Weakened grip, can't hit driver

[chew116]

hey guys,

 

I've recently gone to a weaker grip to help with consistency. I am now hitting my irons better than ever with no real swing change. My old grip was deep in the fingers (left hand) and I could see the whole back of my left hand. Anyway, now I can't seem to hit anything but high slices with the driver. My question is for those who have gone through this, did it eventually work itself out, or did you have to make any new moves in your swing? I was coming way inside to out with divots pointing right of target ,hitting push draws, blocks and hooks.. My irons are much straighter now and it's hard to hook anything, but not sure what's up with the driver. I also adjusted my driver head back to neutral from it's current open position with not much difference. Thanks for any thoughts. I have (before) video, but nothing recorded post grip change (yet).

[homestar]

First thought is the clubface is open at impact. That would cause the high trajectory and banana ball action you are getting.

[HawkeyeDan]

How much did you weaken it? Did you see all 4 knuckles of your left hand before, and now only 2, etc?

Dumb question - are you trying to swing too hard with the driver? I have found that with irons I have a set distance in my mind, so it is easier to swing inside myself. I don't need to swing an all out 7 iron - I have a 6 iron. Whereas with the driver its just hit it as hard and as straight as possible and hope for the best.

The hard part for me is realizing this before I play rather than after I hit a huge block into the woods!

Other thing for me (I am making a similar change as you are) is that I needed to move the ball up slightly in my stance with a weaker grip off the tee to give the clubhead a little longer to square up. With a stronger grip I needed it a little more back in order to not hit a hook.

[jsanatx]

[quote name='homestar' timestamp='1340831161' post='5179568']
First thought is the clubface is open at impact. That would cause the high trajectory and banana ball action you are getting.
[/quote]

and how do you correct that or what causes this (open face at impact)?

[chew116]

Yeah I knew I was going to hit it right to start, I was just wondering If I needed to make any immediate adjustments to my swing, or just let it work itself out with repetitions. I went from a 4 knuckle to two knuckle grip. And I have already started to hit the driver well as of last night. It's nice to be able to release hard down the line and not have to worry about hooking off the planet. I still can't hit my 3 wood off the deck, I hit it thin about knee high, but I'll save that for another thread..

[cogo22]

Too many variables here. Post a video w/ the new grip.

[homestar]

[quote name='jsanatx' timestamp='1340892201' post='5183114']
and how do you correct that or what causes this (open face at impact)?
[/quote]

1. Roll the right hand to the right
2. Move the ball up in the stance
3. Rotate hips through, but not too soon.
4. Make sure hand rotate through (don't grip too tight)
5. Make sure you follow through
.
.
.
114. Keep the eye on the ball. ;-) haha

[596]

I had the exact same problem. I went from 3 knuckles to 1. Irons were OK, had to be sure to follow through to hit them straight. The driver was another story. After the change I had to use different grips for the driver and the irons.

No way I could hit the ball straight with the weaker grip with a driver. I didn't feel like spending tons of time changing the driver swing to accomadate the new grip. I now use a stronger driver grip on the driver then I do with irons. Driver= 3 knuckles and irons= 2.

[tdub36tjt]

I've read 80% of professionals use what is considered a strong grip with both hands....the rest are neutral or those using a weak grip with one hand are using a strong group with the other hand. Not sure what the advantage of using a weak grip would be unless you hook everything?? Not saying your doing the wrong thing just wondering why someone would want a weaker grip?

[cogo22]

The ONLY reason that someone should be adopting a WEAKER grip is if they are fighting a ball going left. Now, this is all relative to what 'weak' and 'strong' grips are considered to be to that individual. I don't know of anyone purposely using one hand weaker/stronger than the other hand. Generally speaking, the hands working in opposition of each other in the golf swing spells touble.

[chew116]

If you put your left hand on the grip and rotate it as far right as you could, you would have my grip..So I didn't make it weak, just weakened relative to where it was. Like another poster said, I am having success with a grip for the driver and a slightly weaker grip for the irons. I've always hooked the irons and hit the driver pretty straight.

[tdub36tjt]

I found the article. It says,"[color=#333333][size=3][left]The final 10% of the players are using a combination of either strong left/weak right or weak left /strong right hand grip." Based on the picture of [/left][/size][/color]Rickie Fowler he has or at least had a strong left hand grip and a weak right hand grip.....Obviously this is someones opinion so I'm not saying it is true just seems that when I have fiddled with the things in this article I have felt like it is true for me....

[url="http://www.aroundhawaii.com/lifestyle/health_and_fitness/2011-07-pga-tour-grip-styles-part-1.html"]http://www.aroundhawaii.com/lifestyle/health_and_fitness/2011-07-pga-tour-grip-styles-part-1.html[/url]

[cogo22]

I gotcha. Certainly can play like that, just one of those things I would not nec. teach someone.

[tdub36tjt]

Agreed. It's amazing how much of a difference that grip can make. It's something I never really did much fiddling with in the last few months and using grip changes to help shapes shots works wonders. To the OP have you considered using your "stronger" grip for your driver only?? It probably is just a band-aid to the real issue but I would do that during rounds until you can get your swing straightened out....

[homestar]

This is how I play my grip 99% of the time.

Irons:
W------x---N----------S

Driver:
W----------N--x-------S

I'm more consistent with a neutral-weak grip, but the caveat is that I can't swing with 100% power. Works out great for iron play since it's more about touch anyway. I *can* hit my driver with the same grip as the irons, but I start to get a push fade when I start swinging towards the upper end of my power range. With a slightly strong grip I can swing with more power, but then I am all over the fairway instead of exactly where I want it.