Hands in front of Club Head - Driver

[road2ruin]

I have been battling a strong fade/slice with my driver and through lessons we have identified the problem of my hands staying in front of the club head through impact. I think this goes back to my cricket days and my tendency to drive the golf ball.

Whilst my irons have improved no end my longer clubs are proving a nightmare. Does anyone have any tips or drills to help me practice keeping hands behind? Hope this makes sense!

 

[Region3]

I may be misunderstanding, but it reads to me like you (and your coach) want your hands behind the head at impact.

Am I reading that right?
With all clubs?

 

[road2ruin]

I may be misunderstanding, but it reads to me like you (and your coach) want your hands behind the head at impact.

Am I reading that right?
With all clubs?

Apologies, I may not have described it correctly but you are right! The issue seems far more pronounced with the driver that I don't release the club head until well after striking the ball so it's going well right!

 

[One Planer]

I've always thought that the hands were supposed to stay in front of the club head and never behind it?

Just taken a few stills of Mr Donald hitting a mid iron and a driver

Mid iron:

Driver:

Hands are still ahead through impact.

 

[Region3]

Apologies, I may not have described it correctly but you are right! The issue seems far more pronounced with the driver that I don't release the club head until well after striking the ball so it's going well right!

As Gareth said, you definitely don't want hands behind the club with an iron, and driver is borderline.

What IS important with the driver is keeping your head behind the ball. Lunge towards the target with your whole body then you're in trouble.

Slow-Mo videos of the world number 1 and 2 hitting driver. Heads back, hands NOT back.

[video=youtube;Byu4ImKN34I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byu4ImKN34I[/video]

 

[Region3]

[video=youtube;qZKoY8Tghaw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZKoY8Tghaw[/video]

 

[road2ruin]

Thanks for the replies!

I think I need to get a slow mo of my driver swing done but from the side a la Tiger above! The issue I have is that I find it hard to release the club head so the hands stay in front of the club and I'm finding that the club face is therefore left open at the point of impact.

In the vids/stills above the club face and hands are almost in line at the point of impact. I get the impression (from the pro) that my hands are about an inch in front of the club face at the point of impact and then hold the club face open in an attempt to 'drive' the ball i.e. back to cricket!

I have been working on getting a bigger swing arc as apparently my original one was too compact with the club swinging behind my back and that has been going ok. It's just this hands and release thing that I seem to have a mental block on!

 

[Region3]

Where are your hands at address in relation to the club head?

 

[road2ruin]

Where are your hands at address in relation to the club head?

The are just behind the ball.

I have just been for a thrash at the range and this video gives an idea of the hands and hopefully shows what I was trying to explain!

[video=youtube;TpDEr6Flzzk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpDEr6Flzzk&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[Region3]

Hands at impact look ok to my non-expert eyes.

Hard to tell from that view but it looks to me like you might be taking the club back behind you quite a bit.

 

[road2ruin]

Yeah sorry, hard trying to film whilst balancing a camera and getting a decent distance!

A flat swing is also an issue that I have been dealing with, it's been improving but I can slip back into old habits!

 

[CMAC]

looks pretty good to me- shaft flex is getting the clubhead up with your hands.

Have you considered your ball position for the driver....and checked it? an inch can make a big difference in Driver

 

[road2ruin]

looks pretty good to me- shaft flex is getting the clubhead up with your hands.

Have you considered your ball position for the driver....and checked it? an inch can make a big difference in Driver

Cheers DV....my usual ball position is just inside by left heel but I have been mucking around with having it further forward and more centrally just to see what happens. It appears I can slice a ball regardless!

 

[JustOne]

The are just behind the ball.

I have just been for a thrash at the range and this video gives an idea of the hands and hopefully shows what I was trying to explain!

[video=youtube;TpDEr6Flzzk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpDEr6Flzzk&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Made a pic for you..... I've drawn lines on to show you have nice spine tilt away from the target (shallows the path so you can get the ball airborne) and a beautiful straight line down from your left shoulder, left arm and thru club shaft (... it doesn't get any better than that!!)

http://s4.postimg.org/fcpo15msd/good.gif

 

[Birchy]

I recently had the problem of having the clubface open at impact and yours doesnt look like that to me.

 

[fundy]

Personally I would be focussing more on trying to reduce the wrist hinge on the back swing, this will make life far easier on the way back down to return the clubhead to square at impact. The extra wrist hinge means that the club is more open than you want hence you feel you have to "release" it more than you want to

 

[JustOne]

Personally I would be focussing more on trying to reduce the wrist hinge on the back swing, this will make life far easier on the way back down to return the clubhead to square at impact. The extra wrist hinge means that the club is more open than you want hence you feel you have to "release" it more than you want to

I don't agree... at p2 the club looks perfect. The problem is the collapsing of the right arm (folding of the elbow) that takes the club too close to the body at the top of the swing (over the right shoulder) and allows the club to over-swing. Right arm staying straighter at the top (basically more width) is the key.

 

[road2ruin]

Thanks for the comments (and JustOne, thanks for the pics).....it's strange as most seem to comment that I have a pretty decent swing however the results are just horrible! That said i'm having lessons so hoping we can crack it at some point!

Fundy, I think you are probably right on that, apparently I need a 'bigger arc' with my driver swing as, at the moment, I have a wrist hinge that seems to happen a bit quickly which drags the club around the back resulting in a flatter swing!

 

[road2ruin]

I don't agree... at p2 the club looks perfect. The problem is the collapsing of the right arm (folding of the elbow) that takes the club too close to the body at the top of the swing (over the right shoulder) and allows the club to over-swing. Right arm staying straighter at the top (basically more width) is the key.

I have also been told I need more height! The club needs to be more vertical.

 

[JustOne]

I have also been told I need more height! The club needs to be more vertical.

You're allowing your right hand to get too much 'under the club' on your backswing, and the back of your left hand points too much at the sky. As you hinge the club UP feel more like you have 'thumbs up' so that the club hinges up more on plane rather than 'around' and flat. Try and feel like you get more width my keeping your right arm straighter for longer. If it helps, even FEEL like you barely bend your right elbow at all. It doesn't matter if your club stops short of parallel (parallel at the top is a MYTH).


Here's a GM golfer, me in the middle, and Tiger on the right.

Club isn't parallel for me and Tiger and the right elbow is further away from the body..... we have wide arcs, the GM golfer is too squashed, over hinged, and subsequently a much smaller arc

(I could do with my hands just a little higher (like Tiger's)... I'm working on that!!!!)