The golf grip is the foundation of your entire golf swing.
If you have problems with your grip, you likely have problems with your swing.
For years, I struggled with my grip and losing control of my club at the top of the swing. My grip pressure was not consistent throughout the swing, and it would slip out of my hand a bit causing a few mishits per round.
Those mishits also cost me several strokes per round and kept my handicap higher than it should have been.
When I focused on fixing my grip, and practiced, my ball striking improved and so did my scoring.
A word of warning though!
Making a change to your grip is hard, and you must focus on one thing at a time. When you try to change too many things in your grip at once, you revert back to your old way of doing things.
What are The Types of Golf Grips?
The three types of golf grips are :
- Overlapping Grip: In this kind of grip, the left hand’s index finger will overlap the pinky on the right.
- Interlocking Grip: In this, the fingers will interlock instead of overlapping.
- Baseball Grip: There is neither overlapping nor interlocking in this grip. Your fingers will sit on the grip of your golf club.
The first step to perfecting your golf grip is choosing which grip suits your body type. The fingers on your right hand can interact with the fingers on your left in multiple ways.
All three types of grips are mostly quite similar. But they differ because of one vital feature. Regardless of what type of grip you play with, the index finger on your left hand and the pinky on your right will not have a fixed position.
We recommend you experiment with different types of grips before you try to master one of them. It is crucial to pick one that suits your hands and your game.
Pro-tip: If your hands are smaller than average, interlocking grips will work better for you. Those with larger hands can try overlapping golf grip.
Step by Step Guide to The Perfect Golf Grip
(Note: These directions are for right-handed players.)
Step 1: Position Your Left Hand
The first thing you need to get when you get your hands on the club is to make sure left is in the correct position.
Lay the golf club across your fingers and a little into the palm, while it rests in the finger of your left hand. We see that many golfers let their golf club reach far into their palm. This will result in short basics when you try to make a shot.
Here is an easy trick to check whether you are holding the club right: Your index finger and thumb on your left hand create a ‘V.’ This ‘V’ should be directed towards your right shoulder. This way, you can tell whether your left hand is appropriately positioned.
Once you are confident with your left hand’s position, you can move on to positioning your right.
Step 2: How to position your right hand
You need to decide which type of grip you are going for when you place your right hand on the golf club. It could be the overlapping, interlocking, or the ten-finger grip. We recommend you trying all three kinds before you pick which one to use for the game.
The left thumb must perfectly fit into the palm of your right hand, while your right-hand covers it. If done right, the fingers on your right hand will grip the golf club instead of sitting in your palm. Engaging your palm more in your golf grip means too much involvement of your hand during a golf swing. This might ultimately compromise your golf shot.
One thing you need to pay attention to is the participation of all your fingers while gripping the club. You need to ensure that mostly all fingers on your right and left hands are being used to grip the golf club.
Step 3: How to place your thumb
Once both your hands are correctly positioned on the club, you need to know how to place your right thumb accurately. Your right thumb should be pointing to the left of the center of your golf grip.
Make sure you have not wrapped your thumb fully around the grip. Doing this will alter the way your hands have been sitting on your golf club so far. Do not make the mistake of pointing your right thumb down towards the shaft. This error may cause you to lose a significant amount of control on your golf club.
Another vital aspect of getting right is how far you need to extend your thumbs. If you are after that perfect golf grip, you need to let your thumbs passively sit on your golf club. Mistakes in the extent to which your thumbs are outstretched will lead to a negative impact on your grip pressure as well as swing plane.
Step 4: Be Consistent with Grip Pressure
Here is something you may have never heard about the grip.
It doesn’t matter how much pressure you have on the club, you just need to keep that consistent pressure throughout the entire swing.
We have all heard the saying that we should hold the golf club like we would a baby bird. Not too much pressure…not too little.
Well, I bet you nobody ever told you……..
You can choke the hell out of that bird and still have a good grip on the club.
Even though this is considered a sound grip, too much pressure will limit other areas of the swing like the release.
You grip a golf club with enough pressure so that it does not fly out of your hand during the golf swing. If you have a lighter grip on your golf club, you will find it easier to change and adjust your grip on the golf club.
Holding the club too firmly will give you a tough time to release it. You can learn how to release a golf club over time, but you need to make sure that your grip pressure is not to aggressive.
Seasoned golfers have learned how to hold a golf club properly with enough grip pressure that it positively impacts the swing.
Step 5: Deciding on a proper grip size
Another aspect that golfers generally tend to overlook is the grip size. It is essential to ensure that the grip size on your club is the correct size for you. If you have smaller or larger hands compared to the average, you will mostly need the grips on your golf club to be changed.
We recommend you take the help of local golf professional. They will be able to fix a proper golf grip for your size after measuring your hands. If you wear extra-long gloves while playing with a standard grip, you might face issues with the position of your hands and your overall game.
Those with smaller hands, for example, Kids, must always play with undersized golf grips. The standard grips for men make it tougher to release the clubs and make a straight shot.
Differences in Grips Between Clubs
Naturally, you would probably want your golf grip to be constant every time you hold your club. It is essential to keep your golf grip the same regardless of what kind of club you are playing with.
Switching to the putter is an example of a situation when your golf grip tends to vary.
There are predominantly four ways that you can grip a putter.
- Standard
- Cross-Handed
- Claw
- Ten-finger
The cross-handed grip for putting is an excellent grip to stabilize your hands while holding the club. Flipping your wrists while coming through the golf ball results in an unreliable stroke. A cross-handed golf grip helps to avoid your wrists from flipping and keeping the putting stroke consistent.
The ten-finger grip is similar to the regular ten-finger grip. The only difference is that many golfers direct their right thumb towards the shaft.
Fixing Mistakes In the Golf Grip
Strength of the Grip:
One of the most common mistakes observed among golfers is that they hold the club either too tightly or too loose. If your golf grip is a little too firm, your right hand will reach too far underneath the golf club. If you happen to be facing similar problems, you do not have to worry. These are easy fixes that you can make to have a better overall golf game.
Every time you feel like your grip is either too weak or strong; the first thing you need to do is check the position of your left hand. Although most of us would think the problem lies in the right hand’s position, your left hand is often what is causing the trouble. The left hand may sometimes hinder your right hand, which does not allow it to be positioned accurately.
Here’s a tip: If you are still skeptical, try using a mirror while finalizing the position of your hands. Once you see how your hands look in the mirror, you will be able to understand if everything is positioned correctly. This way, you can work on achieving a neutral grip.
The Extent of Palm:
Another error in positioning is seen when golf players let too much of the club into their palm. When you place your index finger and thumb of your left hand on the golf club, you will notice they form a ‘V.’ This ‘V’ must point to your right shoulder. If it is not, chances are this is where your problem is. So, instead of trying to position your fingers, try to check the involvement of your palm.
Make sure that the ‘V’ created by the index finger and thumb of your left hand is directed towards the right shoulder. If you hit a golf shot with too much of the club in your palm, it will result in an improper release. It also increases the chances of the club swinging off the plane as well.
Ensure that you are continuously checking for this problem during your fold game. It is essential to make sure that you hold the club with the fingers of your hands.
Left-Handed Golfer vs. Right-Handed Golfers
A simple trick: Left-handed golfers simply follow the reverse of the steps that right-handed golfers follow. For example, if a right-handed golfer places their left hand on the golf club, then a left-handed golfer places their right. Similarly, when the second hand needs to be placed, a left-handed golfer puts their left hand next.
Left-handed golfers need to make sure that their golf grip is firm enough while keeping the grip pressure as light as possible.
Conclusion
Finally, we have reached the end of this article! We hope you found our guide to a perfect golf grip helped you fix some of the issues you have in your game.
Golfers generally tend to pick golfing habits in their early days, and the bad ones do not go away too quickly. Maintaining a consistent golf grip is crucial for lower scores and an excellent golf game. Interestingly, one of the first things the greatest golf coaches focus on is to achieve the right golf grip.
If you have just started, you may not think golf grip is that important. What you tend to overlook is that the treasure of the game is in your golf grip.Your perfectly optimized content goes here!