We’re often told that a closed club face is a bad thing, and it is sometimes.
Then again, it can be a good thing if other swing conditions fall into place. Let’s take a look at wrist action during the swing and what happens when you change conditions from address to the top, and how it affects the club face.
The average golfer should play from a more square condition at the top rather than one that is radically shut (i.e., Dustin Johnson). Not that the average player could not play from a slightly shut condition, but remember, compensations have to occur if you get much past slightly shut.
However, there has been a growing number of better players who have had some wonderful success playing from conditions at the top that range from slightly shut to super-shut. Think about the swings of John Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Tony Finau, and, of course, DJ.
Now let’s examine this clubface position at the top using Hack Motion’s Wrist Sensor, which I’m wearing here (see page –), so you can see how the wrist action changes, with this type of position, during the swing.
I took a few sample swings with the new modern swing: A slightly stronger grip working into a flexed lead wrist at the top, which causes the shut face at the top like DJ. Here is what we saw.
