LESSON 98. I DON’T LOOK AT THE KNUCKLES ON A PLAYER’S GRIP. WHY NOT?
Manuel has called the grip the most neglected fundamental. He recommends that a golfer always take the grip visually, that he knows what to look for and check it every time when placing the hands on the club. “You can’t go by the feel, because the feel changes from day to day,” he said.
He noted that when it is very humid outside, the golfer’s hands often feel puffier, and therefore, the grip may feel different. The golfer is urged to ignore the “feel” and put the hands on in the correct position. This “feel” is a subjective thing in the mind of the golfer anyway. Manuel has even given a student the words to say to himself in this situation: “Little hands, you do not feel so good today, but I am going to put you on the club in the correct position and leave you there.” Manuel added that, after a few good shots, the grip will begin to feel better to the golfer and the shots will not be spoiled by the grip.
In Manuel’s book, Understanding the Golf Swing, he describes the grip position this way: “The V formed by the thumb and index finger of each hand should point to the center of the body.” He also notes, “When the hands are opened [after taking the grip]: a) The palms should face each other. b) The fingers will point vertically downward. With the hands in the position described, they are in balance:
- With each other
- With the clubhead
- With the target line – the direction in which the ball is to be sent.
When the hands are in balance, they do not work against each other, they always complement each other.”
Manuel admits that he “is death on grips with juniors and beginners,” and he will often not let these beginning students swing until the grip is in the correct position. With experienced players he approaches it very differently and will only change the grip when he feels that “the grip is the cause of the problem” with the ball flight. He explains that experienced players have often built in compensations over the years to accommodate their grip, and changing the grip could bring about a long period of poor shots. This may not be the best route to take to help that player get better.
A “grip check” has been recommended for teachers to use when checking on the student’s grip. The student takes the grip and then holds the club out in front of him or her with the shaft horizontal. The teacher should stand facing the golfer and hook the two middle fingers of the teacher’s left hand (for testing right-handed golfers) over the trailing edge of the clubhead. Now, ask the golfer to let his or her arms be very relaxed, but do not go slack with the grip. Then the teacher exerts a gradual pulling force to stretch the relaxed arms of the golfer. This is similar to the force that the swing should exert on the golfer during the forward swing. If the grip position is neutral, then the clubface will remain square, no matter how much pulling force is exerted by the teacher. If the grip is not in balance with the clubface, then the clubface will twist either open or closed depending where the V of the left or right hand is off-center. If either V is pointing to the right of the golfer’s center, (for a right-handed golfer), then the clubface will twist to a closed position during the grip check. If either V is pointing to the left of the golfer’s center then the clubface will twist to an open position when the force is exerted during the grip check.
While visually checking the V’s formed by the thumb and index finger on each hand is the recommended method for taking the grip, Manuel has explained that the grip check is the ultimate way to be sure of the correct position for each individual and to convince the player that a grip change is necessary.
“I don’t look at the knuckles on a player’s grip. Why not?” asked Manuel. He explained to the teachers that depending on the size of the hands, they may look and see a different number of knuckles on the left hand. This is not the ideal method for the golfer to find the correct position for the grip.LESSON 64. NOW, VERY SLOWLY, PUSH MY CLUB BACK.
In Manuel’s concept the golfer is asked to swing the clubhead to the end of the backswing using the hands. This means that both hands should be used equally during the entire backswing. A problem can be seen in the backswing when the grip-end of the club goes out away from the golfer while the clubhead is being flipped inside behind the golfer during the early part of the backswing. When the club is moved this way, it is said to be “laid off.” You can say that the club is not being moved in a swinging motion - that the golfer is using leverage, where both ends of the club are going in opposite directions rather than in a swinging motion where everything is moving in the same direction, at the same time, and at the same rate of acceleration.
Manuel describes the cause of the problem as left-hand dominance (for a right-handed golfer), or you could call it top-hand dominance. The solution is for the golfer to use the right hand as well as the left during the entire backswing. Some students may improve by starting their backswing correctly, but after a time the right hand gives up and the left-hand dominance occurs, and the club will still get “laid off.”
Manuel has many ways to help a student to become aware of and correct this backswing problem. In one of the most effective ways, Manuel, after the golfer had addressed the ball, held a club level to the ground with the grip-end pressed lightly against the back of the student’s right hand. The shaft of the club being held by Manuel angled slightly inside the target line in the direction that a correct backswing would go. Then he told the student, “Now, very slowly, push my club back.” He explained that, if the student used left-hand dominance, the student’s hands would go outside and around the club that he was holding. When the student pushed Manuel’s club back as he asked, it forced the hands to move in the correct direction and the left hand could not work around the right hand, using it as a pivot point.
