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AUDIO FROM THE VIDEO
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Hi, I’m Ted Norby, director of instruction for the National University Golf Academy. Today, we’re going to get a little bit deeper into the grip and what we’re trying to create with a proper grip.
There’s strong grips, there are weak grips. Everybody’s going to look different with their hands on the club. But what I really want to look for is some leverage positions and some support positions. To do that, I need pressure on top of the grip. What most people do is they have the club down on the ground and they put their hands on the grip while the club head is resting on the ground and that makes me come from underneath. That doesn’t get my hands in the right place. What I want to do is have the club up in the air so that my left hand can be on top of the club, my right hand can get a little bit more on top of the club. The reason I want the left hand on top of the club, and what’s really happening is I want the pad of the left hand on top of the club, that allows me to leverage or push down on the butt of the club which hinges the club up. What I don’t want to do is lift the club.
Too many people, if I put the pressure of my hands underneath, is to lift the club in the backswing. So if I get that left hand on top, I’m now in a position where I can leverage the club. The hinging is more of a downward motion, or an away motion with the butt of the club. That’s what gets the club head to come up, not a lifting motion. The right hand, same thing, I want it to be on top but it’s a little different reason. Through impact, I need to create this descending blow, I want to take a divet with my short irons, I need my right hand on top so I can create some leverage down into the ground right there. On top, at the top of the swing, I want to be able to support the club with this right hand. So again, as the left hand gets a little bit on top, and that’s that pad of the left hand that I’m looking for, I also want my right hand, and it’s this pinching positing between my thumb and the forefinger, gets on top of the club.
That’s why this right thumb is a little bit left of center on the grip. But if I get on top of it with this thumb and forefinger pinching on top, I can support the club at the top and I can get that club to pop down into the ground. I have leverage on the top of the grip right there. So again, since I want the leverage on top, what I want to do when I’m putting my hands on the club is have the club up in the air, club face square obviously, as I’m putting my left hand on the club, and as I’m putting my right hand on the club. Now I’m in that position where I can feel the weight on top of the club.
Another good way to fool with this is if you have your club, the bag stand next to you, if you have your bag or the bag stand’s next to you, what I want to do with my right hand, I want to put this on top, is I want to be in a position where I can push the club head down. I’m not pushing the grip of the club down right now but I want that club head to be pushed down. It’s almost like I’m extending my wrist right there, I’m bowing out the top of my right wrist. If my right hand’s in the wrong place, I’m just going to come off of the club, that’s that scooping motion that a lot of people get. So if my right hand’s on top I can push down on that club. If my left hand’s in the right place so that I can hinge up, what I want to do is push down on the butt of the club to lift the club head up that way.
So it’s a good little drill. You have some clubs out in front of you, be able to push down with your right hand, be able to lift up with the club head by pushing down on the butt of the club right there. Again, I want the pressure on top of the club, on top of the grip, instead of from underneath. That’ll give you a little bit more leverage and a little more support of the club in your grip.
