Golf Lesson - Grip, Posture, & Alignment

Dave: Welcome back to Golf is Hard TV, the Golf Show for the rest of us, the internet’s most passionate golf show. We are back here with Paulina and Kate and now it’s time to work on some lessons. As you and I figure it out from the last episode, we have a lot of work to do but we are bringing our new golfers to the game and I have a feeling that by the end of this whole thing you guys are going to be really excited and passionate about golf as much as we are. So you know that we need to start with the fundamentals of today. We are going to work on the grip, posture and alignment. So if we can get those couple of things done, then we’ll be in good shape. So let’s take a look at the grip first. Now a couple of key things, we are going to look at the position of the hands and then we are going to look at overall grip pressure which is very important. We just talked about that in tennis, where if you grip the tennis racket is too hard, creates all kinds of problems and we know that tight muscles are slow muscles and we really want to be able to generate some club head speed. So we are going to be gripping kind of lightly. So -- alright, we are going to start in the left hand. Paulina: Did you talk left, that’s not right. Dave: Yeah, that’s okay. Well -- we are right handed golfers though. Paulina: Okay, so it's safe. Dave: So, yeah, we would throw left but we golf right. So we would be all be hitting at that way. Now we are going to have to get into the clubface position and all of that, but I don’t know if you can see this Paulina, but this club right here is aiming straight in that direction. Paulina: Yeah. Dave: So we want to grip the club. Can you see how this, the leading edge or the last groove is white. It have a white line. You want that white line at the point straight back between your feet. Paulina: Okay. Dave: And that kind of tells you that the club is aiming in the direction we want the ball to go. So let’s start in the left hand, and my grip position is great up through for our viewers to review some of the initial episodes on grip. It’s across the fingers more or less. So it’s kind of off on an angle, that’s good, that's perfect, and then the thumb goes on at about 1 O’clock and it’s really out in the fingers. The thing is, yeah, the most natural thing is to grab it right in the palm like a hammer and everyday item but for the grip we need to keep it out in the fingers, so -- Paulina: With an angle. Dave: We got it in the finger -- yeah, off to an angle. Thumb at 1 O’clock or so, perfect. Now in the left hand, it’s always good to put our right hand on -- kind of up at eye level so we can see, and again, it’s right really down in the fingers, down in here. And if you can feel two fingers, you want to have your hands together that’s good, and if you can feel two fingers kind of locking on to the grip, then it’s the two middle fingers and that’s kind of where it comes. Locks on the thumb, and this hand sits right on top of that thumb and this thumb is right here, that like 11 O’clock and that right there is the perfect grip. Paulina: Perfect grip. Dave: And let’s check Kate’s out. Yeah, that’s excellent. I thought that the muscle pad in that thumb and it’s right on the thumb, perfect. So there you go. That’s a perfect grip. Now how do we know how hard we really want to squeeze a club? So if you hold the club straight-up, kind of like this. You can almost feel no tension in your forearms; stretch those arms out like that. Good. Then if you hold it parallel to the ground, you can really -- are you strong enough following or you can start to feel more. I could feel your arms are more tensed -- more tension. So the proper really amount of grip pressure is right about 45 degrees somewhere in the middle and make a few little circles with the club, back and through. And that you really want to -- what we need to develop is feel for the club head very, very important. The feeling for the club-head, that’s what’s going to generate power and proper grip, is going to let this happen and we want our body. One thing you kind of remember is we want our body to react where we swing this. I am not going to swing the club with our body, we don’t our body follow the club, that’s our concept. Okay now, we are going to look at posture and that’s kind of how we stand, like where our body bends, and whole thing, and I think you come to this side a little bit. Now what we are going to do is this is a great way to get into the right posture every time, especially if you are starting to develop only good habits, this is good thing. Okay so, the best way to get in posture is pretty much stand straight up and down and hold the club straight out, arms -– extend the arms all the way. Why are you smiling about? Kate: Nothing. I am never able to get that grip back, I had it just right. Dave: Oh, that grip is perfect. Grip is perfect, good grip. Alright, now this is how we get the right posture. Our body only bends at two places; the hips and the knees, but the hips are the most important place when we hit. So we don’t really bend from the neck and we are not slanting over our back and all that stuff. So first thing we are going to do is kind of just lower the club until your arms rest on your chest. Okay, and that’s kind of where your arms are going to be relax, try it again, stretch it out, and slow your arms let them rest. Now bend from the hip sockets and till the club touches the ground. Paulina: What about the knees? Dave: Now, once you are there, now you just flex your knee just a little bit, really tight, that’s perfect posture right there. So are you able to catch out our camera pretty well, Mark? Alright, try it again. You are really want it before you actually get in and hit any shot you want to try to do this. Paulina: Right place, properly. Dave: Over the arms, bend from the hips only right here until the club just about it touches the top of the grass. And then flex your knees a little, good. That’s posture. How does that feel? Paulina: Comfortable. Dave: Yeah. And just a little knee flex, you don’t want to over – Paulina: Your back doesn’t hurt after doing this all the time? Dave: Yeah, probably will. You actually should feel a little, kind of lower back arching inward, sticking your butt out, like we talked about. It’s at athletic position from the waist style like almost any sport, kind of ready to go like tennis. That’s posture. Alright, good. So now we promise you some before and after. So, hey, why didn’t you step over here? Paulina: I am the before. She is the after. Kate: No, no, no, no. Dave: Paulina, why don’t you -- let’s get the ball. We are not going to actually hit the ball. Kate: Or instead want to end up with like in the middle of my fall. Dave: Okay. I want you to pretend that you are going to hit the ball that way. So you got to stand on this side. We have a lot of work to do. This is just to give you an idea. Paulina: Okay. Dave: Because I have -- Pauline: We're not going to actually try to hit, right now. Dave: We are not going to hit, we are just going to swing way, just going to swing. This is the before and after swing. I don’t know if I would ever give a lesson where the person didn't know what side the ball is going. Paulina: Okay. This now is the first. Dave: This might be your first, but that’s okay. This is just to give you an idea where to stand. I just want you to pretend swing the club like you are hitting it, just swing. Have you ever watch golf on TV? Paulina: Yeah. Dave: Alright, let’s see your best swing. Paulina: We’ll put this on, Okay. So it goes like this, go down a little fast like that. Dave: Your arms are just hanging, relax straight down, see where my arms are when I -- that’s why we need forward from the hip, very important, forward from the hip so the arms have room to swing. If I stand like this way, my arms are here. I am in forward, that’s my arm. Alright, swing it. Now if you actually hit that ball -- Paulina: He is laughing, cameraman is laughing. Dave: That’s why we’ve gone a couple of feet probably so. Alright, Kate come on and let’s see. Paulina: Go get him. Dave: We are in big trouble. Alright, Kate. Kate: Which stroke is this, yeah, is this like my tee shot or -- Dave: This is a full swing right off the fairway. Kate: Alright. Dave: Since you are asking that question that means that you have done this before? Kate: I got really frustrated once when I was like 12, I tried it and then threw the clubs and left away. So, I was too good in tennis, I didn’t want to bother of anything else. Dave: That’s good. Paulina: Wow! Dave: Good, very good. Excellent! That’s a nice full swing all the way through. Paulina, now you can see the difference. Kate: I just like that end shot, that’s the only one I like. It’s there right there. Paulina: Nice, full swing shot. Dave: Okay, that is excellent, excellent follow through. Well, folks, come on in Mark with the camera a little bit. You can see that we have some work to do here. I am trying to say that too many times but we have talked about grip and posture. The alignment stuff we'll get to but we are going to watch their swings evolve and then put my money on Kate right now but, but there is always a chance. So, thanks again for tuning in and stay tune for our future episodes of Golf is Hard TV, Lessons with Kate and Paulina.