How do I stop leaving the face open?

[randyfitz]

Driver and irons? It’s killing me right now.

[tinman143]

How about just closing the face at setup more.

[randyfitz]

Then you’re going to get a huge hook when you do finally close it.

[Coy M]

strengthen grip?

[tinman143]

Then youre going to get a huge hook when you do finally close it.

 

How do you know that? What if the slight closure of the face at address gets the face and path to closer match around impact. The OP’s question was quite vague to begin with.

[ScratchyDawg]

I can think of a lot of different ways to stop leaving the face open. It doesn't mean any of them is the cure to your problem.

[Cwebb]

How about just closing the face at setup more.

 

Yeah, even go more extreme with the "closed face drill"....and see what it does

[Kuuuch]

If your grip is good then adding some right wrist bend could solve it. Hard to say without video since it could be a number of things like grip extending wrist excessive forearm rotation etc

[Switter]

Put a little gas in your game

 

http://www.mytpi.com/articles/swing/put_a_little_gas_in_your_game

 

Wrist flexing: Motorcycle Move Analysis

 

 

Mike Pederson: How to release the club

 

 

Robin Symes: Motor Cycle Drill, Slice Cure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Switter]

Golf Smart Academy: Motorcycle Drill

 

https://golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/clinic-motorcycle/

 

Connecting Trail Wrist to Motorcycle

 

https://golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/connecting-trail-wrist-motorcycle/

 

How to close the club face

 

[Jagpilotohio]

Without knowing anything at all about your swing, that’s a tricky question.

 

However...Many, many people out there would benefit from a stronger grip

 

 

[BB28403]

Turn your left shoulder up and away faster maybe?

[dj*]

Could be anything.

[andrue]

Baseball drill has been working for me. Swing the club horizontally for a while, feeling the arms rotate by themselves then gradually drop down toward address position. I'm currently hitting good straight drives thanks to that. The only problem is that it still feels like I'm going to hook them. So I assume that over time it will start to feel normal and then I'm at risk of hooking :-/

[chigolfer1]

How many different threads are we going to get on this same subject?

[chigolfer1]

Golf Smart Academy: Motorcycle Drill

 

https://golfsmartaca...nic-motorcycle/

 

 

 

 

 

Sort of says it all from Tyler in this video:

"For the most part, amateur golfers have the clubface more open than tour professionals by the time the club gets to shaft parallel in the downswing. There are only a few ways to change the clubface position by that point in time. You could do the exact same movements but set up with a stronger grip. Or, you could do the motorcycle movement (with either the left or the right wrist). Most commonly, this movement is done with the lead wrist. You can either do this movement to end the backswing, or to start the downswing, but if you haven't done it enough by shaft parallel, then you have made it almost impossible to get your body open at impact.

There are a number of videos on this site that relate to the motorcycle movement because it is such a key movement to solid ball striking. If I had to pick one movement to teach a random golfer, this would be the movement that I would teach."

[chigolfer1]

https://golfsmartaca...ous-motorcycle/

 

This is a point I'm seeing from these videos that I never understood up to now. You can't have body rotation without shaft rotation. If your face is wide open, you have to flip if you want to hit it straight. Also, as Tyler said, he thinks this is almost the #1 thing ams should be concentrating on. I'm still a little astonished that I am just seeing so much on this now if it's such a huge key. I'm wondering what other instructors think about the emphasis on this. Are we putting the cart in front of the horse in most cases?

 

"If you want to have body rotation, you need to have shaft rotation. The motorcycle move is our term for shaft rotation. Ideally, it starts in transition, but many golfers fail to continue rotating the face long enough in the downswing to have a really good release."

[Switter]

"If I had to pick one movement to teach a random golfer, this would be the movement that I would teach."

 

The motorcycle, the twist, etc. is a major move to hit the ball solid followed by a a full release. Actually its one of the few moves that 1. can be taught, 2. is easy to understand & 3. is easy to be apply to the swing movement. For me, it was an "aha" moment of learning the swing & its various components, everything came together once I began using this movement. Today I dont even consciously realize I'm performing the move in the DS. IMO the MC move should only be used once the player has mastered the basics of a proper set up & grip. Its use can increase distance 1 to 2 club lengths. For me, initially I started occasionally hooking the ball until I learned how much twist was required for the different clubs. Nowadays the MC is just automatic along with rotation, etc..

 

Ben Hogans "Little Twist"

 

 

 

 

 

[Chowdah86]

Ive got you buddy: Employ any or all of the following and you will be smothering it into the woods on the left in no time.

 

1) grip: should be across the base of your 3 fingers on your lead hand. Like 90* across, not up the middle of the palm.

2) grip: with the new grip across fingers: turn both hands clockwise around the grip so your right hand is under the grip and your left is over the grip

3) set up: Push the grip end of the club toward the target, then re grip and aim the face. This will result in a more closed face at impact.

4) set up: dont aim your body left. i know this is tough. Its a psycological thing. You probobly swing out to in. Your subconsous knows this. In order to have a functional shot, you leave the face open and hit slappy slices. You need to turn this whole thing on its head. You need to try to swing more in to out with a closed face. Force yourself to Aim your body straight or right to make this a functional shot.

 

5). This is the big one: Hold your left hand in front of your face. Bow your left wrist so your palm gets as close to your left forearm as possible. This feeling of bowing the left wrist = left side of fairway. The opposite feeling (waiter holding a tray) = right side of fairway. This is the same thing as the motorcycle move described above.

 

6). Roll the club head past your hands through imact. Dragging the handle through impact = open face. Make sure your clubhead leads the way after impact. That and Keep turning with it in front of your body. If your body stops turning= flip.

[J2putts]

Often face issues start with takeaway . Try keeping your hands inside the clubhead on the takeaway .

[BKN1964]

I like this one from Eric Cogorno from a few days ago.

 

Of course, seeing that I'm currently recovering from surgery I'm being somewhat of an armchair quarterback, but I'm looking forward to giving it a try once I'm cleared to start swinging again in a few weeks.

 

[media=]

[/media]

[Lomo Saltado]

EDIT: I quoted the wrong post. I meant to reference Tyler's video from post 17!

 

My instructor has me do this exact thing. I have issues rotating the body to close the face. I kept trying to focus on rotating the body to close the face b/c that's what I had read on the internet. I had it in my mind that i should not need to rotate the arms/shaft so I refused to implement what I thought was a band-aid. My instructor gave me this drill and videoed my swing. After only a few 6irons I felt myself compressing the ball and hitting my 6i 10-15 yards further. I then looked at my swing on video and woudlnt' you know it appears as though my EE is gone, I don't flip and it looks like my body rotation is closing the face even though my only thought in transition is to rotate the shaft/bow the left wrist. Something about rotating the shaft and putting it on that position makes my hips open and rotate. I still have issues consistently performing this but it's only been a couple of short range sessions and a few rounds on the course. I need way more range time now that San Diego's monsoon season seems to be easing up.

[chigolfer1]

"If I had to pick one movement to teach a random golfer, this would be the movement that I would teach."

 

The motorcycle, the twist, etc. is a major move to hit the ball solid followed by a a full release. Actually its one of the few moves that 1. can be taught, 2. is easy to understand & 3. is easy to be apply to the swing movement. For me, it was an "aha" moment of learning the swing & its various components, everything came together once I began using this movement. Today I dont even consciously realize I'm performing the move in the DS. IMO the MC move should only be used once the player has mastered the basics of a proper set up & grip. Its use can increase distance 1 to 2 club lengths. For me, initially I started occasionally hooking the ball until I learned how much twist was required for the different clubs. Nowadays the MC is just automatic along with rotation, etc..

 

Ben Hogans "Little Twist"

 

 

My instructor has me do this exact thing. I have issues rotating the body to close the face. I kept trying to focus on rotating the body to close the face b/c that's what I had read on the internet. I had it in my mind that i should not need to rotate the arms/shaft so I refused to implement what I thought was a band-aid. My instructor gave me this drill and videoed my swing. After only a few 6irons I felt myself compressing the ball and hitting my 6i 10-15 yards further. I then looked at my swing on video and woudlnt' you know it appears as though my EE is gone, I don't flip and it looks like my body rotation is closing the face even though my only thought in transition is to rotate the shaft/bow the left wrist. Something about rotating the shaft and putting it on that position makes my hips open and rotate. I still have issues consistently performing this but it's only been a couple of short range sessions and a few rounds on the course. I need way more range time now that San Diego's monsoon season seems to be easing up.

 

So, according to Tyler, rotating the body does not "close the face." In fact, unless you have closed the face through the motorcycle move (or similar effort to make sure the left wrist is flat or bowed), you need to flip to square it.

 

See starting at about 1:00 mark. Am I misunderstanding something? I realize this is the opposite of what I bet 90% of hackers think:

 

https://golfsmartaca...nic-motorcycle/

[Lomo Saltado]

"If I had to pick one movement to teach a random golfer, this would be the movement that I would teach."

 

The motorcycle, the twist, etc. is a major move to hit the ball solid followed by a a full release. Actually its one of the few moves that 1. can be taught, 2. is easy to understand & 3. is easy to be apply to the swing movement. For me, it was an "aha" moment of learning the swing & its various components, everything came together once I began using this movement. Today I dont even consciously realize I'm performing the move in the DS. IMO the MC move should only be used once the player has mastered the basics of a proper set up & grip. Its use can increase distance 1 to 2 club lengths. For me, initially I started occasionally hooking the ball until I learned how much twist was required for the different clubs. Nowadays the MC is just automatic along with rotation, etc..

 

Ben Hogans "Little Twist"

 

 

My instructor has me do this exact thing. I have issues rotating the body to close the face. I kept trying to focus on rotating the body to close the face b/c that's what I had read on the internet. I had it in my mind that i should not need to rotate the arms/shaft so I refused to implement what I thought was a band-aid. My instructor gave me this drill and videoed my swing. After only a few 6irons I felt myself compressing the ball and hitting my 6i 10-15 yards further. I then looked at my swing on video and woudlnt' you know it appears as though my EE is gone, I don't flip and it looks like my body rotation is closing the face even though my only thought in transition is to rotate the shaft/bow the left wrist. Something about rotating the shaft and putting it on that position makes my hips open and rotate. I still have issues consistently performing this but it's only been a couple of short range sessions and a few rounds on the course. I need way more range time now that San Diego's monsoon season seems to be easing up.

 

So, according to Tyler, rotating the body does not "close the face." In fact, unless you have closed the face through the motorcycle move (or similar effort to make sure the left wrist is flat or bowed), you need to flip.

 

Yes. I actually meant to quote that post and not that Hogan twist. I did not make it 10 seconds into that one.

[thejazzmarauder]

This is a point I'm seeing from these videos that I never understood up to now. You can't have body rotation without shaft rotation. If your face is wide open, you have to flip if you want to hit it straight. Also, as Tyler said, he thinks this is almost the #1 thing ams should be concentrating on. I'm still a little astonished that I am just seeing so much on this now if it's such a huge key. I'm wondering what other instructors think about the emphasis on this. Are we putting the cart in front of the horse in most cases?

It's a good question and I'm curious, too. There seem to be two key questions:

1. Should you “rotate to square the club” or “square the club so you can rotate” ?
   
2. Given that most good players have flexion in their lead wrist during the downswing, should this be a conscious move (i.e. motorcycle) or the natural result of other movements in backswing and transition?
   

I suspect that different instructors would give different answers.

[glk]

If you have site membership or free trial

 

https://golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/isolated-club-face-movements/

 

All a balancing act. https://golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/steep-and-shallow-flow-chart/

[andrue]

I like this one from Eric Cogorno from a few days ago.

 

Of course, seeing that I'm currently recovering from surgery I'm being somewhat of an armchair quarterback, but I'm looking forward to giving it a try once I'm cleared to start swinging again in a few weeks.

A lot of what he says there echoes what I'm going through eg; the bit about trying to cause a hook. Also his swinging drill early on is the latter stages of the baseball drill. And it seems to be working for me. It still feels odd though. It genuinely feels like I'm striking the ball with a closed and de-lofted driver face and yet the next thing I see is my ball soaring up into the sky almost straight down the middle of the fairway.

 

I just have to get that supination programmed in :)

[Krt22]

If you have site membership or free trial

 

https://golfsmartaca...face-movements/

 

All a balancing act. https://golfsmartaca...low-flow-chart/

 

Would also highly recommend his book to any/everyone interested in the golf swing in general

 

This is a point I'm seeing from these videos that I never understood up to now. You can't have body rotation without shaft rotation. If your face is wide open, you have to flip if you want to hit it straight. Also, as Tyler said, he thinks this is almost the #1 thing ams should be concentrating on. I'm still a little astonished that I am just seeing so much on this now if it's such a huge key. I'm wondering what other instructors think about the emphasis on this. Are we putting the cart in front of the horse in most cases?

It's a good question and I'm curious, too. There seem to be two key questions:

1. Should you “rotate to square the club” or “square the club so you can rotate” ?
   
2. Given that most good players have flexion in their lead wrist during the downswing, should this be a conscious move (i.e. motorcycle) or the natural result of other movements in backswing and transition?
   

I suspect that different instructors would give different answers.

 

 

A good instructor will tell you it depends. Some do it naturally, some need to consciously add it, especially if they typically have a cupped wrist at the top and/or extend it even more in transition.

[hybrid25]

I also suggest strengthening the grip a bit. It feels a bit awkward at first but I think that is all that is needed. Maybe through time your grip has become weaker and you haven't realized it?

[Ri_Redneck]

If you are comfortable with your swing and don't want to change it - begin slightly strengthening your grip by rotating the grip within your hands (closing the face) until your shots straighten out.

 

However, If you believe your SWING is causing the problem and needs to be fixed - See a pro.

 

BT