After the basics this is essential.

I'm sure most of the lower handicapped golfers in this forum would agree with me that it's all but impossible to become a good player without a sound knowledge of simple basics. Countless books on golf instruction have been published, most of them have a great deal of merit and I'm certainly not saying that any particular one is better than the other, that's simply personal preference.
I have had Hogan's book ( Five Fundamentals ) for many years and I use it prior to the golf season as a check list, grip, stance, posture etc. etc. Although I made a minor adjustment regarding advice in this book ( grip ) I think this particular publication is a wonderful starting point for any golfer wishing to improve. I remember years ago I spent six months working a couple of times a week with an excellent teaching pro. He taught me solid fundamentals, that, he told me was the foundation that would take me from the 19 handicap I was to a player who would regularly shoot in the 70's.
He was right, it took a lot of hard work and dedication on my part, I had such a desire to go places I've never been before, and I got there. If there was one point in particular that he insisted on it was the grip, not the position of my hands on the club but the firmness ( or lack of it ) while holding the club. He would give me a wedge and tell me to hit a 20 yard shot with as soft a grip as possible. Then pull my driver and let it rip but I had to use the same soft grip as I did when I hit the wedge.
In golf instruction I really think that the amount of pressure applied on the club with the hands is sadly overlooked and it is of paramount importance.

hi Buteman
i agree that even today Hogan's 5 fundamentals is one of the best if not the best book to lean the basics. i was aslo reading Mindy Blakes books and he was talking about presure of the hands and finger and how that affects distance, he talks about someone swinging with a swing speed of 90mph and the compresion on the ball and if the club stays on the ball 1/2 inch at inpact it will carry about 260 yards. but if the club only stays on the ball 1/4 of an inch then the ball only traval 240 yards, he then goes on to say that most handicap golfers take the back of the ball as the impact point and the club head is all ready slowing down and can lose 5 mph and mean you only get a carry of 230 yards. so how do the pros and low handicap players do it. he says its where the impact point is and players like Hogan, Sneed, Trevino. and Billy Casper all looked ahead of the ball to a point 3 or 4 inches in front of the ball, some people say tiger does this too. when you focus on a point past the ball as your impact point then your are less likly to slow down comming into the ball, the ball just gets in the way of the club head as it tries to get to the impact point.
Blake says this also gets the club to compress the ball for longer and that compression gives you added yards.
he also says that diffrent grip presures give you more or less compresion, so getting the right grip presure is important.
not many teaching pros tell you about grip presure or about ball compression.
cheers
bill

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Very interesting indeed Bill, I have a playing partner who uses the method you described and he said it has increased his distance especially with the longer clubs.
I experimented with it towards the end of last season, it certainly has it's merits but it was well late in the season and should be tried at the practice range and not initially on the course ( which I did ).
I will be trying this again once our practice facility opens, according to my buddy ( 6 handicap ) he picks a spot about four inches ahead of the ball and on the target line. His swing thought is to drive the club through that spot, he said it keeps the clubface square at impact.
Since he started using this method combined with softer hands ( which he says releases the club ) he is averaging 15-20 longer on a regular basis with his woods and hybrids. He also attributes these changes he adopted in reducing his handicap from a nine to what it presently is.
Cheers.

I like the idea of grip pressure being suitable for the shot in hand, light for a ball off the tee or a good lie, firmer out of the rough or sand etc.

Regarding ball focus I like the feel that your focus is towards the target, when you swing you are swinging the club with uninterrupted momentum towards the target and not at the ball.

I have come to accept that there are a number of fundamentals like setup, spine angle and swingplane that are essential to a sound repeatable golf shot and if your game starts falling off you need to revisit them.

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

I agree that the basics and fundamentals are extremely important, and that having a book to compare yourself with the pro(s) is extremely useful. Like you make reference to the Hogan Five Fundamentals book is not a bad one to study (as long as you take into account that a number of things Hogan showed and wrote about in his book were designed to prevent a hook).
I think for all around good books written by players (that teach pitching, chipping, bunker play, and putting in addition to the swing) Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, and Nick Price have come out with excellent material. (Ernie Els has nice books on how to play as well).


I concur that a light grip pressure may be of benefit in leading to more distance. It has been shown a number of times that loose muscles move faster than tense muscles. Decreasing tension in the hands may also reduce tension in the arms, and in the shoulders allowing them to move faster. Greg Norman said that before the last round of the 1986 British Open Jack Nickalus gave him the advise to keep an eye on his grip pressure, and Norman credited in part his ability to win that tournament on adhearing to that advice.

Having said that, I do not believe that a light grip pressure is imperative to good golf. While it may prove beneficial in providing additional distance it is not an absolute that all golfers need to follow. There have been a number of professional and skilled amateur golfers that have had tight grips, and won tournaments.