‘Grip’: The placement, positioning, pressure and precision a player employs in applying his hands to the club.
This is arguably the most important of the fundamentals. It is the ‘connection’ to the club and is the basis for the transfer of power from the golfer to the club. Grip also determines the angle of the clubface throughout the swing and at impact – the most important position of the swing. Problems with the grip will often lead to unnecessary compensations in the golfer’s swing to adjust for incorrect positions resulting from a poor ‘connection’.
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| Left hand only |
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‘Neutral’ Grip (ideal) |
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‘Weak’ Grip |
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‘Strong’ Grip |
- The back of the front hand should face directly toward the target.
- The palm of the lower hand should face directly toward the target.
- The hands will naturally return to a ‘neutral’ position at impact.
- When discussing the grip, ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ refer to the position of the hands on the club – not the pressure of the hands.
- A ‘weak’ grip will leave the clubface ‘open’ at impact.
- A ‘strong’ grip will cause the clubface to be ‘closed’ at impact.
- If grip pressure (tightness of hands squeezing the club) could be measured on a scale of 1-10, ideal pressure would be about 7. Jack Nicholas refers to ideal pressure as “firm but passive”.
- If a golfer grips the club too tightly, the club will not ‘release’ as much at impact (the club won’t travel as quickly through the hitting area).
Gripping the club properly is very important. There are many variations of the grip including interlocking, overlapping, ten-finger (or baseball), and even reverse and combinations thereof. Remember: there is no one way to learn. If it is comfortable for you to hold it a certain way, start from there.
