How much can grip really affect ball flight?

[Farm_kid]

I grip the club with a neutral Varden Grip, but I tend to slice the more I relax my arms and shoulders in an effort to increase swingspeed.

If I only change my grip to more neutral grip, will that help square teh club face if everything else about my swing stays consistent?

[Shanks A Million]

I grip the club with a neutral Varden Grip, but I tend to slice the more I relax my arms and shoulders in an effort to increase swingspeed.

So long as you have two things:

1. You must truly regrip it, and make the same swing . Most people who try to close the face will slice it, and vice versa because they mentally want to adjust to suit the face angle. 2. Your slice is not an over the top move, which will merely turn into a pull if the face is closed.

[steve8820]

I am not sure if I understand your question. You mention that you have a neutral Vardon grip and want to know if gripping more neutral will help square the clubface. Neutral is neutral, 2 knuckles visible on your left hand at address. I assume you really mean that you moving to a stronger grip. So, greater than 2 knuckles will be visible on your left hand.

I think a stronger grip will help you in the near term, quick fix for a straighter ball. That said, it is probably a wiser long term decision to leave your grip neutral and fix the root cause of your slice. Might be an over the top move as mentioned above.........

[Farm_kid]

Shanks and Steve,
Thanks for the replies, I meant to say weaken the grip so that the face is essentially more closed (if I return it to the original position without regripping.) I don't think I am an over the top swinger so I think when I swing relaxed, my forearms are too loose and don't get the club back to "neutral" at impact, so I think I am leaving the face open. My slices are not the big banana curve style that start toward the left rough and end up in the right treeline.

[Shanks A Million]

Then what you want is a stronger grip, not a weaker one.

[retexan599]

My own experience: the only way to find out what will work for you is to go to the range and hit several balls with each of varying grip positions and note down what you observe. The learning comes from observing what the differences are between swing methods. Try as much as you can to alter only the grip position -- keep all the other variables the same.

[Zeph]

If your grip is neutral, the clubface square at address and you hit the ball with an open clubface, you are cupping the left wrist, rolling the arms or something like that. The grip may be a problem, but so may the things I mentioned.

At handicap 20 I'm assuming you don't have a perfect backswing.

[WUTiger]

Then what you want is a stronger grip, not a weaker one.

Shanks is correct here. If you go with a stronger grip, you might end up with a slight pull-fade, which can be managed to get your approach shots up close. If you have a severe slice, it will take more than grip tweaks to solve your problem.