Proper Grip

[muskegman]

I got back from my Pennsylvania golf outing with Erik and have been more than a little bothered by my grip in a photo Erik shot. It looks pretty disconnected. I've revisited Hogan's fundamentals, specifically his chapter on a proper grip and mine looks horrible compared to his.

I read this today which helped:

Ben Hogan was one of the first players to properly grip the club with his right hand. It rode very high on top of the left hand and thus worked in unison with the left hand in pulling the club strongly through the impact zone rather than casting it weakly with a right hand “flip.”

Here's the grip:

Any thoughts?

[iacas]

First off, let's get a better image of your grip. Two (both with irons, I believe) grips are below.

Several things leap out at me.

1. Your left hand grip is particularly weak. You can probably see only 1.5 knuckles, maybe 1.
2. Your hands are very far apart. Your left thumb should ideally be covered up almost entirely by your right hand (and go along the lifeline of your right hand, roughly). This is what you mentioned in your post - about getting that right hand up higher.
3. I think the biggest problem, though, is how far into the palms you're gripping the club. Look at how much of your right hand wraps around the club. I like to feel the bottom of the grip along the inside middle portion of the fingers on my right hand, or between the second and third joints on my right fingers. You have it almost all the way back towards the base of your fingers.

Your hands were a tad shorter than mine, and a tad fleshier, so getting them into the same positions as mine may be difficult. But I think you can move them in that direction, and you'll be better off.

[schlyer]

Very good analysis Erik

The crease made between your thumb and forefinger for both hands ought to point to the same place - that left hand crease is pointing at the left side of your head, which is quite weak.

[muskegman]

First off, let's get a better image of your grip. Two (both with irons, I believe) grips are below.

I'm working on getting the grip fixed ASAP.

Very good analysis Erik

Thanks for the tips. I'll take all of your suggestions into account. One look at that ugly grip inspires me to get a complete grip makeover. Maybe they'll put it on TLC.

[muskegman]

As I've attempted to fix my grip I don't feel like I have a proper hold on the club anymore. I suppose this is because I've been so accustomed to having too much of the grip in my palms. I'm hoping that I'll grow accustomed to gripping the club in this new way and that it will start to feel stable again.

Like any change, I suppose it takes time.

[schlyer]

A grip change probably takes longer to feel normal than any swing change you can make. It'll look weird to you at address, it'll feel funky - but ultimately it'll pay off.

[knock-down]

I don't know if this correct or not, but for me, when I have grip troubles, I grab the club with my left hand and all of the clubs weight focused on the pink area in the picture below.

And then I add my right hand and it seems to naturally fall into place.

[iacas]

And then I add my right hand and it seems to naturally fall into place.

I've always preferred something a bit more like this:

[knock-down]

I've always preferred something a bit more like this:

You're right- that is where I concentrate the weight as well.

When I made the dumb graphic I wasn't taking gravity into account.

[schlyer]

I put my left hand on much more in the palm - it keeps my wrist from becoming too active. Its at the same angle as Erik's graphic, just moved to the left a bit.

[muskegman]

A grip change probably takes longer to feel normal than any swing change you can make. It'll look weird to you at address, it'll feel funky - but ultimately it'll pay off.

For me, this is one of the most counter-intuitive parts of the golf swing. Much of what I've learned about the swing makes sense but the grip is one area that will require some patience and work for me. Most importantly, I've got to get out and try it. I'm afraid I'll be hitting mondo hooks with it but I favor the right side with my misses (to put it mildly) so I'm sure it'll be an improvement.

I put my left hand on much more in the palm - it keeps my wrist from becoming too active. Its at the same angle as Erik's graphic, just moved to the left a bit.

The one thing I'm afraid of with that bit of advice is that I'll be right back where I started with the grip too far in my left palm.

Golf annoys me sometimes. All these pieces of the puzzle to get in place!

[schlyer]

My little quip about my grip going further into the palm than Erik wasn't a suggestion for you - just a comment. Where I place the club in my left hand is definately not ideal.

[muskegman]

Thank you all for the input.

Here's another question/observation (keep in mind I use an interlocking grip): As I work on this new grip I find that I can no longer completly interlock the pinky of my right hand and first finger of my left. When I try to do so my grip becomes quite awkward. I cannot get the shaft to rest in my fingers with my fingers fully interlocked. So I do not fully interlock my fingers, only about half way, in an effort to keep the club more in my fingers.

This feels unnatural right now but I'm getting used to it. Am I on the right track?

[Everardo]

Golf annoys me sometimes. All these pieces of the puzzle to get in place!

Yet you, me and the rest of us keep coming back

[iacas]

Thank you all for the input.

Yeah. Interlock is almost a misnomer because there's not much actual "locking." They don't really "lock" hard together. They just don't "overlap."

When I grip a club, my right pinkie finger nail barely reaches the webbing between my index and middle fingers on my left hand. The interlocking grip isn't "webbing to webbing."

[iammike]

gripping the club more with my fingers, was the strangest feeling i've ever had when I was trying to fix something with my golf game. It feels wierd, unnatural, and makes you feel like you're goin to lose hold of the club. (for people who started playing getting their palms all the way on the grip like they needed to get their fingers around a thick baseball bat grip).

On the other hand my swing feels worlds more natural when i'm gripping right, and the ball goes straighter. Before with my old grip I'd hit the ball with what I felt to be a totally great swing, and look up to see the ball hurtling out of control away from where i aimed.

I constantly have to remind myself not to fall back to the old grip.

[muskegman]

Yeah. Interlock is almost a misnomer because there's not much actual "locking." They don't really "lock" hard together. They just don't "overlap."

That clears things up considerably and is a very good picture of what the "interlock" should look like. I was trying to hard to get a "web-to-web" grip which doesn't allow me to get the grip in my fingers.

gripping the club more with my fingers, was the strangest feeling i've ever had when I was trying to fix something with my golf game. It feels wierd, unnatural, and makes you feel like you're goin to lose hold of the club. (for people who started playing getting their palms all the way on the grip like they needed to get their fingers around a thick baseball bat grip).

I certainly hope consistency is the result of this grip change. I can relate to what you've said. I'll put a pretty good swing on the ball only to see the shot careening off to the right. Frustrating.

[Dminn23]

gripping the club more with my fingers, was the strangest feeling i've ever had when I was trying to fix something with my golf game. It feels wierd, unnatural, and makes you feel like you're goin to lose hold of the club. (for people who started playing getting their palms all the way on the grip like they needed to get their fingers around a thick baseball bat grip).

I actually use an overlap grip but I have made grip adjustments this summer to a stronger, and proper golf grip (I haven't been playing very long, but I'm really starting to understand the physics of the swing from reading and experimentation). A proper grip really pays off. If your a freak (like me) who finds yourself obsessed with golf, you might find yourself with a club in your hand a lot of the time when inside of the house. Watching TV sitting on the couch is a great place to practice a new grip and get comfortable with it. Once you do it enough, you'll pick up the club and your hands will naturally fall into position if you practice it enough and you won't have to work it into position and constantly fiddle with it when going to hit a shot. Just doing that while sitting around the helped me make my transition rather quickly.