What is the backswing for?

How many golfers, I wonder, have ever asked themselves that question? They know all the things they are supposed to do to make a good backswing — “head still,” “shoulders turned 90 degrees, hips turned 45 degrees,” “left arm straight,” “right elbow tucked in,” “transfer the weight,” and so on. But have they ever stopped to ask themselves just what it’s all for: what is the real purpose of the golf backswing?

In case you haven’t, I want now to tell you.

The backswing has two purposes. One, the obvious one, is to provide power through the wind-up, or torque-like action, of the body. Its second purpose — perhaps less evident, nearly as important — is a matter of simple geometry, of two vital angles — swing plane and club direction. Assuming you have a grip that returns the face of the club correctly, golf would be a simple game if you could always get these two angles correct.

Theoretically, of course, the ideal swing plane would be vertical — the ultimate in upright swings — because this would eliminate any divergence of the clubhead from the target line. Unfortunately, such a swing is anatomically impossible. Even if it were possible, it would create problems in another dimension — the angle of the clubhead’s approach to the ball. Too upright a swing produces too sharp an angle of attack of the club on the ball, creating a weak glancing blow — a “choppy” action.

Thus, since we are endeavoring to propel the ball forward, the ideal plane for the clubhead to travel is a happy medium roughly half-way between vertical (totally upright) and horizontal (totally flat). This is the plane on which most of the world’s best golfers swing the club — certainly through impact.

Now, let’s look at plane in terms of your game. The plane on which you swing is established chiefly by your address position. As you stand to the ball comfortably and squarely, neither cramped nor reaching, your left arm and club form a more-or-less continuous straight line. The angle of that line relative to the vertical is the “ideal” plane on which to swing the club up and down with your arms.

What you are aiming to do, in golfing terms, is to shift your right side out of the way in the back-swing and your left side out of the way on the throughswing, so that at the moment of impact the club is being swung freely by your arms with the clubhead moving straight through the ball, along the target line. To do this a golfer of shortish stature will normally have to stand fairly well away from the ball, and will naturally turn his body on a fairly flat plane — at a fairly rotary angle, as do, for example, Ben Hogan and Lee Trevino. A tall golfer, on the other hand, usually needs to stand nearer to the ball, and will naturally tilt his body on a more upright plane — less “round himself” and more “underneath himself” like Jack Nicklaus and George Archer.

The shoulders, of course, must also turn on some kind of plane. Should the shoulder-turn plane match the arm-swing plane? Despite what you may have heard or read, or thought to have seen in good golfers, the answer is no. The shoulders should always turn on a more horizontal — flatter — plane than the plane of the arm-club swing: (a) to allow the club to reach a top-of-the-backswing position from where it can be swung down to the ball; and (b) to give the arms room to do that swinging. Attempting to “marry” the arm-and-club swing plane too closely to the shoulder-turn plane tends to create excess body action, which inhibits the arm swing and thus reduces clubhead speed.

To read part one please click here

Next you add your right hand to your grip, by bringing it onto the shaft as close as is comfortably possible to your left hand, in such a way that the palm is pretty much parallel to the palm of your left hand. You should find that the shaft nestles down snugly into the roots of the fingers of your right hand, and that you are gripping the club predominantly with the second and third fingers of this hand. Next, check that your right thumb is slightly on the left side of the shaft; that your left thumb snuggles cosily against the palm of your right hand; and that your right forefinger is “triggered” easily around the shaft.

If it helps to make your hands more of a single unit, wrap the little finger of your right hand around the forefinger of your left (called the overlapping grip); or slip it between the forefinger and second finger of your left hand (called the interlocking grip). Finally, check that the “V” formed by the thumb and forefinger of your right hand points roughly to the same spot as the left hand “V”. This will ensure that your palms are pretty well parallel, which will greatly facilitate your hands working smoothly together as a single unit.

That, then, is the basic golf grip. For the majority of golfers it is, with minor modifications, the way of holding the golf club that will most effectively allow them to return the clubface square to the ball at speed.

But there are those for whom such a grip pattern will not work. Because of age, unusual muscular strength or weakness, flexibility or playing frequency, this “orthodox” grip will not automatically swing the clubface through the ball looking in the same direction as the club is moving. It will either be open or closed to the swing line, causing sliced or hooked shots. Whenever this happens, the golfer must experiment intelligently within the above framework, to find the modification he personally needs to square his clubface to his swing line.

If he is a chronic sheer, almost certainly he will need to reposition his grip, little by little, until he is at least sure that, whatever other faults he possesses, the clubface is not open to the swing line when it meets the ball. This involves positioning both hands, as a unit, more to the right — so that the “Vs” point to the outside of the right shoulder at address, with maybe three knuckles of the left hand showing.

If he is a hooker — the strong golfer’s fault — he will most probably need to adopt more the type of hold on the club used by the majority of top professionals, who spend their lives controlling a tendency to hook shots.

This involves the exact opposite of the sheer’s modification, i.e., gradually positioning both hands more to the left, so that the “Vs” point, say, to the right eye, and only one or maybe one-and-a-half knuckles are visible.

That’s really all there is to be said about the golf grip. It isn’t complicated — it’s just vital that you go out and work and think and experiment to find your correct grip within the framework I’ve explained to achieve the objective I’ve stated. When you have done that, you have mastered 50 per cent of striking the ball well. And if you can add a good set-up to an effective grip, you’ll have mastered 90 per cent.

When You Consistently Miss Your Putts

You are on the green, there is a great opportunity to finish the hole in perfectly by sinking that first putt. For newcomers, however, your dreaming, unless the ball is sitting within a few feet of the hole. Some of the pros, like Tiger Woods, sink an occasional long putt to the enjoyment of onlooking crowds.
One of the secrets to a good putt and getting the ball in the hole is keeping your eyes over top of the ball. If you don’t focus on your target, you risk the chance of sending the ball to the left or right of the hole. One simpe test to make sure your eyes are over your ball, is to assume your putting stance, then take a second ball and drop it from your eyes down to the ball in front of you. It should land squarely on your putting ball at your feet.

For more secrets of golf be sure to read our secret guide to winning the game of golf

If clubface alignment at impact is golf’s critical “geometrical” factor, then how the golfer holds his club — and thus controls this alignment — is the supreme factor determining the success or failure of his shots.

Much as many golfers would like to be able to ignore this fact, it is inescapable. The old saw, that you never see a good golfer with a bad grip or a bad golfer with a good grip, is pretty true. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned player seeking improvement, finding a grip that naturally returns the clubface square to your swing line is your absolute first priority; your inescapable starting point. If you are an established golfer, but feel you have never reached your full potential at the game, it is a 5-to-l chance that your grip is at the root of your problems.

The majority of golfers never develop a proper grip. Quite naturally, they want to get on with hitting the ball. They regard the way they hold the club as a minor and relatively boring aspect of the game, compared to the fascinating technical intricacies of the swing itself. Even if they do make an effort to develop a correct grip, few persevere because any change feels so uncomfortable at first. I hate to preach, but this is a cart-before-horse approach that will always limit you as a golfer. If you want to play golf to the maximum of your potential, you must develop a correct grip.

What is a correct grip?

First, I want you to forget anything you have read or heard that suggests that there is one, and only one, way to hold a golf club. Everybody has a correct grip, but finding it is not a matter of arranging the hands on the club in a standard position, as so many websites suggest. It is a matter of finding the grip that enables you (not Jack Nicklaus nor Tom Watson nor Seve Ballesteros) to face your club in the direction you are swinging it at impact, while swinging at speed.

At the risk of laboring the point, I repeat: it is to make this possible — and only this — that the golf club is held in a particular way.

Down the long history of golf, a certain pattern of placing the hands and fingers on the club has been found to make returning the clubhead square to the swing line at speed easiest for the greatest number of people. Let’s look at this basic system first, then at the variations you may need to adopt to suit your own physical make-up.

To start with, you place the club diagonally in your open left hand, so that it lies in the crook of the first finger and across the palm under the butt of your thumb. Next, you close this hand over the shaft, with the left thumb riding just to the right side of the shaft. If you do this properly, you will find that you are holding the club with your last three fingers pushing it firmly against your palm; and that the “V” formed by the thumb and forefinger is pointing more or less at your right shoulder when you ground the club with its face square to your target. You will also probably find, looking down, that you can see between two and three knuckles of your left hand.

to read part 2 of Your golf grip and how it will improve your game please click here