We all think we know how to grip a golf club, but there are some fundamentals that lots of us are still getting wrong.
You might have heard the terms, strong, weak or neutral when referring to a players golf grip, but what do they actually mean? These terms don’t refer to grip pressure. They actual refer to the placement of a golfers hands on the club. And, each one of these grips can affect what happens to the ball. So, before you undergo major swing changes it might be worth checking your grip…
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Weak Golf Grip
A weak golf grip is a term used to describe when a player is holding the club too much in the palm of their left hand. For a right handed golfer the left hand would be more under the club with the thumb straight down the shaft or slightly left. The right hand would sit on top of the left hand, covering it.
This sort of grip encourages the club face to open up in the takeaway. This hand position makes it very hard to load the wrists correctly in the golf swing. Therefore, presenting an open clubface at impact. This makes it harder to generate power and distance through the ball.
A weak golf grip is typical for a golfer who slices the ball. An open club face is not a slicer’s friend; it just encourages the ball to move to the right. It also means there will be a lot of manipulation of the club face needed to get the ball travelling straight. This won’t help with consistency.
Strong Golf Grip
A strong golf grip for a right handed golfer is where the left hand is rotated, so that the thumb doesn’t sit as straight down the shaft. Or, visually the crease between the left thumb and forefinger points up towards your right shoulder. The right hand then sits more under the grip, with no knuckles on show.
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Having a stronger grip will create more of a closed club face at impact. This is great for playing a draw and generates plenty of speed and power. However, if a grip gets too strong, the hands can rotate too much, causing a hook. Therefore, you might need to weaken the grip slightly. Equally, if you’re a player struggling with a slice, increasing the strength of your grip can help to eliminate the big left to right.
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Neutral Golf Grip
As expected, a neutral golf grip is the middle ground between strong and weak. It is the default position that golfer’s tend to be taught. This grip style doesn’t promote any type of shot and so is great for player’s who like to hit different shapes.
Fundamentals of a Good Golf Grip
Most golfers would benefit from gripping the club more in their fingers. Starting with the left hand open, the club should be running through the middle of the fingers. A lot of player’s have this more in the palm, which is typically indicated by a worn glove palm.
From here we can go ahead and wrap the hand over the top of the club in a neutral to strong position. Here you should feel like the left thumb is sitting down the right-hand side of the grip. This creates a crease between your left thumb and forefinger, that points up towards your right shoulder.
With the right hand you want to do the same thing. Keep the club running down the middle off the fingers and fold over the grip the club.
The style of how you grip the club is entirely up to you. That’s whether you want to interlock, overlap or go for a baseball-style grip. The most important part is holding the club with your fingers so you can load the wrists properly.
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This is going to help you create speed and power better. It is also going to encourage you to square the club head up through the ball and stop your shots slicing.
How to Improve Your Grip?
Changing your grip can be one of the hardest things for a golfer to change. It can be very uncomfortable to move your hands from what you’ve created as being a natural position on the golf club.
There are a range of different training aids to help manipulate your hands into a more neutral position to save you from guessing where they should be.
The SKLZ grip trainer is a great option as it easily attaches onto any of your grips and can be removed again in seconds.
Another option is a permanent grip that is moulded to create a neutral golf grip. This isn’t something you’d be allowed to use on the course during a competitive round however if you’ve got an old club to practice with it’s a great option.
These are both great training aid options and should be used in alteration with a standard grip, where you try and replicate the grip without aid. A grip change can take a long time to perfect and so regularly revisiting it to stay on top of the change is important. When it comes to playing competitively don’t stress about it, play with what you have and revisit on the range.
Conclusion
It is important to remember there is no one perfect golf grip that will work for every player and every swing. Often golfers have a grip that doesn’t match up with what they are trying to achieve. So, it’s important to understand how your grip strength can play such a huge role in your shots.
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Whether you have a strong grip, neutral grip or a weak grip there is no right or wrong way as long as you understand how it will affect that golf ball.
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