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

[WillieT 77]

On 7/29/2019 at 12:22 PM, mvmac said:

Would also recommend checking this thread out. I'm not a fan of Hogan's weak grip for most players.

 

@mvmac - Great read and excellent info all the way.  Can see why my hand alignment has been all over the place.  Not focusing on the grip first One thing I really like is the "green dot" illustration for properly aligning the right hand.  I had read on another site about doing similarly using medical tape and a Shapie to mark an "X" on the tape.  The premise is the same - getting the index/trigger finger 1st pad on the side of the grip. These two threads have definitely turned the "grip light bulb" on for me.  I took this to my back yard practice area w/foam practice balls.  Initial strikes were straight and farther carrying. Of course foam balls are not real ones, so it remains to be seen what will happen then.  However both threads have provided excellent primer info to better grip technique at address.  

[downbylaw11 38]

I've read studies that stated that one of the greatest determiner in driving distance was a players grip strength.  So yeah, while a great player might say, 'use light grip pressure', it's because they could probably turn a diamond into dust.  I would say the grip pressure being too tight and causing issues is only because of how the rest of peoples bodies tent to react when they grip the club too tight, which is too much tension in the arms and shoulders and even in the upper body.

[Buckeyebowman 452]

Many good points here. Some are gifted with natural grip strength, and others are not. My Uncle, who taught me most of my early learning about the game had "Popeye" forearms and big hands. I had the forearms, but not necessarily the hands. My palms are enormous, but my fingers are relatively short. Make of that what you may, but I was always able to grip the club firmly without introducing unnecessary tension into my wrists or elbows. We were changing the oil and filter on my buddy's wife's vehicle, and we could not get a wrench on the filter. I put my leather work gloves on and just grabbed the thing and twisted. I felt it give and twisted again. It moved more, and I eventually removed the filter from the block. 

This was not an ability I developed, I've always had it. I once read a story where a sports writer was invited to interview Ben Hogan. He wrote that shaking hands with him was like sticking your hand in a vise! 

[Par666 0]

Ahh grip pressure, the true mystery of the golf swing.

Does anyone remember a golf informercial from the mid '90's selling a grip pressure training aid ? It was endorsed and demonstrated by non other thqn Jack himself. It was basically a neoprene sheath/condom that went over your existing grip. It had sensors built into it that let out an audible beep when it was squeezed too hard. There were 5 settings of sensitivity, the lightest they called "pro" then 2,3,4,and 5. Mr Nicklaus was on a practice area doing the demonstration to about 6 amateurs of various playing ability. He set the device to "pro" level and hit a shortish iron, 8 maybe, and, silence, no beep. Everyone of the gathered amateurs tried it and not one could hit the ball without it beeping ! In fact most couldn't take it away in silence! and a couple of them were low single figure players!! They decreased the sensitivity to 5 or 4 and eventually 1 of them hit a full shot without the beep.

I found the advert fascinating, I think it was on the golf channel but the name of the product escapes me. Basically the whole tenet was that a soft grip was the holy grail, its what pros do and what amateurs can't. Fascinati g.

[Warlock 1]

There is a good article by Dave Tutelman about grip pressure if you want to delve a bit more into the physics.

Required grip pressure (tutelman.com)

 

[mvmac 2,613]

 

 

 

 

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[iacas 10,070]

Everything I’ve been saying for so long. 🙂