Right Hand Grip

by Rajinder
(Hyderabad,India)

I use an interlock grip and try to hit straight, but most of the shots land to right side. Secondly, when ever I try to go for good distance, I tighten the grip which prompts my shots to go to the left.

What am I doing wrong?

Louis Reply

Thanks for a great question!

There can be a few causes for your ball going right, but you need to first make sure your left hand is in the correct position on the club.

It would be pointless applying my advice here without the correct hand placements.

On the golf grip page I show the correct and incorrect placement of the left hand. Make sure your left is correctly placed towards the fingers and not the palm of the hand.

Correct placement becomes critical when the club is being swung, because when the club and left arm straighten out at impact a correct placement will ensure a square club face at impact. If not it will be open most of the time.

Next, check to see if your right hand palm is also facing parallel to your intended target. My experience with students who use the interlock grip is that they tend to lock the fingers in first and then the right palm faces to the right of your intended target.

Rather get the right palm to face the left one then do the finger interlock.

Check to see where your right palm is facing and adjust it accordingly.(it needs to be also parallel to your intended target, and facing your left palm).

With both hands on the club check if your club face is square. The club face can often change direction when placing your right hand in the interlock position. The key here is not let the club and left hand move when placing the right hand on, keep it still.

Tightening the grip (or right hand) does not help to get more distance Rajinder, it is a swing killer!

Nearly every player I have seen going for more distance, 99 percent of the time rushes the hands from the top of the swing. This action closes the club face at impact, causing, pulls, and sometimes severe hooked shots that nose dive to the left.

A tight right hand will encourage a smothered shot to the left.

Try to feel the grip pressure as constant as possible in the specific fingers I have mentioned. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being loose and 10 being as tight as possible) feel both hands are about 5. Not too tight and not too loose.

Maintaining a constant swing speed throughout the swing is not easy to accomplish for most golfers, but forcing yourself to swing through the ball and finish, rather than "hit" will pay huge dividends for you.

Strive to swing the club through the ball and hold your finish. This will ensure a properly timed shot with no rushing.

If your problem persists you may want to check the causes and fixes for the push shot, and pull shot.

Give us feedback sometime on your progress.