# Hands in the downswing - clubface too open too long



## washathi (Sep 10, 2015)

My pro has spotted that I keep the clubface quite open during my downswing, so that, late on, my hands have to do a lot of work to get the club in the right place at impact. He's encouraging me to start closing the club face earlier in the down swing.

Does anyone know of any good drills that could help me make this change? Thanks.


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## Dan2501 (Sep 10, 2015)

Did he not give you any drills to help?


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## washathi (Sep 10, 2015)

Dan2501 said:



			Did he not give you any drills to help?
		
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 His main focus....and it definitely helped....was to get me NOT to tense my wrists and forearms as much as I do at address.


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## Foxholer (Sep 10, 2015)

washathi said:



			His main focus....and it definitely helped....was to get me NOT to tense my wrists and forearms as much as I do at address.
		
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Strangely, after years of having a holding-off issue quite often, I've changed to relaxing the wrists more with excellent results. Probably based on my Hockey background, where the ball/stick relationship is much more weighted towards the ball! Still need solid wrists to extract from rough, but letting the club-head drive the normal swing works very well. So this old dog is happy to continue learning.

Btw. To reinforce this change, I do a few short practice swings with relaxed wrists before the real swing!


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## garyinderry (Sep 10, 2015)

Strengthen your grip.  Simple fix.


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## the_coach (Sep 10, 2015)

maybes you have but would first off make sure the grip & body alignments are sound at set-up

face open into impact often times due to the way the handle & club is being moved aways from the ball in the first foot of the takeback 
hands arms move away but also outwards the hands/wrists/forrearms then have to roll over some which opens the face a good ways so pretty open at the top with toe of clubhead hanging vertically even past vertical atop - a good ways difficult to get back to square from this as it too usually involves an overswing

you can still have open face into impact with a strong trail hand on the handle particularly if the left is a little ways opposite to that & weak - so palms instead of bring more parallel to each other are opposed

but assuming the hold on the handle's been checked out - if Pro did move it any just make sure that the grip hasn't just gone back to the usual comfortable hold 

Pro mentioned anything about grip at set-up or too active hand/wrist break & forearm roll action off the ball any or has there been a tendency to set-up with the shoulders open to target line, if so maybes that's not be addressed as it should be

am always a bit dubious of hands/forearms rolling over through impact advice 
as often times thinking of doing this through the ball creates an opposite & more pronounced hands handle out & roll over in that very first move off the ball so opening the face up anyways
& in rolling over through impact to fix, it's using a 'fault' to fix a fault which won't be a lasting help

hard to say without seeing what you doing 

but if you unsure would give your guy a call & say you still finding it a touch difficult could he give you some more thoughts on how to go during practice

the L to L drill pretty good ways to get the club face releasing good through impact, as forming the L both sides means the club so face has to be released good plus the shorter swing of the drill means no overswing so the arms & club don't get left behind some so face staying open that ways

- say 7i ball off low tee (so you don't stress about contact) back to lead arm horizontal arms connected with the pivot & set so the shaft & arm form 90Âº at lead arm horizontal start downswing from ground up (crucial you don't start down with hands/arms/shoulders & club - head stays behind the ball - swing through to right arm horizontal to ground with the shaft again at 90Âº - again crucial to make that 90Âº angle both sides of the swing with this drill


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## washathi (Sep 11, 2015)

Thank you - lots of useful info. wrt...



the_coach said:



			am always a bit dubious of hands/forearms rolling over through impact advice 
as often times thinking of doing this through the ball creates an opposite & more pronounced hands handle out & roll over in that very first move off the ball so opening the face up anyways
& in rolling over through impact to fix, it's using a 'fault' to fix a fault which won't be a lasting help
		
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...spot on, I can't master it by thinking about it. I will talk to the pro again. The loosening up of my wrists/forearms has made a real positive difference to my swing, not least because it feels more comfortable!


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## bobmac (Sep 11, 2015)

Try this.........
Make the first part of your back swing and stop when your arms are parallel to the ground. 
Where is the clubface pointing......straight ahead or slightly down towards the ground?


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