Tiny tweaks make a big difference
Last weekend’s round started out rough. I was continually slicing my drives (what else is new), which was leading to bogey after bogey. I know I shouldn’t make swing corrections during the round, but I was going to be miserable if I didn’t figure out what was wrong. I rehearsed my swing continuously over the first 10 holes and came to the conclusion that my left wrist was breaking upward, into a cupped position, at impact. This of course leads to hitting up on the ball and leaving the club face wide open.
Just thinking about keeping my wrist flat won’t guarantee that it happens, and adding another swing thought mid-round is never a good idea. Consistently achieving a flat wrist at impact would take plenty of practice and the use of a training aid such as Rick Smith’s Swing Glove.
After some left hand only practice swings, I realized my thumb was too far to the right (underneath the club), which in part led to cupping the wrist at impact. By tweaking my left thumb position to the left (closer to my forefinger), the weight of the club naturally kept my wrist flat throughout the swing. Note this doesn’t change the strength of my grip (i.e. how rotated my left hand is on the whole). When I teed off with my slightly tweaked grip on hole 11, I still accounted for a fade and I ripped it down the left side. I ended up just left of the fairway, which was much better than in the trees on the right. I continued to hit straight the rest of the day.
So that’s the lesson - just a slight grip or position change can make a world of difference and carry you through a round.
7 months ago