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Common Faults With The Grip When Golfing

The most common faults in the grip arefaults of the left are compounded, for a low
holding the club entirely in the fingers ofright hand tends to roll over at impact. The
the left hand, placing the left hand too muchpoor player may switch from slicing to
on top of the shaft, and getting the rightsmothering and go for several holes without
hand  under  the  shaft.getting the ball more than a few feet off the
ground. This, we need hardly remind you, is a
An all-finger grip and getting the left handhorrible  experience.
on top, so that four knuckles show, go
together. It's almost impossible to hold theOn any course and in almost any foursome you
club entirely in the fingers of the left,will see many peculiar stances. Most of them
without getting the left on top of the shaft.are not fundamentally bad, except for one
thing: standing with an "open" body. This
When dropping the right hand lower and lower,means, simply, that although the feet are in
some  people  feel  they will get more power.a perfectly square position (an equal
distance from the direction line), the hips
Well, they are all wrong and they go a longand the shoulders are facing a little to the
way toward ruining what might be a good shot.left.
When the club is held entirely in the fingers
of the left hand and that hand is on top ofThese players are, in effect, aiming to the
the shaft with three or four knucklesleft  of  their  target without realizing it.
showing, there is an overpowering tendency to
roll that hand over to the left as the clubYou need hardly be reminded of the damage
comes into the ball at impact. When thisthis can do. The player develops a pull to
happens the face of the club is turned overhis shots, the ball starting out a shade to
and closed, or hooded. The result is a badthe left and, if it doesn't slice, staying to
smother or hook. That is what happens withthe left. There are usually just as much
some  players.rough and as many traps to the left of a
fairway or green as there are to the right,
The all-finger, left-hand-on-top positionand the chronic puller is sure to find most
leads to another fault. It has a strongof  them.
tendency to make the player bend the left
hand back at the top of the swing and get theThere are other bad positions, such as
left wrist under the shaft. This opens thebending over too much, standing too far from
face at the top, and it must then be closedthe ball, having the weight too far forward,
on the downswing. With the body and shoulderand so on, but the "open" body is by all odds
action most players have, plus their fear ofthe most common fault the average player has
getting the face closed too much, this isin  the  stance  department.
seldom accomplished. Hence we have what is by
far the most common and exasperating bad shotLet us turn now to the positive side and take
of  them  all  -  the  slice.the positions that will help so much to give
us a square face at impact, a straight ball
Another move is for the player to try to holdthat  goes  where we aim it, and fewer shots.
the face of the club from turning as it goes
through the ball. Then you see the lifting,Actually there is nothing mysterious about
lofting action which is so common, with thethe grip. We merely want the club held in a
player trying to hold the face square longcertain way, a way that will help bring it to
after it has hit the ball. This is a good waythe top in the position we want and which
to  bring  on  a  slice.will help bring it back to the ball at the
correct angle to the line of flight.
When the right hand is dropped low, the



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