Golf Tips: Hand Position on the Club makes a World of Difference

In today’s edition of golf tips, we look at how the positioning of your hands on the golf club can make a world of difference.

For nearly a decade, I struggled with a slice. I had never taken lessons and had slowly taught myself how to golf once I got to high school. If I would’ve taken advantage of today’s golf tips, I would’ve gotten to a single-digit handicap much sooner.

The positioning of your hands on the club has a greater impact than more people realize. What can make it difficult to figure out on your own is the fact that all golfers are a bit different.

When I finally got some lessons from a golf pro friend, he pointed out that my wrists are fairly weak in my golf swing (Something I have always known), and that to fix the slice, I could adjust the position of my lead hand.

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It’s something that once you are aware of, you can fine-tune yourself until you get the swing you are looking for.

What he had me do was to take that lead hand, in my case my left hand, and rotate it in, so that I could see more of the top of my hand, and more of my knuckles. A good way to get the visual stuck in your head while you are getting used to it is to take a marker and make dots on each of your knuckles on your golf glove.

As you start to practice with your hand in a different position, it is going to feel different. It’s something that you are not used to, and it’s going to feel like you are doing something inherently wrong. It isn’t the case though and can help to get rid of the slice.

Here’s why.

Your hand wants to get back to its normal position. What that means, while you are holding the club at least, Is that it wants to rotate the club, so that the toe would be out ahead of the rest of the club. That feeling and fact is what is going to help during your swing.

While swinging, with your hands in the normal position, the slice that you are encountering is because the toe is lagging behind, which leads to the slice. Once you get that lead hand turned, it’s going to bring your hands through quicker during your swing, and get that toe back on and even plane, hopefully leading to a straighter shot.

Please, oh please, never turn your clubhead at the address to try and fix the problem. It may seem like a similar fix, but it’s going to lead to dead pulls, more slices, and a big loss of distance.

dark. Next. Golf Tips: Getting up and down more often

You can do the same thing, but in reverse, if you have an issue with hitting hooks. Loosen that front hand up, and rotate away instead of turning it in. It should help the toe to come through a bit later, and in turn, lead to you hitting the ball straighter. At the minimum, you should at least see draws and fades instead of hooks and slices.

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