 |
The Alignment of Your Shoulders and the Grip
The alignment of your shoulders often determines what kind of shot you are going to hit.
If your shoulders are parallel to the target line (ball to target line), your shoulders are square. If your shoulders are pointing left, you are open. If your shoulders are pointing right, you are in a closed position.
How to Check Shoulder Alignment
Here is the easy way to check your shoulders. First, set up to the ball as if you were going to hit the shot.
Next, without moving other parts of your body, hold your shaft against your shoulders and see where it points to.
If you are square to the target line, your shoulders are parallel to the target line.
For example, if you slice the ball and try to fix it without knowing your shoulders are open, you won't be able to fix your slice. Even if you fix it, that won't last a long time with open shoulders.
Jack Nicklaus was known to hit a fade. At his best, he was hitting shots from a slightly open shoulder position.
It's easier to hit a fade from a slightly open position.
Lots of slicers also have an open shoulder at address. But they are trying to hit it straight without knowing that they have an open shoulder position. That's a big difference.
But why do golfers tend to have an open position? There is a reason for it.
How do You Grip a Golf Club
There is more than one reason why lots of slicers' shoulders are open. Let me talk about one of the reasons today.
Most slicers probably grip a golf club first and then set up to the ball. This is fine for golfers with correct grip. But slicers usually have a wrong grip or weak grip.
When you have a weak grip, your right shoulders tend to be level at address. But the right hand for right handed player is below the left hand when we grip the golf club. That means your right shoulder should be lower than the left shoulder at address.
If your right shoulder is higher than it should be, your right shoulder tends to drop down or dip on the downswing causing clubface to open at impact. The result is a big slice to the right.
To fix this problem, lower your right shoulder first before griping the golf club. Grip your club with your left hand making sure that your right shoulder is lower than left and then take your right hand grip.