Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
Golf Grip Instruction Myth - Video Transcript
Here’s a golf instruction myth about the grip that can’t die soon enough. The myth states that you should grip the golf club based on however your hands naturally hang when standing normally. Let’s take a look at what that looks like.
If I’m standing upright in neutral joint alignment with my shoulders retracted, or “in the box” as we call it, the hands will hang down to my sides with the palms facing my thighs. This is normal anatomy. If you took all muscles off my body and hung me up by my skeleton, this is the position the hands would fall in to.
From the side view, you can see this more clearly. That’s how your body is designed to set naturally at address.
Now, what a lot of golfers do is they let their shoulder blades protract into a slumped posture with the shoulders rolled forward. From this position, the arms will be naturally internally rotated and the palms will then face the front of the thighs instead of the sides. Many golf instructors take this to mean that that is the golfer’s normal, natural posture and therefore, that’s how they should grip the golf club.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, this is simply bad posture! Out of laziness, the golfer has allowed his shoulders to be in this poor posture and it then can wreak havoc in his golf swing.
Therefore, it is critical that you not only understand what good golf posture is, but also how to maintain it as you setup to the golf ball. As you hinge forward to take your setup position, gravity wants to pull your arms down toward the ground, causing this slumped posture. You must engage the muscles in the back that retract the shoulder blades in order to counteract the force of gravity. Doing so will give you a nice feeling of connectedness between your arms and body that will make it easier to control the arms during the golf swing and transmit power during the downswing.
So again, NOBODY’s arms naturally hang this way! If your golf instructor tells you that you should grip the golf club however your arms naturally hang at address, RUN!
