Hands/Handle forward at address

[harpua728]

I recently had a full swing lesson to address my tendency to swing outside in with an open face, especially with the driver. This obviously led to a weak glancing blow, with shots leaking right.

We worked on making my weak grip stronger, and positioning the handle of the club more forward at address in order to get the shaft of the club to form a straight line with my lead arm. I had the handle pointing more towards my belt buckle, and my arms and shaft were in the shape of a capital "Y". By moving the handle/hands forward, it now looks more like a reverse lowercase 'y' if that makes sense.

I took this new approach to the range, but my only concern is that pushing the hands forward opens the face. For someone struggling with an open face at impact, it's a bit unnerving seeing the face opening up as I get my hands forward.

Has anyone else gone through a similar change that could offer their thoughts? I'm not doubting that this works, and when I look at my new address position in the mirror it certainly looks better. But I'm just struggling with the look of the face at address. I adjusted my driver up .75 degrees which closes the face slightly, and it helps me keep the face relative square at address with my hands forward.

Any thoughts, opinions, comments, suggestions are welcome! Thanks.

[jc4birdie]

I recently made the same change, and I will say upfront 2 things: one, my miss was a bit of a "pully"-hook (not terribly left off the hit, but irritating in that the hook part made the result bad), and two, that what I do to deal w/ the open-looking clubface w/ the hands-ahead approach is something that works for me (most of the time), but could prove disastrous for someone else w/ different tendencies.

To be clear on this, I play right-handed. I simply stand straight up, club out in front of my chest, and I preset the "motorcycle handle move" counterclockwise w/ my grip to close the face, THEN push the handle forward until my clubface is merely square and the shaft/lead arm is in line. Then I take my address and swing. Got this from Adam Bazalgette as part of a drill, but I incorporated it into play. Have done in enough now that I know to do the motorcycle handle move LESS on lesser-lofted clubs b/c you're not trying to set them as far fwd. to get that straight-line relationship between the left arm and shaft.

Again, to be clear, this could backfire on you and you'd hit some wild hooks, but I have some tendencies that apparently this helps me with....I'm a body swinger, I load the back leg, push off to transfer, and hit it w/ my core more or less (try not to be handsy is a better way to say it). I have a very passive takeaway, again core-driven, it FEELS as if the clubface is shut on the way back...but I also know I have a tendency towards wrist-rolling if not careful (my old bugaboo), so the passive takeaway helps, and I bet the next time I video my swing, the clubface won't be nearly as shut as it feels. Feels fool you.

 

Give it a shot.

[glk]

clubs have lean built into them - shortest have the most and woods actually lean slightly backwards. I setup with my hands in the same spot for every club - just inside my lead thigh. Given the built in lean this determines ball position within my stance. I am not pushing my hands foward and therefore not opening the face but the clubs will appear to lean at address. Just find a mirror to practice in - learn what club looks like when soled flat - and how you want to take your stance - same width or varied. I like to start with feet together and move my lead foot about 2/3 inches toward target and adjust width with trail foot.

[glk]

Here's Tyler F demonstrating a wedge, 7i, and 3 wood.

[harpua728]

Just so I'm clear, are you basically saying that you initially grip the club in a way that shuts the face (face aiming left), then pushing the handle forward will bring the face back to square? I think that's what you're saying but I just want to make sure.

[jc4birdie]

Yes. Take a normal grip, face square (that's why I put the club out perpendicular to body when gripping it). Then close the clubface by turning the hands counterclockwise (back of left hand facing the ground; it's a preset of the "screwdriver" move you're supposed to make nearing impact to square the club)....then push the handle forward to get the lead arm in line w/ the shaft, and the face will then be square. That preset screwdriver counteracts the opening of the face that always occurs when you lean the shaft forward.

Again, try it, but it might not work for your swing. Then again, you might find yourself nuking your irons all of a sudden. AND....not a fan of much fwd lean shaft w/ woods and driver....long clubs just aren't built to be addressed that way.

[NotromJRH]

It's possible the stronger grip may correct your old issue, as well as encourage square at impact, but creates this looking open at address. I would try not to focus on the look at address as much as the outcome of the shots. If the rights are getting worse let the instructor know. But having shaft lean is the way the clubs are designed. If its just too much to handle maybe he can make some other changes. Changing the loft on driver will close the face a bit yes, but if the instructor didn't recommend that he may have made a change to help you that may be then overridden and make lefts worse.

If you were fit or get good numbers with old loft, you could be costing yourself distance to fix a "look". You can also try the upright setting on driver sometimes that helps people also with out changing loft. But depends on where you have your loft set to begin with. Standard loft setting should be able to be standard with upright.

[harpua728]

I currently play the M5 driver and was fit into the 9 degree head, adjusted down to 7 degrees. I have a very high angle of attack, unfortunately due to hanging back and flipping. During the fitting I was hitting it fine at 7 degrees, but a lot of that I think had to do with being in a groove during the fitting and doing nothing other than hitting drive after drive. In "real life", I found that some drives were falling out of the air with a 7 degree head, and I didn't like how open the face was when adjusted down to 7 degrees. I put it back to the normal loft after that.

[crapula]

Hands forward with driver? Sounds wrong. It's okay if they are slightly forward, like an inch. I think most have the hands even with the driver head or even slightly behind.

 

[harpua728]

I think “forward” is a relative term. If you play the ball off your lead heel, and the shaft and hands are in line with the ball, then your hands appear/feel forward when looking down at the ball (since your Head is behind the ball).

[crapula]

Relative to club head. I must see different than you. Ball more left and hands even with the ball look a little behind the ball.