This might seem starkly simple but as an example, here’s how Paul Azinger does it. His extremely strong grip is a HUGE steep element which will hit hooks if it wasn’t for the fact that he slides his legs through impact (shallow element no.1), swings the club level across the ground through impact (shallow element no.2), holds the face open through impact (shallow element no.3) and plays low irons shots (shallow element no.4). So, one huge steep element gets cancelled out by four smaller shallower moves resulting in a pretty neutral flight. Here’s where it gets so important to know what’s going on - what happens if you change Paul Azingers grip and give him a neutral one? You completely ruin the golfer, that’s what. All his shallow moves are there to cancel out his grip which is the only steep element he has - you would be left with a golfer that only has shallow elements in his game and hits high pushes, thins, shanks and he would lose huge amounts of distance.

All the aforementioned golfers had great coaches who allowed them to develop a game, Azingers’ coach threatened him that if he ever made his grip more neutral, to never call on him for advice again.

So, how can this relate to your game? I had two great examples last week of just how important it is to play your way but how many golfers think that another way would be better?

Example 1.

A lady member came for a club-fitting and wanted to hit the ball straight, instead of the draw shot she had as she didn’t hit many fairways or greens. I showed her to play with the shape she had and allow for it, to hit more shots that finished on target - they certainly don’t have to start at the target with this game. She was then worried that curving ball would lose distance compared to a straight shot, but I could show her that she was a very long hitter for her clubhead speed, far more efficient than most golfers. Finally, she understandably thought that it would be more consistent to hit a straight shot. In actual fact the data showed that every shot she hit had draw spin on it with every club - imagine trying to hit every shot straight with every club! She simply has to learn to embrace the draw and learn to shoot lower scores.

Example 2.

A male member came for a driver fitting and I’ve played many times on the course with this guy and know how he plays - on the course he aims well to the right without realising it and hits a ‘pull’ shot, dead left of where he’s aiming, straight down the fairway. This guy was also trying to adjust his swing so that he could aim straight and hit the ball straight. I commented that he already hits the ball straight down the middle, just that he’s not aiming there. This golfer saw it as a future project to practice and work on his game so he could aim straight but this would be like Paul Azinger changing his grip - the outcome’s just not worth the effort, just because a golfer isn’t 'conventional’ doesn’t make it wrong if the ball flight is solid. Jim Furyk, Lee Trevino and all the unconventional swinging multi-millionaire golf pros out there appreciate that fact!

Like many golfers when they lose distance, Azinger could be guilty at times of ‘dragging’ the club through impact instead of releasing the clubhead. He came up with a great quote - “millions of dollars is spent on R&D on golf club heads whereas very little is spent on the grips - you’d better be utilising that R&D by releasing the speed in the head instead of dragging the grip!”

If you feel like you’re not improving, or you’re making yourself worse with what you’re trying to do with the ball, click here to get in touch.