Right hand coming partly off club

[atlanta golfer]

How big a flaw is this?

Sometimes on backswing and often on follow through, my right hand is coming partly off the club. The fingers are staying in place - the part that is shifting a bit is the where the right palm rests on top of the left thumb. A more accurate way to put it is that my hands are coming apart

Instructors have commented that my grip itself looks excellent, and my gloves are lasting longer than ever so apparently not much movement there.

I find that I can prevent this from happening by just concentrating on it, but then the wrist set at the top of the backswing, and the full follow through after impact, just do not feel very free and loose.

My grip is definitely very nicely together at impact.

How common is this, and is it a big problem? I wonder if this is caused by lack of flexibility?

Thanks for any perspective.

AG

[Dariusz J.]

AG, I bet your left arm is nicely straight and left wrist is flat at the top, yes ?

 

I had noticed the same thing since I mastered my grip after a lot of changes during last several months. I obtained a perfect grip - my right wrist hinges while my left cocks. I have sacrificed some time to deepen this problem and come to a conclusion that the main cause is that your right wrist can hinge a bit more than your left can **** in the same plane when my left arm is nicely straight at the top.

IMHO, you (and me, too) have four options if we do not want the disconnection in this important pressure point at the top:

 

1) to work on left wrist flexibility;

 

2) to cup left wrist a bit at the top (a'la late Hogan);

 

3) not to let the left arm straighten fully at the top;

 

4) to change grip a bit in the way that will let the right wrist work more in "cocking" direction, i.e. to weaken left hand grip (or strenghten right hand grip) in relation to the other hand.

 

I will look forward on other answers to your question with anxiety. Thanks for asking this question.

 

 

Cheers

[atlanta golfer]

The other contributing factor on the backswing for me, is that I have a one plane swing which encourages a bit of a flying right elbow. So as the right elbow slides out and behind, the right palm wants to rotate or slide a bit counterclockwise to the left thumb. If I don't allow this to occur, it feels like I'm not completing my backswing.

 

The things is, as I start the downswing, my hands come nicely back together before impact and the ball goes pretty straight or with a slight draw.

 

But I'm thinking that this can't be a desirable habit.

[Skaffa77]

I have the same or similar problem at the top of my backswing. At the top of my backswing, my right palm will detach itself from the left thumb. Ironically, the fingers will stay connected and everything else looks great. I never noticed until I really started analyzing my swing in a mirror (uh-oh - paralysis of analysis). :wub:

 

I too can keep them connected if I concentrate on keeping the thumb portion of my palm (right hand) pressed against the left-hand thumb. Problem is that it doesn't feel comfortable/natural and I have no conclusive proof that it's bad or resulting in poor shots. Practice sessions have not shown any level of improvement and I've not seen any material that has concentrated on that topic.

 

At this point, I've decided not to worry about it unless I find some instruction that tells me otherwise or start to have poor shots as result of this loose right palm.

[LONG&STR8]

I have had this problem before and I believe it does lead to inconsistent ball contact. My fix was also a bit more pressure on my left thumb with the pad of my right hand below my thumb AND a bit more pressure with my right pinky finger on my left index finger. It takes a bit of work but eventually like everything else, it becomes 2nd nature. The next couple of days/weeks, let that be your only swing thought.

[LONG&STR8]

It's true (about the picture of Vijay with his right hand almost off the club that was deleted) and I was going to mention Vijay as an example but non of us are Vijay and they've said that this is one of the reasons he has to practice so much to keep his swing from coming apart and not many of us have that luxury.

[ezra76]

Mine does this as well but it's because I've got a broken bone in my right wrist. It's only at about 15% mobility. I basically hit a 3 finger shot with every shot. No big deal to me and not an excuse. I've conquered all of the #1 cap holes with a birdie at the toughest courses in my area, the ability is there somewhere.

[Swingtheclub]

Ok in my humble opinion

 

If you grip the club to loose you grab it or tighten your grip sometime in the swing

 

If youg grip the club too tight you let it go during the swing

 

 

Grip pressure should be like holding something like a small animal that you do not wish to hurt.

 

 

 

Work on lightning your grip pressure and your problem will disappear.

[spider]

I dunno about the follow through I never seemed to have that problem .... for the top of the back swing I just thickened my grip with tape for the right hand. I don't have to squeeze too tight with the thumb pad of my right hand on top of the left thumb and shaft anymore to keep it connected.

 

Try this... grab your club with left hand kinda hanging off so your left thumb is in the thicker butt part of the club... put your right hand on it then swing to the top of the back swing. relax the right hand and see if you still have that gap. I know it changed for me.

 

I do not have large hands but my fingers are not short like a Jack Nicklaus. :wub:

[Blues Golfer]

On the back swing, it's not an issue unless you are actually regripping the club at the top. Without knowing exactly how you swing, it's likely that it doesn't mean anything.

 

On the follow through, I have no idea.

[Dariusz J.]

Ok in my humble opinion

 

If you grip the club to loose you grab it or tighten your grip sometime in the swing

 

If youg grip the club too tight you let it go during the swing

 

 

Grip pressure should be like holding something like a small animal that you do not wish to hurt.

 

 

 

Work on lightning your grip pressure and your problem will disappear.

 

 

This is a very valid point, too. I agree 100%, Ken.

[martynbirch]

[quote name='atlanta golfer' timestamp='1204925418' post='955612']
Sometimes on backswing and often on follow through, my right hand is coming partly off the club. The fingers are staying in place - the part that is shifting a bit is the where the right palm rests on top of the left thumb. A more accurate way to put it is that my hands are coming apart

Instructors have commented that my grip itself looks excellent, and my gloves are lasting longer than ever so apparently not much movement there.

I find that I can prevent this from happening by just concentrating on it, but then the wrist set at the top of the backswing, and the full follow through after impact, just do not feel very free and loose.

My grip is definitely very nicely together at impact.

How common is this, and is it a big problem? I wonder if this is caused by lack of flexibility?

Thanks for any perspective.

AG
[/quote]


An old thread I know but this plagues me and is my main focus at the moment. I can do a pseudo back swing with virtually no hip turn by allowing my right life line to lift away from my left thumb (pressure point 1 I think?). I then of course reconnect at some point and bring in a heap of inconsistency as well as an out to in path due to little hip/shoulder turn this strikes usually at the end of a range session.

If I really focus on keeping the contact between right palm lifeline and left thumb the strain to turn and effort needed is significantly more, left arm stays much closer rotating up the chest and the only way to get the club up and round is a good hip & shoulder turn rather than letting it flop due to an open grip.

[martynbirch]

Still struggling with this 5 1/2 years on ???? d/s then b/s no wonder I flip with a 2 way miss! ☹️

 

[Jmako221b]

I have had this problem for at least 10 years. I’m thinking now it’s a combination of my lack of wrist flexibility and maybe the grip size. I small fat fingers which could be the culprit. I do find when I really concentrate on keeping pressure on my left thumb with my right palm it’s slows everything down and keeps me connected. I just haven’t committed to practicing everyday to make the change not can I concentrate for that long. Keeping your hands on the club definitely improves ball striking, there’s no doubt.

[thejazzmarauder]

The club moving around in your hands during the swing is definitely a sign of other issues. If you have good hand-eye coordination and an athletic move, you can make it work, but it's far from optimal. I don't think you'll find very many good players whose grips are changing during the swing.

[CaddiesFault]

Vijay Singh basically had his right hand off the club at impact

[Glenn Burns]

I have the same issue at impact and the follow through. I like the suggestions but I am also working on keeping my right elbow in front of my body and staying in my posture before impact. This seems to keep my right palm to the right of the ball at impact for greater compression or in other words stronger so it stays connected to the left thumb pad as it was at address. Anyone else agree? 

[Robertsutherland]

Certainly don’t know if this is going to work as topic is ancient history on your forum (if it still exists) but I’m super interested in discussing the “right palm separation from left thumb” action noted here in 2008. I trolled the web for such info but WRX was the only place I could find mention of it

[Robertsutherland]

Feel a bit of a goose replying to myself but wondering if this isn’t a ghost forum. What I wanted to say in reply to Atlanta Golfer back in ‘08 was that if you have flexibility issues the right palm separation from left thumb is ANYTHING BUT a fault or handicap. I’ve always been about as flexible as a half brick and in my old (nah, advanced) age a ton of push down left hand leverage means I’m barely hanging on at the top with the fingernails of my right. Never have I hit it better despite left arm bracing resulting in lack of shoulder turn. Thinking of buying a piece of equipment that I’ve never considered before … a right hand

[skraly]

I don’t know. This guy did okay-

[TheDeanAbides]

4 hours ago, skraly said:

I don’t know. This guy did okay-

Phil too.

[brick101]

I have been improving this by increasing the pressure of my right pinky finger of my interlocking grip.  

 

Feels awesome to be connected more fully without slippage.

 

(Note: I'm RH)

[Maine Golfer]

When this sneaks into my swing and it does, I think about feeling the toe of my club the whole swing from my right index and thumb. 

[TedKnight]

Hand connected to shoulder, shoulder connected to hip which is connected to foot……..Plus your BS probably needs work and you have no plan……..That covers all bases…..good luck.

 

YMMV.

 

TK

[Robertsutherland]

Wow. The thread still exists … thanks for VJS pic … his right hand at impact looks as mine feels at the top (it reverts very much back the address position at the bottom). Thought I’d give it a go at my monthly social Ambrose yesterday and was a bit dubious ‘cos it was held on a par 3 course and didn’t think there would be any value using a half swing nine iron. Worked like a charm and our group got the bikkies. 
*Reading earlier post please forgot to put “glove” as last word