How to Grip a Golf Club, Commonalities of a Functional Golf Grip

[pumaAttack]

Oh man this was a great read!

I am working on getting my swing shallower from a4 to a6 and my wrists have been killing me.  I was set up terribly and had to FORCE my wrists to rotate at an awkward angle.  And when I got shallower my clubface was wide open. I went back over my current grip and it's really palmy in my right hand and the clubface is basically open right after address.

This new method really feels much better and I feel like I can control the clubface much easier now.

I haven't had a chance to hit any full shots with the new grip but my wrists don't hurt like they used to with my rehearsal drills. 

Thanks for all the info @mvmac!

Edited May 11, 2016 by pumaAttack

[Mark Robertson]

Hi Mike,

I had a question regarding the grip. I followed the video you posted about the grip and tried it out on the range, with a massive improvement in strikes ? my previous grip had the left as you had it but my right more turned to the left side. Would this result in bad strikes (slices). Anyway I was hitting my driver a lot better cause of your video.

[mvmac]

 

[saevel25]

This might be a stupid question. My guess the answer might be, depends on the golfer, but I thought I'd ask anyways. 

Is there any commonality with the type of grip used, how the club head moves in relation to the hands in the takeaway and the club position at the top of the swing. 

Example, would a more weaker right hand reduce the tendency to roll the club head inside the hands in the backswing? Since the right hand is position more on top, would that promote hinging versus rolling the hands over? 

[iacas]

On 8/3/2017 at 10:40 PM, saevel25 said:

This might be a stupid question. My guess the answer might be, depends on the golfer, but I thought I'd ask anyways. 

Is there any commonality with the type of grip used, how the club head moves in relation to the hands in the takeaway and the club position at the top of the swing. 

Example, would a more weaker right hand reduce the tendency to roll the club head inside the hands in the backswing? Since the right hand is position more on top, would that promote hinging versus rolling the hands over? 

Maybe, but not enough that I've noticed a pattern.

[mvmac]

On 8/3/2017 at 7:40 PM, saevel25 said:

Example, would a more weaker right hand reduce the tendency to roll the club head inside the hands in the backswing? Since the right hand is position more on top, would that promote hinging versus rolling the hands over? 

Tends to be the opposite in my experience and what I've heard from other instructors. Stronger grips tend to reduce the face rotation on the backswing compared to a weaker grip. 

On 8/3/2017 at 7:40 PM, saevel25 said:

club position at the top of the swing. 

If I was forced to pick a side I'd say weaker grips can tend to create more of the "bowed" lead wrist at the top but it mostly depends on the player. There are players like Spieth (weak grip) and DJ (strong grip) who are both bowed at the top. Same thing with guys that are cupped, can happen with weak or strong grips. 

[Slugox]

This is a very interesting thread. I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the grip. Seems I was wrong. :)

The heelpad of the left thumb, does that just rest atop the grip more as support or is there active pressure being applied?

Also, it appears you grip a bit down the club, maybe an inch or more. Is that just preference, or is there more to it than that?

[mvmac]

7 hours ago, Slugox said:

The heelpad of the left thumb, does that just rest atop the grip more as support or is there active pressure being applied?

I recommend it to rest more on the center-right part of the grip (like this pic I found online). The pressure or force applied isn't conscious.

7 hours ago, Slugox said:

Also, it appears you grip a bit down the club, maybe an inch or more. Is that just preference, or is there more to it than that?

Just a personal preference.

[mvmac]

Good video deconstructing the grip. I like the visual of the suitcase/doing a pull up for the left hand. I wouldn't worry too much about the right hand pucker.

 

[kpaulhus]

How does this how does this sequence look counter clockwise? My grip has always been very right hand weak which causes flips/closed club face hooks. Need to be more neutral. 

 

 

[iacas]

26 minutes ago, kpaulhus said:

How does this how does this sequence look counter clockwise? My grip has always been very right hand weak which causes flips/closed club face hooks. Need to be more neutral. 

 

 

You grip it that far to the end? Gotta be tough to wrap around, at that angle, and get the heel pad on top properly.

[kpaulhus]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

You grip it that far to the end? Gotta be tough to wrap around, at that angle, and get the heel pad on top properly.

I do grip it pretty close to the end. There is not much of any “choke down” on the club. The heel pad is on the club so looking back at the pics it is a bit lower than normal. 

Edited January 2, 2018 by kpaulhus

[lastings]

question regarding tightness of grip.   

As I work to get my right hand locked in and more over the top of the shaft, and the curvature of the rear hand fitting into the base of the lead thumb, I am experiencing very poor contact and a awkwardness in my swing if I grip hard.   But, if I grip very lightly (as if I am not squeezing my hands at all), I am seeing pretty drastic improvements.  

Is this typical, or normal?   If so, Is there a reason for this?   or is it just something that is unique to my current swing, and wont really be a thought once I become more comfortable with the grip? 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, lastings said:

question regarding tightness of grip.   

As I work to get my right hand locked in and more over the top of the shaft, and the curvature of the rear hand fitting into the base of the lead thumb, I am experiencing very poor contact and a awkwardness in my swing if I grip hard.   But, if I grip very lightly (as if I am not squeezing my hands at all), I am seeing pretty drastic improvements.  

Is this typical, or normal?   If so, Is there a reason for this?   or is it just something that is unique to my current swing, and wont really be a thought once I become more comfortable with the grip? 

Tough to say since I don't know what your grip is actually like, nor do I know if the tension is in your fingers or when you grip "tighter" if it's not extending the tension into and beyond the wrist.

[mvmac]

8 hours ago, lastings said:

Is this typical, or normal?   If so, Is there a reason for this?   or is it just something that is unique to my current swing, and wont really be a thought once I become more comfortable with the grip? 

Like @iacas said it can be tough to say for sure. 

I think the grip should be firm enough that someone couldn't pull the club out of your hands but not so tight that your forearms are tense. 

For myself, the grip pressure tends to take care of itself if it's in the fingers correctly. Feel free to post a photo.

[mvmac]

 

[iacas]

 

[GOLFNINJA]

On 6/26/2014 at 10:35 AM, mvmac said:

While there may be many grip styles used by the best players in the world, there are certain commonalities of a functional golf grip and I wanted to put this thread together to help illustrate what those are.

 

If you found this thread by searching for information on the golf grip, welcome to our site, we have plenty of other great information HERE and make sure to JOIN, it's free! For any regular users of the site, hope this helps your game or confirms what you are currently doing with your grip.

 

 

 

 

 

Some pics to highlight some common mistakes

 

Lead hand

 

Big NO in the left pic, grip in the palm. Right pic, heel pad on top, grip in the fingers, it will automatically feel more secure.

 

 

General idea of how it should look

 

 

Anatomical snuffbox. If you shot a nail directly through the top of the wrist (in that little indentation underneath your thumb - the anatomical snuffbox) the nail should come out directly through the bottom of your wrist and into the center of the grip.

Most poor grips would have the nail come out the bottom of the wrist and miss the grip on the left side. This would indicate the wrist joint not sitting on top of the grip.

This is an important aspect of the grip because the incorrect position would assist in early club head throw away on the downswing, basically the wrist joint can't support the downward force of the club.

 

 

 

 

 

Two sides of the spectrum here. Too weak in the left pic, note the left hand isn't turned enough and the "nail" would be coming out of the left side of the grip. In the right pic, grip is too strong, left hand is rotated too much, lots of cup (dorsi flexion) in the lead wrist.

 

This next bit is more of a variation than a commonality, but I think it's beneficial and probably something new even for experienced golfers. Left pic, short lead thumb, right pic, long lead thumb. Make it easy on yourself and go with the long lead thumb. Greatly assists in the mobility of the wrist hinge on the backswing and downswing.

 

 

 

Trail Hand

 

The placement of the trigger finger pressure point (first pad of your index finger just above the knuckle) is important. Too far under can cause the club face to appear too "closed", face aiming towards the sky at the top of the backswing. Too far on top can cause the face to rotate too far underplane on the takeaway.

 

Left pic, pressure point is "on top". Right pic is ideal, pressure point on the side or aft side of the grip.

 

Left pic, pressure point is "under", ideal on the right.

 

Another common mistake in the left pic, right thumb is running down the middle of the grip. A more functional position on the right, just the upper right "tip" of the thumb is in contact with the grip. Left pic position can contribute more to "casting" or losing leverage at too fast a rate.

 

The curvature of the rear hand fits into the base of the lead thumb.

 

Other than looking at your hand position, how do you know if your grip is in the palm of the lead hand? Take a look at some of these clues.

 

Left pic, the "V" of the rear hand is pointing at my sternum, should be aimed more towards my rear shoulder. In the right pic I haven't "loaded" my wrists enough, shaft angle is also too shallow. The shaft would be pointing outside the ball.

 

Since there is a lack of structure to the grip, the shaft "collapses" and gets close to my rear shoulder at the top of the backswing. From there I will have to uncock my wrist angles rapidly to get the club back down to the ball.

 

Golfers will also have a pattern of the location of the wear spot on their glove, under the heel pad, into the palm like the example below. The thumb can also get "shredded" pretty quickly due to the lack of stability in the hand.

 

 

MVMAC, apologies if this has been covered, do you teach your guys and gals to relate the grip to their clubface?