take the cock out of you right wrist. Where is the clubface pointing?

I may be wrong, but my understanding of Manzella neutral is the back of the hand and the back of the forearm in the same plane and the clubface aligned with the back of the hand..

Comments?

Drew

 

[spktho]

How about grip pressure? How light do you have to hold it to allow the tumble?

 

[drewyallop]

Sorry. I was confusing right with left. Of course right should be bent. Left needs to be on the club face plane.

Drew

 

[softconsult]

Maybe perfect for you, but I find what you are doing pretty odd. Particularly, your right thumb on top and angling backwards. Manzella and pretty much any instruction I have ever seen shows left thumb angling the opposite direction. I think left hand should be the hand that is aligned with the face.

 

[lia41985]

Particularly, your right thumb on top and angling backwards. Manzella and pretty much any instruction I have ever seen shows left thumb angling the opposite direction.

That's a product of the camera angle and the angle I'm holding my club and arm. If my arm were stationed at address position with a picture being taken from a face-on angle, you'd see that it is a very orthodox position.

 

[BrendanC]

The right thumb looks like it ends up on the right (non-target) side of the shaft to me, and so it angles across the shaft. So in that sense does everything end up in what standard instruction normally calls a weak position? The tip of my right thumb is on the target side.

 

[drewyallop]

I stopped thinking about right hand strong or weak after reading Manzella's advice to someone here who had trouble with his grip coming loose at the top. His advice: take your usual setup - grip, stance etc. Swing to the top so that your hands are in the usual position. There will be loosness. Adjust your right hand until your grip becomes firm. Swing a few more times to the top to ensure the grip stays firm.

For me this required that the right hand be weakened. I have the feeling of the the right hand more completely covering the left. Strange at first but I can swing as hard as I like without worrying about slippage.

Sometimes I think I was tending to a stronger right hand so that I could get a "finger lag" i.e. compensating for early wrist release by letting my fingers bend backwards on the downstroke. This is easier to do with a strong grip but leads to a whole bunch of other problems.


Drew

Drew

 

[lia41985]

The right thumb looks like it ends up on the right (non-target) side of the shaft to me, and so it angles across the shaft. So in that sense does everything end up in what standard instruction normally calls a weak position?

It's the bad camera angle. I should have taken a better picture.