By Luther Blacklock
Players who use an interlocking grip, I believe, sacrifice the fundamental safety of Ben Hogan's example, for the interlocking grip is biomechanically flawed when compared to the Vardon (and indeed Baseball) grip. This might seem a ludicrous claim to make when the two greatest players of the modern era – namely Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – have made history with the interlocking grip. However, Nicklaus is on record as saying that the one and only thing he would change about his technique, with the benefit of hindsight, would be his grip. And Tiger's knee surgery (not to mention his on-going battle to keep the ball in play off the tee) can, in my opinion, be explained by his use of the deep interlock (but more on that next issue).
Ben Hogan strove to swing the club in his most effective swing plane; he understood that the forearms had to 'roll' gently and gradually through 90 degrees during the backswing. This, of course, meant that the clubface would also roll mildly through 90 degrees through the course of the backswing (ideally, the clubface would then arrive parallel to his swing plane at the top of the backswing).
No! Left thumb extended too far down the grip |
A correctly positioned left hand |
The shut or hooded takeaway created by the deep interlocking grip invariably causes the clubface to be shut or facing skywards at the top of the backswing. Hogan was shut at the top in the early part of his career (because his left thumb was too long at address). His search for perfection led him to play with a neat, more neutral left thumb in later years. And that's what I advise you to do.
Legend has it that the earliest moulded training grips were that of the great man himself. It would make sense, for if you have ever used a club with such a grip three things would strike you: (1) The left thumb is 'neat', not stretched down the shaft; (2) The left thumb is parallel to the shaft (and NOT diagonal!) and (3) the left thumb is a touch too 'strong' – i.e. placed more to the right of centre than perfect. Well, I don't know if it is true but I'd like to think it was!
We may not be able to walk in Ben Hogan's footsteps but it would be great if we could at least copy his handprints on the handle of the club. As I mentioned at the outset, in writing
The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, Hogan placed tremendous emphasis on how to hold the club. My advice to every aspiring golfer out there is take the great man's advice, and put your trust in the Vardon grip.
To summarize the key points:
- A correctly positioned left hand, with a neat, parallel left thumb, sets the left arm in the perfect attitude at the set-up.
- The right hand 'fits' the left as it joins the grip, the hands and arms relaxed, free of excess tension, the shaft of the club at the natural angle.
- With each of the elbows pointing at their respective hipbones (as Hogan identified), the relationship of the club, the hands, arms and shoulders is such that the player is in a perfect attitude, primed to make a repeating swing.
