Changed my grip and....

[elvis14]

I hurt my left thumb about 2 months ago (I'm right handed).  Pretty sure I did it at Drive Shack hitting lots of balls way too hard.  As a result I had to either stop playing golf or change my grip.  After doing some research and talking to a good friend who helps me out with my golf swing, I made two adjustments. First I rotated my left hand clockwise a bit so that my thumb isn't inline with the club (that's what was causing the pain).  Secondly I decoupled my hands a bit.  Instead of interlocking my fingers all they way down at the first joint (at the hand/knuckle) I separated them a bit and started interlocking them at the last joint nearest to the tip.

From what I can tell, both of these adjustments have moved the club more into my fingers on both hands. Which is probably better anyway.  It's been about a month since I've made this change and here's what I've noticed. 

The good:

1. irons are about a club longer, other clubs are longer as well
2. my thumb hurts less and is getting better over time, if it regresses I'll get it checked out once we are out and about
3. I really like the way this grip feels, I suspect the injury has caused me to fix something I'm doing wrong

The bad:

1. I'm more prone to pull the ball long and left (before I actually believed that I was a club longer I was flying greens again and again)
2. I'm having issues hooking my driver

The first issue I seems to be going away each week (been playing weekly).  The second issue is tough. Before last year, I never had an issue with a hook (and wasn't use to having to fix that).  One showed up last April and I eventually figured out how to fix it (rotate right hand counter-clockwise, move ball back a little in stance). The problem I'm having right now is that It's difficult to use that grip change fix with my current grip.  Hopefully I can figure it out soon (although I am finding quite a few playable golf balls about 175-200 yards out in the woods on the left!!!

Anyone else have a grip change make a dramatic change in their game?  Oh and I'll take advice on fixing that hook if you want to give it

 

[elvis14]

I've played a few more times since making this post.  On Sunday I thought I found a cure to my driver issue (hook).  Simply put, once I'm ready to hit, I release my right hand, rotate the butt of the shaft clockwise some in my left and and then replace my right hand. This opens the face and gets it back to square.  The perceived extra distance I'm getting has pretty much been confirmed.  Played yesterday and was long (for me, not for real golfers) all over the course.  I'm driving the ball quite a bit further than I was in the past.  I learned years ago that once I started using a GPS or rangefinder and you see real numbers on drives that a good drive for me was around 230 (poor hits shorter, great hits longer).  Right now my good hits are quite a bit longer (and when not straight enough...finding more trouble).

It's actually been fun making this adjustment and seeing what a difference a grip change can make.  I still need to add consistency but it's nice to be working on that with a little more length and not having my thumb hurt as much after rounds.

[SlowNLow]

6 hours ago, elvis14 said:

I've played a few more times since making this post.  On Sunday I thought I found a cure to my driver issue (hook).  Simply put, once I'm ready to hit, I release my right hand, rotate the butt of the shaft clockwise some in my left and and then replace my right hand. This opens the face and gets it back to square.  The perceived extra distance I'm getting has pretty much been confirmed.  Played yesterday and was long (for me, not for real golfers) all over the course.  I'm driving the ball quite a bit further than I was in the past.  I learned years ago that once I started using a GPS or rangefinder and you see real numbers on drives that a good drive for me was around 230 (poor hits shorter, great hits longer).  Right now my good hits are quite a bit longer (and when not straight enough...finding more trouble).

It's actually been fun making this adjustment and seeing what a difference a grip change can make.  I still need to add consistency but it's nice to be working on that with a little more length and not having my thumb hurt as much after rounds.

So tell me how to hurt my left thumb again....

Good adaptation for you, overcoming injury and improving.

Had a lesson in 2018, the teacher had me rotate my top hand clockwise, and moved my bottom hand way down the shaft where my top hand index finger and bottom hand pinky barely interlocked.  Definitely improved the oompah of the strike.  Unfortunately, my brain couldn't stick with it, and I fell back into my old grip.

[elvis14]

3 hours ago, SlowNLow said:

So tell me how to hurt my left thumb again....

Good adaptation for you, overcoming injury and improving.

Had a lesson in 2018, the teacher had me rotate my top hand clockwise, and moved my bottom hand way down the shaft where my top hand index finger and bottom hand pinky barely interlocked.  Definitely improved the oompah of the strike.  Unfortunately, my brain couldn't stick with it, and I fell back into my old grip.

What you describe is basically the change I made when I hurt my thumb (both the rotation of my top hand and the interlocking at the end of the fingers.  It's taken me a while to get used to and it causes a hook when things go bad.  I just figured out how to get rid of that hook.  I have hope that another month of playing like this will add some consistency to the added distance.

[SlowNLow]

4 minutes ago, elvis14 said:

What you describe is basically the change I made when I hurt my thumb (both the rotation of my top hand and the interlocking at the end of the fingers.  It's taken me a while to get used to and it causes a hook when things go bad.  I just figured out how to get rid of that hook.  I have hope that another month of playing like this will add some consistency to the added distance.

I'm going to try to lower my bottom hand tomorrow.  I eventually end up having that bottom hand creep up and completely cover my top hand thumb.  Damn.  If I didn't have a brain, I'd be a better player.

Expected high of 50, but I got to hit balls at the range at least.

[elvis14]

Just now, SlowNLow said:

I'm going to try to lower my bottom hand tomorrow.  I eventually end up having that bottom hand creep up and completely cover my top hand thumb.  Damn.  If I didn't have a brain, I'd be a better player.

Expected high of 50, but I got to hit balls at the range at least.

Hope it's a good experiment.  Took me a while to get used to it but even if my thumb does heal I'm going to try and stick with it.