Grip tension

[scotton]

I've been having real consistency issues lately. At practice, I'm fine. On the course, issues. Yesterday while putting I noticed that on real long putts, I was cranking down on the grip pressure when I started my downswing. So today while playing I tried to be more aware of my grip pressure with the short shots (inside 50 yards). I only hit a couple that were a little skunky, and the grip pressure got away from me on both shots. So I'm pretty sure that a lot of my consistency problems are grip tension related since I'm using the same basic swing and getting different results, especially with irons.
So now I have something positive to think about while hitting (keep constant grip pressure) instead of the usual 8 or 9 swing thoughts dealing with swing plane, weight shift, rotation and tilt.

Just thought I would share.

[powerhitter]

I guess my grip pressure changes depending on where am I and what i'm doing but can't say i've thought about it to hard.

[scotton]

I never really associated it with anything either. But looking back on the last couple of times I've been in a chip off and mis-hit the ball with 20 guys standing around watching, I'm thinking the pressure probably had me trying to choke the life out of the club at impact. Maybe this is just a me thing, but I've definitely noticed a tendency to tense up my hands through impact in pressure situations. Hopefully awareness of the problem will help overcome the problem. Or maybe I need to hit the ball better so I quit getting in chip-offs.

[$2 Nassau]

That's great. Some people don't need to think about those things, but others do. What's simple to someone else is not always that easy for another player.
I need to concentrate on slowing down my takeway. Probably something that not a lot of people think about, but I tend to have a very quick takeaway, so conciously slowing it down helps me tremendously with consistency....hoping that eventually it will just become ingrained in my head.

[powerhitter]

I try not to have any thoughts in my swing, tends to disrupte my feel for hitting the ball.

[Ringer]

A good way to make sure you have soft hands is to grip it as tightly as you can for about 10-15 seconds before you swing. Your arms will be so tired of squeezing the grip that they'll loosen right up. I think I remember that tip from of all things a Golf Magazine article by Tom Watson. I could be wrong on who it was.