Good and Bad

Here I demonstrate a player with a good grip and a square clubface. You can see that the shaft of the club is on plane, as a neutral clubface encourages better body positions throughout the swing.

The straighter the ball flight, the less compensations you find yourself making. The shaft of the club should cut through the right shoulder, with the butt of the club pointing at the ball to target line.

Because the path of the club matches the alignment of the clubface I will soon develop a freer and more powerful swing with a straighter ball flight producing more accurate shots.

If I make a bad swing with a square face driver, the resulting flight of the ball should give a clearer indication of where my fault lies. From there myself or my coach can get the club back into the correct positions.

In order to be successful at golf, a good grip should allow the clubface to be released square through the ball. As I demonstrate opposite, a closed face driver inhibits this.

This picture shows how a player with a good grip reacts to a closed face driver. I am holding the face off and delivering the club from too far inside and as a result my spine angle has completely straightened. This position has become all too common in the modern game.

My problem is that because of a closed clubface, if I put my spine angle into the correct position and swing the club down the correct path, this ball will start left and continue left. Often the reaction to this becomes a severe block (straight right). Hence this is known as a two way miss.

You simply cannot underestimate a players natural ability to bring the clubface back to square through impact. Before I start analysing this players swing (which looks like a drunken night in a game of twister!) I need to put a neutral face driver in his hands to determine any problems. The results of using this club is that the golfer cannot decide if they made a good or a bad swing. Because a good swing might produce a bad shot there is a lack of trust, and they are unable to develop a better game.