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<\/a>The swing feels better. So do the numbers.<\/p><\/div>\n
When I can feel my hips straining and creaking, I know I am doing them right.<\/p>\n
In another new set, I get on my knees with a wedge and make three hard swings, baseball style. Then I turn back as far as I can\u2014to the right and then the left\u2014pumping my shoulders a few times, pushing my creaky hips to the limit.<\/p>\n
After doing this with a wedge, I repeat the sequence with a 6-iron, and then simply a shaft with no clubhead. The idea is to swing as hard as I can, with the whooshing sound as evidence.<\/p>\n
Then I repeat the whole routine while standing.<\/p>\n
Since I am lefthanded, the lefthanded swings generate more clubhead speed. Since I have played golf righthanded since I was a kid\u2014except for a failed 2-3 year experiment decades ago\u2014I ask them if I should use a golf grip or a baseball grip for the righthanded swings.<\/p>\n
“Whatever you like,\u2019\u2019 Joe says.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ll try the baseball grip,\u2019\u2019 I say. The whooshing sound increases.<\/p>\n
“Should I try a baseball grip when we hit golf balls?\u2019\u2019 I say.<\/p>\n
“You won\u2019t try,\u2019\u2019 Joe says, liking the increased velocity. “You\u2019ll do it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
I\u2019m on board with that. I\u2019ve always been a traditional Vardon-grip guy. It feels very comfortable. But with my right pinky on the club rather instead of wrapped over my left index finger, there\u2019s no denying that I am generating more speed and power.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s more of a hybrid than a true baseball grip. All I do is take the right pinky off the left index finger and put it on the club itself.<\/p>\n
The grip change reminds me of my crazy softball days with Mike Royko, who was an excellent power hitter as well as the greatest newspaperman ever. “Take two and go to right,” Mike used to say, quoting somebody–can’t remember whether it was an athlete or another newspaperman.\u00a0The point is, it was a philosophy of life, about the importance of adapting, rolling with situations.<\/p>\n
I wouldn\u2019t recommend a baseball grip to anybody else. And I\u2019m not even sure I\u2019ll stay with it. But it\u2019s an interesting experiment for now.<\/p>\n
This is one of the benefits of a comprehensive program where fitness\/strength\/flexibility are combined with traditional golf instruction. It also helps to have an instructor like Joe, who\u2019s very good at analyzing and adapting on the fly. The grip change is my idea; I wouldn\u2019t have done it without Joe signing off.<\/p>\n
Rather than always pulling his drills from a script, he often has developed visualizations and techniques on the fly, depending on a particular student\u2019s abilities.<\/p>\n
After the hour of fitness drills, I go to the Trackman simulator with Joe, eager to see how the baseball grip fares at clubhead speed\u2014and whether the ball goes reasonably straight.<\/p>\n
Before I hit a ball, Joe suggests a pre-shot drill that connects the dots from the baseball swings to a golf swing. He has me bring the club back at a baseball level, but I stop at the point where my backswing breaks down because of my flexibility issues.<\/p>\n
He helps me keep the club closed, then steps away\u2014and I fire away. I do this again with a golf-style practice swing. Using a short backswing and a baseball grip, I make a really hard practice swing.<\/p>\n