The First Step Towards A Better Game
By: Dan Davis, PGA Professional Thousand Hills Golf Resort and Missouri Golf Instruction
“Yeah, I always felt a man’s grip on his club just like a man’s grip on his world”….Bagger Vance.
Improving your golf grip and finding your perfect one is one of the first steps to either learning to play or improving your game. If you are a beginner you will want to experiment with and eventually pick a style that fits your hand size, feels the most comfortable and is the most repeatable. I have listed 3 basic styles of grips to try below:
- The 10 Finger Grip:
Always start by holding the club vertically so that the head is above the grip and the toe of the club is pointing back at you. With your left hand grasp the butt end of the club in the fingers and lay the thumb on top. With your right hand grasp the club directly above your left hand and grip around your left thumb. Again your right thumb should be lying on top of the club pointing slightly left of center of the shaft. Always make sure that the two hands appear to be stacked directly on top of each other and are always touching.
The ten finger grip is similar to a baseball grip which is most likely the first grip you ever used on a golf club. This grip is often abandoned by most golfers within the first week to one year of starting the game when they move to improve their golf grip for better control. The ten-finger is a very strong grip which can promote a hook. This grip sometimes works well for children or golfers with severe arthritis.
- The Interlock Grip:
Always start by holding the club vertically so that the head is above the grip and the toe of the club is pointing back at you. With your left hand grasp the butt end of the club in the fingers and lay the thumb on top. With your right hand grasp the club and interlock your right pinky finger with your left index finger directly above your left hand and grip around your left thumb. Your right thumb should be lying on top of the club pointing slightly left of center of the shaft.
The interlock grip is a very popular grip used by a large number of golfers. This grip is mostly used by people with smaller hands. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods use this grip most likely because they both started playing at a very young age when their hands were smaller. When you are ready to improve your golf grip, try the interlock and see how it feels. Some beginners find this to be the most uncomfortable of the three grips.
- The Overlap Grip:
Always start by holding the club vertically so that the head is above the grip and the toe of the club is pointing back at you. With your left hand grasp the butt end of the club in the fingers and lay the thumb on top. Next lay the pinky finger of your right hand in the crease between your index finger and middle finger of your left hand. Grasp the club with the rest of the fingers of the right hand allowing the ring finger to stack on top of the index finger of the left hand. Again your right thumb should be lying on top of the club pointing slightly left of center of the shaft.
Also known as the Vardon Grip this is the most commonly used grip on the PGA Tour. This grip is better suited for players with large hands.
None of the styles of grips listed above can work effectively without the correct grip pressure. Most people grip the club with too much pressure. This is also very difficult to communicate and may fluctuate depending on a golfer’s situation. Competition, audience, weather, equipment, perspiration and even what you ate for breakfast may negatively affect your grip pressure. Gripping the club too hard will gradually stiffen joints and muscles from the hands all the way up to include the arms and shoulders. It is vital to maintain consistent light pressure from address through impact. A tube of tooth paste is my favorite training aid for consistent grip pressure. Using a brand new tube of toothpaste remove the cap and grip it as if it was a golf club. The spout of the tube should be pointing down when in the address position. Now practice taking full golf swings with the tube while making sure that no toothpaste is extruded. It may seem silly, but a few swings of the toothpaste this will allow you to feel the consistent pressure that is needed to improve your golf grip.
Golf is no different than any sport in that learning and always returning to fundamentals is the first step to improving. The grip is one of those fundamentals and only you can determine what is the most comfortable and the most repeatable.
See Our Missouri Golf Instruction page to get more online tips for improving your game from Dan Davis, PGA Professional at Thousand Hills Golf Resort.
