Golf Grip's Effect on Swing Plane

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Having a proper grip is crucial for club face control and lag in the golf swing. In this video I talk about the proper grip's effect on club position and plane. If you want to know more about the grip in depth, pick up a copy of RST Level 1 Certification Manual.

  • Bow and rotate the left wrist as you start the downswing. For the most part, this will happen naturally and that's a good thing as this gradual rotation encourages a full release.
  • A slightly stronger grip will leave you with a clubface that is slightly shut at the top. This is ok, having this slightly shut club face at the top makes it significantly easier for the average golfer to square the club face at impact.
  • Having a slightly stronger grip can and will steepen the swing plane slightly. Having a swing plane that is very slightly steeper than, say, a parallel swing plane is perfectly ok and even preferential.


A lot has been written about the grip over the years, and I discussed it in pretty good detail in the Rotary Swing Tour Certification Manual for Level 1.

And I'm going to talk about it more a little bit here in a video.

So that you can kind of see what's going on.

And what cause and effect the grip has on the golf swing.

First of all, The most important aspect of the grip is that a proper grip allows us to square the club face at impact without tons of manipulation.

That is hands down the most important facilitation of the grip.

You can have tons and tons of club head speed, but if a club face is wide open or you're having to flip it, shut every shot, you're never going to play consistent golf.

So that's why really taking the time to develop a sound grip is extremely important.

Now when you start looking at your golf swing in terms of swing plane and positions, The grip also directly influences those things, and that's what I'm going to talk about a little bit in detail here.

So, one of the things that people always ask about is the position at the top.

Everybody gets really infatuated with where the club face is.

And the hands, and whether or not the wrist should be cupped, or whether or not it should be bowed, and all those things.

A lot of that has to do with how you take the club back and your grip at a dress.

But I'm going to talk about two things in particular.

So that really the only two things that really matter in terms of understanding the position of the face, going back and at the top.

The first is, if you want a true anatomically flat grip at the top, where you can see this would be anatomically flat, my wrist and arm are in a line here.

If I take that position to the top of my swing, and I wanted to have that position at the top where the club face, then matched that position.

So if I put this perfectly level to the ground and my wrist is anatomically flat, and I go to the top of my swing, that is an anatomically flat position and a square club face.

Now, the trick is, if I come down pretty quick, it's pretty common for the club face to be a little bit open coming down which that would be open.

So try to get the club right in line with my hand.

That would be square and that would be slightly closed.

The only way I can get into that slightly closed position is to take that wrist and start bowing it and rotating it as I come down.

Now, that naturally happens in the golf swing, and that's a good thing, which encourages a full release.

However, for most golfers, It takes a long time to master having what is a truly anatomically flat wrist position at the top and with a square club face.

Most golfers are far better off having a slightly stronger grip.

Not significantly stronger, I'm not talking you know Sergio Garcia, Freddie Couples strong grip.

But if you're going from neutral to slightly stronger now, the club face should be slightly shut at the top, okay.

So you're not going to necessarily have a dead square club face, because if you did, your wrist would have to be cupped.

If you're talking about square in the club face in relation to the arms and looking at planes.

But that's okay, it's okay to have a slightly shut club face at the top.

We're talking 10 degrees, we're not talking hooded.

But that makes it so much easier for the average golfer to learn to square the club face.

Now if you look at somebody like Tiger Woods, who has over time weakened his grip significantly.

And he now has a flat position at the top of the square club face, and he gets into bowing it.

That's necessary for him to start squaring the club face earlier in the swing which we want to do.

We don't want to be square at the top which if you just came straight down would be wide open.

It has to rotate as you're coming down and we don't want to be doing that at the last second.

Coming in with a really open face and then flipping it at the last second.

Like so many amateurs do.

Because they want to play with this weak grip and be in this neutral position at the top.

So understand that if you take that route, if you want to have just a slightly stronger grip than neutral, I think it's a good thing for most players.

The downsides of those would be it's slightly more difficult to work the ball.

Those are completely relative terms.

So don't get too caught up in, oh I'm never going to be able to hit a draw or hit a cut.

Not the case at all.

Just in terms of truly having a lot of finesse in your ball striking, the more neutral it is, The more that you start to learn to develop a sense of feel, of rotation of the club face and holding the face off or hitting different shots like that.

If you're not worried about that stuff yet, don't worry about it.

Leave that to the professionals to worry about shaping shots.

And even most of those guys favor a slightly stronger grip and don't work the ball much.

That's just the reality of those guys on tour.

They don't hit tons and tons of shaped shots, and most of them stick with the predominant ball flight.

Tiger is an exception to the rule.

Tiger shapes the shots both directions and can also hit the big slices and the big hooks with the best of them.

Partly because of that.

He has to rely on timing of releasing that club face through impact, more so than most players because he favors such a weak grip now.

Which is required for him to take the club back the way that Haney wants it, which is rotating it significantly to keep the club perfectly on plane.

So that's the next point of what I'm going to talk about with the grip.

So if we take this slightly stronger, so we're talking maybe two knuckles visible here at Slightly stronger than neutral grip, so that's neutral, slightly stronger than neutral.

What that will tend to do unless you did something crazy to rotate the face open, which would put your wrist in an awkward position.

It's going to steepen the plane slightly.

Not a ton, but I'm going to show you what that looks like.

So imagine this shaft plane at address, and if I were to try and swing it back basically on that plane the whole time, I would have to do something goofy with my wrist to try and accomplish that with the slightly stronger grip.

So in other words, if I take my weaker grip or the neutral grip, it's pretty easy for me to rotate it and get into a square position at the top.

Not necessarily the most desirable thing because now I've got to really rotate it, coming back down, as I mentioned earlier.

But the plane for you planologists out there was pretty close to ideal.

My shaft was parallel or going back on the plane, and I established that address parallel to that coming back, which is what Hank Haney teaches, and I like that philosophy in terms of the shaft plane.

It's not the biggest thing in the world.

Well, lots of good things that are more important than swing plane, not that swing plane is not important.

So, long story short, if you take that slightly stronger grip, slightly stronger than neutral, which is still weaker than probably most instructors advocate, you're probably going to tend to get a little bit steeper at some point.

Now for those of you who are real golf swing aficionados, you'll probably remember maybe two years ago that Tiger Woods took a break from Hank Haney.

He wasn't playing really well, I think it was sometime after the British Open and they just kind of parted ways for a while.

And he just decided to work on a swing himself.

And he went on this tear and just dominated everybody.

And won maybe four tournaments in a row or something and just slaughtered the field.

If you go back and look at that footage, it's pretty clear to see what happened.

He got less concerned about rotating that face so far open and keeping it perfectly on plane, And got a little bit steeper, with a slightly more shut clubface compared to what he's gone back to now.

And he played incredibly well.

Why? Well, he took so much of the timing out through impact.

He didn't have to really release the club so aggressively through the hitting area and trying to square the clubface every time.

And even, you know, the greatest player in the world still struggles with timing.

And now he gets to hit a lot more balls than the rest of us.

So why not take some of that out and take a note from Tiger's book.

When he went back and started playing a little bit more natural for him, got the club a little bit steeper on plane.

It wasn't perfectly parallel to the plane.

He played incredibly well and went back to hitting great golf shots.

And I advocate doing the same.

It's okay to be a little bit steeper going back.

And again, talking small amounts here, but a little bit steeper going back, clubface a few degrees shut in relationship to your form, which for most people is not even noticeable to the naked eye.

And you'll have a lot less trouble squaring that clubface going back.

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Rich
I have noticed that recently I have been on a slightly steep downswing plane with a cupped lead wrist = sliceville. I'm ok flattening out the plane, but my wrist is still cupped in the downswing. Should I be practice consciously bowing the wrist? My grip is neutral to slightly strong and ever so slightly cupped at the top of the backswing. I have watched the "Avoid Cupped Wrist in Backswing video". Thanks,
January 9, 2020
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Rich. If you are slightly stronger than neutral and your wrist is cupped at the top. You need to work on that component first like with the video you mentioned. An overly strong grip will be cupped, but if you are standard position for rotary grip it should equate to flat at the top. it needs to be correct first.
January 9, 2020
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Aaron
Hey Craig I’ve been working on my downswing and translation. Is there ever a point in which you can do too many reps? I’m hovering somewhere around 3,900 at the moment and was wondering if there was a point that it could be hurtful.
February 20, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Aaron. The only time over repping would be bad is if the motion is incorrect.
February 21, 2019
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Aaron
Okay awesome! Thanks Craig.
February 21, 2019
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Ron A. Sr.
Okay, which grips, neutral or slightly strong?
October 5, 2017
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Ronald. We prefer a grip slightly stronger than neutral.
October 5, 2017
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tyler
I've noticed that I take my club back perfectly on plane in backswing until I get to the very top where my hands and arms seem to be in a good position but my club is laid off (pointing right of my target). Would this be related to the grip or what would cause this? I've never been able to figure it out.
May 9, 2017
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Tyler. Left Handed Swinger? Typically, laid off would be pointed left for a Right Handed Swinger. Could be the grip. I will wait until I know which side of the ball you are on. I don't want to lead you astray.
May 9, 2017
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tyler
sorry, I misspoke. I am a right handed swinger and the club points left of the target at the top (sorry - I dont know why I said it points right)
May 9, 2017
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Tyler. It could be related to grip, but also wrist positioning. Try some lead arm only swings and with a mirror/camera from the Winter Golf Training Program - Backswing Video. Make sure the lead wrist position is correct.
May 9, 2017
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Virgil
With a slightly stronger lead hand grip are we keeping everything the same on the downswing? Such as bowing the wrist slightly, lag, and impact? We a slightly stronger grip I tend to have the club face open at impact, what do I need to do to get is square? Should there be a different plane coming down and through?
August 21, 2016
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Virgil. Having a slightly stronger grip can and will steepen the swing plane slightly. Having a swing plane that is very slightly steeper than, say, a parallel swing plane is perfectly ok. Bow and rotate the left wrist as you start the downswing just the same as a normal swing. It should actually make it easier to square up at impact since the face will tend to be a little shut at the top.
August 22, 2016
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Loran
Is this why I am flipping at the last second near impact? I pull to the left...terrible aiming! The lack of control in regards to the club face on top and coming down? Is it the timing element issue like Chuck mentioned?
March 21, 2016
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Loan. The grip could play a big role in the last second flip. You need to have good face awareness throughout the swing.
March 21, 2016
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Loran
Then, the ideal plane depends on the slightly bowed wrists on the top swing? The golf plane is not perfect like the rotary circle suggests? My guess is that a bowed wrist prepares for a better impact position coming down from top, to parallel, to impact?
January 24, 2016
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Loan. You don't want the lead wrist bowed at the top. RST is a parallel shift plane. One plane swing with elevation. Not a perfect circle from setup, but still a single plane. Bowing the wrist in the downswing will prepare you for a good impact position and square face with proper rotation.
January 25, 2016
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Chris
Hi guys i have abit of a problem that has crept into my game , I,m a new member and I,v started to pull or hook the ball what do you suggest that I do. Chris
November 24, 2014
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Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Chris -- First off, welcome to the site. We can certainly help get your pull or hook straightened out. Have you submitted your swing for review recently? If you have not, I would suggest you do so and leave in the notes what you are struggling with at the moment and we can take a close look at what exactly is going on. Without seeing the swing, it sounds as though you have a bit of trail side dominance in your swing which can cause the path to work out to in and you could possibly be running into problems with the release as well. Take a look at the 9 to 3 drill and work that for a bit and then work on 5 minutes to a perfect release. Once you have those nailed down, we then can take a look at what you are doing with the trail shoulder and arm from the top of the swing down. Let us know if you need any further guidance at all and we will gladly assist you.
November 25, 2014
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Alistair
Hi Guys Can I start by congratulating you all on your scientific approach to the golf swing which I have found extremely informative and has helped me greatly in improving my golf swing with the help of my local PGA professional. I am an Orthopaedic Surgeon and my observation would be that a stronger grip at address sets the wrist in some dorsiflexion. As a result due to coupling between distal radioulnar and radio-carpal movements it is my impression that in this position it is more difficult to fully rotate the forearm during release after impact. I noticed this when doing the left hand release drills. Secondly the slight dorsiflexion of the wrist (cupping) leads to a greater tendency to manipulate the wrist from the top to produce a flat wrist at impact which in turn increases the chances of me personally flipping the club head through impact. Would you have any comments.
September 27, 2014
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Alistair. Thanks for compliments of our website and approach. With a stronger grip, the tendency will be to manipulate the club face too much leading to flipping through impact. We promote a slightly stronger grip than neutral for the reason. A little blend to help wrist set, speed, and the ability to flatten it out into impact.
September 27, 2014
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Jim
Hi Craig, don't you mean "with a neutral grip"above ??
August 10, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Jim. Not necessarily. Better players with stronger grips know how to steer it. But, majority of amateurs with a stronger grip end up flipping at impact with lack of face awareness. Cupping the lead wrist and pushing through with the trail hand.
August 10, 2015
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claudio
I have a moderate strong grip and naturally my left wrist is cupped at the top. In my last swing review I was advised to have a flat left wrist at the top. I tried to flatten my left wrist at the top. I found two possible options: a) to manipulate my wrist at the top, going from cupped to flat, b) to flatten my wrist on my way to the top, however, I found very difficult to hinge my wrists at the top when they are flat. Any advice on how to go from cupped to neutral wrist at the top?
June 7, 2014
64x64
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Claudio, thats a tough one. If the wrist is already to strong at setup. It will require manipulation to the top in an effort to flatten out. We want to make sure the body transports the club and make it fairly easy to square up the face at impact. I would suggest work on the grip to get it slightly stronger than neutral. We don't want to force the wrist set at the top and a tad more neutral grip for you will make setting the club much easier.
June 7, 2014

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