Conventional wisdom isn’t always the solution in golf. For example, when holding instruction sessions, I advocate using your left side to ignite your swing. This approach eliminates several common swing errors. Golfers igniting their swings with their right sides often start the club back too quickly or jerk their hands too far inside the target line during the takeaway, throwing the swing off. Fearing this, teachers giving golf lessons preach the left side approach to starting the swing.
Unfortunately, learning the left side approach is a challenge. Since most people are right-handed, their right side is their strongest. It’s also their most natural. Teachers preaching the left side approach are asking players to do the unnatural using the weaker side. It’s no wonder that many golfers have problems learning this approach. Some golfers never do. If this is your problem, you can use the right side approach to ignite your swing if you make some adjustments.
The Right Advantages
One notable player using the right side to ignite his wing is Spaniard Seve Ballesteros, who for a time was one of the most feared golfers on the PGA Tour. Self-taught, Seve adopted the right side approach when he was young because he couldn’t master the left side approach. It was so bad he almost quit the game. Instead, he switched to the right side and it eventually paid off. He eventually mastered the approach and it took him to the highest levels of golf.
However, when Seve first made the change, he fell victim to many of the swing errors teachers preach against in golf instruction sessions. Eventually, he made some adjustments that helped him eliminate these errors and grove his swing. That made a big difference in his game. Making these adjustments allowed Seve not only to better control the pace of his takeaway, but also to pull the club away on the correct path and keep it traveling on the right plane and arc.
The Right Approach: The Hip
One adjustment you must learn to make involves synchronizing your upper and lower bodies. The problem with using the right side approach is that it discourages you from getting your lower body into the swing. Instead of getting your whole body into the swing, you get only your upper body, short-circuiting power. You need to make an adjustment to keep both bodies synchronized.
To do, turn your right hip clockwise an instant after pulling the club away from the ball with your right hand. This minor adjustment encourages your lower body to participate in the swing and stay synchronized with your lower boy. The result: a longer straighter shot geared to chopping strokes off your golf handicap.
The Right Approach: The Grip
Another key to the right side approach is the right grip. To be effective your grip must tie in with the right side approach because it dramatically influences one of the most critical parts of the golf swing�the takeaway.
Here are five keys to the right grip:
1. Stretch the thumb down the shaft
2. “Marry” your two hands
3. Adopt neutral grip
4. Overlap the pinky finger
5. V’s must point between your chin and shoulder
A neutral overlapping grip offers many advantages. By setting the club diagonally across the base of the fingers and partially in the palm of your left hand, your will achieve a secure, unified, and flexible grip. To increase control of the shaft, you should allow your thumb to stretch down the shaft as far as possible. But be careful you don’t over stretch the thumb. That throws off your control.
In addition, make sure your pinky finger overlaps the first finger of your left hand. This removes enough muscle from your stronger right hand to prevent it from over powering your left, yet still allows it to remain in control, since it sits closer to the clubhead than the left. It’s also vital that the two V’s formed by your hands point between your chin and right shoulder. This assures you that your palms are parallel and in a neutral position.
Combining a neutral overlapping grip with a slight turning of your right hip will enable you to ignite your swing with your right side. However; we must always remember one thing, whether using the right side or the left side to start our swing. Acquiring a swing designed to lower your golf handicap depends on achieving an effective sequential action and reaction of the entire body. That’s conventional wisdom you can take to the bank.
Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.