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This concept video is discussing having the club face too closed at the top of the swing.

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So it is possible to have the club face too close at the top of the swing and it can cause

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a predictable set of problems down at the bottom.

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Or let's say this.

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Let's say you're looking at your golf swing and you notice that you have a closed club

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face.

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If you're going through the timeline you want to figure out when.

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So in this video we're going to discuss how to tell if it's too close at the top of

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the swing and why.

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So as a rough guide I'm going to use my left arm like so and I'm going to look at the club

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face angle compared to that left arm.

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If that club face angle is pointing more up towards the sky that would be closed if it's

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more closer to parallel that would be square if it's pointing more vertically down that

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would be open.

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So what we're talking about here would look something like that where actually probably

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something like that where the club face is in a closed position up at the top of the

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swing.

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Now you'll notice that a number of really elite level ball strikers are doing that

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on purpose because it sets up some good dynamics as far as body rotation, lag, things

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like that that are really helpful for the longer clubs.

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So golfers like Dustin Johnson, Colin Mourikawa, tend to get more into this really closed

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position to help support their downswing.

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But if you don't have the impact position to match the closed club face perhaps you

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want to change the club face instead of changing the body angles.

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That's totally a golfer decision but let's discuss why you might have an overly close

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club face.

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So the two main causes are either I'm setting up with it really closed or I'm rotating

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closed in the backswing.

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So if we're looking at the setup we're going to do a real quick grip test where I've

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got the left wrist parallel to the ground.

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A strong grip would look more like this where the club compared to this down the line

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camera angle is somewhere let's say north of 30 to 40 degrees like this.

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So now if I brought this back you could see that from a grip perspective when I get

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that club face pointing at the target I can see all four knuckles the line on my grip

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is pointing way out here so to the right of my shoulder and that right hand would be more

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underneath kind of like this.

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This is a very strong grip position.

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This can feel solid in the shoulder so some golfers actually like that feeling but it requires

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either a big chicken wing to hold off the club face which we don't like or it requires

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a lot of body rotation and leaving that club behind which can be a challenge for some

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golfers.

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So if I check that position and my grip isn't too strong it's in more of a neutral or

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slightly strong position then it means that I'm doing it by twisting the club too much

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in the backswing.

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That can either happen from the left wrist bowing kind of like this which a fair

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number of especially ladies tend to do.

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It can create a little bit more stability in the bicep for lifting the club but it gets

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us in a tougher position especially if we're not going to rotate a lot on the way down.

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Or I could do it too much usually in company with getting this right arm into a flying

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position so that this right arm is pointing almost across and down like this.

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So the club looks like it's in a really strong position and that's mostly because of

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this trail wrist and shoulder kind of getting disconnected and getting too much on top.

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If I want to see if it's more grip or the setting then I can always look here at the

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takeaway position.

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So if I have a really strong grip then when I come back you'll see that compared to the

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V on the right hand the club faces more close this way.

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If I have more of a neutral grip then it will just be slightly too closed compared to the

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V on my hand like this.

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So if it's really strong like this then that's more from a grip if it's in the same line

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but they're both turn out like this then that's more from my wrist movements.

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So in other videos we'll discuss what you have to do with an overly closed grip like

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I said it can support some really good downswing mechanics but the goal of this video is

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that just help you identify why it might be too close at the top of the swing.

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Okay so this will be easier for me to demonstrate than the club face too open all I have

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to do is rotate and stay ahead of it.

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It can hit some really solid shots.

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Most golfers would that really strong grip because they're rotating to stay ahead of

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it will tend to hit more of a feed rather than an actual draw.