Do you know what the hands do when hitting an iron? Many weekend golfers don’t. They think their hands’ only job is to grip the club. While gripping the club correctly is critical to hitting solid irons, the hands do much more. Hands are the key, one hand manipulates the club-face while the other controls shaft angle. Both must work together with your lower body to produce the kind of swing that can help you slice strokes from your golf handicap.
Hands are the key, each hand plays a critical role in the golf swing. If you slice or hook the ball or you hit shots fat or thin, chances are you’re doing something wrong with your hands. Learning the role of each hand in the swing and how your hands synch up with the lower body helps you eliminate bad shots. Unfortunately, the hands’ importance doesn’t always come through when reading golf tips or taking golf lessons.
Different Strokes
Each hand does something different in the swing. The left hand (right hand for south-paws) controls the clubface’s rotational movement. That in turn controls the clubface’s direction. The left hand controls this function because it rotates more naturally from open to closed than closed to open. Putting the left hand in charge of this motion makes it easi-er to swing the club correctly and takes stress off the right hand as you swing.
The right hand controls your hands’ hinge effect. That in turn affects the shaft angle as you swing the club. It’s both easier and more natural to control shaft angle with the right hand than the left. Thanks to the right hand the shaft leans forward slightly at impact. Anything less and you’ll hit the ball fat. Anything more and you’ll hit it thin. The right hand should always remain below the left through impact.
Synch With Your Body
But the true source of power and consistency comes from the lower body, not the hands. Therefore, the hands must work together with the body. If they don’t, golfers mis-hit the shot. Two things key this union. First, as you start your swing, you must shift your front foot forward, just like they teach you in golf instruction sessions. If you swing without shifting your weight, your hands make an adjustment to correct your mistake. You may make the adjustment correctly once or twice, but you can’t do it consistently.
Second, as you shift your weight forward, you must keep your hips rotating. This movement opens up the torso to provide your hands enough room to do their jobs. Rotating the hips correctly also enables your hands to manage shaft angle. Not given the time and space to do their jobs, the hands must shift into overdrive to retime their movements to complete the swing. It’s a common fault we see in golf lessons. Rotating the hips means keeping them rotating until well into your finish position. If your hands and lower body work together correctly, you’ll hit solid straight iron shots.
Below are two drills often used in golf instruction sessions to teach players how to use their hands correctly when swinging:
- Impact Bag Drill Take your address in front of an impact bag. Position the bag just in front of your ball position. Make adjustments as you practice to suit the different clubs. With the club hinged hip-high on the backswing swing into the bag. Try to clip the bag at the base and while slipping the club slightly under it with a square-face angle.
- Push Board Drill Use a 2×4 board or anything long and heavy that that can be slid in a straight line. Position it directly in front of you at the normal ball position, with the board pointing toward your target. Now take a swing. You want to hit the end of the board and push it forward without using your arms. Use your weight and hips instead and push the boar in a straight line as far as possible with the clubface square and the arms extended.
The Impact Bag Drill helps you practice clubface rotation and shaft angle. The Push Board Drill ingrains good weight shift and proper hip rotation. Learn to use your hands properly during your swing and you’ll hit irons that not only will help you break 80 but also lower your golf handicap.
