We have a blog question from James Newman. James says, 'I have been working for just a couple of days on the Peak Performance Golf Swing and while I have great results at the range, I am struggling on the course. Today I lined up on the driving range and hit shot after shot of beauties, but when I hit the actual course I was pulling a lot of shots left. I checked my alignment, like in the videos and they were really close. I helped my playing partner today on our tournament with his alignment because I was paying attention to it. My guess is, I was letting my left hand get strong. So when I tried to stay flat with my wrist I was unintentionally closing the club face. What do you think? I hit some great shots today but some very poor ones too, all of which were dead left shots.'
One of the things that would happen, that if you feel like when you are taking your grip, James, and you feel like it is closing the club, my first thought goes to the fact that either: a) the grip is getting too much in the palms and when you close it it is turning a little bit; or b) I would get to a professional, your PGA Pro or a good club fitter and have him check that your grips are the right size. Because many times when somebody gets on the course and they start squeezing up to grip the golf club and put their full grip pressure on relatively firm on the grip and the grip tends to twist in your hands, it could be because you have long fingers and your grips are too thin. I would get that checked.
And yes, the key is if you are doing anything that is causing the grip to change and eventually get shut at impact, you could make the most perfect swing in the world, but when your arms are square back to impact and your palms are perpendicular to the ground, perpendicular to your body and ultimately perpendicular to the aiming line, and you get back to that position, if the club face is square the ball starts down the aiming line. If it is shut it is starting left and probably going to go left. That sounds like what you have. I would say, yes, you could have a high probability that your problem is club face alignment at impact is shut But why is it getting shut?
It could be because, as you are saying, your grip is getting strong or if your grip is too small when you squeeze your hands enough to get your grip pressure set, it could be causing the club to turn in your hands a little bit and you don't feel it turn but as you squeeze it it is turning enough that it could shut the face. If you don't change it and that face is shut on impact, the ball is going dead left. So check that out. See your local PGA Pro or a club fitter and check to see if your grips are the right size.
Then, the next thing is, when you squeeze your hands, look at them. When you're squeezing them check, the club face out again and see if the club face has moved. If the club face is not square, like holding your hands in front and holding the club face up to take your grip and when you take your grip or if you do it on the ground and squeeze it, watch the club face. If the club face is moving and shutting, then you know it is that and you have to figure out how to start with that square grip, so when you squeeze it does not change the club face at address.
The Surge!