A month in - please critique!

cbrown1170 · June 4

Hi all,

Foremost, I'm very thankful I found this forum. Just been browsing and have been shocked by the level of guidance and sincere advice being given to us folks trying to get better.

I've had kind of an insane run with golf - started playing left-handed as I've always done everything left handed, and it just wasn't working after months of trying. Randomly decided to pick up a right handed club a month ago and immediately hit the ball better than all my months of trying lefty.

I'm in the process of finding a coach ,but in the meantime, I would love any and all critiques for my swing. Keep in mind I've probably got about 500 swings total from the right side, so take it easy on me. I have reasonable expectations of how fast I'll improve, but it'd be really nice if I could get to the point where I'm able to play my local courses without feeling like a complete burden.

As far as grip and setup go, I think I'm relatively ok there. I know my grip is fine, though I have been encouraged to try interlock. I just have all the fingers (besides my thumb) on my right hand around the club. I think I could be standing closer to the ball as well.

One other thing.. I am actually hitting driver and my 3 and 5 wood decently. By decently, I mean it still isn't going as far as I think they should, but its better than my irons. With my irons, they are going straight, but generating almost no loft and nowhere near enough distance.

I genuinely appreciate any advice, thanks so much. Also, if anyone has leads on a good instructor in Maryland, definitely let me know!

I saw some other posts get the video embedded, thats how I thought this would be. Here's a link if its easier than downloading: https://imgur.com/a/HX2muZy

cbrown1170 · June 9

https://imgur.com/a/2O6jQpM

Added more footage

slytown · June 10

Pretty good for a month. A couple things.

1. At set up, your hands are too high. You want the arms and hands to hand down more.

2. Your backswing is quite short. I don't know if you have mobility issues or flexibility issues, but Ideally you want the club pointing down the line at the top or close to it with the shoulders 90 degrees to your target line. That's why the driver isn't going so far. Work on getting more shoulder turn and using the arms more.

PedronNiall · June 18

On 6/3/2025 at 10:46 PM, cbrown1170 said:

I know my grip is fine, though I have been encouraged to try interlock.

I'd argue your grip is the first thing needing addressing. You're not naturally righty so makes sense you might have a little trouble getting it comfortable but your trail hand and the way both your hands fit together on the grip is off.

You:

What you're after:

Ignore the interlocking, that's not the difference.

Your trail hand is barely stabilizing the club at all and is way too loose. Your lead hand issues are caused by you setting the grip at address instead of with the club up 45 or vertical as is recommended. Looks like you wrap the fingers then set the pad which is good, but you're locking in a horrible working angle by setting it with the club on the ground. Fix them and get your hands fitting more closely.

What you're doing right now leads to zero control over the club.

Fix it on your own or see someone, but do one or the other before you continue working on even partial swings, let alone full ones.

GoGoErky · June 18

58 minutes ago, PedronNiall said:

I'd argue your grip is the first thing needing addressing. You're not naturally righty so makes sense you might have a little trouble getting it comfortable but your trail hand and the way both your hands fit together on the grip is off.

You:

What you're after:

Ignore the interlocking, that's not the difference.

Your trail hand is barely stabilizing the club at all and is way too loose. Your lead hand issues are caused by you setting the grip at address instead of with the club up 45 or vertical as is recommended. Looks like you wrap the fingers then set the pad which is good, but you're locking in a horrible working angle by setting it with the club on the ground. Fix them and get your hands fitting more closely.

What you're doing right now leads to zero control over the club.

Fix it on your own or see someone, but do one or the other before you continue working on even partial swings, let alone full ones.

agree

cbrown1170 · June 30

On 6/18/2025 at 5:22 PM, PedronNiall said:

I'd argue your grip is the first thing needing addressing. You're not naturally righty so makes sense you might have a little trouble getting it comfortable but your trail hand and the way both your hands fit together on the grip is off.

You:

What you're after:

Ignore the interlocking, that's not the difference.

Your trail hand is barely stabilizing the club at all and is way too loose. Your lead hand issues are caused by you setting the grip at address instead of with the club up 45 or vertical as is recommended. Looks like you wrap the fingers then set the pad which is good, but you're locking in a horrible working angle by setting it with the club on the ground. Fix them and get your hands fitting more closely.

What you're doing right now leads to zero control over the club.

Fix it on your own or see someone, but do one or the other before you continue working on even partial swings, let alone full ones.

Thanks so much. This is actually a grip trainer; my coach told me to use it. Should I can it completely? What you're saying makes sense to me.

PedronNiall · June 30

17 minutes ago, cbrown1170 said:

Thanks so much. This is actually a grip trainer; my coach told me to use it. Should I can it completely? What you're saying makes sense to me.

Absolute slog to find a clip of someone using a trainer who had a baseball grip, but as you can see his hands still fit together well. It's possible your finger length doesn't match the trainer and a different size could be better, though likely it's how you're placing your hands on it. Again, not great resolution to work from, but your lead hand grip seems a bit palmy instead of having it more in the fingers and it doesn't appear you're closing your trail hand as you should, i.e., you're keeping it too loose.

The #1 male golfer in the world still uses his grip trainer daily so I'm doubtful it's going to be harmful for you.

Watch iacas' vid here on how to grip the club and fiddle around with it at home when you're watching TV or whatever.

Worth watching the entire thing. Most amateurs never learn how to hold the club correctly, and on occasion even a better player is costing themselves strokes because they maintain control through excessive squeezing of the club.

cbrown1170 · June 30

1 minute ago, PedronNiall said:

Absolute slog to find a clip of someone using a trainer who had a baseball grip, but as you can see his hands still fit together well. It's possible your finger length doesn't match the trainer and a different size could be better, though likely it's how you're placing your hands on it. Again, not great resolution to work from, but your lead hand grip seems a bit palmy instead of having it more in the fingers and it doesn't appear you're closing your trail hand as you should, i.e., you're keeping it too loose.

The #1 male golfer in the world still uses his grip trainer daily so I'm doubtful it's going to be harmful for you.

Watch iacas' vid here on how to grip the club and fiddle around with it at home when you're watching TV or whatever.

Worth watching the entire thing. Most amateurs never learn how to hold the club correctly, and on occasion even a better player is costing themselves strokes because they maintain control through excessive squeezing of the club.

Thank you sir, this is incredibly helpful! and agree, it's likely user error on my part of the way I'm holding the club with the grip attached. I'll make an intentional effort to pay attention to that and check out the video you linked.

if you can check out my profile, I made a post today about an even bigger issue I'm having. If you have a second and can check it out to provide perspective, I would be super grateful. You have a really nice way of explaining things!