Anyone playing with big grips? Oversized, Jumbo, XXL. Questions about grip size.

Did some research on grips today and would like some input.

A common recommendation is that the middle and ring finger on the left hand should not dig into the left hand heel pad. My fingers dig far into the pad, and there is a lot of space under the right hand palm, where the left thumb sits.

I found some pipes and other cylindrical objects to test on. A PVC pipe turned out to match the description perfectly. The heel pad sits on the grip and the fingers just barely touch it.

The difference in diameter between my current grips and the pipe is 0,85cm or 0,335". My hand length from crease to tip is 19,5cm/7,6", longest finger is 9cm/3,5".

Current grips = 0.925"

Pipe = 1.26"

Taping it up is out of the question obviously, I'd need 40 layers of tape. According to various charts, I need standard grip with 2-4 layers of tape. They also say that a jumbo grip is 1/8 larger than standard, I'd need it to be 2.68/8 larger. A site called JumboMax Grips got grips in up to +3/8.

Is anyone playing abnormally large grips out there? How are the two left hand fingres placed for you guys? Are there any other measurements to take or things to look for when finding the right size? It is of course a matter of preference in the end, but some guidelines would help. I'll visit a fitting center next week to see what they make of it.

I actually put 32 rounds of tape on a shaft to try it out. Not easy getting the grip on, but with some green dish soap and an air compressor it worked. The grip is still quite smaller than the pipe, but I get a feeling for it. It feels pretty good to swing, even though the added weight won't make it authentic obviously. The fingers still dig a bit into the heel pad.

They say too small grips can cause pulls and flipping, which are two things I struggle with, so there could be something in this.

I really don't want to give up the Pure grips, so I hope they got a model I can play with. I contacted them about Pure Pro Midsize, and they said I was in luck since those grips were in production now.

http://www.golfsmith.com/grip_selector.php

I think you read some bad info if they are recommending you to use like 40 wraps of tape difference from what you use. Ive seen your vid's and you are like my size. Also what glove size do you wear?

Nobody is recommending 40 wraps, it's what I need on standard size grips to get the size where the fingers don't dig into the pad. I've seen a dozen of those charts by now, most of which recommend standard size grips with a couple of wraps of tape. The problem is that my hands overlap here and there and there are lots of room in my grip when using standard with a couple of wraps. Thickness of the fingers also makes a difference, and mine are very slim. I don't wear a glove, but I used Medium or Large. Some large gloves and all XL was too wide, but the length fit better than medium. I never found a glove that fit perfectly, so I usually wore a tight medium that eventually got stretched.

The point is that these two theories collide badly.

oh ok. Yea thats what Im recommended as well, standard with a couple wraps of tape. Honestly I dont think it will help you with flipping long term to use a huge grip. Think of kids who use undersize, they are usually very slim fingers as well. Fat grips might take away some handsy motions but im skeptical, it will also take alot of feeling away

40 wraps on a standard grip can not be right surely.

If you wear a medium glove I would say you need at most 1 wrap. I wear a large glove and use 2 wraps and my fingers don't dig into the pad.

Forget about the wraps, that was sort of a joke, with a slightly serious undertone.

Here are a couple of videos to explain. Either I'm doing something wrong, or my hands are weird.

First the standard grips I play with. As you can see, the fingers are right underneath the pad, digging into it.

Second video is my humongus pipe, where the fingers never get in the way of the heel pad.

All thoughts are welcome!

I'm not looking at thicker grips to get rid of fat shots or pulls, I just mentioned that it might have a positive effect. The point is simply to find the grip that fits my hands best.

Zeph,

I am in the same boat as you, I have larger hands with longer and narrower fingers.  If I recall correctly, I'm playing midsize grips with 4 total wraps underneath for my irons and wedges, and standard with 5 total wraps on my driver, hybrid and 3 wood.  The grips on my irons felt big at first, but the spacing between my fingers and the pad of my left thumb is spot on.

I play a slightly smaller grip on the longer clubs to work the ball right to left a bit more but the difference is subtle.  I don't have calipers at my house, but I'll see if I can get a measurement and picture of my grips as well as my hand.

Good luck.

Wow, you have long fingers, how do they fit into a medium glove?

They don't really fit, but larger gloves become too wide in the fingers, so they hang loose. I'd rather have a glove too tight than too lose. But I don't use glove anymore, so it's not really an issue.

Thanks, I've been looking at my grip and will go through what I can find on Youtube.

The reason it feels weird to do what you say is because of the cavity that emerge in my left hand, but that is maybe normal. I don't notice it on the right hand since the left thumb goes inside the palm, but it feels very weird with the left hand.

The fleshy part you mentioned, is that the heel pad?

Where should the first knuckle on the middle finger point to on the grip relative to the clubhead? I have to strengthen the left hand quite a bit to get the fingers away from the top of the club, which brings the base of the fingers at the other side closer to the top, making the space for the heel pad very small, which again makes the cavity larger.

Thanks for the replies!

The way it looks to me, the heel pad doesn't touch all that much of the grip, is that right? It's more the thumb that supports that part of the hand. My thumb has been stretched far down the shaft, which has lowered the heel pad over the fingers and grip. When people say "heel pad on top of the grip", I imagined the heel pad sitting down at the top of the grip and having a good connection. Looks to me like it's more the thumb doing that job.

Don't think I've held the grip all that much in the palm, more like I've stretched the thumb out and let the heel pad stretch over the fingers. It's more the fingers that fit in the area under the heel pad, towards the palm, the grip still lies and feels like it's in my fingers. I just stretched the hand over the fingers to get a better grip with the hand. The change is really mostly about the thumb, which I'll have to retrackt a bit. That will lift the heel pad up and prevent me from folding it over the fingers.

I don't know if it really hurt my game, but I'll give this change a go, see how it works. My grip has felt good and comfortable, very connected to the club. I got calluses here and there, one right at the base of the left hand pinkyfinger and one on the side of the first bone on the index finger, which at least to me suggest that the grip is sitting in the fingers.

Hi

You seem to be confusing heel pad and thumb pad. Your fingers are digging into the thumb pad not the heel pad. I have similar sized hands and have been experimenting a bit based on Shawn Clement's Grip and Wrist hinge video. I've tried increasing my standard grip by adding 4 wraps of tape but it hasnt stopped the fingers digging into the thumb pad. Also, a larger grip might make it a bit more difficult for the heel pad to fit snuggly on top of the shaft. A grip-size chart actually said I needed a standard sized grip with 3 wraps but my gut feeling is that these charts are based on a more conventional grip where the grip is placed more across the palm rather than in the fingers. Going to an even bigger grip size could definitely affect 'feel' a bit but I for one would like to get this right since it seems to have a huge impact on wrist-cock so my question is which is more important - getting the heel pad fitting nicely on top or more comfort with the fingers?

I have similar hands/fingers and have used a standard grip with one wrap for the past seven years. My dad has really large hands (XL or XXL for glove) and he's comfortable in a midsize grip so I can't imagine looking at your hands that you would need something that incredibly large. As others have said, a small change in your grips could make a world of difference.

I use the Lamkin oversize grip - love it.     I just like holding onto something ...

I dont know if I should be giving advice but...  I think these pictures definitely prove a point.  Notice how his hand is more "on top" of the grip.  Its the bottom "fleshy" part of your hand that should be on top of the club, from what I have been instructed.  Before I took lessons I had the same thoughts as you, and actually regripped my clubs with jumbo grips.  After having taken a few lessons where my instructor taught me a more proper grip, I have gone back to standard grips.  If your hands are not a great bit larger than normal, it seems to follow that your grips should not be, either.  That being said it wouldnt be surprising to most if you felt the need for a few more wraps on a standard grip, or even a midsize.  It is my opinion that if you held the club more in your fingers and less with your palm, your problems would solve themselves.  Just my humble opinion, take it with a grain of salt.