You should grip the club just enough to keep it from flying out of your hands and the grip pressure should remain as constant as possible throughout the swing. Easier to say than to do.
do you mean by hurt, as joint or finger as a whole , or is it callouses forming?
Kreth has a good point, many times it because the grip pressure is tight, but, also, if you hit a lot of balls in sucsession, your fingers will get sore because they're not used to it.
I'd guess that your grip is too tight. This can cause what your describing...It will also cause you to tense up your forearms and biceps...Bad things for a golf swing...Loosen that grip.
do you mean by hurt, as joint or finger as a whole , or is it callouses forming?
Kreth has a good point, many times it because the grip pressure is tight, but, also, if you hit a lot of balls in sucsession, your fingers will get sore because they're not used to it.
Good question. What's hurting are the joints, not the skin (no callous forming).
I've watched out to not grip too tightly and none of my hands has callous. So I tend to think that it's something wrong with certain part of my swing. I sort of feel that after the ball is hit, the club is pulling my ring and little fingers- or the other way around.
It could be that my right shoulder and right hand don't move/turn fast enough and are pulling the club, or something else like skewed swing plane and I'm trying to correct it with my right hand.
BTW, after one year of learning golf, I've been successful in correcting my swing and prevent soreness on any part of my body- except now the right ring and pinky fingers. Watching out for turning my right shoulder and hand faster seems to help. Maybe it still hurts a bit, because I am not there yet???
Ehien
Last edited by Ehien : August 14th, 2006 at 10:54 PM.
You should grip the club just enough to keep it from flying out of your hands and the grip pressure should remain as constant as possible throughout the swing. Easier to say than to do.
Shade
Wish I could show a video clip of my swing...
But I feel my "finishing" part of the swing is still bad. It's also the part when I feel the "pullling" of club on my right ring and pinky fingers. Wonder if anyone's gone through this before they found their swing? And if so, what's been done or watched for this particular problem?
Hmm, a bit of a puzzler, but it sounds like your are holding on to the club with your right hand after impact, instead of freely releasing the club. Are you losing a lot of shot to the right? (I am assuming you are a right-hander).
This is the L-to-L swing, and the followthrough picture is the one you want to achieve. You do not achieve that position by moving the club there with the right hand. You achieve it by correct body motion and setting the club free on the downswing shortly before to impact, and letting the club swing through.
Thanks for the link. I saw it before but haven't mastered the move yet.
I used to lose a lot of balls to the right in the first 6 months. After one year of playing and practicing, now I only occassionally did it (like a couple times in a round). Now I usually shot about 100 but believe I can lower it quite a bit after I improve my short game and putting (usually 3 putts now).
I seem to never fully extend my right arm during the swing. Could this cause my right hand (esp. ring and little fingers?) to pull on the club?
Strange that so far no one seems to experience the same problem. Otherwise my puzzle could be solved by now.
I've actually had that same thing happen to me a few times after hitting (or even while I'm hitting) range balls. I never figured out why, but I found if I switch from my usual interlocking grip to a 10 finger grip (like a baseball grip) that my fingers don't seem to hurt. I don't know if I was just gripping too tight or if it's just a joint problem. I have very loose joints naturally...I can pop my knees like you would your knuckles at least a couple times a day...same for my wrists...I have loose shoulders...etc. I just figure it's a joint issue for me and usually the next time I go out to hit balls I don't have the problem again. I typically only get to the range about once a week... twice if I'm lucky.
I know this doesn't help you figure out your problem, but you're not alone. I feel your pain. If you do find out that it's caused by something in your swing, I'd be interested in hearing what it was.
Thanks for sharing. It's great to know that I'm not alone.
Without a clear answer, I tried to analyze last night at home swinging with a pitching wedge. What I found is that it seems to have a lot to do with finishing position. If I finish with club head pointing to sky as some would do for certain pitching shot, then the right fingers don't seem to hurt. But if I finish with club behind my back as one would do with most full swing, then I often feel the strain on the fingers.
This is close to what I've been speculating- that my right hand or arm didn't follow the flow of the club; or that the movement of the club was wrong and required unnatural extension of right hand or arm to match. But originally I thought it was the part right after impact. After last night's experiment, now it seems to be the finishing part. Makes sense as I am still trying to figure out how finish it nicely.
Ok. I'd still like to hear comments, if there are any.
But the more I probe, the more it indicates that the strain on my right ring and little fingers are related to the way I finish a swing.
Last night at home swinging, I tried not to finish the club behind my back as I've always tried to do. Instead I finished it either with club pointing up or behind my head. I felt little to no strain on my right hand or fingers.
So the problem I had before was either that I didn't finish my swing at the right place; or that the club finished at the right place, but my right hand and/or arm were not following.
For now I plan to finish my swing with club behind my head to reduce strain on my right fingers.