What's the deal with the GRIP

You hear this statement in many different ways, but they all basically relate to the same thing, how do we need to grip the club correctly. Before we get into that, lets look at a few things first, to clarify why we do things. First let us concede the fact that, in my view, the first three fundamentals of golf are GRIP, GRIP and GRIP. You must have not only a correct grip on the club with the left hand, but the right hand must complement it, in the correct position and both hands must have the correct grip pressure. All three must be correct for YOU, BUT they will follow some basic fundamental.

IF you are not interested in changing your grip to a correct grip then STOP reading this, also STOP taking any advise, from here, TV, your local pro, or from anyone for that matter. Why, because they are all assuming you have a some what correct grip, if you don't have a some what correct grip, these swing recommendation could actually hurt your swing. If you insist on playing with a BAD grip, forget every thing you heard or learned, get yourself a 1000 golf balls and go out and keep changing things until you figure out how to make the necessary changes to compensate for your BAD grip and make the ball go where you want it too. You will figure it out, eventually. Hard way to go, but it will be uniquely yours, no one else will be swinging that way. The only requirement to a good swing.... "is it repeatable".... doesn't matter if it is ugly, it just has to be repeatable. Starting with a good grip and following some other fundamentals makes this happen more often and a little easier.

Let equate the golf swing to a car, everyone has a car. In this analogy the legs are the tires, the shoulders are the steering wheel and the grip is the front end alignment. Here we see that if the front end is miss aligned we must make a change in our steering or the we run off the road. So, back to us and the golf swing, if you wish to steer down the road, you must get that front end alignment right to stop you from running off the road (fairway), or has in the car analogy you will start to make steering changes (with your shoulders) in an attempt to keep you on the road. Has in driving, making small adjustments in steering and alignment is OK, making big changes, puts you out of control, and running off the road.

So how does a grip change affect my steering, a strong grip tends to make you to swing inside out, weak grip tends to make you swing outside in, neither is optimal. A strong grip tends to move your swing center (low point of swing) back, weak grip move it forward (towards the target). Strong grip closes the face, weal grip opens it. Now the big scream comes, "Hey that's not true, I have a strong grip and my ball is still slicing" yes it well, why, because you subconsciously know the face is gonna be closed, and ...wait for it... you tried to steer your way out of it with your shoulder, the dreaded out side in swing, and you further tried to correct by holding off your hands, no face rotation, BOOOMMM big slice. So how did we get to this, let trace it back, because it started at address. First you grip to strong with the left (too many knuckles, turn to the right), then you grip weak with the right (hand on top of club), forcing you to grip to tight (death grip, white knuckling it) because your hands are miss matched. this prevented a good wrist cock, the tight shoulders (caused by the tight grip) prevented a good shoulder turn, etc.... result, bad swing, bad golf shot, most definitely not repeatable.

So lets get this the grip right, with you left hand put your index finger in a trigger position and place the heel pad on TOP of the grip, this is what keeps the club in your hand not gripping tightly, it has to do with physics and leverage. Then simply close the rest of the finger and thumb onto the grip, and it doesn't have to be tight. When maneuvering the heel pad onto the top of shaft, make an effort to keep the back of the hand generally point towards the target, not towards the sky. I should probably add the only purpose of the last three fingers of the left hand is to maintain the contact of the heel pad and club, it takes a surprising very little effort to do that, you can try a little test, with just the trigger finger and heel pad on the club, pick the club up to horizontal, you should have no problem doing this, in fact you can have a friend sit on the ground, grab the club head. You can pull him to his feet, with just a one finger and heel pad grip on the club, leverage, what an amazing thing.

The right hand, here is where everyone gets hosed up, if you notice, the left hands thumb and forefinger form a "V" and it points to the right shoulder, so should the right hand, club is placed in the fingers at an ANGLE from the first joint of trigger finger to the base of the ring finger, meaty part of the right hand thumb pad sits on the left thumb. Here when completed, look at the Wrists both left and right, will, be at the same angle, parallel to each other, (they are aligned), in this position neither hand fights for dominance, the club face will close naturally, the swing path is not manipulated, and you will relax with even grip pressure, which frees up your shoulders for a good turn.

Bottom line, spend the time to perfect your grip, then start putting them swing changes your reading about in to play. In the long run your golf game will thank you.

A few weeks ago I was giving a guy a 3rd lesson and I told him that he should not expect swing changes to occur because he still had not changed his right hand grip. Told him he had to do it or we would go no where and then I asked him why he had not changed it still. Then he proceded to tell me some bogus stuff about what is weak and what is strong, he thought V of right had pointing to left shoulder was strong. I exlplained to him and showed him some stuff and he still did not believe me. So I said, "man, the grip is like pre-k, if you are going to challenge me do it on something that is not so basic, you think I am smart enough to take lessons from but yet you think I dont know grip. You need to find yourself an instructor, whether or not that be me, learn their method and once you get that down then it may be ok to expand in another direction." Have not seen him since, that is not the first time I told some one something to that extant and it wont be the last. When I give golf lessons it is to teach golf, not be a cheerleader.

Yak yak yak... you have to expect people to be ignorant if you are a coach. It takes patience

I agree that patience is necesarry. When someone pays you to teach them golf if they dont get better they want to put the blame on you. this person in particular I would tell him, on average, once every five minutes for the first 2 1/2 lessons that his right hand needed to change otherwise he would continue to bring it too far inside no matter what else he tried. Some people in life are not ready to learn no matter who is teaching them. Every lesson I discussed the right hand grip with him, I demonstrated swings with a good grip and bad grip so he could see the ball flight and I would stand in front while he was addressing the ball and remind him of it. How many lessons would you give while the student refuses to do what you ask? Sometimes the best lesson you can give someone is a reality check, I gave him my opinion he was not ready to learn.

to add as an easy way to grip the club with a square club face. If righty,
grab the shaft between the grip and the club face. Make sure the toe of the club is pointed straight up. Grip the club as outlined above with the left hand keeping the toe straight up. After the left hand is on, simply slide the right down to the left. Both V's shoulde be to the right shoulder and clubface with toe straight up.

My grip seems to be a bit different than what has been explained above, at least my V directions are. As for squaring the club face, (after taking my grip) as part of my pre-shot routine, before I take my address, I hold the club straight out in front of me with the toe pointing up. What I do then is find an object on the course with a straight verticle angle, and align the bottom of my club face with that verticle line/angle. The corner of a building is usually available. This is an on course fix for me when the ball starts going right on me. Alot people however, after doing this, when they put the club behind the ball will think the club face is closed, and rotate the face open, while thinking they have squared the face up..... GJS

You have be careful with that bottom of club thing, or top for that matter. Sole designs change, rounded, etc... better to use the bottom scoring line, it will always be straight. Don't know about your grip, but what I described, is pretty bullet proof, if you can not support the club horizontal to the ground with one finger and heel pad, without the face moving. Then you will be fighting leverage, and forced to grip the club to tightly, not saying it can't be done, just causing you more work then needs to be done, and will, without doubt, make you perform some type of swing compensation to make up for the loss of leverage.

Hello all,

Intresting topic is GRIP. As some people on here know that im a new golfer thats been play a few months. But i took the advise of a friend i got myself into PGA trained golf lessions of the pro. The main things that he did during the first lesson or two was to change my grip from what it was. (i thought my grip was ok) untill i was told otherwise then i used the correct grip shown by the pro and even tho if left odd at first i spent more time on lession and more sessions on the driving range i came to like the grip i was shown. So for me personally i learnt the correct grip and listen to what the pro tells you and work hard on it and my games coming alot nice.

TJ

Although I have very small hands I was taught at an early age to use the overlapping grip because it is the "correct" grip, and have used it for over 30 years so it is too late to change, even though another grip (e.g., interlocking) might have been more appropriate. The problem is, because of small hands, I have difficulty getting my right hand heel pad over my left thumb without making the right hand grip too strong (V pointing right of my right ear). To weaken the RH grip I find I have to move the entire right hand farther down the club, which feels awkward and leads to disconnection of the hands. So should I just stick with the very strong RH grip, which feels most comfortable?

I have small hands, and use a variation (my own) of the overlapping grip. Been using since my own day one. I am not an expert on the grip, but I do know that comfort goes a long ways in acquiring a good grip. Then again, a poor grip can feel comfortable to some. I would give more info on both of your thumb positions on the shaft, and maybe one of the forum experts can give you some advice to help with the disconnection you discribed. GJS

Can somebody clear something up for me.?
Why is shooting4par allowed to teach , let alone charge money for lessons, when he doesn't have an official handicap?
How has he managed to obtain a PGA coaching qualification without the correct credentials. Maybe it is different in the good old US of A but here in UK he would not be allowed to teach.

Silas

Hi silas
welcome to GTO.
I totally agree with your views.
It doesn't sound like Shootin4par should be not teaching anybody with his level of patience.
I'm quiet sure if his "student" was to read his post , he would be extremely cross.

regards

Just thought I'd add my twopennorth to this thread. Teaching golf requires a different set of skills than playing golf and if people are happy to pay Shootin 4 Par them good for him. I'm not trying to start an arguement here but David Leadbetter realised early on there was more money to be made out of teaching golf than playing it.

hi jockyburns
i agree you dont have to play well to teach, look at dave plez and david leadbetter and bob torance, all better teacher than player.
bill

Hi jocky.
Point taken.
No offence meant, shootin4par.
Silas