The Ten Finger, or baseball grip, is helpful for junior and lady golfers who lack hand, wrist, and forearm strength. It allows some players to square the club more easily during the swing. The overlap and interlock grips are used by the majority of professional golfers, and promote a unified “couple”, or connection of right and left hand.
Clubface orientation is the direction the clubface is pointing in relation to the target line, when it is in your grip. See the image below.
My recommendation is to try different grip types, and clubface orientations, to determine which combination gives you the best results Remember, there is no one recipe for all golfers, so be open to trying different things and experimenting in practice to find the right ingredients!
Alignment
If you have ever shot a gun, or a free throw in basketball for that matter, you most likely took the time to get lined up to the target or hoop. If you didn’t, you most likely had a low success rate in hitting your target. Alignment is a struggle for most golfers, and takes dedicated practice time to understand and improve. First, we must remember that alignment lines are like railroad tracks. The ball is on one track, and your body is on another. The lines your body creates should be parallel to the target line, not pointed at the target. On the driving range, we have alignment sticks at every station, so when you practice, put that alignment stick on the ground for your toe line If you are right handed, use the stick to line your feet up parallel left of the target If you are left handed, use the stick to line up parallel right of the target. See the image below for an example of why we do not want to point the alignment stick at the target. Then practice approaching the ball from behind it, like you would do in a round of golf, and familiarize yourself with addressing the ball on your target line. That is the first step for alignment. The next step is to ask a friend, or an instructor, to check your shoulder and hip alignment as compared to your feet. Ideally, we would have all three points, shoulders, hips, and feet, lined up somewhat down the target line If the shoulders or hips are pointed in opposite directions, you are most likely fighting this in your golf swing.
For more information or questions about these fundamentals, contact Andrew (andrew@bccgolf.org) or (615) 373-2552 Ext. 502.
