Right Hand in the Grip // Malaska Golf

A Malaska Golf Member wants to know about the right hand. She explains that several teachers talk about holding the club in your fingers more than the palm of your hand. The member wants to know the upsides and downsides of this.

If it’s not more in your fingers than your palm, it is a downside because you won’t be able to do the lever system and create speed.

If the club is in the palm of your right or left hand, Mike says that’s called putting or maybe chipping. You do that to stop the hinging and unhinging of the wrists when you are putting or chipping. Turning your right hand under also gives you more stability. But if you do that in full swing, you won’t be able to create speed.

Mike shows us how he holds the club in the fingers of his right hand. He places his left hand on the handle, and the right hand wraps around and over the thumb. Mike reinforces that his fingers are what is holding the club.

Your fingers are where your control and speed are. For full swing, you want it in your fingers! Some people make the mistake of putting it in their fingers and wrapping their hands too far over the top of the club. Your hands hinge back and sit on the thumb.

Mike uses a sports connection with throwing a baseball and how you use your fingers to throw a ball. You use your fingers to hold the club. Again, the club is in your fingers with your palm at the right angle.

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Don’t just play golf. Understand it.

MIKE MALASKA TEACHING CREDENTIALS
Golf Digest Legend of Golf Instruction
2011 National PGA Teacher of the Year
2021-2022 Golf Magazine Top 100 Teachers in America (Lifetime Achievement)
2020-2021 Golf Digest 50 Best Teachers in America
TaylorMade National Advisory Board Member, 2020-Current
PGA Class-A Member since 1996
Honma US Advisory Board, 2019-2020
Worldwide Director of Instruction at Nicklaus Golf Academies
2017 PGA Southwest Section Teacher of The Year
25 years as a Jack Nicklaus Academies Trainer & Instructor
2017 GRAA Growth of the Game Teaching Professionals Elite Member
TaylorMade National Advisory Board Member, 2015-2018
2016 GRAA Top 50 Growth of the Game Teaching Professionals
Southwest Section Senior Player of the Year
TaylorMade/Adidas Instructional Consultant
Former Director of Instruction at Superstition Mountain Golf & CC,
Superstition Mountain, AZ

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This question comes to us from Nancy Whitman and she wants to know about the right hand and she’s heard Randy Smith talk about and a number of teachers that you want it in your fingers more than in the palm of your hand and she wants to know what’s the upside and downside well

First of all if it’s not more in your fingers all of that’s going to be a downside unless you don’t want any lever system and no speed so if you put the club if it gets if it gets in the palm of my hand in my right hand or my left

That’s called putting or maybe chipping okay so why are we doing that we’re doing that to take out the ability of your wrist to hinge and unhinge in the golf swing or if I turn my right hand way under if I make it really strong

Like this all of a sudden my wrist can’t work the way they’re supposed to to create speed now you have more stability more control that’s why a lot of people use that that idea in putting they use it in chipping okay but as soon as you

Go to full swing your right hand I’m going to come a little closer to the camera see the very back of the shaft sits right in this joint right there so that’s that’s how I hold the club so where is the club it’s in the fingers of

My right hand then my left hand sitting right there and my right palm folds right back right in on that thumb but what’s holding the club it’s in my fingers because your fingers is where your control and that’s where your speed is so for a full swing you want it in

Your fingers now here’s where people get off they start trying to put it in their fingers and they turn their hand way over on top of the club no no no that’s not right it’s in my fingers but my right hand hinges back this way a little

Bit so it sits on my hand it’s in my fingers but my hand doesn’t go over this way my hand hinges back so it sits on that thumb now these two fingers it’s like holding a baseball and I’m going to throw it it so if you took a ball and

You held it in the palm of your hand and you tried to throw it and the ball was in the palm of your can you can’t throw it very fast so I pitched you know that’s what I wanted to do the more I put the ball on my fingertips the more

Speed I had if I wanted to slow down the pitch and looked like I was throwing the same thing all I had to do was put the ball a little deeper into my hand and all of a sudden you had the same arm speed everything looked the same but the

Ball came at you at maybe 5 10 15 mph slower same thing happens with the golf swing so again it’s in your fingers with your palm and the right angle hi I’m Mike molas with molas golf.com understanding how your hands work in this game is critical your lead hand is

More of a chopper it works more this way your Trail hand is more of a pusher and a thrower you don’t have to have a lot of this rotation going on come to molas golf.com and see how to simplify down what you’re doing with your hands which is the Club face