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Tips to incorporate hand placement under chin at address? Novice golfer


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There are a lot of new developments for my swing that have occurred in the past few weeks that I'm really excited about so I will quickly outline those...if you want to get right to the core of my question, skip down to the last sentence.

 

Recently, there are three main things I have been very conscious of during my swing that are making a huge difference (I have been around a +30 handicap since I started playing about 2 years ago):

 

#1: Shallowing the club on the downswing. This feels SO GOOD because I now feel like I know what people mean when they say they're getting the club "in the slot."

 

#2: Bowing my wrist. I notice that when I do #1 and #3 but don't incorporate this one, I will push the ball every. single. time. Of the three, this is the one that I have to be the most conscious of in order to ensure it happens each time.

 

#3: Shifting weight. I do this to some degree automatically, but if I don't completely commit to the transfer, all kinds of things go wrong.

 

With all of these as my focus for improvement, I went to the range today. After a few dozen balls with my PW, I remembered something I wanted to check the next time I was swinging; my hand position at address relative to my chin. I started placing my chin directly above my hands...and the first thing I noticed was that with my backswing arc my hands were starting to "feel low"...almost like the club was stuck in the mud and I was dragging it out and behind me on the backswing. Combining this feeling with the shallowing of the club, I noticed that I was now making contact with the ball in the middle of the clubface, as opposed to before, when my hands were sitting out in front of my chin, and my  contact point was more towards the heel.

 

With my hands changing placement, I start moving up to 9 iron - same feeling and same results more or less. Still pushing and slicing here and there because of errant combinations of 1 2 and 3 above...but wow! I move to my 8 iron - and I hit a brick wall. The feeling of having my hands under your chin while swinging any club longer than a 9 iron was so confusing...I was topping it, chunking it, shanking...it was a mess.

 

I don't mean to brag because I'm not a great  golfer but I'm beginning to hit PW 120 yards plus. I'm in my early 30s and have always been pretty athletic so when things really come together on my swing I can often make the ball go. But as soon as I move up to about a 7-8 iron, it all falls apart for me. Don't even get me started on my hybrids...Does anyone have any tips for getting the benefits of hand position as I move up clubs? Thanks in advance!!

 

 

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2 hours ago, DriverDan1150 said:

There are a lot of new developments for my swing that have occurred in the past few weeks that I'm really excited about so I will quickly outline those...if you want to get right to the core of my question, skip down to the last sentence.

 

Recently, there are three main things I have been very conscious of during my swing that are making a huge difference (I have been around a +30 handicap since I started playing about 2 years ago):

 

#1: Shallowing the club on the downswing. This feels SO GOOD because I now feel like I know what people mean when they say they're getting the club "in the slot."

 

#2: Bowing my wrist. I notice that when I do #1 and #3 but don't incorporate this one, I will push the ball every. single. time. Of the three, this is the one that I have to be the most conscious of in order to ensure it happens each time.

 

#3: Shifting weight. I do this to some degree automatically, but if I don't completely commit to the transfer, all kinds of things go wrong.

 

With all of these as my focus for improvement, I went to the range today. After a few dozen balls with my PW, I remembered something I wanted to check the next time I was swinging; my hand position at address relative to my chin. I started placing my chin directly above my hands...and the first thing I noticed was that with my backswing arc my hands were starting to "feel low"...almost like the club was stuck in the mud and I was dragging it out and behind me on the backswing. Combining this feeling with the shallowing of the club, I noticed that I was now making contact with the ball in the middle of the clubface, as opposed to before, when my hands were sitting out in front of my chin, and my  contact point was more towards the heel.

 

With my hands changing placement, I start moving up to 9 iron - same feeling and same results more or less. Still pushing and slicing here and there because of errant combinations of 1 2 and 3 above...but wow! I move to my 8 iron - and I hit a brick wall. The feeling of having my hands under your chin while swinging any club longer than a 9 iron was so confusing...I was topping it, chunking it, shanking...it was a mess.

 

I don't mean to brag because I'm not a great  golfer but I'm beginning to hit PW 120 yards plus. I'm in my early 30s and have always been pretty athletic so when things really come together on my swing I can often make the ball go. But as soon as I move up to about a 7-8 iron, it all falls apart for me. Don't even get me started on my hybrids...Does anyone have any tips for getting the benefits of hand position as I move up clubs? Thanks in advance!!

 

 

Easy way to measure how far your hands should be from the inside of your thigh, or your zipper, depending upon which you start from.  Go to address, take your right (trail) hand off the club, make a fist - that should be about how far the end of the club should be from zipper or left thigh.  For driver it can be up to two fists.

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Unseen, in the background, Fate was quietly slipping the lead into the boxing-glove.  P.G. Wodehouse
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I've always done the first from my zipper method as stated above, as well as making sure that if I take my hands off the club, with arms relaxed, they hang naturally.

 

Congrats on your progress.  Its good to be obsessed with the boring things first.  Grip, setup, the takeaway.  Set yourself up for success. 

 

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I was at a 13 cap level and an everything must come together and could have great results types - still some of that, not as much, but had an eye opener a couple months ago about what happens if I start “reverting” - simple response - OP you need lessons - no reason you can’t get well below a 30 cap but it ain’t happening the way you are describing your process. 

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This is one of those things where anybody would be able to tell if it looks right or wrong, or passing the "eye test". The ideal hand placement and distance from the ball is somewhere between Jim Furyk's hands touching thighs setup and Moe Norman's arms straight out setup. It's different for everyone but there is a certain look that just looks right.

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7 hours ago, Hawkeye77 said:

I was at a 13 cap level and an everything must come together and could have great results types - still some of that, not as much, but had an eye opener a couple months ago about what happens if I start “reverting” - simple response - OP you need lessons - no reason you can’t get well below a 30 cap but it ain’t happening the way you are describing your process. 


+1.  Most of us have done that process.  It can be a draining one.  I typically revert to my tendency of inside takeaway and then everything goes to hell from there.

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