Proper Grip Pressure (It's Firmer than You Might Think)

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Nail said:

Old topic I know but how would one know if they grip it too light or too tight. I fear I may be in the minority that grip too tight but I’m reluctant to loosen my grip for fear of losing control. 

I know it is statistically unlikely that I grip it too tight but I think I might be an outlier. 

How would I know?

Grip it slightly looser and see what happens.

[Rkrider99]

6 minutes ago, iacas said:

Grip it slightly looser and see what happens.

I had to laugh when I saw this. Way back when I started playing golf, I was always playing with the strength of my grip. One day, out on the course, I was continually loosening the grip. I remember it like it was yesterday, 18th hole, second shot from about 130, a nice smooth 8 iron. Hit the ball, which went sailing toward the pin, and watched the club follow it. 😯

[Vinsk]

25 minutes ago, Rkrider99 said:

I had to laugh when I saw this. Way back when I started playing golf, I was always playing with the strength of my grip. One day, out on the course, I was continually loosening the grip. I remember it like it was yesterday, 18th hole, second shot from about 130, a nice smooth 8 iron. Hit the ball, which went sailing toward the pin, and watched the club follow it. 😯

I think that would actually be quite hard to do.

[Rkrider99]

1 hour ago, Vinsk said:

I think that would actually be quite hard to do.

Not hard at all. Ok, so the club didn't actually get to the green, and it did veer a little left of the flight of the ball, but I was sure embarrassed as I walked over to pick the club up with the rest of the foursome laughing their asses off.

[Nail]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

Grip it slightly looser and see what happens.

I have tried and I feel like I lose control a bit. 

With driver though I lose a lot of shots to the right with a push or a push slice and I wonder if I’m just holding too tight and not letting the club release through the ball. 

[Vinsk]

3 hours ago, Rkrider99 said:

Not hard at all. Ok, so the club didn't actually get to the green, and it did veer a little left of the flight of the ball, but I was sure embarrassed as I walked over to pick the club up with the rest of the foursome laughing their asses off.

Just saying it’s human nature to grip tighter at the moment just before impact. Seems like if you were holding the club tight enough to make a good strike you would naturally hold on to the club. That loose it seems the club face would just spin like hell and be a real poor strike.

[Rkrider99]

1 hour ago, Vinsk said:

Just saying it’s human nature to grip tighter at the moment just before impact. Seems like if you were holding the club tight enough to make a good strike you would naturally hold on to the club. That loose it seems the club face would just spin like hell and be a real poor strike.

I agree with you. I think I was consciously trying to loosen my grip as I came into impact. Of course things happen so fast, I probably just let go of the club immediately after impact.

At the time, I was doing a lot of reading and studying about grip pressure. To me, I felt like I was strangling the club, and was trying to figure out what pressure was the correct one. I read that grip pressure would naturally tighten at the top of the backswing for control of the club, and at that time I was trying to forcefully loosen my grip pressure as I started my downswing. Not really sure how it happened, I just know it did.

[Vinsk]

2 hours ago, Rkrider99 said:

I agree with you. I think I was consciously trying to loosen my grip as I came into impact. Of course things happen so fast, I probably just let go of the club immediately after impact.

At the time, I was doing a lot of reading and studying about grip pressure. To me, I felt like I was strangling the club, and was trying to figure out what pressure was the correct one. I read that grip pressure would naturally tighten at the top of the backswing for control of the club, and at that time I was trying to forcefully loosen my grip pressure as I started my downswing. Not really sure how it happened, I just know it did.

Yeah the grip is an odd beast. Hell I’m so ridiculous I take my trail hand palm completely off the club at the top. It’s become a trigger for me to start my downswing so I’m probably stuck with it. At least there wasn’t water right in front of you.  I’ve actually considered trying jumbo grips just to see if I can keep my psychotic trail hand from abandoning ship.

[iacas]

42 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

It’s become a trigger for me to start my downswing so I’m probably stuck with it.

Only if you don't try to change it.

[Vinsk]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

Only if you don't try to change it.

I am. As you already know ...I hit hundreds of balls a week meticulously trying to stop it. You mentioned a possibility being poor wrist flexibility...I take the club back in an awful position. Last week I shortened my swing (felt shortened but was still a good length) and it definitely helped. That’s my next video to Stephan (along with other stuff.)

[Puttin4Dough]

Grip pressure is deceiving....at address and on the takeaway it can feel "loose" but near the ball it's astoundingly high-pressure.  You just don't notice because it relaxes quickly after impact.

[iacas]

14 minutes ago, Puttin4Dough said:

Grip pressure is deceiving....at address and on the takeaway it can feel "loose" but near the ball it's astoundingly high-pressure.  You just don't notice because it relaxes quickly after impact.

All that change isn't generally considered "good."

 

[iacas]

21 minutes ago, Piz said:

The more grip pressure required to make a proper pass...the less efficient the pass.  Play with slippery grips sometime...or recall when you have...and all will be revealed.

Nope. Nobody’s suggesting gripping that firmly.

Play with too loose a grip, swinging a 300+ gram stick 80+ MPH, and one of two things is going to happen:

1. The club leaves your hands.
2. You grip it more firmly throughout the swing.

[Piz]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Nope. Nobody’s suggesting gripping that firmly.

Play with too loose a grip, swinging a 300+ gram stick 80+ MPH, and one of two things is going to happen:

1. The club leaves your hands.
2. You grip it more firmly throughout the swing.

Here is my point.  If you get off plane enough that you have to steer the club back...your grip pressure will increase.  If you are on plane, and in sequence, there is less need for such a correction and your grip pressure will be more consistent.  I noticed this several years ago while playing in a light rain.  The club didn't get away from me if the swing didn't allow that to happen.

[Buckeyebowman]

11 minutes ago, Piz said:

Here is my point.  If you get off plane enough that you have to steer the club back...your grip pressure will increase.  If you are on plane, and in sequence, there is less need for such a correction and your grip pressure will be more consistent.  I noticed this several years ago while playing in a light rain.  The club didn't get away from me if the swing didn't allow that to happen.

I think you have a point Piz, but it's a matter of perception. If you have strong hands, you don't need to feel like you're crushing the grip in order to hold onto it firmly. Way back in the day when you'd usually need a filter wrench to get an oil filter off an engine block, I didn't! I'd just put on a pair of work gloves and spin the thing off by hand. 

I had an incredibly strong grip back then, so didn't need to stress myself in order to control a golf club. Plus, being on plane does help, I think. You don't need to move the club around in strange ways to get it back to the ball. My best golf was played with what seemed to be a very "light" grip. But then, it was light to me. I don't know how it would have felt to anyone else. 

[iacas]

22 minutes ago, Piz said:

Here is my point.  If you get off plane enough that you have to steer the club back...your grip pressure will increase.

No guarantee of that at all, and the opposite could easily happen.

[Buckeyebowman]

OK. But years ago, when "pressure sensitive" grips were first available, I read a report that stated that most amateurs grips increased greatly at the initiation of the downswing. The "experts" reviewing the data gave some explanation that I don't really recall, but we can kind of imagine what it might have been. "Here's where the rubber meets the road, so ams tighten up", etc, etc. "This is why ams can't release the clubhead"! 

Your thoughts?

[iacas]

20 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Your thoughts?

Find the graph.

Actually, it's just this one:

It's not like this is a good thing, the "Ams" graph.

And whether that spike occurs at A5 or A7, I don't care - the point is that the PGA Tour player's graph is more consistent (and firmer).