00:00It's Jamonahan from the WDHA Morning Jolt. I'm at the Golf Cave Indoor Golf in Randolph on Route 10 East.
00:08Now if you know me, you know I know how to hit one of these.
00:12I have no idea how to hit one of these. We're gonna go find out. Come on inside.
00:17We're here inside Golf Cave. I have Dave with me. Dave, I know how to hit one of these. I don't know how to hit one of those. Help me.
00:36Yeah, you'll see. It's not that different. But let's start with what you know about the golf game, like the golf swing.
00:44Let's say, do you know how to grip the club?
00:48Consider me a complete beginner, an absolute beginner and start from there.
00:52Okay, so let's say the grip first. If you plan to play a lot more in the next coming years, I would go and teach you the proper golf grip.
01:02If you tell me that you're playing like once a year and that's for a fun tournament, we'll leave it as a grip, a baseball grip.
01:11Right? That sounds good? Okay.
01:13Because I see like, I've seen you like when you come in, you're gripping as a baseball grip.
01:18Right, I have this in my fingers as opposed to in here. Yeah, and thumb on the side here.
01:22Right. It's called a ten finger grip in golf. That's acceptable. The thing is, with the golf swing, what we want usually, we want one unit.
01:31So, two hands connected together. That works in one unit holding the club. Baseball, because the bat is heavier, it's comfortable for most baseball players to use like the ten figure grip and control the bat this way.
01:46But golf, usually we'll ask golfers to either interlock the two fingers there and put the thumb just underneath your bottom hand like you're doing right now.
01:57Okay.
01:58But again, like we said, if you're not planning to play a lot of golf, making a career out of it, I'm comfortable just leaving you with the ten finger grip.
02:07Where should the top thumb be? Here or here? Squeeze in the bottom. So, it's like the trigger. So, some players like to squeeze on top as long as those two fingers snap together.
02:18So, it's either on top or you can go on the side and squeeze this way. Okay. So, whatever feels more comfortable for you.
02:24This probably feels more comfortable for me. Okay. And then, we need to know, so if you put the club down now.
02:31So, usually, from your perspective there, you should be seeing two knuckles of your top ends. So, it's normal to have that end a little bit more on this side here.
02:44And to have the bottom end a little bit more on top. So, you're hiding your thumb like this.
02:49Okay.
02:50That's a proper grip. But, starting from there, we need to know what's your tendency. So, you're a left-handed player. We don't see that a lot in the US.
02:59In Canada, where I'm from, it's over like 30-35% left-handed.
03:04Really? That many?
03:05Because of hockey.
03:06Yeah. Because of hockey.
03:07Okay.
03:08Most hockey players in Canada are left-handed. So, they go with golf. So, I'm used to see left-handed players.
03:14So, for you as a left-handed player, what's your tendency? To have your ball going left or when you hit balls or is it going right?
03:22Well, as I said to you before we started, I'm really a novice. The one time I played, it wasn't pretty.
03:28The balls were going everywhere but straight.
03:30Okay. So, we'll go just standard. So, because the grip here is like the steering wheel. If you had told me that your ball has a tendency to go left for you as slicing the ball for a left-hand player, we would have that grip a little stronger.
03:44The stronger is to have those end a little bit more behind the club. So, for you, because you're going this way, that's behind the club, that's in front of the club.
03:52Okay. But now, since you're telling me like it's army golf, like it goes right or left, we'll just keep it simple.
04:00Seeing two knuckles here and then having that bottom hand just hiding your thumb like this. So, that's the beginning. Most of it, the golf is having a good grip.
04:08And after that, then it's all about positioning. Okay. Okay. So, we got the grip going up. Let's go and position at the ball here. Okay. So, for an iron, just we'll keep it simple. So, we see your stance. That's the middle of your stance.
04:24And because you're a left-handed player, this is your lead foot and this is your trail foot. So, what we want on the standard lie to maximum to have that ball in the middle.
04:39We should never on the standard lie, a regular shot, have that ball be positioned towards back of middle towards your trail foot. Okay. So, middle here for an iron, that's good.
04:51And then if you had a driver in your hand, a longer club, then we would position that ball a little bit more towards your lead foot. Okay. So, as an iron, we'll keep it in the middle. And then just position your club down here. Okay. So, this is a good position. As a left hand player, your dominant arm is your right arm. Okay. That's like the anchor of your golf swing. Okay.
05:16That's the one that we try as much as possible to keep extended. Okay. So, that one's going to bend during your backswing. That one will try to have that one as much as possible in an extended position.
05:29Yeah. And that's the biggest. I know because when I come back, I'm tempted to do that.
05:34Yeah. That's the baseball golf swing. Exactly. Exactly. Because ball, baseball, the ball will come up like two feet in the air. Then we're in the position to just hit that ball. Because golf, that ball is standing on the ground. This is where having that arm extended going to create a lot more consistency for you to make good contact.
05:56Okay. Again, baseball, that ball, you need to adjust quickly. That ball might be closer to you, might be further away, higher, lower. Having arms bent, it's just, it's easy like to either you kind of come up with a little bit more bent or depending. So, at golf, that ball is always same thing. So, it's on the ground. So, you want to have that arm extended.
06:16Okay. And then let's do a slow motion backswing. Okay. So, we know grip is important. Extended arm here. Keep head steady. Okay. So, we're just going to go here. Good rotation. So, use your body. Like we said. Okay.
06:32Okay. This is where we're going. So, this is a good position on top. You don't have to go any further back. That's good enough. Okay. Now, arm is extended and you grip any club well. If I was to make an extension of that club, you see where the club is almost pointed towards your ball. Okay.
06:49That's a good position. Okay.
06:51If we would see like this, you would be in a bad position and the same thing, that club would be too flat. So, now you're in a good position. So, starting from there, it's just to bring everything back towards the ball and just finish. And we've discussed about it. Compared to baseball, finishing on your back foot and golf, you want to, it's almost like you want to, let's do a swing and you almost want to do one step forward after.
07:18That's the feeling you want to have compared to baseball. Okay. But the back foot's not going to really move that way, is it? No. But you'll finish at the end. Most golfers, at the end of the swing, they almost like, they can put that back foot up in the air and everything is on the front.
07:37On the front foot. But the weight hasn't come forward, has it? It will. Yes. So, if I do a practice swing here, I finish. Look, I'm almost like I can lift. That's good. That's the difference between baseball. Because baseball, the bat is heavier.
07:54You need to hold on to all that force because bat is heavy. Bat wants to go the laws of physics. The bat, if you go too much forward with an heavy bat swinging fast, you're going to lose balance and go like this.
08:09Mm-hmm. And a baseball, that's why we're compensating for all that energy going forward. We're staying more like this at the end. But the golf club is a lot lighter. So you don't have to compensate too much by going like this. So let's do a practice swing.
08:25Okay. Imagine the ball is there. Do a slow motion backswing. There you go. And at the end, go a swing, downswing. And good. Let's do one more again. No ball yet. And the next one, do a step forward. So go on top. And when you come back, I just want you to get used. That's going to, for you, feel a lot different. Very.
08:50Feel versus real in golf, that's important. Any flexion in the knees when you do this? Or does it matter? You need to imagine, again, if we go back to baseball, it's like you're a shortstop. You're ready to either move on each side.
09:04Yeah. So that's it. Just getting ready to do a quick movement. There. And one step forward at the end. There you go. Okay. It seems so easy.
09:20That's still too much of a bend. Don't worry too much about it. Don't think it can only hurt.
09:30Okay. All right. You want to be ready for a ball? Let's see what happens. What's the worst that can happen?
09:36Yeah. And like you just mentioned, just before we go, since you've played a lot of reactive sports, baseball, you need to react quickly.
09:46At golf, the danger for those who get used to be a reactive player is to stand at the ball and start their checklist. Okay.
09:56No. Like, so you see them. I was just about to do that with my hands. Yeah.
10:00I go and I go to golf courses. I see golfers and then they step at the ball and then you see like the checklist start.
10:06And the longer you stand at the ball thinking about what's going to happen, the less are your chance to have a good golf shot.
10:15So for you, you're an instinctive player. So think. So think box is before stepping at the ball. So think about it.
10:24So just before you do your practice swing, stand there. It's there. Okay. I want to come down and finish on my front foot.
10:31So this is your think box. As soon as you step on the ball, be reactive. Don't step on the ball and just start your swing. Allow yourself. Okay.
10:45Okay. Let's try one more. Foul ball. Foul ball.
10:51So did I come around it sort of thing or? Yeah. Maybe your ball was just, you're standing a little too close from the ball. Yeah. Okay.
10:59Okay. Okay. That was a practice swing. That's it. Think box. Okay.
11:19That was good. Yeah. Good swing.
11:26Well, here's someplace I never thought I'd be. The iconic seventh hole at Pebble Beach here at Golf Cave. This has really been a good time. Bring some friends, bring some family. Come on in and have a good time. Work on your golf game, learn how to play. For more information, go to their website, golfcave.com. And come play Pebble Beach.
