After I had learned thousands of golfers over the years, I discovered something that could surprise you: there is no “perfect” trail hand position on the grip. But checking how your palm on the handle is in accordance with the club face remains one of the biggest steps you can take in the direction of better wave.
I have seen successful players with their trail hand under the handle, on the side of the handle and more on top. The common thread among all? Their handle corresponds to their body type. This is not about following a textbook position – it is about finding biomechanical works your swing.
The real problems start when the trail hand of a player is incorrectly aligned with their natural movement patterns. When this happens, I see golfers struggling with a cascade of swing problems. They fight over the top movements, develop a chicken wing through impact, hang behind their path side or fight inconsistent facial control. What looks like multiple swing errors is often only one fundamental error: a trail hand position that the body forces to compensate for the entire swing movement.
These compensations happen because your body tries to resolve a mistake in the face. If you do not control grip the club face naturally, your subconscious mind takes over and creates solutions. Unfortunately, these compensation usually cause more problems than they solve, which leads to that frustrating cycle of solving one problem to only make another appear. View below to see what I mean.
So how should your trail hand go on the handle? I use a simple “casting test” developed by Mike Adams, a Golf Hall of Fame teacher, through his groundbreaking research and work in Bioswing Dynamics. This assessment helps you to discover how your hand naturally matches the club face, taking into account the structure and movement patterns of your body to reveal the grip position with which you can freely swing without compensation.
After you have completed the test and have identified your ideal trail hand position, the next step is simple: match that grip at the setup and then swing. Do not first try to change your swing -mechanics -let the correct grip lines do the heavy work.
This is what you can expect if you correctly match the handle: the ball flies with much less curve. That is when you know that you have found your natural position. With a right ball flight such as your foundation, you can then refine your alignment, the ball position and other preferences to supplement your swing naturally. Instead of combating compensations, you now make small adjustments that improve what your body is already doing well.
If you are struggling with your release or fighting multiple swing errors that never seem to be completely resolved, this simple adjustment can be the answer you were looking for. In my experience, getting the handle of the path has solved more swinging problems for my students than any other single change. It is the basis with which everything else can fall into place.
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