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

[Shindig]

On 4/10/2020 at 5:17 PM, billchao said:

@Shindig, I'm going to continue this discussion here instead of in the COVID practice thread because it's getting OT there.

What I see in your grip is that it's definitely palmy. It's closer to neutral than weak, but I still think it's weaker than what's recommended these days.

See how the club (marked in red to match your grip) runs straight through the heel pad (green) of your lead hand? That pad should rest on top of the grip. So from that position there you should see a little bit of the outline of your hand above the butt end of the club before your wrist. The way you hold the club now, the butt end of the club basically comes up right to your wrist.

Here’s my grip in a similar position to yours:

Also, what's with that right index finger?

Thank you. The part about the wrist made a lot more sense to me on this iteration.  I'm not sure why.

I have no idea what's going on with my right index finger.  

On 4/10/2020 at 6:18 PM, iacas said:

Did you see day 1?

Can you support the club with the index finger and the heel pad alone? Can you film this same thing from down the line? It appears to go across your palm.

Thank you for the feedback.  I tried day one (on day one, even), but evidently didn't get it right.  In the video below, I attempt some of the left wrist parts.

My plan at this point, such as it is, is to try to get the grip into a better state (because it was clearly in a very bad one) and then go through the April plan, albeit I'll be several days behind.  I know your intent was for us to follow in real time (at least to the day), but after finding this mistake, I think I need to focus on fixing it.

I believe, after I try @boogielicious's video, that I can support the club with index finger and heel pad.  I attempt to lift the club by just that part after taking my left hand grip (see below). 

14 hours ago, boogielicious said:

@Shindig,

I made this quick video that may help. @iacas, please correct me if I’m off.

 

Thank you;  this video was super helpful.  In my video below, I try to replicate it from similar angles, in hopes it helps figure out if I'm doing it better now (trying to model based on what you showed me). 

I think the last thing was at-the-wrong-speed attempt to do the drill that caused the notice that my grip is bad in the first place. 

[boogielicious]

5 hours ago, Shindig said:

Thank you. The part about the wrist made a lot more sense to me on this iteration.  I'm not sure why.

I have no idea what's going on with my right index finger.  

Thank you for the feedback.  I tried day one (on day one, even), but evidently didn't get it right.  In the video below, I attempt some of the left wrist parts.

My plan at this point, such as it is, is to try to get the grip into a better state (because it was clearly in a very bad one) and then go through the April plan, albeit I'll be several days behind.  I know your intent was for us to follow in real time (at least to the day), but after finding this mistake, I think I need to focus on fixing it.

I believe, after I try @boogielicious's video, that I can support the club with index finger and heel pad.  I attempt to lift the club by just that part after taking my left hand grip (see below). 

Thank you;  this video was super helpful.  In my video below, I try to replicate it from similar angles, in hopes it helps figure out if I'm doing it better now (trying to model based on what you showed me). 

I think the last thing was at-the-wrong-speed attempt to do the drill that caused the notice that my grip is bad in the first place. 

It looks better. Keeping practicing the gripping. It will take a few weeks for it to feel normal to you. Use the feel analogy of doing a pull up on the grip or picking up a brief case. That reinforces the feel.

Also, try and wrap the right hand index finger under the shaft instead of down the shaft.

[iacas]

@Shindig, you've got to do better (please take that as encouragement or a firm push, which I am sure you will).

You start off pretty well:

I'll show that second one on the right in the last image.

You have the grip in a good position on the left, then you immediately (look at the time stamp) move it up into your palm with a "finger stretching" move or something.

Compare the left and right above. The re-gripping continues here:

You finish taking the grip and you can see almost none of the heel pad on top of the grip, and notice the space (there's air, or a gap) between your pinkie finger and the end of the club on the left image. Look at the image on the right.

Finally, here's when your grip was pretty good (left) and when you changed it immediately afterward. Look at how much of your palm is BELOW the grip. Look at how far away from the base of your pinkie finger the grip is on the left.

You're not supporting the grip between the heel pad and the index finger here; you're pinching it.

Somewhere between these two is good (the left I'd call "bad" but not absolutely atrocious, the right is a little bit too much in the fingers but is decent):

And what you'll see is that your grip is higher up than even the left grip.

---

My advice: stop worrying about getting into a golf setup for awhile. Taking a proper grip is easy, and simple, but you have to do your due diligence and put in the work. And by "easy and simple" I mean like any habit - the understanding, the actual process is simple, but you have to overcome the habit, and that part is hard, which is why it requires the work and diligence.

[Shindig]

3 minutes ago, iacas said:

@Shindig, you've got to do better (please take that as encouragement or a firm push, which I am sure you will).

Yes, I do take that as encouragement and a firm push.  I am going to practice this regularly and will post an update after quite a bit.

Thanks for all your help!

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, Shindig said:

Yes, I do take that as encouragement and a firm push.  I am going to practice this regularly and will post an update after quite a bit.

Thanks for all your help!

If you’ve got another club you don’t usually play, keep it in the living room and practice while watching tv. It will take a few weeks to be automatic.

[Shindig]

2 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

If you’ve got another club you don’t usually play, keep it in the living room and practice while watching tv. It will take a few weeks to be automatic.

Yep, I have several.  It's also the case that I'm not exactly heading out to play golf the next few weeks, so having my set's 6-iron available (same one for the videos used) works too.  That's what I'm doing at the moment, and if the golf courses reopen, I'll bring in a different club to practice gripping with when at home and watching TV. 

[Grizvok]

It might be a little bit annoying to do every time, but I've noticed it helps me to actually have my glove on (if you regularly use a glove) when practicing your grip. The tackiness that the club grip and glove produce can help the club stay on the heel pad and not make the dreaded slide into the palm. The margin of error between a good and bad grip can also be quite small so I prefer to feel my grip in the exact way I'm going to be feeling it when actually playing golf.

The other thing I'd suggest is going to be a grip "feel". Most people have a few horizontal lines on the palm of their hands with one typically ending just below the pinky joint. Instead of grabbing the club and visualizing or feeling the heel pad as the spot that is anchoring the grip, visualize/feel that the spot you are aiming to have the club rest on is the very end of that horizontal line that ends just below the pinky. Again, this is a grip "feel" but if done correctly should help you realize a less palmy grip.

 

Here's a professionally done edit.

 

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Grizvok

[iacas]

29 minutes ago, Grizvok said:

Not talking about your post, and that graphic can be made to work and can illustrate what you're talking about, but man that graphic is trippy. We should be looking at the back of the left hand, but we're looking at the palm… So trippy. Like in a mirror.

[Grizvok]

Just now, iacas said:

Not talking about your post, and that graphic can be made to work and can illustrate what you're talking about, but man that graphic is trippy. We should be looking at the back of the left hand, but we're looking at the palm… So trippy. Like in a mirror.

I honestly didn't even notice it before, but now it is really really weirding me out.

[Shindig]

Can I get a quick check-in on this?  I've been doing this quite a bit over the past several days, both in front of the TV and at regular breaks from work.  I am hoping to hear if it's good enough that I won't hurt my swing doing the April practices (when it was pointed out my grip was really bad, I got worried that I'd somehow get worse if I continued to practice with it that way.  Feels silly now that I write it out)

 

 

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, Shindig said:

Can I get a quick check-in on this?  I've been doing this quite a bit over the past several days, both in front of the TV and at regular breaks from work.  I am hoping to hear if it's good enough that I won't hurt my swing doing the April practices (when it was pointed out my grip was really bad, I got worried that I'd somehow get worse if I continued to practice with it that way.  Feels silly now that I write it out)

 

 

It’s looking better. Do it slower to start. Make sure you get the grip to lay on the end of the fingers before you wrap the fingers around. Sometimes the act of wrapping the finger causes you to grip more in the palm.

[billchao]

2 hours ago, Shindig said:

Can I get a quick check-in on this?  I've been doing this quite a bit over the past several days, both in front of the TV and at regular breaks from work.  I am hoping to hear if it's good enough that I won't hurt my swing doing the April practices (when it was pointed out my grip was really bad, I got worried that I'd somehow get worse if I continued to practice with it that way.  Feels silly now that I write it out)

 

 

Still looks a little palmy to me. Try holding the club more vertical when you put your hand on it. You have it angled in such a way that it’s basically no different than if you gripped it with the club head on the ground.

You’re not going to get worse doing the drills with a flawed grip, it’s just going to make some things harder to do.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

Sometimes the act of wrapping the finger causes you to grip more in the palm.

Yes.

49 minutes ago, billchao said:

Still looks a little palmy to me.

Yes.

Also this:

49 minutes ago, billchao said:

You’re not going to get worse doing the drills with a flawed grip, it’s just going to make some things harder to do.

There's too much of a gap between the pinkie, and the heel pad is not the thumb pad.

---

Please film two other things:

• You picking up a suitcase with your left hand.
• You gripping the shaft, near the clubhead, with your left hand.

[Shindig]

2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

It’s looking better. Do it slower to start. Make sure you get the grip to lay on the end of the fingers before you wrap the fingers around. Sometimes the act of wrapping the finger causes you to grip more in the palm.

Will do.  Also, again, thank you for this and also for the video a few days ago.  I don't know if my repeated views show up as it (since they're on the same page load), but revisiting it has really helped. 

1 hour ago, billchao said:

Still looks a little palmy to me. Try holding the club more vertical when you put your hand on it. You have it angled in such a way that it’s basically no different than if you gripped it with the club head on the ground.

You’re not going to get worse doing the drills with a flawed grip, it’s just going to make some things harder to do.

Will do, and thank you.  I'm not sure how vertical to make it -- is it slightly more than I'm doing or closer to perpendicular to the ground?

55 minutes ago, iacas said:

There's too much of a gap between the pinkie, and the heel pad is not the thumb pad.

---

Please film two other things:

• You picking up a suitcase with your left hand.
• You gripping the shaft, near the clubhead, with your left hand.

Thank you.  I need to consciously think of the first one.

Filming is below.  With the suitcase, I first gripped it the way I think is closer to the golf grip, and then closer to what I probably do when I carry it.  Looking at the video, I think there's a better way to get through the airport in the future.  After trying both, the way I picked it up was closer to the first one.

 

In any case, here's the video.  For some reason, my brain went to "top of the grip" at first, and then "oh, near the ferrule."  So I have both.  I can edit the wrong one out if you prefer. 

 

[iacas]

At 0:50, that's it.

[mvmac]

@Shindig just like this, keeping doing this but now on the grip.

[JGus]

So I've read the OP many times, but may have confused my own grip after seeing the responses above.

@iacas @mvmac My grip is closer the the Red line below, but after watching the above and gripping the shaft towards the clubhead, it puts the grip more inline with the Green line.  Is Green better than Red below?  I know that may be subjective, but now that I have done this I can feel a really big difference on how my wrists are set between the two grip angles.  The Green angle seems to put less pressure on my wrist set if that makes any sense.

[iacas]

8 minutes ago, JGus said:

So I've read the OP many times, but may have confused my own grip after seeing the responses above.

@iacas @mvmac My grip is closer the the Red line below, but after watching the above and gripping the shaft towards the clubhead, it puts the grip more inline with the Green line.  Is Green better than Red below?  I know that may be subjective, but now that I have done this I can feel a really big difference on how my wrists are set between the two grip angles.  The Green angle seems to put less pressure on my wrist set if that makes any sense.

Both are fine. The red might be a little too far into the index finger, and the green might be a little too "flat" but that's being really picky. Basically, those two colored grips are almost the endpoints of the range of acceptable grips.