The Grid - Overlooked Ideal Training System?

I can buy that @GolfLivesMatter . Btw - I played with a buddy today who is one of the worst choppers I have ever seen on the course. With a neutral grip he was hitting them off the planet right. To help him, I borrowed an old AJ Bonnar illustration. My buddy used to play baseball, and I told him the face of the club was a baseball bat. If the bat is late to the ball, it goes to right field. If it’s early to the ball, the ball goes to left field. I said he had two choices, he can square the bat by actively using his hands to turn the bat into the ball or he could strengthen his grip so he didn’t need to actively close the face. I told him that either way can work, so it was up to him to decide…or he could keep doing what he was doing and play in the trees right all day. :) Of course, he also wasn’t hitting the ground with a consistent low spot, so without that first fundamental I think everything else is a lost cause.

How do you like that? I have been changing my low spot to place ball at a different spot in the grid to change swing path. Then changing grip slightly to change impact conditions. When I get off most of the time it’s because I lose control of the bottom of the swing arc.

@Tom Saguto @GolfLivesMatter I just realized something. I hit some balls and realized that in a stock setup, the grid is parallel to your alignment. Feet, knees, shoulders are stacked in a line that is basically parallel left to my target. When I love the ball, my feet are parallel left, but my shoulders establish a new grid. Basically, I move the ball back and I turn to face the ball, closing my shoulders. This move shifts the entire grid to the right. That’s why it works, my low spot is still 3-4 inches past the ball. BUT, I think the way I have been doing it adds unnecessary complexity. I unknowingly went back to swinging down my toe line this past week because I was working in the fade. I can’t wait to hit some more balls keeping the ball position pretty consistent and instead using alignment and grip to change path and impact conditions. @Tom Saguto Many of the really good players I play with change their release pattern or post impact swing just as you describe. This is something that will be tougher for me because of my baggage, but will experiment with it when I play tomorrow.

@Russell Hogue, PhD Looking forward to your follow-up report!

Great explanation on ball flight laws. The one deviation from "textbook" Grid Life, however, is in regard to the strong grip for a draw ball flight. Sure, it can and does work, but it's more of a "cheat" for closing the clubface through the zone and perhaps risking a flip at impact. For the S&T purist a neutral (open) attachment is used for the push-draw shot shape with the ball positioned on the trail side of the zero point, whereas a strong (closed) attachment is deployed for a pull-fade with the ball positioned on the front (target) side. Utilizing these attachments in this fashion requires no conscious or subconscious manipulation of the face to produce the desired flight.

Having said that, I do understand the difficulty for someone with a historically strong grip to transition comfortably to a more neutral attachment, and I have personally battled this myself. Playing with a stronger grip is perfectly fine as long as the tendencies are known, and plenty of great players - including many Tour pros - do fine with such an attachment. I just wanted to point out that this is a deviation from the system, and it is a worthwhile endeavor for those who are gaining proficiency with the swing to experiment with different attachments - especially if they find themselves overcooking their draws or hooking the ball when their downswing is on a proper path.

Tour players overwhelming play a stronger grip. The grip, club face relationship is established when you put your hands on the club. The attachment of hands to club dictates exactly what release pattern will be necessary to hit a particular shot. Think of it this way, you can hit a fade or a draw with a super weak grip (Dechambeau). You can also hit a fade or a draw with a super strong 4-knuckle grip (Dustin Johnson). @Tom Saguto I believe that high handicap golfers typically have poor club face control. Regardless of grip, the clubface has to aim left of the swing path to hit a draw or right of the swing path to hit a fade. Period. Good golfers have club face control so they turn it over for a draw or hold it off for a fade. That works, no doubt about it. For a high handicapper, I believe that instead of controlling the club face through release pattern, you can instead control club face through grip strength. That is, the stronger you make the attachment to the club the more the club face will be aiming left at impact. I could take a golfer who has been a sliver his entire life in about 5 minutes have them hitting a draw that starts off right and works back toward the target. Easiest way, get a stronger grip, keep going toward four knuckles until The ball goes left/left. Terrible shot, but great learning lesson. 1. The club face has to turn over to left of swing path. This is a requirement period. 2. Once the ball curves left, we have achieved clubface closed to swing path. Now, we can change swing path…move swing path right. This will eventually cause the sniper hook. 3. Weaken grip to match new swing path for desired shot shape. This is an awesome approach because the grip can be viewed as a dial. Turn grip to the right for more hook. Turn to the left for more fade. Super easy way to adjust club face relationship to swing without worrying about changing the release. I think that as you recommend a neutral attachment, that’s perfect. I think everyone should work toward neutral. However, if you understand how to set your personal grip dial, turning the ball either direction becomes super easy.

@Russell Hogue, PhD For fun yesterday, I actually closed the club face on my 3W, maybe 4 degrees, then took my grip (par 5 second shot). My goal was to see if I would hit a fade. Amazingly enough I hit a fade because I was expecting a more draw-like shot. It's possible my body naturally re-arranged the swing path to hit a fade, because that has happened to me far more often than not. Sometimes if I think of hitting a shot, yet do not manipulate anything, I will hit that shot without "trying".

It's like my body knows what to do and doesn't need instructions. As a caveat this happens far more with Driver, 3W, and 17* and 21* hybrids. Not so much with irons. As I posted before, that may be because I play the ball farther back with irons.

@GolfLivesMatter why do you think the low spot is just inside the lead shoulder? Are you saying every divot you take is in that location?

I ask that question because my low spot moves based on the shot I am trying to hit; however, something else you said got me thinking…you said you swing down your toe line on every shot. My guess is your particular swing sequence changes alignment and face position into impact, but your swing is basically always the same (like Jack Nicklaus described). Meaning that your backswing plane is always the same regardless of shot shape. Is that correct? What about high vs low shots? I think you may be into something that would greatly simplify things. I will have to check when I play tomorrow, but pretty sure the only time my low spot is near my lead shoulder is when I am trying to hit the straight fade…and maybe I would benefit from trying that position for other shots too.

@Russell Hogue, PhD Low point and "swing along the toe line".

The low point of a swing (unless manipulated) is under the lead arm pit, or just a tad more away from the target from the armpit. The contact point on the ball will be a little to the right of the low point, with the low point hitting the ground. I play balls farther back on irons, say two balls. I really like that position but I also "feel like" I'm adding more difficulty because my low point is maybe four inches to the right of my natural low point. This can lead to blocks and over-cooked draws. They are fun shots to hit and can be very controllable, but as the ball position moves away from the target, my body gets more contorted in terms of actual low point vs. natural low point. This is why I'm working to move the ball forward in my stance. Plus, the greens I play require higher ball flight to hold. Some greens will hold a lower, punch-like shot which is really fun, but no fun on greens that don't hold well.

The Nicklaus fade, "swing along the toe line" comment just means to open the stance and use the same swing such that the swing will be more inside out. The funny thing is some of these CB irons really don't cooperate to hit fades...LOL. I play Ping G425s and they want to go straight or draw, rarely fade.

For me, there is one challenge with Nicklaus's fade stance. I hope this makes sense because it's a visual problem. At address with a normal stance to hit a normal shot, the club travels away from the ball on a certain arc. Thus, my brain is used to seeing that arc as the club travels back in relation to the ball. But when I use the open stance, my brain wants to take the club back on the same arc, relative to the ball and target, which ends up being too far inside because I see the ball, the line to the target, and my brain wants to use the same backswing arc with the open stance. I guess my point is it's hard for me to witness the club travelling more "outside" on the takeaway.

@Grant Feurer - Your suggestion is something that has crossed my mind on occasion. In absence of that, a couple of alignment sticks for stance line and "zero-point" ball position ought to give you sufficient reference points to experiment with the Grid.