Golf Smart Academy
If you tend to hit pushes or weak shots that start right of the target, one of the smartest places to diagnose the problem is at last parallel—the downswing position where the shaft is parallel to the ground just before impact. This checkpoint can tell you a lot about whether your grip strength matches the way your wrists and body move the club. In many cases, golfers try to fix face control with hand action alone, when the real issue is that the grip is working against them.
What It Looks Like
At last parallel, you can learn two important things:
- What your lead wrist is doing—cupped, flat, or bowed
- Where the clubface is pointing—open, square, or shut relative to the swing arc
A common push pattern shows up like this: your lead wrist looks reasonably flat, but the clubface is still too open at last parallel. In other words, your wrist condition is not matching the face angle you need to square the club. That usually means your grip is not as strong as it needs to be for the motion you are making.
You may also see the opposite pattern, although it is less common. If the clubface is excessively closed at last parallel while your lead wrist is still cupped, that suggests the grip may be too strong for the motion you currently use, or that you are trying to add a face-closing move that does not fit your setup.
For most golfers, though, the more typical issue is this:
- The lead wrist looks decent
- The body is rotating reasonably well
- But the clubface remains open
- The ball starts right or stays out to the right
That is why last parallel is such a useful checkpoint. It reveals whether the grip is helping you control the face—or forcing you to make compensations.
Why It Happens
The root issue is that grip strength and wrist motion have to match. You cannot evaluate one without the other.
If your grip is too weak for the way you move the club, you may need an excessive amount of lead-wrist bowing to square the face. Some elite players can do that, but most golfers cannot repeat it consistently. So even if you are trying to rotate your body well, the face stays open and the ball leaks right.
This is where many golfers get confused. They believe they have a “strong grip” because it feels strong to them. But feelings are not reliable here. If you reach last parallel with a flat lead wrist and the face is still very open, then your grip is probably not actually strong enough for your motion.
On the other hand, if your grip is very strong and you pair it with a face-closing move like heavy lead-wrist flexion, the face can become too shut. That can create hooks, low left shots, or timing-dependent contact. Again, the issue is not just the grip by itself. It is whether the grip and wrist action are compatible.
Your body motion matters too. A golfer with a grip that leaves the face too open often struggles to rotate freely through the ball. Why? Because an open face encourages a last-second hand throw or flip to try to square it. Once that happens, body rotation slows down and face control gets even worse.
So while the ball flight may look like a directional problem, the underlying cause is often a mismatch between:
- Grip strength
- Lead-wrist condition
- Body rotation through the strike
How to Check
The easiest way to diagnose this is with slow-motion video from face-on or slightly down-the-line. Make a normal swing and pause the video when the shaft is parallel to the ground in the downswing.
Checkpoint 1: Look at the lead wrist
At last parallel, check whether your lead wrist is:
- Cupped
- Flat
- Bowed
This tells you how much face-closing or face-opening influence the wrist is applying.
Checkpoint 2: Look at the clubface
Now check where the clubface is pointing. If the face looks too open while the lead wrist is flat, that is a strong clue that the grip needs to be strengthened slightly. If the face is very shut while the wrist is cupped, the grip may be too strong or your release pattern may not fit it.
Checkpoint 3: Test your grip statically
You can also check your grip without making a swing. Take your normal lead-hand grip, then hold your lead arm out in front of you with the wrist in a flat, neutral position. From there, look at the clubface angle.
For a fairly neutral grip, the face should sit roughly 20 to 30 degrees closed relative to vertical zero. If the face is much more vertical than that, the grip is likely too weak. That setup makes it difficult to rotate your body and square the face without a lot of extra wrist flexion.
This static test is useful because it strips away motion and lets you see whether the grip itself is putting the club in a workable position.
What to Work On
If your typical pattern is a push and your last-parallel position shows a flat lead wrist with an open face, the first thing to consider is a slightly stronger grip. You do not need a dramatic change. Often a small adjustment is enough to let the face match the wrist condition more naturally.
From there, you can pair that grip with better face-control mechanics through the downswing. For many golfers, this means learning some version of lead-wrist flexion—often described as the “motorcycle” move—so the clubface is not left hanging open.
Focus on these priorities:
- Match your grip to your wrist motion
- Use last parallel as your checkpoint
- Avoid relying on late hand flips to square the face
- Let body rotation work with a manageable face position
If you see the less common pattern—a shut face with a cupped wrist—then be careful about adding more face-closing action. In that case, you may need to weaken the grip slightly or change the release pattern rather than exaggerating wrist flexion.
The big picture is simple: your grip should make face control easier, not harder. Last parallel gives you a clear window into whether that is happening. If the face and wrist do not match there, your grip is often the first place to look.
