A view on the Grip

I believe the golf grip should use the natural position of the hands and arms and not work against them. If you let your arms hang down naturally your hands will point inwards at an approximate 45% angle. It is my belief that your golf grip should use this natural angle. Think of the way the handlebars of a motorcycle turn in at 45% so that your hands and arms are naturally aligned and not straining against them.

Make your grip by letting your left hand hang naturally then place the club into it with your right hand, the shaft should now point North East (if North is facing directly away from you) Grip the club in your fingers and let the right thumb form its natural position on the shaft (don't allow your thumb to extend down the shaft, keep it pulled back as this will reduce strain on your joints). Now place your right hand onto the club in its natural alignment ensuring that the fleshy part of your right palm is sitting snugly over your left thumb and your right thumb takes it's natural position on the shaft.

You will now have a natural "Neutral grip" neither weak or strong. This grip is the natural foundation on which to build your swing, weakening or strengthening the grip will put you in an unnatural position from where you will need to make compensations.

What do you think?

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

are you saying grip it in the fingers of the left hand?

Well not really Shootin. I haven't really gone into that, I was trying more to explain the basis of a neutral grip in relation to the natural position of the arms and hands. I suggest the shaft should lie approx across the middle of the index finger to the pad below the little finger.

well the grip is pretty detailed in some respects. and it NEEDS to be, because it is the basis for control. what feels natural and what we need to do are two different stories. the arms hange naturally, I agree there, but besides that the rest of the grip is pretty unatural.

front hand the shaft goes from the middle knuckle of the pointer finger, to under the heelpad.

This post has been deleted by BrianW

, .

OK Thank you.

I will try to explain further:

It is very true that what Golf requires and our natural thought processes consider can be different. But in saying that I think applying the grip so the Bio-mechanics of the body are not compromised is an important consideration.

The acid test for the grip can be found in the amount of sidespin imparted into the ball. Although there will inevitably be occasions when it is pertinent to look at the body motion, shots that severely slice or hook are crying out for a grip review. But we should remember that any attempt to make an improvement in technique is futile unless the hands can repeat their natural hanging positions from the body as they are placed onto the club. The grip is our link between the mind and the club, the quality of this relationship is determined by how well you hold the club.

__________________
Best Regards
Brian

________________________________
Funny o'l game!

I got you, totally agree on the above post

Hi and thank you for showing this thread to me.

I'll try this out today on the range more thoroughly, but testing your method at home seemed to give me a good neutral grip. I wrote in another thread about having to "fine tune" my grip quite a bit at address, but with this it seems to give me a square club face (give or take a few degrees.. ) immediately and staying that way.

I hope this helps me as my last round was a total disaster. I'll come back here and tell about the results.

Thanks!

There are more factors than just having an improper grip that will lead to a slice or hook.
You can have a solid neutral grip and still hit the ball with an open/closed clubface.
aft

Shot most of my shots straight today. Getting the clubface sqare is much easier now (ofcourse some fine-tuning is required).
I take the club in my left hand as you described, but instead of grabbing the club with my right hand I lift up the club from the ground (with my left hand) and hold it in front of me so that it points straight to the sky. I then grab the club with my right hand and can comfortably get a good solid neutral grip with my right hand. Then just address and shoot away with a good feeling grip.

Hope you understood atleast something I wrote.. I'm almost falling asleap at my keyboard...

Hi Aftford

I totally agree with that. I did add the following in a part of my explanation

"The acid test for the grip can be found in the amount of side spin imparted into the ball. Although there will inevitably be occasions when it is pertinent to look at the body motion"

In another thread I said the following:

aftford mentions a good point I have heard mentioned before. If you have a bad grip or at least a grip that doesn't quite follow the basic rules, you have to have an unconventional swing to make up for the grip. Conversely a perfect grip with a bad swing brings similar inconsistencies. Grip is probably one of the things that I have considered least in my swing. I have had two series of five lessons from the same pro and not once has he mentioned my grip. The link below gives an excellent explantion of how to grip the club. Among the things I've noted is that I do not nearly grip the club with the fingers as much as is sugggested nor have I considered how the grip lies on the fingers as shown in the illustrations. The second link has good pictures of a neutral, weak and strong grip.

So I figure, since my striking the ball has not been consistent enough to improve my scores, it would not hurt me to pay more attention to the grip. It may change the way I have to swing but it cannot be a bad thing at this point. I mean if I had a "bad grip" but had grooved my swing to it in such a way that I struck the ball consistenly and scored well, I might not mess with it. But that is not the case. I would appreciate more opinions on the grip.

http://golf.about.com/od/golftips/ss/golfgrip_lead.htm

http://www.pga.com/improve/tips/setu...ajar100504.cfm

By the way, on that first link follow the links under the heading "The Lead Hand (Top Hand) Grip" to see the illustrations. After you finish those illustrations look under the heading "Related Articles" to get the "Trailing" or "Bottom" Hand illustrations.

BrianW, you directed me to this thread to which I would like to respond. I think your thoughts on the grip are excellent. However, like everything in this game of golf, one man's thoughts don't always translate to understanding for everyone. I know there have been many times where I suddenly understood something about the golf swing that just did not register despite the many ways it was illustrated or told. Some times you have to come to the realization yourself through a series of events or from something related to the issue.

I am having a little problem with the word natural. Although I know you didn't mean it in the literal sense, it seems to me that gripping the club is very unnatural. However, I am going to try to work through your thoughts and see where it leads me. May basic question is whether a strong effort to improve my grip is worth the trouble? I think I've decided it is.

By the way did anyone look at the illustrations from that first link? I am not gripping the club with the fingers as illustrated for sure. That is going to feel odd I think.

if you do not grip the club in the fingers of the right hand, there are things that this can cause. The right hand gets too much under the club and this causes the rear shoulder to dip and change the shoulder direction, it may open or close. if it closes the shoulders with the rear being too low, it will encourage an inside take away and help the right elbow to fly on the back swing which will get it stuck on the down swing. hope this helps.
good luck in the search