INSTRUCTORS FORUM
Gripping detail How you hold the mallet affects your swing By Rege Ludwig • Illustrations by Jean Abernathy
Be aware of how your hand is placed on the mallet handle because that placement influences the effect of how you use the mallet to hit the ball. More specifically, be aware that at no stage within the swing process should you be holding the mallet handle with a tight fist grip, because a fist grip produces a significant negative effect on the hitting process.
restricted wrist. The third negative effect appears during the follow-through. Because the mallet head must be moved back toward the plane before it contacts the ball, the tight fist grip probably still exists at the point of contact with the ball. The restricted wrist movement reduces the energy released into the ball.
The Fist Grip The fist grip renders the wrist to be ridged and stiff, thereby, decreasing the necessary suppleness of the wrist with which to control the swing of the mallet (see diagram below, left). Compared to the more desirable and softer openhanded grip, the fist grip causes the mallet handle to have been pushed back onto the web between the thumb and the index finger. With that having happened, the mallet is now almost perpendicular to the hand. That, in turn, causes the mallet head to move out and away from the plane of the swing and the ball. At that point, the mallet head must be moved back to the plane before contacting the ball, which is difficult to accomplish with a tight and
The More Open-Handed Grip Lay the mallet handle diagonally across your hand, with the completely flat side of the handle in contact with the palm of your hand (see diagram below). The significance of the diagonal angle across your hand is that it offsets the angle of the cane passing through the mallet head. That offsetting angle allows the mallet head to be flush with the ground at the point of contact with the ball. If your hand were open, the cane side of the handle should be approximately parallel to the line running down and across the palm of your hand from the bottom and outside edge of the index finger to the pads of muscle located at the base of your thumb. When gripping the handle in that manner, that same
The Fist Grip
14 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N
The Pistol Grip
Mallet positioned diagonally across the palm
