Interlock grip

The two most dominant players in either the PGA and LPGA (Rory McIlroy Michelle Wei) use the Interlocking grip. The two most dominant golfers of the past 50 years (Nicklaus and Woods) also use the interlocking grip.

As a junior golfer, I used to use it, but if I recall, the other golfers at the time dismissed it as a beginner grip. So as a victim of peer pressure, I dropped it and have used a Vardon grip ever since.

Being of shortish stature and not very big (5'9" 165) I probably could benefit from a grip that provided more control without having to add pressure.

The question is, have any of you changed your grip to interlocking late in your golf playing life and if so, how did it turn out? How long did it take to know whether it was a good move or not, and how would you approach trying it out in a practical manner.

Lastly, does the type and fit of glove come into play when incorporating this grip.

I look forward to the responses.

Beginners grip...Ha!, I've always use a interlocking grip, although I have tried the Vardon, and even a baseball grip, in the end, I always came back to the interlocking. I feel my hands have more control of the club, vs the other grips. I think you should use the grip that suits you, and not worry about what anyone else uses.

As for the glove coming into play, never had any issues. My grip is deep into my fingers, and I finally found a glove that fits me perfect, so no, if I didn't wear a glove, it would be the same.

I changed to interlocking grip and i instantly shot 3 over on a short course with small greens because i was hitting iron straighter than with the vardon grip.This sucess lasted about 2 months then my iron were not as good but so was rest of game so id say interlocked helped me.

I've been playing golf for 30+ years and always used the Vardon but having smallish hands sometimes found I was gripping too tight if I didn't have a perfect fit on the overlapping fingers. Decided in the off season last year to go with the interlocking grip but it felt very strange at first. Hit the indoor range over the winter and by opening day it felt natural and have found I have a more consistent grip pressure now. Go for it.

This thread is about changing from overlap to interlocking.

we were kids at the time, this what 30 years ago!

From Harvey Penick's "Little Red Book" (p. 48)

"One of my University of Texas golfers was playing in a tournament in North Carolina.  He won his first match handily.

He phoned me and said, "The guy I play tomorrow I can beat easily.  He has a bad grip and also a bad swing."

My boy lost the next match.

"The lesson to be learned," I told my golfer later, "is don't be afraid of the player with a good grip and a bad swing.  Don't be afraid of a player with a bad grip and a good swing.  The player to beware of is the one with the bad grip and the bad swing.  If he's reached your level, he has grooved his faults and knows how to score."

I guess my point is, is your grip causing you problems?  If you can identify specific problems caused by your grip -- for example, I tend to get too strong with my driver, so if I find myself hitting it left, I know exactly where to look -- then by all means tinker with it.  But if it isn't costing you strokes, why change?

And for what it's worth, I use a baseball grip

you bring up a good point.

yes, when I grip too tightly, I hook drives like everyone else.

So other than that, I'm not so sure changing to an interlock will help my game. I am under the impression though that it might be the best grip for having small hands.

Having an erratic game, yet a near flawless swing. (according to our club pro and teaching pro) has convinced me something must change.

On the course or on the range, my outcomes are very consistent, it is mostly good shots interspersed with really bad ones. it makes no sense. I can go to the range and hit ball after ball all day long, and will still hit on average about 7 out of ten shots very well. The three will be erratic.

When I saw the teaching pro several times last year, all he did was fine tune my swing and said, everything else looks great. The only substantive change was placing a little more weight on the left foot with short irons to get better ball contact.

It must mean that at some point,my hands are sometimes moving on the shaft either at the top of swing, or through impact, and or, I am constantly applying various degrees of pressure depending on the situation-which if is the case, would be solved through an interlocking grip.

At any rate, looking for any suggestions from those that changed from a Vardon grip late in their game.

Out of curiosity, what's your pre-shot routine like?  As a 12 Handicapper, you're clearly a fine golfer who can hold their own and is technically proficient.  Do you do the same thing every time, no matter what, before a shot?

I'm used to hearing that the overlapped "Vardon" grip is the most popular on tour with a few notable exceptions (namely Tiger and Jack) who use the interlock.  Well it seems that now when I watch golf on TV, the interlock might be taking over with the likes of Rory, Bubba, Hunter Mahan, and I'm sure dozens of other familiar names.  Heck, even this week's leader Martin Laird was shown to be an interlocking-grip guy.

Taking a bit of inspiration from these top players I've since fooled around with the interlocking grip again and made an interesting discovery that I haven't seen documented anywhere else on the subject.  For me at least, interlock seems to help shorten the backswing a bit by limiting radial and ulmar deviation (wrist cock).  Go ahead and try it yourself.  I can see the difference even under stationary conditions as I hold my transition with different grip styles.  This would also seem to follow another recent documented trend on tour with players moving towards a more compact swing.

So if you're one of these classic "overswingers" like me who has trouble keeping the club from going past parallel on the backswing, try out the interlocking grip to limit your wrist cock.  It's a little early for me to report on any solid results from my grip experiment, but I can say that it only took a small bucket to get comfortable with it.

I started with the Vardon grip and played with it my first few years. I had trouble with squaring the clubface on small pitches and chips. Not having huge hands, I decided to try the interlocking grip. I worked on short pitches in the backyard for two or three weekends then took it to tbe course. It took the better part of the season to get used to it. The key was repetition until I got used to the feeling. It worked well for several months, then i started having clubface trouble again. But it turned out to be alignment, and was easy to fix. My overall perception is that, for me personally, it was easier to use light pressure with interlocking grip. With the Vardon, I tended to grip the club too tight. Of course everyone is different and this may not apply to you. So, to repeat. It took me many rounds and lots of weekends in the backyard until it felt comfortable. But it did eventually happen.

I think that with the interlocking grip, you have to work on maintaining a proper grip more often than with the Vardon grip.  Getting your right hand on the grip with the interlock is more difficult in my opinion.  The pressures that Hogan talks about are more difficult to feel, and I often would find myself getting my right hand too far under (strong) the club.

I switched last year to the Vardon grip, and have noticed that I am not fidgeting with my grip anymore, and I do not have as big of misses.  If you do decide to change to the Vardon grip, just realize that at first it wont feel very secure.  Give it a couple months.  I don't know how it works, but I promise it will start feeling really locked in place if you keep working with it.

Hey just saying what worked for me.  I think we can all agree that you just have to experiment and figure out what helps you the most.  Unfortunately there is no foolproof way to go about this!  I think it is all about finding a grip that you truly believe in, otherwise you'll just keep doubting yourself.