Help with 'loose' feeling in backswing.

[ChopCityzZ]

Hey guys - Hoping someone here can shed some light on this new issue im having. The strange thing, is that it just started, out of nowhere.

 

I grip the club (as i always have), with 2 or 2.5 knuckles showing on my left hand, the meaty part of my heel pad of my hand going on top of the club. I'm holding the club in my fingers. Then I bring my right hand on the club, with my left thumb going into the 'valley' of my right hand.

 

When i start my backswing, everything feels good, until i pass waist high. At the top of my swing, it feels like nothing is supporting it. Almost like it feels wobbly. Because of this, i know have no idea where the club face is, and it feels like i just "throw" the club at the ball, and hope for the best. Normally, what used to happen, is that my hands/arms/the club, would feel like 1 solid piece. Now, it feels like the club may as well be on Mars, because i have no idea where is it.

I'm sure its a grip problem of some kind, but i have spent countless hours trying to fix it, and i just cant find what the issue could be.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[mgoblue83]

Couple things:

If you gain club head speed you will need to start gripping the club "harder" than before. It doesn't mean a death grip with stiff wrists and forearms but in general grip pressure increases with speed. Practice gripping the club firmer while keeping your wrists and arms relaxed.

You can also try a larger grip on one of your clubs to see if it helps the problem. It wouldn't explain the sudden change but it could definitely help.

[ChopCityzZ]

 

Its funny you say that, because i actually thought my issue was the opposite. My first thought was that i need smaller grips.

I saw a couple videos that said your middle finger and ring finger on your left hand should JUST be touching the grip, when holding the club. With mine, they are not. Maybe thats why?

 

Also - this happens for every single club, except putter, obviously.

For example, If i decide to use my PW to do a chip shot, im fine, because im just taking the club back slightly. But when im doing anything over a 25% swing, its like my grip goes haywire, and i have no idea where the clubhead is.

[ChopCityzZ]

 

 

I honestly feel like its some small change that im doing, that im not aware of.

Would you happen to have an interlocking grip? Im asking because, id like to know if your left index finger touches the club at all? Mine doesnt, but now i cant tell/remember if i have always done that or not. Maybe thats whats throwing off the stability of the club?

[mgoblue83]

When people say to grip it loose to generate more speed they are actually talking about keeping their wrists, arms, and body loose. You really need a firm grip to keep connected to the club, feel the face, and avoid slight slipping or rotating of the grip that cause mishits.

[mgoblue83]

Everyone grips the club differently and of course with an interlocking grip the left index finger is off the club but whatever fingers you do have on the club need to be secure. They have done studies with PGA players and across the board they all have incredible grip and forearm strength in order to stabilize the club at the speeds they swing. Again, they aren't clamping down with stiff wrists but you can bet the club isn't moving in their hands during the swing.

[glk]

1)is your left thumb flat on the grip

2) is. Your left thumb too long - allows for much more wrist hinge/freedom of movement

3) are you applying press from your right thumb pad onTo your left. Alternatively you can do a very light wringing of the club like you are wringing out a towel - serves well to couple the hands.

[ChopCityzZ]

 

I completely agree, i only used the word 'loose' to explain the feeling. I am most definitely holding the club fairly tightly. I'd say 6/10 grip pressure.

 

Another way i can think of to describe my issue, is that, it almost feels like i have nothing supporting the back of the club. When i first start the swing, i feel the most pressure, in the heel pad of my left hand, but after my club head goes higher than my knees, it feels like the club has nothing to rest against.

 

Its such a bizarre feeling. I wish i could explain it better.

[ChopCityzZ]

My left thumb is sightly to the right of the grip, and my right thumb is slightly to the left of the grip.No - Its roughly in the middle of having a long thumb, and short thumb on the club. I believe that it is in good position.Can you expand on this little bit? Are you asking if im applying pressure from my right thumb pad, to my left thumb? If that's what you are saying, then yes, i am doing that.Just to expand a little - Lets say i am doing a 50 yard bump and run with my PW. I can do this, no problem. The reason, is because i do not need to take the club back very far. Once i start to raise the club, thats when everything goes to hell, and it feels like nothing is supporting the back of the club.

[mgoblue83]

A lot of the work in transition is done by the right hand as it's underneath the club at the top of your swing and applies a lot of the force needed to extend your arms through impact.

[ChopCityzZ]

Doesnt transition mean from the top of your backswing, to contact? I can feel this issue immediately in the back swing, before i even get to the very top of my swing.

Let me ask you this, when you swing back, is the club resting against your fingers, or the crease, where the bottom of your fingers meets your palm?

[mgoblue83]

Your question is way too specific and the answer is different player to player. As long as you are applying constant pressure to keep the club secure and you have a smooth back swing you shouldn't lose feel of the head. If you are jerking it back at the start and making the club "weightless" on it's way up then I could see this being an issue but clearly grip isn't the issue in that case.

[ChopCityzZ]

Correct, i am deff not jerking it back or anything to that extent. I bring it back in a nice slow manner. I feel like this should be to hard to solve, because i can even tell where i feel the loss of support - its from the front of the club. Im exaggerating, but it feels like the club head is going to come down and hit me on the head. So its like i have no support, on the side closest to me on my club. even though it should be resting on the heel pad of my left hand, correct?

[tdeutmeyer]

If you play right handed, it sounds like you don't have enough right wrist bend at the top of the swing? Maybe read the "twist or throw" posts by Nail it.

[Badgolfer85]

Have you fixed it yet? I'm having this exact same stupid problem at the moment...been struggling with it for weeks and no one I golf with seems to think it's a serious issue nor do they know what I'm talking about it.

It seemed to come out of nowhere...literally...like I had a brain malfunction one moment and all of a sudden my backswing is nonconsistent, club feels/seems to get loose at the top of the backswing, i no longer have an idea where the clubhead is facing, and compensating means OTT and bad hooks if I even hit it in the air.

 

I was a decent golfer until this happened and I'm so irritated because I was close to the break 90s range this whole year.  Now I'm back to shooting 110s?🤬🤬🤬

 

I did a little better today but I still had the issue especially on my drives.  One thing I did and it seemed to work sometimes was to not even think of a full swing and just leave it at 50-75%.  Also I had to open the clubface at address because keeping it closed meant over the top.  But I feel like the issue lies within my thumbs.....theres something wrong there that's giving me an unstable feeling with the golf club.

[KMeloney]

The OP's and Badgolfer85's issue sounds to me like it could be due to a really late wrist set/float-loading the club at the top. If you take the club back with very little wrist set, then adding it late/in transition with supple wrists can really feel loose/sloppy/out-of-control if you're not planning for it.

[uscheese]

I've had a lot of similar problems and set my wrists very late which has also led to a regripping at the top of the swing and completely losing control of the club head in my swing.  Last week I focused 100% on gripping harder between my left pinky and my left palm pad (I'm a righty) almost to the point where it feels like an 8 out of 10 or so.  Played yesterday after a few range sessions with this feel and it was night and day for me.  I shot my lowest ever 9 and probably would have broken 80 for the first time if not for a very very bad 2 holes on the back which led to a couple of lost balls.  Had more distance, more control, and way way way more confidence.  The rest of my grip was still pretty loose but that left pinky/palm pad was very tight.  Give it a try.

[Zitlow]

Use an early hand set. 

[Badgolfer85]

Cheese.  Is your left thumb longer or shorter? Also how has your game been since you made that change? Was it the actual issue?

 

I'm going to try this. I get so much pre-shot swing thoughts that i think it just ruins me. I never gripped it hard because everyone says not to but I feel like this could be the fix or atleast close to it.  Ik going to try it this week

[uscheese]

This was a short term fix for me it hasn't really helped aside from that one round.  I do tend to lose control at the top of the swing and my transition is terrible.  I'm now trying to slow down the transition rather than the pinky grip thought that seemed like a cure 😞

[Soloman1]

This thread must be confusing the heck out of the huge swath of people who didn't pay attention in 7th grade and think the verb lose is spelled loose.

[MrHateCoffee]

On 7/28/2020 at 5:01 PM, ChopCityzZ said:

 

 

I honestly feel like its some small change that im doing, that im not aware of.

 

 

On 7/5/2021 at 11:17 PM, Badgolfer85 said:

Have you fixed it yet? I'm having this exact same stupid problem at the moment...been struggling with it for weeks and no one I golf with seems to think it's a serious issue nor do they know what I'm talking about it.

 

Holy crap I've been having this same issue for months.  It's super hard to explain and feels like it came out of nowhere.

 

On 7/6/2021 at 12:09 PM, Zitlow said:

Use an early hand set. 

 

You mean wrist right?  This is the only solution but it's throwing me off because now I have to learn a new backswing when I didn't do this before.

[Zitlow]

Yes, whatever you do going back you have to undo coming down so you don't need to lift the shaft above the plane or twist the head around the shaft going back.

 

The hands and feet work together. 

 

 

 

[ferrispgm]

Could be over hinging the wrists in an effort to get the club “to the top”.  Make a swing that feels like no wrist set going back and video it and see how that looks/feels

[MonteScheinblum]

1 minute ago, ferrispgm said:

Could be over hinging the wrists in an effort to get the club “to the top”.  Make a swing that feels like no wrist set going back and video it and see how that looks/feels

Yes and too loose grip pressure.

[ferrispgm]

Just now, MonteScheinblum said:

Yes and too loose grip pressure.

But but hold it like a bird!!!! 😉

[MonteScheinblum]

16 minutes ago, ferrispgm said:

But but hold it like a bird!!!! 😉

Yep, like an eagle trying to get away from you😜

[GungHoGolf]

On 3/8/2024 at 10:40 AM, MonteScheinblum said:

Yep, like an eagle trying to get away from you😜

Or a turkey leg at Thanksgiving dinner in prison 😂

[dminn23]

Could be a takeaway issue?  I find that if I don’t keep the club outside of the hands, it gets behind me for the rest of the swing and it’s a game of timing and compensation to recover.  It can be deceptive to, because people think they have the club in a good 9 o’clock position, but it can be deceptive.

 

I wish I had the right words to describe this, so I may be doing a huge disservice to folks.  To me it feels like the club gets inside, the weight of the club head is now under the hands, under plane, and when I get to the top, it doesn’t just stop…it’s out of balance so it can get floppy.  Keeping the club outside my hands and letting it rotate up with the folding of the right arm, the arms and club stay in front of the chest…don’t get grossly deep, it’s not as laid off, so then it can swing down on plane and be thrown.  The flop is gone, and the support is there.  
 

Inside takeaway is something I’ve fought for YEARS.

 

*edited prior post.

Edited March 12 by dminn23