The V-Grip (How To Stop Hooking)

The V-Grip (Stop Hooking With a Grip Change)

To Stop Hooking see also: http://simplegolf.com/blog/full-swing/stopping-pulls-and-hooks/

Here’s a specialized grip that will definitely help if an overactive bottom hand is closing the club through impact causing a hook. (Note: Don’t consider trying this grip unless you have confirmed problems due to an over active bottom hand.)

I call it the V-Grip because you put the shaft actually right into the V of your trail hand (bottom hand) between your thumb and index finger. This is a grip where your trail hand can be quite a ways under the club but it allows you to straighten your trail wrist and not fly your trail elbow out (causing a pull) or roll your wrist over closing the club face (causing a hook).

Take your standard PowerThumb grip with your lead hand (assuming a right handed golfer). Then you put your trail hand under the shaft and slide the shaft right up against the V where your trail hand index finger and thumb meet. The pad at the base of your trail index finger is under the shaft at a 6 o’clock or even 7 o’clock position. The palm of your trail hand is somewhat facing straight up.

Now you can experiment a bit with the right hand position whether but you absolutely have to MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THE SHAFT RIGHT IN THE V. The club actually has to be touching the bottom of the “V”. In some ways it’s almost like you are pushing the club with the bottom of the “V” of your trail hand.

Use the Squeeze Test http://simplegolf.com/blog/full-swing/squeeze-test-to-check-your-grip/ to find the right position for your bottom hand where you can flex your bottom wrist (i.e., hit with your bottom hand) and the club face will still stay square through impact.

It takes a little experimenting with the exact position of your bottom hand (turning it clockwise or counter-clockwise) but when you find the right position that club face will stay nice and square through impact even it your really going after it with your bottom hand. You’re looking for the exact position of your bottom hand where you can flex or straighten your right wrist and the club will stay square through impact.

If your bottom hand is too much underneath the club (too clockwise) you could still close the club face through impact. If your bottom hand is not enough under the club or palm up you can also still close the club through impact when that bottom hand wrist straighten.

Just move your bottom hand grip a little clockwise (strengthen it) or counter clockwise (weaken it) until you find the exact position that the club face just won’t close through impact even if your really use your bottom hand a lot.

This grip seems to works best with a double overlap. IT ALSO HELPS IF YOU LOOSEN YOUR GRIP WITH YOUR RING FINGER AND LITTLE FINGER OF YOUR BOTTOM HAND. Your bottom hand ring finger and little finger can act like a fulcrum for the bottom hand closing the club face through impact. Try taking your bottom hand ring finger and little finger off the grip just letting them float in the air. (NOTE: this double overlap position is significantly different from our standard double overlap grip position. The trail hand is rotated almost 90 degrees more under the shaft than with the regular double overlap). This grip also works okay as a single overlap and seems to work somewhat with a 10 fingered grip however, I don’t recommend the 10 fingered version. I’d much rather see you use one of the overlap versions of the Vgrip because that unifies your hands more and makes a good core powered swing more likely and a handsy swing less likely.

This grip feels “different” and it looks different because your bottom hand is almost palm up. It does enable your bottom hand to give some pushing power through impact. It dramatically reduces the tendency to close the club through impact with right side, right hand dominate type players.

This grip automatically helps keep your trail elbow close to your side so it may help prevent pulls if you tend you let your back elbow fly up and wind up with an Outside-To-Inside swing.

I AM NOT SUGGESTING THIS AS A GRIP FOR THE AVERAGE SYMPLE SWINGER. With Symple Swing all we need is a trail hand grip that doesn’t screw things up through impact. If it does sound like your trail hand is causing problems through impact then the V-Grip is engineered to reduce those specific problems. If you have any questions about the V-Grip e-mail me at Joe@SimpleGolf.com.

Joe Davidson
Simple Golf

Power Thumb Grip

By Joe Davidson 18 Comments

Power Thumb Grip

Top Hand Grip (The Left Hand Grip for Right Handed Golfers.)
The top hand PowerThumb Grip is a key element of the Symple Swing because it allows you to keep your club on-plane with the clubface square all through the swing. The top hand grip is significantly different from a traditional grip. It does not hold the club in all the fingers. The top hand and forearm are in a completely different orientation from that of a traditional golf grip. It is NOT a strong grip. It is a completely different way of gripping the club. We call it the “PowerThumb Grip.” It is a flat wrested grip. The “flat wrist” refers to the back of the hand being flat (or aligned) with the wrist throughout the swing)

Advantages of the Power Thumb grip

Keeping the club face square to the swing plane is a huge improvement over the traditional grip. When you use the Power Thumb grip you don’t have to open the club on the backswing and then struggle to get the club face back to square again on the downswing. Correctly opening and closing the club face requires great timing and coordination. That’ s fine one day when “you’re one” then then terrible the next day when your coordination is not so sharp and the ball is flying off in all directions. The Power Thumb is a much simple grip which keeps the club face square to the swing plane on the backswing and the downswing. Our simulator testing has shown the Simple Swing reduces your shot dispersion pattern by 50%. That means if you normally spray the ball between 30 yards right and 30 yards left then with Simple Swing your balls will only be going between 15 yards right and 15 yards left. That alone will pretty much keep you out of the woods and mostly in the short grass. No other golf swing’s grip including grips of the traditional golf swing, natural golf grip, heard grip, graves golf grip or any other grip can keep the club face square like we do.

How To Do The Power Thumb Grip

1. Extend your left arm down again with your elbow joint on-plane. Grab the club in a pinching motion between your thumb and index finger. The back of your hand (near your index finger) will point almost straight up (12 o’clock position).

Club in middle of palm up against the thumb and thumb pad

2. You should feel a slight groove forming at the base of your thumb, where your palm joins your wrist. The grip of your club will go in that groove

The club goes right up the middle of the palm with the grip pressing against the whole thumb (thumb and thumb pad)

The hand is turned here showing the whole thumb (thumb and thumb pad at the base of the thumb) positioned up against the grip

Your thumb and the large pad at the base of your thumb should be against the grip at the 2 o’clock to 3 o’clock position
(for a right handed golfer) on the back side (away from the target) of the grip. The pad at the base of your top hand index
finger should be right on the top of the shaft.

The top thumb fits in the groove of the bottom hand

Then you let your fingers grab the club to hold it securely. It’s okay to have a small gap between the base of your little
finger of your top hand and the grip.

3. The left thumb (for a right handed player) and the golf club travel back “on-plane” during the backswing and it is also
“on-plane” during the downswing.

BOTTOM HAND Grip (The Right Hand Grip for Right Handed Golfers)

A two finger overlap grip is strongly recommended although other bottom grips can be used if used with the “pinch”
modification.

The “Pinch”
With all the grips it is very important that the thumb and index finger of the bottom hand are “pinched” together. The
fingerprint pad (opposite the thumb nail) of your bottom hand thumb should be resting against the fingerprint pad of the
bottom hand index finger. You are in effect pinching your thumb and first finger together around the club. The purpose of
this “pinch” modification is to slightly weaken the tendency of the bottom hand to tense up and overpower the top hand
and roll it over closing the clubface at impact.

Note The "Pinch" With The Two Fingered Overlap Grip

Put your top hand on the club first.

When you take your grip the club is directly in-line with your forearm

Both hands on the club.

If you have any questions about the Power Thumb grip please feel free to submit the questions through our Simple Golf helpdesk system at http://www.SimpleGolf.com/helpdesk That’s actually the quickest way to ask a question and get a prompt response because everything is tracked. We get so much e-mail (most of it spam) that sometimes I can miss an e-mail but that doesn’t happen with the helpdesk. You can also call us directly at 203-794-4900.

The History Of The Power Thumb Grip

When developing Simple Swing we tested all kinds of different ways to grip the club. We were looking for something simple yet powerful. One of the things I noticed was that when I asked a student to do the old drill where you turn the club upside down grab the shaft just under the club head with your leading (or front) hand and swing the shaft with one hand, that they often grabbed the club with their thumb in the 2 o’clock to 3 o’clock position behind the club. They did this despite the fact their normal grip position was keeping their thumb up near the 12 o’clock position.

I repeated testing this many times with students using an upside down club or a 36 inch dowel rod. At this point I noticed that the students kept the whole length of their thumb, from the top of the thumb right down to the pad at the base of the thumb, in contact with the rod/shaft. Traditional golf thinking always suggested that keeping the club in the fingers (rather than the palm) was the best way to generate club head speed. Yet our testing was finding that holding the club or the dowel in their palm with the whole thumb against the shaft repeatedly give faster swing times. When we asked the students to put their thumb in the traditional golf grip position with their thumbs near 12 o’clock they found they couldn’t swing the club anywhere near as fast.

Doing some quick testing indicated that everyone was putting their thumb in this unusual position because it allowed them to swing the club much faster. Next we had them try swinging a club and hitting a rubber tee (club right side up now) with just their lead hand with the thumb in the 2 o’clock to three o’clock position. Again they could swing the club significantly faster with their thumb in a 2 o’clock to 3 o’clock position. (Note: The ideal thumb position for an individual can vary from 2 o’clock to 3 o’clock because of differences in anatomy and flexibility.

When we continued having students swinging the club with their thumbs in the 2 o’clock to 3 o’clock position with one arm and then putting the bottom hand on the grip we discovered something amazing. The students didn’t need to open the club face on the backswing and close it on the downswing. That made the whole swing much simpler because it eliminated all the timing and coordination necessary to open the club face on the backswing and then try to close the club face and square the club face up at impact.

With the whole thumb (thumb and thumb pad) up against the grip and the thumb in the 2 o’clock to 3 o’clock position (now referred to as the Power Thumb position) the club face stayed square to the swing plane on the backswing and the downswing. This made the swing much simpler. It took much less timing and coordination to make a good swing.

Next, we tested this on the range and with swing analyzers. The first thing we found was that the student’s shot dispersion patterns shrunk by 50%. We checked that about a dozen times before we believed it. Then the students noticed they weren’t slicing anymore. This was because the Power Thumb grip prevents the club from opening through impact.

After some range practice the students next took the Power Thumb Grip to the course. The results held true. They sprayed the ball much, much less and they pretty much never sliced so they were delighted as their scores started dropping. That also started reporting that they were losing many fewer golf balls. At that point it was obvious to all that the Power Thumb Grip was something important that really helped golfers.

If you’d like to make any comments about the Power Thumb grip you can do that below in the comment section.

Joe Davidson
Simple Golf

Dial-A-Thumb

By Joe Davidson Leave a Comment

Dial-A-Thumb

How to use your PowerThumb position to dial-in exactly the type of ball flight (draw, straight or fade) you’d like.

PowerThumb Positions
I want to clear up some misconceptions about the PowerThumb position and also explain how you can use your PowerThumb to dial in your desired ball flight. Normally hitting fades or draws on command is restricted to lower handicap golfers but with Symple Swing if you can hit a straight shot then you can draw or fade at will too.

In Symple Swing the lead (or front) arm and hand are dominant in powering the swing. The front arm swings the club and the position of the front hand controls the position of the club face at impact. Change the positions of your front hand grip (PowerThumb) and you’ll change the position of the club face at impact.

You want to hit a fade or a draw? “Talk to the thumb!”

Normally we have recommended a 2:30 to 3:00 position for your PowerThumb. That works for most people but that 2:30 to 3:00 position for your PowerThumb is not an absolute.

Your perfect (or neutral) PowerThumb position is what will bring the club back to square at impact every time. Everybody’s perfect PowerThumb position is going to be slightly different (normally between a 1 o’clock position and a 3 o’clock position). Your exact perfect or neutral PowerThumb position depends on musculature, flexibility and other individual variables.

When you start Symple Swing and grip the club, the first thing you need to do is find your neutral PowerThumb position that gets the club back to square every time. Remember your whole PowerThumb should be in contact with the grip of the club. The means your whole thumb and most importantly the thumb pad at the base of the thumb should be in contact with the grip of the club. When you have your thumb pad in contact with the grip that should mean the butt of the club is pointing up the middle of your front wrist. If the butt of the club is going across the corner of your palm your going to wind up leaving the face of the club open at impact wind up with big slices (curving shots to the right for right handed golfers). Done correctly the PowerThumb grip should pretty much eliminate and problems with slicing.

As you are learning the PowerThumb grip you need to experiment a bit and try a couple of different PowerThumb positions to find your neutral PowerThumb position. Square the club face up and start with the PowerThumb over around 2:30 but then test it out by hitting some balls (even practice balls will do) making sure that club face is coming back to square. If the club head is open too much move the PowerThumb toward the 3 o’clock position. If you’re getting some draws (or hooks) move the thumb position over toward the 1:30 to 2 o’clock position.

Your goal is to hit nice straight shots every time. DON’T EVEN THINK OF TRYING TO HIT DELIBERATE FADES OR DRAWS UNTIL YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY, COMPLETELY, 100% MASTERED STRAIGHT SHOTS.
Deliberate Fades and Draws
Just by varying the position of your PowerThumb you should be able to hit deliberate draws and fades. Those fades or draws will take off straight and then begin to fade or draw. You should realize that to hit your target you will have to adjust your aim whenever hitting a fade or a draw. That’s takes practice so deliberate fades or draws should be practiced on the range before you ever think of taking them out to the course.

To hit deliberate fades or draws start by varying the position of the PowerThumb. To hit deliberate fades move your PowerThumb a notch or two to the left (for a right handed golfer). To do this correctly is a two step procedure.

1. You have to grip the club with the PowerThumb a notch or two to the left (over to 1:30 to 2 o’clock for example).
2. Next and most importantly you have to keep gripping the club while addressing the ball again and RETURN YOUR THUMB TO ITS ORIGINAL POSITION. Although you are returning the thumb to its original position WHEN RE-ADDRESSING THE BALL YOU SHOULD SEE THE CLUB FACE IS NOW NOTICEABLY OPEN. That’s what we want. We want the club face open at address because we’ll be coming back at impact in the exactly same position we start off with at address just like we do on every normal swing.

Note: If just change your thumb position but you don’t readdress the ball with the club face open you’re mind and body will try to come back to the same position it was in at address (square) and you likely won’t get the desired ball flight at least not consistently. As you swing you should feel a little pressure on the side of the thumb opposite finger nail on your PowerThumb.

After you go through the two steps above your swing should be absolutely normal meaning on-plane on your backswing and downswing. The only thing your changing is the address and impact position of your club head. You will need to practice and find out how much to the left or right your need to aim depending on the exact position of your thumb.

It takes a fair amount of experimentation to hit precisely controlled deliberate fades and draws. You will definitely need to spend some time on the range. Once you get the hang of it you should find relatively easy to do. Don’t assume you’ll remember anything. Write down the results. Write down how much the ball curves for each position of the PowerThumb that you try. You’ll be glad you did.

BTW, yes this does mean that if you’re drawing the ball a little more that you’d like adjust your PowerThumb position should straighten that out too.

Joe Davidson
Simple Golf