Golf Swing Mechanics – The “Triple Duty” of the Left Hand

Due to club design, the golfer’s left hand plays a major role in proper golf swing mechanics.

The left hand serves three important functions in the golf swing – positioning the club, maintaining the proper club position during the swing pattern and ensuring the correct clubface angle at impact.

From start to finish, the left hand’s “triple duty” is the key to successful golf swing mechanics.

Unfortunately, many golfers fail to fully understand and appreciate all three capacities of the left hand in successful golf swing mechanics.

In his book, “Golf Can Be an Easy Game”, author Joe Novak offers greater insight into the importance of the left hand in proper golf swing mechanics.

Novak writes;

“Golf clubs vary in length—from the 33-inch length of a putter shaft to the 43-inch length of the driver shaft. All clubs have handles on a graduated scale of lengths.

It is perfectly natural that the player should first place the club behind the ball, and from the placement of the club they will automatically know just where to stand, which is the second move.

However…let me call your attention to the fact that there is a certain peculiarity in the construction of golf clubs. The face of the club, the part that meets the ball, is not parallel with the shaft. It is “hooked in,” that is, it is angled so that it points off to the left a matter of two to five degrees. This exists in all properly designed clubs.

To those unfamiliar with this peculiarity, difficulties can be created at this very step.

However, understanding the hooked-in face construction of the golf club, the player can and will place the club properly to the ball.

The proper way to place a golf club to the ball is to tilt the handle of the club slightly in the direction of the shot. The shaft, in other words, is leaning or tilted slightly forward in the direction of the shot. Because of this forward tilt of the club handle the left hand will be directly over the ball and not over the club head.

Players who fail to understand this peculiarity of golf club construction place the club to the ball so that the shaft is perpendicular—that is, straight up and down, instead of being tilted or leaned forward slightly.

Obviously, only when the shaft is tilted forward slightly is the face of the club square with the line of the shot; and when the shaft is perpendicular, or straight up and down, the face of the club is aimed off to the left of the line of the shot.

In addition to this failure of incorrect aim, there is one other important reaction that arises from the way the club is placed to the ball, and that has to do with the way the left hand fits to the club. If there is any one thing that is important in a golf shot, it is the way in which the left hand works. As a matter of fact, it will be learned that the left hand action is the very crux of every golf shot. Actually, the left hand has a triple duty in a golf shot:

(1) Creating or determining the position of the club will be in during the swing.

(2) Keeping the club in the desired position.

(3) Bringing the club into and through the ball.

Now, the proper position of the left hand on the club is as follows: the hand is more or less on top of the shaft. When it is in the proper position, three knuckles of the left hand are in clear view when the player looks down at his hand and the left thumb is at a point more or less behind the shaft.

All this happens naturally, if the shaft of the club is tilted forward slightly when it is placed to the ball.

By comparison, if the shaft is placed incorrectly, that is, straight up and down, then the left hand will automatically shift to a point in front of the handle instead of on top. Only one knuckle, instead of three, will be in view and the thumb will be right on top of the shaft. This is a weak position of the left hand.

Carried to extremes, the correct position, with the left hand on top, would tend to produce hook shots, whereas, the incorrect position, with the left hand too far in front, would tend to produce slice shots.“

When evaluating your golf swing mechanics – remember the “triple duty” of the left hand.

Use Novak’s professional guidance to correctly position your left hand, helping execute proper golf swing mechanics and successfully swing the golf club!

Check back soon for more tips and posts to help improve your golf swing mechanics!