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While my golf game improves as I practice, I’ve classified my golf game into two periods (like geological time periods). Of course, my golf game is very early in its life so I can’t say if there are additional time periods later on. So, I assume everybody falls into one of the two periods. The two periods are:

• The Weak Grip period - most beginners, people who play infrequently are likely in this period.
• The Strong Grip period

And when I say weak/strong grip, I’m not talking about how you position your hands on the club. I’m literally talking about your grip strength. I’d guess most beginners fall into the Weak Grip period, while most experts are in the Strong Grip period. Me, personally? I think I’m right in the middle of the transition. And as I am transitioning, I can see the changes it has on the affects of my swing.

When you speak with experts or those in the Strong Grip period (not all people with strong grips are experts, though), they talk about swinging a club a certain way and maybe talk about a very light grip. I wonder if they remember how strong their grip was when they first started. Does that mean beginners should ignore such advice? In Tommy Armour’s book, he mentions this and suggests that the one exercise that can really help is strengthening one’s grip. Even if the experts advice is not immediately helpful, the advice is likely accurate in the long term.

With a weaker grip and weaker wrists/forearms, there are things that are more difficult to accomplish and you have less control of the club. For me personally, my swing compensated for these weaknesses. I suspect people who have different swings for their irons and woods are also compensating. In my personal case, the length and weight of the woods made it more difficult for me to cock my wrist in my backswing. To compensate, my swing minimized the strength needed in my wrists. As I practiced and my grip/forearm/wrists got stronger, I found I was able to control my woods better allowing me to swing my woods the same way I swing my irons. I can’t say I’m hitting my woods fantastically right now, but unifying my swing should improve by hitting down the road.

Of course, I think the best way to build this strength is through practice. I see this as being similar to learning to drive a stick (shift). When you first start learning, your left foot is weak and has very little feel for the clutch. Certainly, you could go to the gym to make your left leg/foot stronger but it would still lack sensitivity. But after thousands of miles driving, not only will your left foot be stronger, you will have better fine motor skills and greater sensitivity. The human brain is quite incredible in its ability to learn. Better control and better feel will also benefit your golf swing.

Of course, being a beginner myself, my advice should be taken with a grain of salt. This is really just me documenting the evolution of my golf game.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 2:44 am and is filed under Golf. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.