My left hand is an alien! Help please.

[Alex1975]

My first pro that looking back was very good had me pull my club from the top of my back swing with my left hand. I don’t think he ever said why as I was a beginner and was more trying to make the swing than understand it. I remember him saying to me “when you are at the top of your back swing and are ready to start the down swing pull straight down with your left hand as if you were pulling on a bell cord” I remember doing it and it working well for me and since forgot all about it.

I then about nine months ago had a lesson with a pro who said to me “I only teach the left side of the body I consider anything on the right side a waste of time” I never took another lesson with him as I thought it was a crass thing to say(I am not so sure now).

In the last month I have talked to my Pro and a friend who helps me and I have shown them the calluses on my right hand at the bottom of my index finger and both have looked at me like I was mad and asked me how the hell I have them there when it should be doing nothing. I thought they were nuts, how could one or part of your hand not be doing anything when swinging a golf club. My pro moved my thumb on my right hand from the centre of the shaft to the left side (out of the way) and still I had not re-explored the left hand leading thing I want to ask you about. Fundy and I finally got to talking about it briefly last Thursday and I asked him, would you want me to lead with my left hand and he said he would rather that then the right hand.

On the range last night I tried hard to lead with my left hand on both my take away and my follow through and still the ball mostly faded. I stopped to have a think after a while and maybe revaluate and as my thoughts caught up with my I realised I had not had one shot leak right of my target all night. My last 5 shots were with my driver and they were my best 5 drives of the month, small fade, long and hard finishing directly on the target line.

And so to the question, should I be leading with my left hand? If I lead with my right hand it’s a slice! I feel leading with my left helps me coil and get to weight forward at impact, does it?

And as a side note am I gripping too tight? I have a callous on the left hand in the same spot as the one on the right hand.

Thanks for staying with it and any advice.

Al

 

[Aztecs27]

I get callouses on my left hand and right hand not on the fingers themselves but just below them. I have just changed my grip though, so I'll see if that stops them.

I realise this is of no help to you, sorry!

 

[fundy]

The main reason I said to favour the left hand was more what you were doing with the right hand was causing a large part of your problems in that the right hand was dragging the club far too much on the inside on the takeaway, making you then either have to try and reset the plane on the downswing (by casting) or be so far inside the ball that you would hit that destructive block fade that killed you on captains day (because in addition to the swingpath the clubface is open at impact)

Imo your focus needs to be on creating a decent swingpath that you can recreate on a consistent basis (and get a good feel for what that swingpath is). The fundamentals need to be right ie grip, posture, alignment and I think you have a fair chunk of work to do on those still (alignment, posture and distance from ball especially).

I was trying to help you to get the feel of taking it away with the left hand to stop your right wrist dictating and putting the club way too far on the inside and resulting in a way too flat swingplane. Ideally the hands want to be neutral and work together (rather than having one dominant hand) but at the moment the destructive part of your game is the right hand taking over and it was this i was trying to help you eradicate

 

[fundy]

Ps the callouses on the right hand I still dont get!!!!!

 

[Alex1975]

Ps the callouses on the right hand I still dont get!!!!!

I know exactly what you were doing, I tried to get you on MSN last night but you were afk. It has just taken me some time on my own to work through what we talked about both as a thought and as a swing. I guessed you/other commenter's would say that the hands would be neutral but up till now I have always lead hard with my right hand trying desperately to shut that club head but it may be that that is a problem.

I was hitting shots last night with my right hand just resting on the club to try the other extreme and it did feel credible but maybe a few fat shots. As soon as I dropped my guard and let the right hand have anything to do with the swing it was off to the right.

One thing that is for sure is I am a very right handed person, my left is just there to make me symmetrical .

All this feels positive... thanks for the little list of other things I have to work on...

 

[richy]

Interesting thread. I find that if I barely grip with my right hand I square the club face more and release better. I have also read and been told by a pro that the right hand should whip the clubhead through and almost throw it at the ball.

Very confusing

 

[Alex1975]

Very confusing

Ye that is, when I do that I get this ugly scooping thing going on and an early reliance.

 

[fundy]

All this feels positive... thanks for the little list of other things I have to work on...


Youre not happy unless you have loads to work on Seriously though, getting the posture right then getting a reliable swingpath has to be the way forward imo

 

[mackayhmfc]

Thats more a problem of swing path, when you throw the right hand at the shot you drag the club across the ball creating sidespin which ultimately ends up with the ball starting left and swerving right.

Think of "throwing" your right hand at the ball in a different way, imagine how a tennis player hits a forearm shot and rotates it through the ball. Hitting over the top of the ball.

Turn that on its side and you can see how a golf ball spins in certain directions, to straighten it out you need to hit out on it almost to the right of target, with your right hand releasing the club as the tennis example to get the clubface square!

 

[Alex1975]

Thats more a problem of swing path, when you throw the right hand at the shot you drag the club across the ball creating sidespin which ultimately ends up with the ball starting left and swerving right.

Think of "throwing" your right hand at the ball in a different way, imagine how a tennis player hits a forearm shot and rotates it through the ball. Hitting over the top of the ball.

Turn that on its side and you can see how a golf ball spins in certain directions, to straighten it out you need to hit out on it almost to the right of target, with your right hand releasing the club as the tennis example to get the clubface square!

Welcome to the forum and thanks alot for this. I have used the tennis forehand as a helper in the past, now that I am working on my hands plane(again) I will revisit that motion.