I try very hard to practice what I preach. Golf instruction is primarily an effort to prioritize faults and maintain consistent efforts to improve them. Like most golfers, I am easily tempted to shift focus for any number of reasons. The most common cause of this shift is when we struggle but we often are just as distracted by good shots or a string of respectable scores. I wrote an article earlier called “Why You Don’t Improve” that touches on this topic but here I want to dig a bit further using a specific fault in my swing. How do we achieve a square clubface at the top of the backswing and what roles do the left wrist and grip play?
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I very often struggle with an extremely open clubface at the top of the backswing. These are two older swings of mine. The driver on the left approximates a face angle of 60 degrees and the iron swing shows a face even more open at 64 degrees.
There are several examples of young, very successful tour players who swing the club with an open face. Superstars like Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas all have a relatively open clubface position at the top of the backswing.
Note however that their “open” clubfaces measure at approximately 50 degrees and not in the 60s. All three of these pros have very “weak” grips compared to the standard on tour. They also position their left hands on the grip such that they only see 1-2 knuckles. Golfers with weaker grips will often exhibit a more open face at the top as a result of the need for a comfortable position with the left wrist.
What does a square clubface look like?
There are a myriad of axioms in golf instruction that cover this topic. Instructors like to say that you should “match the leading edge of the face to the left arm” or “just focus on a square left wrist.” Modern technology gives us the ability to simply measure. As a disclaimer, I must note that there are a number of variables here and my conclusion is not an absolute but simply a very close approximation. A square clubface at the top of the backswing is about 40 degrees.
There are several ways to verify this including several tour swings and an exercise you can do in the mirror at home. One of the lowest maintenance and technically sound golf swings on tour belongs to Steve Stricker. If you visualize his golf swing you might think of a “hands-free” or simple action.
Of all the swings I studied, there was no one whose swing and clubface position I found more enviable than Rory McIlroy. You can see him here both with a driver and an iron at the top.
Rory measures pretty consistently at 42 degrees and displays a slightly cupped left wrist position as compared to the other swings I’ve shown. Before we discuss this wrist position and why I think it’s worth copying, go find a club and a mirror and try this out.
At Home Square Clubface Exercise
Setup to the mirror to view your swing from down the line. Cock your wrists until the club shaft is parallel to the ground. Rotate your torso until the shaft is parallel to your imaginary target line. Without manipulating the club with your hands simply raise your arms into a top of the backswing position. What does the face look like? If you did this correct, it will look almost exactly like Rory and Stricker.
The Link Between Grip and Wrist Position
Let’s take a closeup look at the left hand of Rory’s grip.
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This is the grip as I would teach it and what I consider “standard” The crease between Rory’s thumb and forefinger points just outside his right ear. He can see approximately 2-3 knuckles and there is a slight cupping in his wrist.
Earlier I mentioned that Justin, Hideki, and Jordan all had relatively weak grips. A weak grip makes it more difficult to keep the clubface from opening during the backswing. An overly strong grip (3+ knuckles) has the opposite effect but is much more common among good golfers. For Justin, Hideki, and Jordan to achieve a square face at the top they would have to bow their left wrist into a fairly unnatural position. You can try this yourself in a mirror.
Grip the club with an extremely weak left hand(1 knuckle or less) and take the club to the top. The face will very likely look open unless you’ve flattened or bowed your left wrist. While swinging the club with a flat or bowed left wrist is not that uncommon, it’s simply not the best method for most golfers.
The ideal position that Rory achieves is one that exhibits a “standard” grip, a slight cupping in the left wrist at the top, and a square clubface. From this position he has a much greater chance of delivering a square clubface at impact as opposed to myself in those swings that I showed in the beginning.
In a future article, I want to illustrate and discuss the range of common clubface positions at the top using Tiger Woods. Through the years he had a wide display of positions but you’ll never guess where his face angle was in the year 2000. Here’s a sneak preview of sorts…
Back To My Swing
During a recent practice session, I’m focusing my efforts on trying to avoid the super open clubface at the top. I generally work my way through the bag by hitting 5-10 shots per club and filming one swing per club. If the swing I filmed doesn’t look right, I will drill my way through the next several shots, try to establish a new feel, and film again.
During this process I flushed a 7 iron that I recorded. It was right on target and carried about 175 yards. I was pretty excited to look at the video. Here is what I saw at the top of the swing.
Let’s move up the bag to a longer club, right? Well, the next few frames of the video really got my attention.
In transition I managed to open my clubface from 40 degrees to 47 degrees. Why did this happen? I’ve spent years swinging the club with an extremely open face at the top and it’s only “natural” for my hands and wrists to want to manipulate the face into a more comfortable position at full speed.
What is so scary about this is that I didn’t feel it. In fact, my memory of my feel at the time was that I had produced the position I had been practicing. This of course makes sense given the first image. In the swings that followed I was able to account for this properly, adjust my feel, and get it some great reps.
This might sound crazy, but when it comes to feedback for improving your golf swing, the shot you hit is often not a very reliable indicator of the positions you achieved. Unreliable golf swings can hit great golf shots.
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