Grip Pressure

[wrx_junki]

What is your grip pressure when hitting irons?

[Robiola the Monster]

i interlock my fingers & grip the club really tight.

I do get really bad blisters on my hands

[Dub]

Grip pressure was a key point for me on my last round.

The front nine had me scrambling a bit.....carded a 45. Certainly wasn't feeling a smooth swing.

Late on the back I was standing on the tee of a shortish par 4 with water all the way down the right side and in front of the green. I hit a hard & high drive that was tracking at the green....then it tailed off to the right into the hazard.

Highly pissed at myself....I teed up another ball and stepped to the rear of the tee box and took a few deep breaths and practice swings....lighter grip pressure....feeling the driver release.

Stepped back up and aimed at exactly the same target as before....made the same swing but this time with light grip pressure that allowed the club to release properly.

Ball was hit high and hard again....tracking at the green and tailed off to the LEFT this time....coming to rest even with the green on solid ground. I got up and down from there and was happy even though I carded a big number on the hole.

Next hole was played very solid.....all due to lightening my grip pressure which allows things to happen correctly during the swing.

Wound up shooting in the 80's...something I haven't done in a while....all due to making that one "on-course" correction.

Grip pressure is huge for me....directly related to arm extension, clubhead release, shoulder tension, etc.

[kfowler]

Interesting topic since this something I've really been working on. I was told you should grip the club as if you're holding a child's hand. A 3 on a scale of 1-10/ I voted 2 above. I know that a lighter grip promotes passive hands, increased lag, and proper club release. I the past I've been using a strong grip (hands rotated to right). I noticed recently that with a strong grip it also increases the pressure I grip the club. So I've moved to a more neutral and softer grip. The improvements have been good on the range but I need to see how they pan out on the course.

[iQuest Golfer]

I used a glove at the beginning of the season. In August I stopped using a glove and focused on grip pressure.

With the glove my grip was strong. Without the grip I've gotten used to feeling the club more and making sure I've got good tempo through the swing.

It's made a big difference in accuracy and distance. I'm hitting the sweet spot more as well.

My only problem now is weather. It's been fantastic in Ohio for golf this year. Now, the leaves are falling and we're dealing with aeration... just when things are coming together. I peaked too late this year.

I'm committed to playing as much as possible so... "whether the weather be fair or whether the weather be not. Whether the weather be rain or whether the weather be hot; I'll weather the weather whatever the weather, whether I like it or not!"

[wachesawgolfer]

To me no one really understands "grip pressure" in the swing because the critical time is in the downswing and most people are not consciously aware of something which happens so quick. If you look at any pro with muscle tone you will see the lead forearm is very muscular, much more so than the rear forearm. Common sense tells me that all good players apply a lot of grip pressure somewhere in the downswing with the lead hand. Exactly where and why remains a golf mystery. Joe Dante's Book on golf stated all good players hold the club as tightly as they can in the downswing. I think he is right, but the why is speculation. Do not buy into conventional golf instruction which says too tight a grip inhibits the swing, where the upper body is not also tight. I took a club and held it as hard as I could in my left hand with the last three fingers and found this had NO effect on the hinging motion of that wrist. Test it yourself by so grasping and then hinging. Too bad the golf instructors never did this test. Some people may in fact be holding the club too softly as Dante believed allowing it to lay or fall open or closed at the top.

[HytrewQasdfg]

Since there is no way to measure grip pressure, I doubt anyone even knows if they are holding it tightly or lightly.

If at the top of the swing your fingers are being pulled open by the force of the club on the backswing, then you are gipping too lightly.

Other than that, just experiment with mentally holding a lighter or tighter grip till you find a pressure that works for you. Golf is an individual sport. Go with what works for you.

[wrx_junki]

I brought about this topic because the butt of the club seems to play inside my left hand if I grip it too light.

[Elvisliveson]

Assuming a right-hander, moderate grip pressure should be applied with the middle two fingers of your right hand and the last three on your left. Everything else should be lighter.

[iacas]

I grip my baseball bat fairly lightly as well as my irons.

[EquipmentJunkie]

I grip the heck out of my clubs, but not on purpose, it's a bad habit I'm working on.

[HytrewQasdfg]

I brought about this topic because the butt of the club seems to play inside my left hand if I grip it too light.

Then you are definitly not tight enough.

Once you grip the club, that should be it. The butt of the club should never move or slide around in your fingers.

[McGolf-Doggie]

Between light (2)
and medium (3), but much closer to 3.

During a lesson this year the pro I work with thought I was gripping the club a little too tight, so I've worked on relaxing the grip a bit — among several other things — as part of my setup routine.

[Stacey_E]

I don't know if this will make sense, but once I "set" the grip in my fingers I don't "grip" the club at all. The grip itself holds everything in place. There is no tension whatsoever in my hands as this will lead to tension in my forearms, biceps, shoulders....well you see where this is going.

I had one of my best rounds ever last weekend. I realized later that it was because there was no tension at all in my swing. I was just really in a good state of mind. Lack of tension will make my scores drop.

Sam Snead said to hold the club like a bird, just firmly enough that it doesn't fly away, not so firm as to wound it. Sure you will strengthen up during the downswing, but only because of the centrifical (sp?) force of the club. One day I hope to go gloveless like my man Freddie Couples.

[wrx_junki]

Just went to the range and worked on grip pressure. A strong grip with real light pressure made it easier to draw the ball and a weak grip with fairly tight pressure made it easier to fade the ball. Kept a little more pressure on my left hand's last 3 fingers so the butt of the club didn't have as much play.

[Robo]

I grip my baseball bat fairly lightly as well as my irons.

Played softball as a kid and was always a slapper. Learned to play golf in my 20's and found that lighter pressure kept my arms and shoulders loose and all of a sudden I was pulling the ball w/ some character. Still.... light and medium are very subjective. I'd suggest you can grip as firmly as you like without any tension in your arms and shoulders.

[osean79]

for me, gripping too light had me getting under the ball or cutting it on impact and losing a bunch of distance. I keep a medium strength on the fingers and wrist during setup and back swing but it's fairly tight at impact. My main thought is about having a straight wrist and having my left hand and wrist making a backhand follow through to the target.

[UP&DOWN]

I grip the club to what feels natural to me which is probably in the middle of pressure somewhere.
However, I did experiment over the summer some with trying to go with a lighter amount of pressure and had no luck. For me it was nearly impossible for me to have a light amount of grip pressure and maintain that through impact. It was causing my balls to sail off to the right and just a lot of really bad mishits.
It was almost like I had to tighten up right at impact - too much stuff going on.