Flick on the Grip
Corey Roop of Kingsville, Texas, had a problem--consistency-- and the March Issue, specifically Jim Flick's "Six Steps to a Perfect Grip" story, solved it. It took some work, though.
After seeing pictures of Tiger Wood's backswing recently, I was amazed at how perfectly flat his left wrist was in relation to his forearm and shaft.So on a whim, for the first time, I proceeded to the back yard to hit balls into the net and videotaped my backswing. I was shocked at what I found on those tapes. My set-up was perfect, takeaway was right on, in fact, I think my swing could be a exact copy of David Duval's, yet at the very top of my backswing, before the downswing was started, I had severe case of left wrist cupping (looks as if I'm swinging a baseball bat), which was so profound, caused the shaft to go across the line of my swing plane. Then on the downswing, I somehow re-routed the club to the and manipulated my hands to square the club-face. Because of this discovery, I have found the sickness that every-now-and-then cripples my swing and ruins my scores.
To fix this, I tried making my grip weaker/stronger, varying ball positions, hinging the wrist early, flatting my swing plane even more, taking the club back more outside, and placing a ruler under my watch to see if this would prevent this virus. Nothing worked until I found the article by Jim Flick. I followed his guidelines and instantly my wrist cupping was gone. Because of this simple, yet the most important basis fundamental of them all--a proper grip--I now have a perfect flat wrist and a tour-level "top" backswing without ever having to think about mechanics while I swing. Now, I'm anticipating tour-level consistency and much lower scores.
Keep us posted, Corey. You might want to track your progress on the new Golf Digest Challenge, which just re-launched. It'll give you Short and Long Game Handicaps. And if you want one of Jim McLean's instructors to analyze your swing, just to confirm your analysis, you can do that, too.
--Bob Carney
(Photo: Dom Furore)
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