Explanation on Hands and Wrists?

I am very new to golf and am trying to get a grasp on the mechanics of the golfswing. I've seen a lot of different tips and explanations about the basics of the swing. I know you sit in your stance with a slight knee bend, you draw the club face back as straight as you can, and then back a little as you reach the top of your swing. I understand that you are supposed to keep your left arm as straight as you can throughout the swing. I know you shift weight from backfoot to front on the downswing and dont go too far back on the backswing. On impact I understand you are supposed to have your hips open. Probably what is confusing me the most, and the more I read the more confused I get, is the position your hands and wrists take at different parts of the swing. From what I gather you are supposed to keep your left wrist straight throughout the swing. I'm a little confused about the position of the right arm and wrist throughout the swing. Also I was reading that the clubhead is supposed to be ahead of the hands. Is this true? Besides keeping your eye on the ball and head down, what other fundamental aspects of the swing am I missing. I know this is a lengthy post and it's probably better to ask fewer questions at once, i'm just a newbie and curious to learn as much as I can. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Well first and foremost you want your swing to be natural. Develop a swing of your own which feels right, and is reproducable time after time. That way if youre on the course you wont be focused on mechanics. About the hips being open at impact, this actually can be bad. Your body should not be very open at impact as it usually causes the right shoulder to drop, leading to the common slice. Once you get a good swing, then you can determine your usual ballflight path, hook, draw, fade, slice. You can then go from there

Go find a book written by Ben Hogan called Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf.

It was written in the 50's, and will cost you about $10. It is also the best golf instruction book ever written.

Hi, just a few tips. Firstly, your club head should never be ahead of your hands as this will have a tendency of making you swing as if you are trying to lift the ball of the tee. If you are doing this, you are probably leaning too far right at address. It will also prevent you from turning your body comfortably around the ball, and I would hazard a guess that you will be causing some hip sway as a result, and you could even be hitting the ground before the ball.

The left hand should be placed around the club so that the club face is square to the target, and the grip sits comfortably between your fingers and your palm. At address you should see 2 - 3 knuckles on your left hand. The left thumb should be situated across the grip with the V between your thumb and forefinger pointing towards your right shoulder. The right hand sits comfortably overlapping the left hand, with the little finger overlapping the left forefinger. The thumb also as above with the V pointing the same direction. The right forefinger should be separated slightly from the rest of the hand, and cupped around the club as if holding a trigger. Also, don't squeeze the club hard as if your life depended on it. You still need to be firm, but a correct grip will allow you to do this without tensing up.

At address, the ball should be level with the left heel. The wrists should be comfortably straight with a straight left arm. Swing naturally from the hips and shoulders, not the hands. In fact, contrary to most instruction books, I keep the ball level with my left heel for all my clubs. Instead I narrow my stance and move my hands slightly more forward in front of the ball as I go up the clubs. I read this from a very old Jack Nicklaus instruction book and it has given me more control.

If you don't mind doing a bit of reading and research, try this link for some instruction. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/h...lf/default.stm
It's the BBC's sport academy website, but has many useful tips from the pros.

Good golfing.

Cheers.
Lee.

Nick Price also leaves the ball in the same position and just moves his right foot further away for longer clubs. He has the ball just ahead of center.

The Hogan book mentioned also has a version out by Leadbetter where aswell as Hogan's instruction he gives his insight aswell with some views on what won't work for everybody etc. (I've just ordered it).

I'm only a beginner myself but my advice would be never to take anybodys tips as gospel. If somebody tells you to do something a certain way and it just isn't working for you then don't stick to it.

Good info. I'll work on some of the more basic stuff. I know the key is consistency. For never having played I hit a few good ones at the driving range. I know I was gripping way too hard cause of the blisters I ended up with.

This brings up a really good point, and I'll make two references. The Hogan book I mentioned above gives the absolute best description and diagrams (drawings, actually) that I have yet to see about HOW to grip the club. The book is worth every penny of the $10 it'll cost ya.

A few more ideas on grip. First off, a good grip is probably the most important thing for a beginner to learn. It's easy to get it wrong and hard to hit a good shot when you do get it wrong. As to HOW HARD to grip the club, Sam Snead said imagine you're holding a bird - you want to hold it just hard enough so it won't fly away, but not so hard that you'll hurt it. Jack Nicklaus says that on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the hardest, he grips the club about a 3.

Lastly, coming back to your point, Harvey Penick said in his "Little Red Book" (which is also a great, great read) that if you develop blisters or caluses (sp?), it's likely the result of putting your hands on the club and then twisting and turning them to try and form a good grip. He says once you place your hands on the club, you shouldn't need to move them.

My 1.5 cents...

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Mike Ryan
Rhinebeck, NY

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"You can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen."
- Lee Trevino