The grip, the hands, and the cock of the wrists

ROBERT T. JONES

Three of the fundamentals in the correct golf swing explained and clarified for the average golfers

A correct grip is a fundamental necessity in the correct golf swing. It might even be said to be the first necessity, for a player must bold the club correctly before it can become physically possible for him to swing it easily or correctly.

In gripping a golf club, try to bold it rather lightly as a very tight grip necessarily tenses all the muscles of the wrists and forearms so that any degree of flexibility is impossible.

In the right grip, the two hands should be able to function, as nearly as possible, as one, and their positions, on the club, should encourage easy handling of the club throughout a correct swing. If a player is not in the habit of employing a grip which fills this bill, be should immediately alter it until it does. But, after altering this grip until it is correct and comfortable, let him look elsewhere for the trouble. For the hands form the connection with the club. Through the hands the player is able to sense the location and alignment of the club. They are the keys to his control. The slightest change leaves him groping. The worst mistake possible to make in gripping the club is to separate the actions of the two hands. It is not necessary to distinguish between the overlapping, interlocking and old fashioned grips. Either one is good enough if the hands are placed so that they can work together comfortably.

■ PLACING THE HANDS.—The left hand should be well up on top of the shaft, for the beginner who holds bis club so that he can see the tips of the fingers of his left band is hopeless—until be changes. Similarly, the right band must not be placed too far under the shaft, for. starting from this position, it is likely to turn over in the act of hitting. If the left band has been placed correctly, it is not likely that the right will be placed too much on top. for' this would require a contortion which no one is at all likely to endure.

There is one thing in the grip which makes it a lot easier to secure a good wrist cock at the top of the swing and that is to hold the club in the fingers of the left hand. If you will try the thing yourself you will find that, if the club is allowed to lie across the palm of the left hand, merely holding on to it tightens the muscles in the hand and wrist, but if it is held in the fingers, and mainly with the upper three fingers*of that hand, the tightness in the wrist will be considerably diminished. Another thing which this assists is the feel of the clubhead at the top of the swing. I find that it helps materially to open the left band a tiny bit at the top in order to get just a little sense of the weight of the club at that point. It is running a grave risk to do this if the club is held in the palm of the hand, for then it is likely to change its position, but if it is held firmly in the fingers, the fingers may open without actually relaxing their grip upon the club, and the little tug which the clubhead gives aids just that much in causing the left wrist to bend.

It will be found, also, that any needed amount of pressure can be bad from the grip of the fingers without stiffening the wrists. For this reason, the shaft of the club should be controlled mainly by the fingers. It should not lie entirely in the fingers, for this would require strained positions for the wrists, but the control should be there. If it is held in the palms of the hands, baseball fashion, even the muscles of the forearm become tautened.

BRINGING THE CLUB BACK.—And now. to consider another matter; the point where the clubhead leaves the ball starting the backward stroke. There are two common mistakes made at this stage, both of them extremes. One class of player takes the club back abruptly upward, that is, ho lifts it up with his right hand in much the same way that he would be expected to handle a pick or a hoe. a perfect chopping action; the other fellow, guarding against this gardener's stroke, rolls, or turns, the wrists for the first motion; this results in the old, flat, round-house swing which we see so often in pictures and which is also a mistake. The proper motion here is neither a lift nor a turn. Analysis photographs show that the first motion of the backswing accomplished by the body, especially the hips and knees. Their action results in the arms moving straight across the front of the body, and if there is any motion of the hands and wrists during the first few instants of the swing (while the clubhead is travelling at least a foot or sol it is purely a negative one. The wrists are merely relaxed so that they follow, rather than lead.

■ WHEN WRIST ACTION STARTS.—One might say. I think, that the wrists do absolutely nothing until the real upswing commences. It is most important that the arc of the stroke be so adjusted that the clubhead will start back very flatly. The arc which rises abruptly from the ball is entirely wrong. The club should thus be dragged backward at least until it reaches a position where it is pointing toward the ground at an angle of about thirty degrees with its original position. It is then that the wrist action begins. And in deribing it there is a splendid chance for a material misunderstanding. To lift the club at the start of the backswing is fatal. But after it has been dragged backward as I have described, then the next wrist motion is exactly that which would result in lifting if it were done at the beginning. There is never a roll of the wrists such as would cause a rotation of the forearm, that is, the left one. When the swing reaches the point where it becomes necessary to start the upward motion, then the wrists, not all at once, but gradually, break in the same way that they would if. from the position of address, we were to lift the club abruptly over the right shoulder without moving the arms.

We commonly observe the average golfer beginning his backswing by a sudden pronation of the left wrist, turning the palm underneath. and directing the club in a very flat arc around bis knees. In this manner be conceives himself to be opening the face of the club, when in actual fact, he is doing nothing more than removing all possibility of correct body movement. In a great majority of cases, this sort of action is accompanied by a left shoulder that comes around too high, and a movement of weight toward the left foot during the backswing.

■ THE BACKSWING.—The backswing in golf, of course, is only the means of getting into the right position at the top of the swing, but that function is about as important as any that could be named, and it is in this respect that the average golfer encounters most of his trouble. Somehow when the club reaches the top it is usually possible to tell whether the shot will be a success or not. Usually, if a player gets himself into a good hitting position and knows it. he will be able to complete the operation more or less successfully.

I do not say that most bad shots are caused by the failure to start the backswing properly, but I do say that, where the backswing is to blame, the mistake is usually made at the very beginning of it; and I think that the most common error at this point is to be found in the left forearm. There used to be a theory of great popular favor that the right wrist rolled over the left in bringing the club against the ball. This led. I am sure, to a conception that in starting the club back the wrists should roll in the opposite direction. In other words, the swing was thought of as a continually rounding arc with the clubhead leading and opening all the way. I should say that nine-tenths of the players seen around any course initiate the backswing with the hands in such a way that the clubhead begins to open during the first fraction of an inch of its movement, and they produce this effect by turning the left wrist and forearm. I have always advised "pushing" the club back with the left hand, but apparently this is not specific enough. Many instructors advise "dragging" the club away from the ball, but even that does not give a clear picture. It is safe to say that there is no place for a roll of the wrist, or of the left forearm in golf, and this applies to putting and short approaches as well as to the longer shots.

■ BACKSWING STARTED BY ARMS.—I have carefully studied motion pictures of all the world's best players and I find one thing to be true in every case; namely, in playing a full shot, the clubhead is swung back at least a foot and a half before the wrists even begin to cock.

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The most correct action of the left wrist and forearm is almost exactly that which results when the club is held horizontally in front of the player and whipped up and down over the right shoulder. At the top of the swing the left wrist should be immediately under the shaft of the club so that it must be flexed backward and never perfectly straight.

There is one little trick, which has often been used by instructors to get the pupil into a proper position at the top of the swing, which illustrates exactly what the wrist action ought to accomplish. It is done something like this. The pupil is made to address the hall perfectly naturally, just as though he were preparing to hit it; but after he has done this, instead of swinging the club backward in the ordinary way, he is told to lift the club over his right shoulder solely by flexing or breaking bis wrists. Nothing but the hands and wrists move. The left arm remains straight and every other part of the body remains just as it was. The second movement is a turn of the body just as would be accomplished in playing any full shot, and, this time, everything moves except the hands, wrists and arms.

Thus, the body action and the hand and wrist action are entirely separated -before the player attempts to graft the two together. If the wrist action, done all at once, is right, and the body action, done all at once, is likewise correct then the result will be a perfect position at the top.

Once having reached the point where the club has arrived at a good position at the top, the only remaining consideration is to follow it down and describe what takes place during the hitting stroke. From here, there are just two places where the average golfer is likely to get into trouble, or rather two motions which may puzzle him. The first is usually described as the "uncocking" of the wrists. The wrists have flexed, or broken or "cocked," during the backswing. By "uncocking" is meant the act of straightening these wrists and of making use of the power which they possess in the "cocked" position.

What the player should first appreciate is that the "cocked" wrist is a source of very great power, and, after he has come to realize that, he should think of where he would most like to use that power. Of course there is only one best place to expend it, and that is at the ball. The fellow who uncocks his wrists at the very beginning of the hitting stroke finds himself approaching the ball with no means, other than bis shoulders and body, of adding to the speed of the clubhead. By using the power of his wrists too soon, he has actually taken all of the sting out of his stroke. He should rather have the feeling that he is pulling the club down with his left arm, and that he is holding the wrist-action in reserve, to let loose when his club is in position to whip through the ball.

The second mystery is met when the club has reached what is called the hitting area, when the time has come to put in the punch. To the casual observer it appears that, at this point, the club must be lashed forward by crossing the right hand over the left, by stopping the left wrist and turning the right over quickly, in the same way that we all would do if we were trying to throw the clubhead off the end of the shaft. But this, again, is a very grave mistake.

It has been demonstrated, beyond question, that in the most effective methods, this cross-over does not occur until perceptibly after the ball has been struck, nor until the clubhead has travelled over a foot beyond the ball.

Throughout the downstroke the player ought to have in his mind that he is going to drive the club through with his left hand and arm, and that, in carrying the left hand through, it is going to be the little finger side which passes first.