Now that I’ve seen the light with regards to my own stubbornness in changing a faulty grip (for me, it was an over-strong right hand because I was swinging left-dominant and so was focused on the left hand to the detriment of the right), things are jumping out at me.
For example, Tiger Woods’ former swing coach Hank Haney made comments about Bryson DeChambeau’s struggles in the final round of this year’s Masters, where he started in 2nd place behind Rory McIlroy, briefly took the lead and then tumbled down the leaderboard as the round advanced.
Jordan Harris of the The Golfing Gazette shares the story:
DeChambeau did take the lead after the second hole. However, he went backwards from there, and by the 13th tee, his challenge appeared to be over.
And speaking on The Hank Haney Podcast, Hank Haney admitted that he is baffled that DeChambeau has not addressed a fault which really cost him at Augusta.
“DeChambeau didn’t have anything pretty much all day. Nothing but a hook, and then I heard him on the mic one time saying, ‘I can’t hold it off’, he’s talking about holding off the hook through the shot. ‘I’m trying to, I just can’t hold it off’, is what he said, mumbling to his caddie. I thought to myself, bud, you’re 100 yards across the line at the top of your swing, your club’s so far pointed across the line, you’re not going to hold it off from there, that club’s going to whip-shot on you every single time,” he said.
First, I have to disagree with Haney on one thing – I have no idea how the position or angle of the club shaft at the top has anything to do with the club face at impact – John Daly was as far over the line as anyone in history and had no problem hitting fades when he wanted to:
If your club face is square at address (the first thing to check when you’re hooking the ball) and closed at impact, it can mean only one thing – your grip is too strong and you’re closing the face into impact because the hands are turning over prematurely.
There’s virtually nothing else that can cause a hook when you are set up with a square club face before you swing.
Golf is a very tricky game where people can drift into bad positions when swinging due to a host of reasons – I remember one event I was watching where Jason Day was yanking his shots left off the tee all day, and I could see at a glance that he was set up to the target line with his shoulders angling left:
… and he was left all day long. Probably just something that crept into his setup that particular afternoon that he couldn’t feel and that his caddy kept missing.
Could Bryson possibly have unconsciously strengthened his grip on Sunday afternoon at the Masters, leading to a persistent hook miss?
The only other explanation is that he deliberately has a stronger grip than he should, and manipulates the club face coming into impact, but he couldn’t “hold it off” that day, meaning he was closing the face coming down and couldn’t help himself.
First off, you have many golfers who became legends because of their hand-eye coordination and ability to manipulate the club head through impact, but there is so much easier a way – set the club face in your setup at the angle you want it to impact the ball, and you will never have to manipulate the club face ever again.
Either way, the fix for both problems would be the same – weaken the grip. Problem solved.
There is this obsession that even I fell victim to, that one’s comfortable grip (and it’s only comfortable because you’re accustomed to it) should not be changed at any cost, but that is foolish and counterproductive.
It’s like telling Usain Bolt, “you are the fastest man on earth so if you want to run backwards, don’t change that, even if you start to lose races…”
If you are doing something in your setup or swing that is causing consistent problems with the result of your ball-striking, the obvious course of action is to figure out the problem or admit that your preferred way of it is flawed, and make a change.
For years, I ignored my over-strong right hand grip and wondered why I could turn other golfers’ swings around so quickly and easily working with them, when I was struggling with my own at times.
Swallow the pride, and change the thing you’re doing that isn’t optimal to your swing.
It will save you so much aggravation.
WAX Golf 
personally Haney and most of the instructors wouldn’t make a pimple on Mike Austin’s @ss!! Who cares what they think
The main problem with high-level professional instructors (such as the ones to the pros) is that they’re all singing from the same hymn book, which is the Modern Golf Swing. Not only that, the players seem to only want to be passed around the same circle of instructors. So, you get nothing new.
Back in the Classic era, there were instructors such as Jim Flick who took young, unknown golfers and turned them into stars. And they did it by teaching fundamentals and sound mechanics.
These instructors today are all working with highly successful players to begin with, so I don’t see how much they’re helping. Hank Haney couldn’t stop Tiger from wrecking his knee, after all. Some instructors have actually ruined promising golfers. I won’t name names, I’ll leave it at that.
I have been studying the swing and thus the grip that Tiger used when he was most dominant (early 2000’s) and he had a fairly strong right hand grip. He was right hand/side dominant in hitting shots. I believe the grip is important but I think it is more important to keep the right antecubital fossa pointing straight to the sky (or the elbow pointing to the ground) as long as possible. If you let the right elbow continue to work towards the navel, the right hand will not flip or roll over.
Hi Bob!
Been a while, I hope you’re doing well.
With all due respect to Tiger’s achievements, I wouldn’t ever study his swing (any version) for the reason he has always used a Modern Golf Swing model. That alone disqualifies him from my research on the optimal setup and swing mechanics.
When I compare Nicklaus to Tiger, this is what I see – one man who won the 3rd highest Tour events ever and 18 majors, all with basically the same swing action he used from childhood, and which required very little from him to keep tuned aside from tournament prepping, as all pros do.
Tiger, on the other hand, kept changing techniques while still remaining in the Modern camp, and he practiced from dawn to dusk on his game and strength and conditioning. In the process, he absolutely destroyed his body. So, while he dominated for years, it was due more to his talent and constant practice – and the same swing you’re looking at from the early 2000’s, he admits he had to change because his body couldn’t withstand the toll it took.
Jack, on the other hand, went fishing. And still won 18 majors, never incurring any injuries from swinging (he did injure himself playing tennis during his playing career).
I’m sure that one can swing and play fine with a stronger right hand grip than normal, but that is not the optimal, and that’s what I’ve always been in search of. And when comparing Jack to Tiger (from grip, to pivot action, to overall setup), I will always side with the Legend In His Spare Time.
Good to see you back, Bob – wishing you a great 2025 season! 🙂
Off topic: What are your thoughts on the modern trainer-like (don’t think that’s a real term…) shoes without spikes? I tried wearing them,but I just didn’t feel my feet were secure when wearing them.I feel it contributes towards the flying foot,and hooks.I like to wear golf shoes that grab the ground,not repel it.
“I feel it contributes towards the flying foot…”
I will correct you here – It enables the flying foot.
If a golfer is going spike-less, it’s because he lacks the technical knowledge to fix whatever issue that is making him spin on his leading foot, and going spike-less is to avoid injury.
Like you, “I like to wear golf shoes that grab the ground,not repel it.”
I want stability in my feet for a swing, so no pirouetting for me.
“I will correct you here – It enables the flying foot.” That too 🙂 It’s something that occured to me when watching so many of the pros dodgy footwork.Sure,it’s a result of a swing flaw.But the shoes they’re wearing just adds to it.