Andrew Rice Golf

Posts Tagged ‘impact position’

Hands forward at Impact

One of the most important parts of a great impact is getting the hands in front of the clubhead or ball. This leads to a downward strike and ball compression. Additionally, I have found that the hands appear to line up up with the lead thigh at impact for the vast majority of the top players in the game. There are a few factors that play a big role in your ability to get the hands forward at impact and compress the golf ball.

Too many golfers are here...

If you are tired of scooping at impact or a weak inconsistent strike then read on….. The primary factor is the quality of your grip.  The weaker the grip the further back the hands tend to start at address and the further back they are required to be at impact. I don’t ever recall seeing a golfer with a weak grip (other than Ben Hogan) getting the hands far enough in front of the ball at impact. Think about it: if the grip is weak and the more forward the hands are, then the more open the face will be at impact.  Take a look how many Tour golfers have grips that appear to be stronger vs. weaker and they all have forward shaft lean at impact. Essentially a weak grip necessitates that the hands be further back than they should at impact (they must be back in order to square the clubface), and the more back the hands are, the poorer the strike and the weaker the trajectory will tend to be.

A Strong Grip

If you are currently the owner of a weak, or even neutral, grip try this:

• As you prepare to take your grip, rotate the face 20-30 degrees closed
• Now take your regular grip
• At address make sure the face is square (this will rotate your hands and arms into a stronger position)

For some reason this method of strengthening your grip does not seem to be as uncomfortable as merely just rotating your hands on the club. Move the club instead. Give it a try.

A proper strong grip will enable you to lead the clubhead with the handle while maintaining a square clubface at impact and compress the ball – isn’t that what we’re after?

Here is a gallery containing almost 30 PGA Tour golfers from past and present. Take a look at where their hands are at impact:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

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Impact Drill: How to Stop Scooping

The Impact “Drag” Drill

An Athletic Impact Drill

Drive the Hips into Impact

Lee Westwood

Even though the current world  number one, Lee Westwood,  lost in the Match Play event today he remains a brilliant ball striker and a contender in  almost every major championship.

The interesting part about Lee’s swing, which many regard as somewhat unique, is his impact position. Is that a chicken wing? Surely that cannot be good? Remember that the only factor that matters is the physics (forces and angles) that the golf club imparts on the ball.

Retief Goosen

Retief Goosen is the other premier golfer who gets into this impact position, although to a much lesser degree. In looking at the two pictures above notice that the handle of the club is positioned in front of each golfers left/lead thigh.  This is vital! With the driver, the shaft should be vertical or leaning slightly forward, as in the Westwood image, but with irons there should be at least 10 degrees of shaft lean. Note that the hands should also be in front of the lead thigh.

The moral of the story – get the club in a great position, relative to the ball, at impact and good things will happen for you; chicken wing and all!

Should your chicken wing not be quite as functional as the two players above here is a little help:

Read the original post HERE

After more research and some great input from several excellent instructors I have quite a bit to add to the previous post. There are even a few additional golfers I have found to add to the “zero” club (no change in handle position from address to impact) – there has been so much fantastic input that I just had to share it.

Jonathan Yarwood makes a great point in identifying the difference between irons and the driver:

I think that there has to be a raise of the shaft with a driver due to the nature of the sweeping hit off a tee. However, if you look at players like Pricey, the driver became their nemesis, as they got the plane too low to get it flying with the new equipment. Sergio struggles to flight the driver too. Trevino too at times. With a driver, some ’swing and freewheeling’ is required through the hit allowing the club to raise somewhat.

Joe Durant

Mark Costaregni, my fellow teacher at Atlantic Golf Club in NY, and senior teacher with Jim McLean at Doral says:

I think you are spot on with this, we have studied shaft plane at address vs. impact and only a few return the handle on plane!!! Fulton Allem also returns it on plane. I remember some footage of Sergio actually UNDER with the handle!!! I believe this is a benchmark for pure greatness in striking. Also it seems the real power hitters tend to get the handle up at impact because of the leverage factor.

Thanks for the addition of Fulton Allem to the list Mark. Fulty has always been a fantastic ball striker and was a prolific winner in South Africa. At Doral they have a fantastic resource in that the best players in the world come to them every year and that leads to a superb bank of swings to analyze and evaluate. I would have to agree with you when you say “pure greatness in striking”.

There were multiple questions regarding shaft droop or bowing and even some skepticism about whether any golfer could achieve the “zero” impact position – however the pictures don’t lie. Here is what I have noticed:

• The average shaft angle with a 7 iron at address is around 54 degrees; the average lie angle of a 7 iron is 63 degrees. That allows for 9 degrees of droop/bow in the shaft at impact even with the handle returning to the exact same position at impact – as a result golfers DO NOT need to lift/raise the handle in order to account for the curvature of the shaft.

Vijay Singh

• I have found that the golfers who get the handle in the “zero” position (zero degrees of change from address to impact) through the hit tend to have what appears to be less droop/bow in their shaft. This is due to the fact that their hands/arms swing into the ball on a lower (more shallow) plane that more closely matches the plane the clubhead travels on. The lower the arm plane coming into impact, the less difference there is between the arm and clubhead plane and thus less droop/bow in the shaft.
• Thus, the higher the hands are positioned through impact the more the shaft tends to curve downward.
• That being said, if you can return the handle to its address position, you should not need to flatten your irons (unless they are too upright already!) due to the fact that the shaft will droop less.

The next time you are playing a “well worn” golf course take a look at the divot patterns on the range or a shortish par three.  Keeping in mind that most golfers are right handers, you’ll see most of the divots are in the shape of a trapezoid. This is due to high hands and excessive droop in the shaft getting the toe further into the ground than the heel.

Fulton Allem

Here is an excellent drill to illustrate how any golfer can work towards achieving this ultimate impact position. If there ever was a drill that would make you hit it like Hogan, this is it.

Reed Howard, an fine young golfer illustrates how to perfectly execute this drill. Does this look like Ben Hogan or what?

A point to note: the line drawn on the photos of Moe Norman is not the original shaft plane line. The shaft plane line is drawn along the shaft at address. I am not sure what the yellow line in the photos represents, but it does act as a good reference point.

Moe Norman at Address

Moe Norman at Impact

The select list of golfers who belong to the zero club are:

• Moe Norman
• Ben Hogan
• Nick Price
• Lee Trevino
• Vijay Singh
• Joe Durant
• Carl Pettersson
• Sergio Garcia

The golfers who are very close (within two degrees), but not quite there:

• Trevor Immelman
• Lucas Glover
• DJ Trahan
• Boo Weekley
• Paula Creamer
• Sean O’Hair

All very good ball strikers in their own right!

Carl Pettersson

I have only ever personally witnessed two golfers “naturally” return the handle to its original position. They are - Lindsay Renolds and Michael Koulianos. Both superb ball strikers!

Try the drill - strive for zero – and know that if you get close to it you can only get better!

I really believe that if any golfer can work towards getting into a better position (zero!) at impact they can only improve their ball striking and increase the enjoyment they get from the game.

Keep working!

Here is another great drill to help any golfer gain a better perspective of what impact should feel like.

• Drape a towel (large or small) around the hosel of any iron.
• With the clubhead resting on the ground as pictured above drag the towel along the ground toward the target.

This drill can be done with or without a towel (pictured below) and will give you the sense of leading with the handle into the impact zone.

Notice the flex and pressure in the shaft as I am pressing down while dragging the handle into the hit.  Give it a try – I did, and I think it can help you too.

Thanks to my fellow instructor Mark Costaregni at Atlantic Golf Club for turning me onto this drill and Joe Connery for his camera expertise.

View the HD video of this drill HERE

On Monday, April 19th I will be offering a free Golf Seminar to anybody who has purchased or purchases “It’s All About Impact” - my recent golf instruction book.  The seminar will take place at the Learning Center at Berkeley Hall in Bluffton, SC from 10AM-12PM.

For the cost of a book you get a two hour seminar included? That is correct!

Topics that will be covered include:

• The 84 degree secret and why it matters
• The correct shoulder pivot
• Fundamentals for the Impact Driven golf swing
• Impact Position basics
• Take home exercises and drills for long game and short game

The 84 Degree Secret

As an added incentive to attend, and of course purchase the book, all attendees who purchase additional books will receive a voucher for a $75 golf lesson (one hour) with Andrew Rice – that is 50% off the regular rate of $150!

In order to purchase your copy to ensure your place in this insightful golf seminar please go to www.itsallaboutimpact.com and make your purchase today. If you have already purchased the book and plan on attending please let me know by emailing me at andrew@andrewricegolf.com.

Please be sure to bring your copy of “It’s All About Impact” to the seminar so I can personalize it for you. I hope to see you all next Monday and “GET YOUR PLAID ON” this week!