Grip

[gasfreak]

Can you ever get good with a baseball grip?I have tried the overlap and interlocked finger for several games now and if I keep going the way I am going my clubs will be for sale before long.I got to a 10 handicap with a baseball grip and recently bought a new driver and the pro said I for sure need to change my grip and I have given it a chance but have no confidence over the ball now with any club.Should I just go back to my baseball grip?I could shot in the low 80's with it before so what do you think,do you know anyone that is really good with this grip?

[wedge player]

  gasfreak said:

Can you ever get good with a baseball grip?I have tried the overlap and interlocked finger for several games now and if I keep going the way I am going my clubs will be for sale before long.I got to a 10 handicap with a baseball grip and recently bought a new driver and the pro said I for sure need to change my grip and I have given it a chance but have no confidence over the ball now with any club.Should I just go back to my baseball grip?I could shot in the low 80's with it before so what do you think,do you know anyone that is really good with this grip?

i use a baseball grip the others feel so unnatural its not even funny.

[gasfreak]

Do you do this with every club,the reason I ask is I tried only doing it with my driver and still had no consistancy with it either

[wedge player]

  gasfreak said:

Do you do this with every club,the reason I ask is I tried only doing it with my driver and still had no consistancy with it either

yes i do all the way through the bag.

[beachbreak]

I think the 10 finger is fine. The position of the hands (strong/weak) is more important.

[gasfreak]

Good info and I see you are a 5 handicap if I could get to that it would be good enough for me(well until you get there).Anyone else??????

[Crey23]

Listen man...do what you feel is right....Golf is a feel game, and while your technique may not be at tour level, you are still ahead of many with ahndy of 13.

As for the recommendation from your pro, don't change the grip all together...maybe it's just a mattertweeking how tight you grip it...

Also, I have met some Pro, that teach in total contradiction of common knowledge. Go to another Pro, see what he/she recommends, but for God's sake, don't let one person's opinion of your technique remove any enjoyment from the game.

[becksfan2185]

I recently made the change from a baseball grip to a more standard overlap grip.

To an extent, I think beachbreak is right - it's about how your hands fall on the club and how weak/strong your grip is. For me, my baseball grip was inhibiting me from having even a remotely neutral grip, and so I reluctantly made the change.

Not sure how long you've been working with the new grip, but it has taken me a full 6 months of playing/practicing multiple times per week for the grip to feel completely "natural". You are probably not giving yourself enough time to let it work.

Golf's a funny game... you practice so much that your bad habits feel natural, so when it comes time to "fix" your swing, the proper mechanics feel awkward. Or as my instructor put it: "you're been doing it wrong for so long, that now the good swing feels bad."

[gasfreak]

  becksfan2185 said:

I recently made the change from a baseball grip to a more standard overlap grip.

Understood but when it takes all the fun out of it for the last month thats no good for me because I play strictly for the fun.I know I will never be as good as I would like to be because I just dont have the time to dedicate to it.So I think I am going to go back to the grip that works OK for me and consentrate on striking the ball as pure as I can

[kingkulsteel]

I was feeling my club rolling over in my follow through today and hooked everytime.

[RC]

I know a PGA pro who was in the top 30 or so money winners lifetime as of last year (have not checked this year.) He played a few tournaments experimenting with the ten finger grip. I don't like the feel of the ten finger grip, but one of the top teaching pros (as ranked by the magazines) advocated that I hit some shots using it. The reason is it provides a good feel for extension of the right arm on the backswing -- or so I was told. It is not bad for some rescue shots because it provides a lot of control. My problem is the ten finger grip has a tendency to start unraveling after a day or so... I lose the "swing" feeling of the Vardon grip I grew up with.

So, if it works, fine, use it. There was time when the interlocking grip was not much favored at all. But, Jack and Tiger used it and today, the interlocking grip has many more adopters than a few years ago. For many years the guy who owned the record for most rounds shooting his age or under actually used a cross-handed grip -- for full shots. As an old guy he could really snap the club through cross-handed.

My own theory is it is the left hand that dominates the club face control. If your left hand is on the club in the best way, the rest can have a lot of variation. Still, standard grips are standard for a reason... they work best for the most people.

N.B: Is there any interest in a new topic talking about the left hand grip? I think the way the left hand goes on the club affects every aspect of the swing, including a better backswing and ball flight. Among good players I see a lot of questionable left hands -- somehow they make them work, but the classic, arched wrist, under the pad, fingers perpendicular, short thumb is my favorite. Would this be a worthy discussion topic?

[becksfan2185]

  RC said:

N.B: Is there any interest in a new topic talking about the left hand grip? I think the way the left hand goes on the club affects every aspect of the swing, including a better backswing and ball flight. Among good players I see a lot of questionable left hands -- somehow they make them work, but the classic, arched wrist, under the pad, fingers perpendicular, short thumb is my favorite. Would this be a worthy discussion topic?

I would be interested. Not sure I have a ton of wisdom on it, but I've always been a bit curious.

[mdvaldosta]

I changed from a baseball grip after playing my first year or so, to varden (overlapping). It took quite some time for it to feel natural, but I feel I'm better now that I ever would have been had I kept the same grip. I'm definately more consistant, as my hands can't manipulate the clubhead as much and it lets gravity keep it in the right position.

[BallStriker]

Just ask Bob Estes if you can get good with a baseball grip!!

[misty_mountainhop]

Isn't MiniMoe on these boards a 10-finger advocate? I think he's off +4 which is scary good!

[RC]

Good observation... It was Bob Estes that I was thinking about. He is back to a normal grip now (or last time I saw him.)

To the other question... a grip discussion topic, I will try to get some time to post something to start a discussion (but no promises, I forget to follow-through sometimes.)

[MiniMoe]

I have played with the 10 finger grip for over ten years. The key is to make sure the hands are close together so they work as one unit instead of independently from each other.

[gasfreak]

mini moe seeing that you are a +4 that is all I need to know and I do keep them as close together as possible.Thanks for the reply.