Reverse Overlap Grip.

I am a left hander who has played for years with an interlocking grip and a tendancy to fade the ball. Recently i decided to try out an overlapping grip but have drifted in to what I call a reverse ovelap i.e. all the fingers on my lower hand are on the grip but the forefinger of my right (top) hand overlaps the small finger of my left hand (lower).
Just wondering whether you felt this might lead to problems because it really has given me much better results i.e. I seem to be able to get my left side through the ball much more effectively and no longer find myself hitting a sort of back hand strike with my dominant right hand, I am right handed at everything other than golf.
Any advice would be a big help thanks.

Greg,

You seem to be a right handed person who plays golf left handed. I am just the opposite but I am sure everything I say below applies. It's just the mirror image of you and your swing.

I'm so glad I saw your post. I am left handed but play right handed. For years I have struggled with a fade and really just a poor golf swing. I was not an interlocking gripper but an overlapping gripper. But, today for the first time I reversed my overlap so the index finger of my left (upper) overlaps the little finger of my right (lower) hand. OMG, what a difference. For the first time in my career (30 years) I am releasing the club thru impact. My hands are closer together, my grip is lighter, my left hand actually moved down the shaft slightly, giving me the proper hand position on the grip (I always had my hands way to high, even the pad of my left hand slightly above the butt of the grip, but that's the only way that felt right).

Now I can keep the club head square at take away, naturally, and with out manipulation, AND MY HANDS FOR THE FRIST TIME (IN FACT MY WHOLE RIGHT SIDE) RELEASES NATURALLY THRU THE IMPACT ZONE!

It is an amazing set of bonuses that come from this simple reversal of overlap! I recommend it for every left hander who plays right handed (or vice versa).

Feel free to contact me, I'd like to hear if you are staying with the new grip and anything else that you discover.

Russ Parker

Here is what is happening, by reversing the overlap, you are finally relaxing the trigger finger which in turn deactivates the muscles on the outside of your forearms. Now that you have learned this lesson you could probably go back to a normal grip interlock or traditional overlap (lower hand pinky over upper hand fore finger) and play the same with the added benifit of your hands and wrist working correctly. Many people just don't understand that you can not apply pressure or use the fore finger or thumb of either hand. It is important in the swing to be relaxed in the arms, using the inside muscles of the forearms is good, outside muscles of the forearms bad. Check for your self, you can squeeze quite hard with the last three fingers of both hands, the muscles on the inside of the forearms with tighten, but outside remains very supple. Now squeeze with the fore finger and thumb, see how the entire arm tenses up, especially the outside of the forearms. So my guess is by doing this reverse overlap, since it is new to you, you are relaxing that fore finger, freed up your swing some, but you are also losing some lead hand control, and putting the bad hand (the one that usually causes flipping) in control. It will happen just a matter of time.

I agree...mostly... and if I do start "flipping" I will certainly go back to the Vardon grip... but remember... I am LEFT handed... so my left side is in control naturally... too much in control...the reverse overlap has saved me from myself... and for the first time I am releasing the entire right side of my body. In other words, you have focused on the hand action only... I'm saying the whole right side is releasing properly for the first time in 30 years... it is truely amazing.

One other added bonus, I hit a jumbo bucket of balls at the range and then played 18 holes yesterday. Normally that would make me very sore (back, arms, chest), but not today! I released!

Thanks for the reply, keep in touch.
Russ

A great grip for putting and chipping.