Losing your grip at the top?

January 1, 2003

Hi, I’m Mel Sole, Director of Instruction at the Mel Sole Golf School, headquartered at Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club in Pawleys Island, SC. We conduct 1, 2 and 3-day golf schools, hourly golf lessons, and senior golf schools—any golf instruction program your heart desires. Give us a call at 800-624-4653 or 843-237-4993. We will be happy to book a commuter school or a package that contains accommodations, golf, and golf school.

Monthly Golf Tips by the Mel Sole Golf School.

This month's golf tip comes via a request from Ivan Contreras of Chile, South America, who asks, "I would appreciate very much knowing how to avoid laying the club off or letting the club fall at the top of the backswing. In other words, how can I control the final backswing position without letting the club fall?. I always receive the same answer: shorten the backswing. However, I would rather not do this because I think a shorter backswing is rather ugly, and also, I can not shorten my backswing when perhaps it has a wrong backswing line. Instead, I would prefer to learn how to control the final backswing position without letting the club fall. How can I do this?"

The Problem.

First of all, if the club is dropping at the top of the backswing, then the culprit is the last three fingers of your lead hand. If you let go of these three fingers, you will lose control of the club, causing a loss of distance and accuracy.

Losing your grip at the top?

As you can see in picture #1, I have allowed the last three fingers of my left hand to lose their grip at the top of the swing. This will cause the club to drop below parallel, as in picture #2:

Losing your grip at the top?

In picture #3, I have kept the last three fingers of the left hand gripping the club. You will notice that it shortens up the swing without losing any shoulder turn. Remember: distance is developed by the width of the swing, not the length!

The Solution.

There are two "pressure points" in the grip. The upper hand is the last 3 fingers, and the lower hand is the middle two fingers. All the other fingers of both hands are fairly soft on the grip.

An additional benefit to maintaining a firm grip at the top is that you will hold the left arm and shaft angle. This will help you delay the release of the clubhead and creating more clubhead speed. This results in more distance.

This is a straightforward correction to your swing if this is a problem, and you should start noticing results almost immediately!

Source: Mel Sole Golf School

Thanks for reading - Losing your grip at the top? I hope this helped your game!

Monthly Golf Tips by the Mel Sole Golf School.

The Problem.

The Solution.

Related Posts.