Free Golf Tips

DTG Jeff · DTG Customer Service Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Posts: 259

Having been a former Head Golf Professional and Teaching Professional for the last 10 years I would be happy to help you out with any questions about your swing you may have. Let me know how long you have been playing for, your age, handicap or average 18 hole score, your normal ball flight (high, low, slice, fade, draw, hook etc.) and the problem you are having. I will be happy to help diagnose the problem to the best of my abilities and give you drills to help cure your swing flaw.

Thanks,
Jeff Bushnell

ajgoodal · Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 6

Hey Jeff,

I'm a 14 handicap who with more time for short game practice could probably be in the single-digits, but life doesn't allow it at the moment. Anyway, recently I've had my first battle with the shanks in almost 25 years of playing golf. The thing is, it is only happening with my SW. I've decided to put the clubs down for awhile and have been doing some reading about the grip and the swing. This leads me into my question. I never really noticed until I looked yesterday, but my grip on my left hand is turned in to the right to the point where i can see all four knuckles. From what I've read this is a big no-no. I don't know how long I've been doing this, but is the hand turned over that far a possible reason for the club face being so open at the moment of impact? If so, why only with the SW and not my other clubs?

Andy

DTG Jeff · DTG Customer Service Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Posts: 259

Andy,
I feel for you, anyone that has played golf for any length of time has gone through a case of the shanks or as I like to call the the Hosel Rockets at one point in time or another. Your left hand gripping the club to where you can see four knuckles on you left hand means the you are gripping the golf club with to strong of a grip. This will normally lead the golf club to be closed at impact not open. Although if you have a very strong left hand and a weak or neutral grip on you right hand this could be making you hands fight each other and the dominate (right) hand will usually prevail. If you take a look at the golf grip video we have on our website it will show you exactly where your hands should be. Shanks are caused by three things, the club face coming through open, the swing path getting to steep or a combination of both of these. First make sure you don't have to much weight on the fronts of your feet making you come towards the ball and get steep at impact. If that's ok then try and take that SW and aim a little bit right of your target with the proper grip and make 1/4 swing trying to pull the ball slightly by releasing your hands early. Almost trying to hit little 20 yard draw SW shots. Slowly work yourself into a full swings over the course of 40 or balls. The second you hit a shank back it down and continue. Sounds like chances are your grip is keeping you from releasing the club at impact leaving the face open. Let me know if you need any other help.

Thanks, Jeff

ajgoodal · Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 6

Jeff,

Its been quite the battle with the swing as of late, but I think I may have come upon something and I wanted your opinion. I believe my swing may have become too steep and my right elbow is way up in the air instead of close to my body. I think this may be the reason why the clubface is so open during impact. Any thoughts? I might be able to go back to the range soon and put the ole headcover under the armpit for training if I have finally found my ailment. Thanks for you help.

Andy

DTG Jeff · DTG Customer Service Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Posts: 259

Andy,
Couple things to comment about based on what you have told me. I assume that you are either hitting the ball right or slicing the ball ending up off to the right. Anytime this happens there are only two variables that can cause this result and one would club path and the other would be face angle at impact. I suppose a third would a combination of both. However how you get to the positions that lead you to your result could be a combination of many things. First when you aim at your target does the ball start left of where your aiming then finish right of where you are aiming? If this is the case the path is the main concern, this means that you path is coming across the ball. Also with your irons look and see where the divot is pointing. If it's pointing left of your target chances are it's your path. If this is the case it very easily could be caused by the right elbow flying. The elbow coming to far away from the body can get the path too steep resulting often in the club coming from the outside and coming across the target line at impact. The towel under the arm pit is a good exaggeration drill but can often lead to an over compensation and the swing getting to flat. I always liked to have my students think about trying to keep there forearms closer together or even put a rubber band around there forearms and have them swing. This is a swing thought you can use on the course and tends not to exaggerate as much. Let me know how you make out and if there is anything else I can help you with.

Thanks,
Jeff

ajgoodal · Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 6

Jeff,

Thanks again for further insight. I wish I could say that my divots were coming to the left, but they are normally either straight or slightly to the right. Something is occuring during my swing that is keeping the clubface from rotating back to square. I've analyzed it for over a month now and have not made any improvement. I haven't hit any balls in a few days, but I was going to try tightening up my grip slightly because I might have become a little too loose which is making me wristy. Not sure this is going to do much at this point. And the last thing I may try is spreading my feet apart further to create better balance. Sometimes I feel like I'm flying out of it too early and that could be part of my problem too. I'll give it one last go and then I'll probably just have to hang up the clubs for awhile and give my body and mind a rest. I've never been down to this level before and its consuming and taxing. Just isn't fun at the moment. Any last tips would be great. Still will be buying some new clubs from DT so when I do make a comeback I'll be set. If this is it for 2009, at least I can say my last decent swing was my first ever hole-in-one.

DTG Jeff · DTG Customer Service Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Posts: 259

Andy,
Ok well if your divots are pointing at your target or even a little right of it I would not worry about the path. First thing I would look at would be your grip, making sure both "V's" are pointing at your right shoulder. I attached out grip instructional video at the bottom for you to watch to make sure you understand what I mean regarding the V's. Many times one hand might be ok and the other hand gets a little to week or strong and it makes the hands fight each other to release the golf club. Also grip pressure, if you are griping the club too tightly it will also make it difficult to release the golf club. If the grip seems to be alright then the next likely culprit would be where you weight is at impact. Make sure that your staying behind the ball that your not sliding towards your target and getting ahead of the ball on the downswing. One last tip is that you can very easily get ahead of the golf ball if your timing gets off and you take the club back to fast. If you take the club back to fast you will not make a proper weight shift back or shoulder turn which will result in sliding past the golf ball and blocking shots to the right. I hope this helps let me know if there is anything else I help with.
Thanks,
Jeff