Your grip is the only point of contact with the body and golf club so it is imperative you get it right...
8 Ways To Get The Perfect Golf Grip
The grip is arguably the most important element of the golf swing, as if it is wrong it can have big implications on your shots.
Ideally, golfers would all have neutral grips as the swing then becomes much more simple from there.
A stronger grip will generally lead to a predominantly right-to-left shape and a weak grip will usually produce fades, however both of these lead to inconsistency.
Obviously this is very general, but essentially anything other than a neutral grip means that golfers will have to manipulate their hands to get the clubface back to square at impact.
Want to have the perfect golf grip? Here are 8 key points to consider…
1 Choose which method you’re going for
There are three main techniques when it comes to the golf grip and they are the overlapping, interlocking and baseball grips.
There is no right or wrong way to do this, so you can either (if you’re right handed) rest your right-hand little finger on your left hand in the overlapping style, put your right-hand little finger under your left-hand index finger in the interlocking method or keep both hands separate in the baseball style grip.
The overlap and interlock grips are the most common, with the overlap also known as the Vardon grip named after six-time Open Champion Harry Vardon.
Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus both use the interlocking grip whilst the baseball grip is the least common of the three.
Like we said before there is no real right or wrong answer here, so test them out and stick with whichever you feel most comfortable using.
2 Basic technique
One you’ve decided which style of grip you are going for, it is time to learn the basics when it comes to the grip.
Put your left hand on the club first (if you are right handed) so that you can see two knuckles. You want your thumb to be slightly to the right side of the grip.
Then, put your right hand on, with your index finger slightly lower down and just resting against the grip. This reduces tension.
Put your right thumb over the grip so it is in line with your right arm.
A perfectly neutral golf grip
This will create a ‘V’ between your right thumb and hand.
3 Your left hand
You want the grip to in the palm and fingers.
Too much in your fingers will lead to a strong grip and too much in the palm will be weaker.
4 Avoiding a strong or weak grip
A neutral grip – here two knuckles can be seen on the left hand and one on the right
Ideally, we want a neutral grip as a weak or strong one will lead to inconsistency in your shots, especially under pressure in competitions.
A strong grip is where you can see 3-4 knuckles on your left hand, with your right almost under the club.
Vice versa, a weak grip is where just one knuckle can be seen on your left hand and two or more knuckles can be seen on your right hand.
For a neutral grip, you want to see two knuckles in your left hand and just one knuckle in your right hand.
5 Grip pressure
Don’t grip the club too tight
A common fault with golfers is to grip the club too tight which loses power and fluidity.
To counter that, you don’t want to grip the club too loose either.
A common analogy is to imagine that you are holding a tube of toothpaste.
You want to grip the toothpaste tight enough for it not to fall out of your hands, but not too tight so that the toothpaste gets squeezed out.
The Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align features in our 2019 Editor’s Choice awards. The ‘Align’ technology features a rib on the back of the grip to act as a reminder for where the central point of the club is.
6 Checking your grip
A neutral grip allows you to work on your swing knowing that your grip is perfect so a sound swing will lead to consistent shots.
Even the best players in the world can get in to bad tendencies though, so it is always worth checking yours every few months.
Get someone to take pictures of you or simply check it in the mirror.
Another great way of making sure your grip is holding up is to buy a grip trainer that you can easily attach and detach to your golf clubs.
7 Grip size
The main problem with the wrong-size golf grips is that they won’t allow the hands to work as they ideally should in the golf swing.
If your grips are too small, your hands can become too active which leads to inconsistency, greater shot dispersion, and typically too early a release of the club often resulting in a hook or pull.
If your grips are too thick, your hands won’t be able to release effectively at impact and the most likely result will be a block, push or slice.
8 Don’t let them get worn
You grip your golf clubs thousands of times through the season and eventually they will suffer from wear and tear, losing their tackiness and some performance.
Make sure that you change your grips once a season or at least once every couple of years.
The grip is your only point of contact with the club remember, so make sure they’re in as good a condition as possible.
A worn set of grips may cause you to hold them tighter and the lack of tackiness will affect the feel you have on your shots.
To prolong the life of your grips, make sure to give them a good wash in warm water every now and then.
This article 8 Ways To Get The Perfect Golf Grip appeared first on Golf Monthly.