Something I try to convey to my fitting customers is the importance of the shooting hand. There are similarities in the golf swing to shooting a basketball. Just as we see similarities to throwing a baseball we see similarities in shooting a basketball.
In the pictures below what you see is the alignment of the hand to the target. In basketball just before release the palm of your hand must face the basket and you roll the ball off your fingers. In golf the palms of your hands must face the target just before impact. This is the alignment we strive for for consistent, accurate shots at the target. Just as in basketball. We get there by properly balancing the club to make it easy for you to “square the face” at impact. By getting your golf clubs to the best total weight for you and having the head weight coordinated properly we can improve your ability to swing the club on plane and time the clubface to be pointing at the target at impact.
But, beyond this you need to be aware where your hands need to be at impact. Your grip is important. The palms need to be parallel when you grip the club and also parallel in relation to the clubface at impact. I believe the palms and the clubface should be aligned and parallel in the swing. Some golfers do not have the hand strength to do this so they need to help the clubface by using a stronger grip. However the key to fitting is to balance the club to make it easier to square the face with the hands at impact.
MOI is the amount of force need to set an object in motion. MOI determines how well we square the face. The heavier the face is (clubhead) the harder it is to return it to square at impact. This will result in a fade or a slice. The lighter the face is the easier the easier it is to square the face at impact. If the face is too light we draw or hook the ball.
We are usually taught the mechanics of the swing and learn to hit the ball farther but seldom are we taught the relationship needed between the hands and clubface at impact and how to hit straight shots. But just as shooting a basketball we need to get the hand pointed at the target at impact. Custom fitting makes this much easier to do this naturally.
