Hurling Grip

jukebox2310

I have been playing golf for 3 years now and being from the real home of hurling I have always played with this grip. I started at 19 and have worked my way down to 12 at the moment. I have a good few times gone around in 75 - 78 gross so I play fairly consistently at it.

A couple of guys I know also use this grip and they are off 2 & 7. I was just wondering if anyone has changed from this grip and how long it took to change to a proper grip. A few people are telling me that I won't get much lower with this grip. I would like to get a few lessons because I tend to hook the ball a bit but I believe most pros won't even take you if you play with the hurling grip. I have never played more that a couple of shots ever with a proper grip as it feels all wrong and I am not comfortable with it at all.

Anyone got any comments

PeterJamesDoyle

My uncle Tony is playing off 10, he's in his early sixties. He's had the hurly grip since he was in his thirties. He played squash right handed so like you, it felt unusual with his right hand below left. I put on his jumbo grips when they need replacing. These grips help him feel like he's still holding a racket and he hits the ball very straight.
Other thing you could consider is if you haven't been playing that long, try play left handed.
You're right hand (strong hand) will then be your leading hand. Mickelson, and Mike Weir, two of the best left handed golfers in the world. Both right handed.

jimbling

PeterJamesDoyle wrote: »

Mickelson, and Mike Weir, two of the best left handed golfers in the world. Both right handed.

Seriously? I've never heard that before... crazy.

Whyner

PeterJamesDoyle wrote: »

Mickelson, and Mike Weir, two of the best left handed golfers in the world. Both right handed.

Right handed at what? Everything else but golf?

jukebox2310 - where are you losing shots?

Myksyk

Whyner wrote: »

Right handed at what? Everything else but golf

Yep. Mickelson learned that way apparently because he could directly mirror his father's right-handed play when he was teaching him.

jukebox2310

In last few weeks have developed a bad hook with drives only going about 150-170 yds instead of 260-300yds that I normally hit.
Also having a big problem hitting the green with second shot. Tending to bring the ball left and miss to the left. This happens on Par 3's too

staker

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055283282&highlight=hurling+grip

Hi OP,
I had the same trouble as you last year^^
I went the rest of last year playing with that grip to no avail, swapped earlier on this year for left-handed clubs.
A lot of stableford being played at the minute,but i'm a lot more confident in my swing now.
Gotta say it's still a bit of an alien feel to the system- weight being very hard to feel on the greens.
I'd recommend swapping,but first let a pro have a look!!

DonkeyPokerTour

Myksyk wrote: »

Yep. Mickelson learned that way apparently because he could directly mirror his father's right-handed play when he was teaching him.

Incorrect. His dad was a lefty and he copied him by grabbing his clubs when he was young. They tried to change him when he was 13 or 14 but he refused so although he's right handed he play's lefty.

neckedit

DonkeyPokerTour wrote: »

Incorrect. His dad was a lefty and he copied him by grabbing his clubs when he was young. They tried to change him when he was 13 or 14 but he refused so although he's right handed he play's lefty.

Mickelson was born in San Diego, California and raised there and in Arizona. He swings a golf club left-handed, which he learned by watching his right-handed father swing and mirroring it. Cited Wikepedia.

stockdam

http://www.pgatour.com/players/00/18/10/

Says he mirrored his right-handed father.

But who cares..........he's a brilliant golfer.

DonkeyPokerTour

neckedit wrote: »

Mickelson was born in San Diego, California and raised there and in Arizona. He swings a golf club left-handed, which he learned by watching his right-handed father swing and mirroring it. Cited Wikepedia.

Fair enough stand open to correction, always thought it was what he learned from using his fathers left handed clubs. However the one thing I do take offence to, Never Cite Wikepedia as a reference, its not always even close to accurate particularly on "famous people"

Regards
Ian

neckedit

DonkeyPokerTour wrote: »

Fair enough stand open to correction, always thought it was what he learned from using his fathers left handed clubs. However the one thing I do take offence to, Never Cite Wikepedia as a reference, its not always even close to accurate particularly on "famous people"

Regards
Ian

No offence meant Ian. the only reason Wikepedia is cited is cause I was on it looking up something else, and it was handy to cut and paste it across, hence the bold lettering.

DonkeyPokerTour

neckedit wrote: »

No offence meant Ian. the only reason Wikepedia is cited is cause I was on it looking up something else, and it was handy to cut and paste it across, hence the bold lettering.

I probably chose the wrong word there, Not really offended just really annoys me when people cite Wikipedia as gospel. As a rule its good for getting a general idea about a subject but I wouldn't recommend be leaving anything on it. But with the citation from the PGA tour I know I'm wrong.

Cheers
Ian

jukebox2310

Thanks lads but I'm no Phil Mickleson and unfortunatley the thread has turned into an "is he, isn't he" thread.
Anyone got any more advice for a regular Joe Soap?
Anyone changed their grip from this late in life and how long did it take to master?
Don't really want to write off a years bad golf

Joe C

I'm not playing that long but I use the hurlers grip as well.

A few weeks ago I decided to give the normal way a go so I spent an hour on the driving range every evening for a week and couldn't get it right. It just felt wrong to me.

So I'm going to stick with it and see how far it takes me.

condra

A friend of mine changed from hurley grip to "orthadox". It took him a couple of weeks and his game improved greatly.

Spudmonkey

I had the hurley grip for years, when I gave up the hurling I changed around. Took me a few weeks to get the hang of it but I couldn't go back. Thing I find is it gives me a bit more distance. You can "whip" your right hand through impact and it can speed up clubface speed.

Niall09

jimbling wrote: »

Seriously? I've never heard that before... crazy.

I do everything left sided, but I play golf right handed.

My parents said I could swing the club both ways when I was very young, but chose right sided. I can still hit a driver about 200 yards playing left sided, most of my friends say my left handed swing is better than my right.

PhilipMarlowe

Lots of left handed golfers in our club and most of us lefties are right hand dominant

staker

Slightly OT but I changed over to a left handed set of clubs, but actually still like to putt with the right handed putter.
I find it easier to read the greens off my right shoulder,if anybody knows what I mean!!!:o

Spudmonkey

staker wrote: »

Slightly OT but I changed over to a left handed set of clubs, but actually still like to putt with the right handed putter.
I find it easier to read the greens off my right shoulder,if anybody knows what I mean!!!:o

Surely a less expensive way would have been to change the hands around?:rolleyes:

staker

Spudmonkey wrote: »

Surely a less expensive way would have been to change the hands around?:rolleyes:

Is this an attempt at sarcasm or a perfect execution of dimwittery?

Spudmonkey

staker wrote: »

Is this an attempt at sarcasm or a perfect execution of dimwittery?

Mixture of both?

It's just that when I was golfing with the hurling grip I tried hitting left handed but couldn't manage it, fair play to you if you could! I was only able to play by changing my hands around. To tell you the truth when you are able to get out and start playing good golf, it doesn't matter how you do it, be this buying clubs that suit, or taking lessons...

staker

all valid points!!
tried swapping on the grip but i just couldn't.
am making good progress on the left set of clubs, and really beginning to enjoy the game thoroughly.
enthusiasm is high at the minute, hope it lasts:D

Spudmonkey

Fair play all the same, when I swapped the hands around, it felt like I was swinging a telephone pole, just had no strength in my arms!

Keep the enthusiasm up, thats the most important thing, going off topic I know, but I was starting to hate going out playing cause things weren't going right for me.. Then I just realised that this was supposed to be a hobby, you are supposed to enjoy it! Things started to pick up after that..

Kevinmarkham

I guess the difficulty with the 'hurling' grip is that I imagine no Pro would coach you without trying to change your grip. They won't be able to relate to it, so if you want to change you have to do it all on your own. And that's no easy task.

That said, as long as you're enjoying yourself, why change. Every golfer encounters problems with their swing at some point.

One of our best golfers at Greystones plays with the reverse grip. He plays Barton Cup and when we were in the final a few years back his opponents started chuckling when they saw his grip. They stopped pretty quickly when he ripped it a mile down the fairway.