Short thumb
Long thumb–long swing.
David Duval’s strong left–hand grip.
Consequently, his grip was now “weakened,” to use a popular golfing term (though this does not mean it was weakened in strength). He felt the changes helped get the clubface more open; he could now hit hard with his right hand, without as much fear of the face closing and producing a hook. At the point of impact he could keep his left hand or lead hand firm and under control, and in turn have more control over the face. He had nearly achieved his goal of eliminating his hook. One more little key would solve the puzzle and eliminate the disastrous hooks that plagued him. That was his secret, which, as I have said, I will examine later.
Hogan felt that the changes he made were simply modifications to a sound grip and were particularly beneficial for him. It was no surprise, however, that many players copied Hogan’s grip exactly, whether or not they had problems with hooking the ball. Many were unsuccessful in adopting his grip. Most golfers today, even tour players, can profitably adopt a slightly stronger grip with the hands (especially the left hand—showing two to three knuckles when you look down at it) turned in a more clockwise fashion to the right on the club; and they can do this without having to fear severe hooks. This is a more natural and advisable route to follow; it is more natural because your hands are in this position when they hang down by your side. Two players who employ ultra-strong grips—Paul Azinger and David Duval—are most assuredly controlled faders of the ball. There is more to curing a hook or promoting a fade than just weakening the grip.
Those of you who are thinking of shortening your left thumb to gain more control should bear in mind an important factor: namely, that Hogan’s flexibility in his wrists and the curvature in his left thumb made it possible for him to shorten it on the club while still keeping the entire thumb flat on the grip. Most players by shortening the thumb would create a noticeable gap under the thumb, as it bunches up. This would lead to reduced rather than increased control of the clubhead because less of the thumb would be on the club. Generally, I prefer golfers to have a “longish” left thumb to aid cocking and leverage.
Hogan’s grip looked great, no question. And it worked beautifully for him. The grip helped cure Hogan’s hook. But most players don’t hook the ball and in fact tend to slice the ball. Not only would the Hogan-like grip not cure their slice, it would make them hit some awfully big banana balls. A weak grip wouldn’t be a cure. It would be a curse.
To Become an 80-Breaker - or Better I have tried to explain why Hogan gripped the club as he did. He obviously gave a lot of thought to the question of how to best come up with an anti-hook grip; so critical an element was this grip in his discussion of the fundamentals of golf that he devoted an entire chapter to it in Five Lessons. Gardner Dickinson, in fact, wrote that he thought the book “was, more than anything, a system of defense against a low, ducking hook, a problem that afflicts very few golfers.” Hogan achieved the grip he wanted through trial and error, and his final version went a long way toward helping him develop tremendous control over his swing and the golf ball. At the same time there are alternatives to the manner in which he gripped the club. It is important to realize that Hogan’s grip was a personal creation that helped him neutralize his tendencies. Art Wall, Jr., the 1959 Masters winner who played frequently with Hogan, confirmed to me that Hogan, being such a fast swinger, used extremely heavy and stiff-shafted clubs—yet another obvious component of his anti-hook plan. (Hogan also used clubs with flat lies, another anti-hook measure.) His ability to control these clubs demonstrated how strong he was physically, and also how much clubhead speed he was able to create. Many players who tried to hit his clubs found that doing so was an exercise in futility. They simply could not handle such heavy, stiff clubs.
Hogan advocated a grip that positions the club in the palm of the left hand and purely in the fingers of the right hand. I share these ideas to a point, but I would advise some subtle changes especially for people who (1) do not have real suppleness in the wrists and thumbs, and (2) would like to hit a consistent draw—probably a large percentage of the world’s golfers!
If the club sits too high in the palm, it’s easy to wear a hole in the glove.
Let’s first consider the left hand. In my experience, one of the most serious problems that golfers have is that they hold the club so much in the palm of the left hand that they tighten and freeze the wrist action. This makes it difficult for a golfer to cock the wrists correctly and to create any significant leverage. The club sits too high in the hand, to the extent that many golfers wear a hole in their gloves at the top of the palm. This is all brought about because the golfer feels a lack of power and tries to force some motion into the swing. The forced movement occurs mainly at the start of the swing, at the top of the backswing, and in the impact area. All this effort causes movement and friction between the hand and the grip of the club—the hole in the glove results. But a solution is available, a simple modification that for most people feels very good very quickly. It is quite amazing to see how easily the club works and the leverage that one creates when positioning the left hand properly; after all, the left hand acts as a hinge between the arm and the club, and promotes a fluid motion. The golfer feels that the club is in balance and that little, if any, effort is required to produce power and “snap” in the swing. (I’ll explain the solution in a moment.)
Positioning the club correctly in the left hand.
Hogan, because of his flexibility, had considerable natural leverage. His wrist action—the way he set the club going back and created so much snap with it through impact—helped him generate tremendous power. In an effort to create leverage and power, golfers need to correctly cock and uncock the wrists. If the golfer grips the club too much in the palm of his left hand then it is all too easy to lose leverage. A variety of common faults also arise, such as picking the club up from the start, rolling or fanning the clubface, the left arm breaking down, and the right elbow moving into a faulty position. The golfer compensates for, and reacts to, a bad grip by trying to force the club through, usually with the upper body, to try to generate some power. The wrist action of hitting a golf ball is rather like cracking a whip; try to crack it with stiff, wooden wrists and see how the rest of the body incorrectly gets into the act to try to help. The problem of gripping the club too much in the palm of the left hand is so widespread that placing it correctly has frequently changed golfers overnight from being sheers into players who draw the ball, while turning short hitters into solid ball-strikers who now get some distance. That distance comes because the golfer is now able to cock his wrists correctly, create more snap and leverage, and really accelerate the club through the ball.
Closing the left hand around the club.
Neutral left hand grip: curve at base of wrist; two knuckles showing; V between thumb and finger points up toward your right ear.
Left Hand Here’s the way I’d like you to place your left hand on the club. Hold the club up in front of you in your right hand, angled at forty-five degrees to your body. Now bring your left hand from the target at ninety degrees to the shaft and place it on the club so that it fits diagonally across the palm (A)
