Getting proper right arm full extension

[Bocaji]

New golfer, trying to get rid of bad muscle memory from lifting arms in back swing and allow full extension in right arm post impact.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Bocaji
Trying to make it readable

[wagolfer7]

It's great that you are reading up a bunch and gaining knowledge about the golf swing.  However - be careful getting too far ahead of yourself.  

 

Your grip is going to make it very very hard to make a good consistent strike.  And is one of the contributors to your bent right arm at impact.  However - I wouldn't worry about your right arm at the moment.  

 

It's boring advice.  But you need to have a solid grip, before moving on to anything else.  Here's some videos on proper golf grips.  Your current grip is not within any acceptable range of good golfers.  It's so strong, that it's causing you to do extra things to try and square the club at impact.  

 

Watch these videos and change your grip.  Then stick with it.  Changing your grip is major.  It will affect the results of your current swing by a lot.  So hit balls with a "good golf grip" for awhile.  It's going to feel really awkward and you'll do things you haven't before.   

 

Also on a side note - that current grip will cause you to "flip" the club when chipping as well.  The palm up on the right hand - makes the left wrist have to break.  

 

 

 

 

Also here is your grip vs a proper grip.  Your right hand is so far underneath the club and your left hand is way too far over, that it's going to cause some serious issues and not let the club properly hinge and release in your swing.  

 

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by wagolfer7

[highpro]

If your right arm straightened more you’d drive the ball into your left ankle. Fix your grip.  
 

Then put the range basket just outside your right foot at address and swing and don’t touch it. Your not actually getting far enough left. Or tall enough in the finish. 

[Bocaji]

My grip is the last thing I want to change right now, sorry! I appreciate your advice but until I rule out all other possibilities then I will keep my current grip. I do feel like noting I was getting closer to a full extension with my idea “no arm lift swing”.

I don’t particularly mind if I have to make some compensations, I really like hitting draws and my current grip makes that really easy for me. Shawn Clement and Steve Johnson both agree with me. To me it feels like I’m just swinging a hammer but on a different plane. 

[Bocaji]

I’ll play with it. despite what I say, I’m hitting it much better than even just a couple of weeks ago. It’s just a matter of time, if I’m not making steady progress I’ll absolutely take another look at my grip. I’ve had this problem since before the grip change anyway. 
for reference when I first started I was hitting p wedge 80 yards.. hitting 110-120 now. Still not what I want but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made

Edited January 26, 2021 by Bocaji

[betarhoalphadelta]

Well, don't take our word for it... Here's Padraig Harrington on the importance of the grip...

 

He pretty well lays it out in the first minute or so... If you have an unorthodox grip, nothing that you see regarding online swing tips or in magazines / etc will apply to you. So you're pretty much on your own at that point.

 

 

[Bocaji]

16 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Well, don't take our word for it... Here's Padraig Harrington on the importance of the grip...

 

He pretty well lays it out in the first minute or so... If you have an unorthodox grip, nothing that you see regarding online swing tips or in magazines / etc will apply to you. So you're pretty much on your own at that point.

 

 

He seems like a real swell guy

[Bocaji]

Ok, so just an update, I tried a different grip with a strong left and weak right and got the same results.. lack of extension but then it dawned on me. My first lesson, the local pro told me to relax my right arm. I realized I haven’t been doing that, I tried it and immediately felt pretty good, I mean I was shanking the ball but I felt much more flowing. How important is it keeping a slack right arm for your golf swing? I feel like I have to exaggerate it to feel. Feels weird. Not sure if it’s right.

 

edit: also I ran into her on the range ( not literally) and I asked her about my right arm extension and she told me I need to extend my legs more at impact to allow ‘room’ for my right arm to extend.. does this make sense?

Edited January 28, 2021 by Bocaji

[Bocaji]

On 1/25/2021 at 11:33 PM, highpro said:

If your right arm straightened more you’d drive the ball into your left ankle. Fix your grip.  
 

Then put the range basket just outside your right foot at address and swing and don’t touch it. Your not actually getting far enough left. Or tall enough in the finish. 

Do you mean I should be pushing up more from both legs? That’s what my local pro told me today regarding right arm extension. ‘Getting left’ is that slide and is the basket to help stop my sway?

[highpro]

Putting a range basket outside of your right heel would be an external cue to work your legs better.  It’s meant to get you to bank in your foot before your heel comes up.  You need to feel the entire outside of your right foot (front to back from heel to toe) off of the ground. Your pelvis needs to be more forward and when you’re done with your swing your left leg needs to be fully extended with all of your weight on it. Your recent video is better but keep working on it. 
 

And you really do need to change your grip. 

[Bocaji]

Pelvis needs to be more forward than in my recent video? Not sure how to do that or what that accomplishes exactly. As far as sequencing goes, how was it? I normally feel like my lower body gets way ahead of me end I end up with way open hips. 
 

I intend to change my grip, I tried it yesterday in fact but in the video, I didn’t even realize I changed back to my old grip so I think it’s gonna take some time

[Bocaji]

Confused as to how my grip has much to do with getting right arm extension. No one has explained. Correct me if I’m wrong but i should be able to extend my arm regardless of my grip, right? I have had this weird release pattern (or lack thereof) since playing golf!! Really trying to fix it! I only switched to this strong right hand grip since getting new clubs that have wider grips, just how I felt comfortable gripping them, that’s all! I’ve posted a DTL video, hopefully you can see why I’m not happy with my follow through. My instructor wants my hands to be parallel with my shoulders but my hands won’t let that happen. 

[wagolfer7]

1 hour ago, Bocaji said:

Confused as to how my grip has much to do with getting right arm extension. No one has explained. Correct me if I’m wrong but i should be able to extend my arm regardless of my grip, right? I have had this weird release pattern (or lack thereof) since playing golf!! Really trying to fix it! I only switched to this strong right hand grip since getting new clubs that have wider grips, just how I felt comfortable gripping them, that’s all! I’ve posted a DTL video, hopefully you can see why I’m not happy with my follow through. My instructor wants my hands to be parallel with my shoulders but my hands won’t let that happen. 

 

If your right arm extended with your current grip - the clubface would be massively closed.  To avoid this - you are having to basically hold off the club from turning over - or pretty much the opposite of releasing the club - Thus you have a bent right arm and not an extended one.  Again if you did extend - you'd either d@mn near hit yourself with a horrible duck hook - or you'd miss the ball because the clubface would be pointed at you and not the target.  

 

You want the club to be able to turn over and extend your arms.  The club is built to open and close.  The way you are holding it - you can literally just squeeze the grip and you'll see the club face close.  That's not good and why your grip is not good.  

 

If you actually watch some of those grip videos posted for you.....you might learn something useful.  

[Bocaji]

1 hour ago, wagolfer7 said:

 

If your right arm extended with your current grip - the clubface would be massively closed.  To avoid this - you are having to basically hold off the club from turning over - or pretty much the opposite of releasing the club - Thus you have a bent right arm and not an extended one.  Again if you did extend - you'd either d@mn near hit yourself with a horrible duck hook - or you'd miss the ball because the clubface would be pointed at you and not the target.  

 

You want the club to be able to turn over and extend your arms.  The club is built to open and close.  The way you are holding it - you can literally just squeeze the grip and you'll see the club face close.  That's not good and why your grip is not good.  

 

If you actually watch some of those grip videos posted for you.....you might learn something useful.  

Alright so I think that makes sense, I haven’t thought about it like that before, bent right arm as a compensation for lack of timing. honestly have been assuming that I’ve had this issue for a while but that may not be the case.
 

Found an older video where from my perspective I’m straightening my right arm but I don’t hit it good. Is this what I’m looking to do in my swing or is that still considered bent?

 

and yeah I watched the videos, I will be changing my grip. I’ve just been compensating for the last few months so it’s gonna be annoying to get used to a different set up

[Valtiel]

3 hours ago, wagolfer7 said:

 

If your right arm extended with your current grip - the clubface would be massively closed.  To avoid this - you are having to basically hold off the club from turning over - or pretty much the opposite of releasing the club - Thus you have a bent right arm and not an extended one.  Again if you did extend - you'd either d@mn near hit yourself with a horrible duck hook - or you'd miss the ball because the clubface would be pointed at you and not the target.  

 

You want the club to be able to turn over and extend your arms.  The club is built to open and close.  The way you are holding it - you can literally just squeeze the grip and you'll see the club face close.  That's not good and why your grip is not good.  

 

If you actually watch some of those grip videos posted for you.....you might learn something useful.  

I started to post the same thing about holding off the right arm due the overly strong right hand grip, but then I saw the OP say he had no interest in changing his grip and I deleted my reply, hah. 

@Bocaji wagolfer7 is absolutely right, if you attempted to extend, and thus release your right arm/hand, the ball has a chance of ending up behind you with how much the face would close. You're going to need to neutralize that sooner or later. 

[Bocaji]

6 hours ago, Valtiel said:

I started to post the same thing about holding off the right arm due the overly strong right hand grip, but then I saw the OP say he had no interest in changing his grip and I deleted my reply, hah. 

@Bocaji wagolfer7 is absolutely right, if you attempted to extend, and thus release your right arm/hand, the ball has a chance of ending up behind you with how much the face would close. You're going to need to neutralize that sooner or later. 

I intend to. Was looking over some older videos from a month ago and noticed I didn’t have this compensation. I was hooking everything then and thus, without realizing it, I’ve developed this compensation to get it on target. It looks like I had a strong right hand grip then as well.. whoops. So yeah, I’m gonna change my grip. And hopefully, it won’t be a chore getting more back to normal. After all, it’s only been a month. Any ideas how I should change my muscle memory? When I go up to the ball it’s just a natural impulse to bend my arm even when I try to ‘release’ it.

[Valtiel]

4 minutes ago, Bocaji said:

I intend to. Was looking over some older videos from a month ago and noticed I didn’t have this compensation. I was hooking everything then and thus, without realizing it, I’ve developed this compensation to get it on target. It looks like I had a strong right hand grip then as well.. whoops. So yeah, I’m gonna change my grip. And hopefully, it won’t be a chore getting more back to normal. After all, it’s only been a month. Any ideas how I should change my muscle memory? When I go up to the ball it’s just a natural impulse to bend my arm even when I try to ‘release’ it.

That makes sense, and that is good you've figured all that out. 

The best thing you can do is work slowly at it. Little half shots first for the majority of a typical range session, then work up to 3/4 etc etc. slow down if it starts getting out of control. 

You likely adopted that overly strong grip somewhere along the line as a compensation for a swing fault you may no longer have, or it could just be a mental thing. The most common reason I have seen is as a bandaid for excess club rotation and/or an over the top move, neither of which you have though. Basically an anti-slice compensation. Regardless, it is not necessary since you are making a massive compensation to avoid releasing your right arm, so an overly strong grip is serving no purpose. You do have a pretty good hip turn in the downswing with your hips getting nice and open at impact, and that can be a candidate for a more DJ/Duval style strong grip with "hold off" release, but your grip would still need to change significantly to even get to that point. If on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the weakest, 10 being the strongest, and 5 being neutral, someone like DJ is like a 7-8:



...and you're about a 16:

[Bocaji]

20 minutes ago, Valtiel said:

That makes sense, and that is good you've figured all that out. 

The best thing you can do is work slowly at it. Little half shots first for the majority of a typical range session, then work up to 3/4 etc etc. slow down if it starts getting out of control. 

You likely adopted that overly strong grip somewhere along the line as a compensation for a swing fault you may no longer have, or it could just be a mental thing. The most common reason I have seen is as a bandaid for excess club rotation and/or an over the top move, neither of which you have though. Basically an anti-slice compensation. Regardless, it is not necessary since you are making a massive compensation to avoid releasing your right arm, so an overly strong grip is serving no purpose. You do have a pretty good hip turn in the downswing with your hips getting nice and open at impact, and that can be a candidate for a more DJ/Duval style strong grip with "hold off" release, but your grip would still need to change significantly to even get to that point. If on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the weakest, 10 being the strongest, and 5 being neutral, someone like DJ is like a 7-8:



...and you're about a 16:

Cool, I’ll weaken my right hand grip and start working some half swings and work my way up, thanks!

Half swing, basically an L to L is fine, right?

[Valtiel]

3 minutes ago, Bocaji said:

Cool, I’ll weaken my right hand grip and start working some half swings and work my way up, thanks!

Half swing, basically an L to L is fine, right?

Yeah that is a fine place to start. It is just a feel thing and retraining your instincts, so if starts feeling good then by all means hit fuller shots, the idea is to not get too discouraged with trying to jump straight into a change full speed. 

[Bocaji]

10 minutes ago, Valtiel said:

Yeah that is a fine place to start. It is just a feel thing and retraining your instincts, so if starts feeling good then by all means hit fuller shots, the idea is to not get too discouraged with trying to jump straight into a change full speed. 

For sure, that’s usually what happens, I go straight to full speed and go straight back to my compensation. I appreciate your help, and everyone else’s. I was a bit dogged at first because I didn’t realize my RT arm bend/“holding off release” was a compensation for my hook.

[Bocaji]

It’s really hard to get out there, here in VB, with temps being in the low 30s and raining constantly but alas, it stopped raining for a couple days and I made it out there today (finally). 
About a month into the grip change, a few sessions at Top Golf and one today on the range, still not quite sure where I’m headed. 
it’s really hard to adjust from hooking a ball to slicing consistently.

I think I made some headway today. Getting used to a slight fade when I can muster it. To try fix my new slice (starting right, spinning right), I tried to hook it again or get the feel of starting it left. So once I did that, I tried starting it left again but getting it to curve right and that seemed to work. I didn’t get any swings with my 6 iron (phone died) but here’s one when an 8 iron: