Southern California's No. 1 Golf Source
SITE
SEARCH
GOLF RESOURCE GUIDE:
Dr. Golf
|
||||
 Patient: Male Age: 36 Current Handicap: 14 Lowest Handicap: 14 Has played golf for: 8 years Plays: About once a month Practices: Rarely The symptoms: I have a friend who has huge grips on his clubs. They feel really good in my hands and, after hitting a few solid shots with his clubs on the course, I’m wondering if I should make my grips big, too. How does grip size affect how you hit the ball? Dr. Golf’s prescription: The size of your grips greatly influences the overall feel of the golf club. For instance, when your grips are too small the club will feel heavier in your hands. When your grips are too big your club will feel lighter. Grip size also influences the amount of hand action that occurs during the swing, and can affect your ability to square the clubface at impact. If the grips on your clubs are too small, the tendency is for the club to over-rotate through impact, causing shots that tend to miss left of your target. Grips that are too big will impede the hands’ ability to rotate the clubhead through impact, causing shots to miss right of the target. Here’s a quick way to check if your grips are right for you: Grab any iron from your bag and grip it with both hands. Take your normal set-up position and swing the club to the top of your backswing. Take your right hand off the club and look at your left hand. The tips of your two middle fingers should be close to, but not touching, the thumb pad on your left hand. If there is a big space between your fingertips and the thumb pad, your grips are too big. If your fingers are digging into the pad of your left hand, your grips are too small. Patient: Male Age: 47 Current Handicap: 11 Lowest Handicap: 7 Has played golf for: 15 years Plays: Two or three times a month Practices: Occasionally The symptoms: I don’t hit the ball terribly far, but I am pretty straight, especially off the tee. My problem is that I get no roll off my drives. I pop it out there about 220 yards with my driver, but I rarely get any roll. I’m reluctant to change my driver because I do hit it straight. Is there something else I could do to try and get a few extra yards? Those long approach shots are killing me. Dr. Golf’s prescription: Being properly fitted to your driver is the best way to create maximum distance while maintaining your average for hitting fairways. Your problem is common to a lot of students I teach. It sounds as though the driver you are using is creating too much backspin. Too much spin creates excess lift in your ball flight, causing your ball to balloon and drop out of the sky early, producing little or no roll that results in drives that are straight but short. The best way to determine which driver will give you the best results is to use a launch monitor that measures ball velocity, launch angle, clubhead speed, side spin and back spin. The optimum driver will produce a fairly high launch angle (between 9-14 degrees) with low back spin. Get properly fitted and your ball will explode off the clubface and stay in the air longer. Erik Horve is a PGA professional at Tustin Ranch Golf Club and the 2005-06 SCPGA Clubfitter of the Year. He can be reached at (714) 734-2104. |
||||
RSS Subscribe
