Your Golf Grip

realgolfgeek

Possibly one of the most underrated aspects I think in getting better at this game I think.

I went from having an extremely weak grip to now a slightly strong grip.
My weak grip was giving a good fade to slice and know I'm hitting it with a slight draw to the odd hook (Which IMO I prefer to seeing that slice).

I find it very difficult however, to bring it from the range to the course. Always find myself reverting back to old grip. I suppose it's trust/confidence, any one else experience changing grip, how long did it take before it became second nature ?

Thanks.

Mr. Larson

Grip is all I try to concentrate on when playing golf. Agree 100% it's hugely important. I try to take my grip with my arms out stretched in front, I used to sort my grip out over the ball which didn't work well.

In terms of the grip type, once I have the club gripped correctly with my left hand I find the right just takes care of itself. I use the old Hogan technique to sanity check my grip every now and again.

.

Used to slice the ball a lot but changing to having the club along my fingers (not the palm of my hand) and gripping with the fleshy 'heel' part below my little finger I find it almost impossible to slice the ball now.

realgolfgeek

Thanks, ! I must give that a go.

realgolfgeek

I think it's easier to get a good in to out swing with a stronger grip.

Does an over the top swing happen easier with a very weak grip ? It seems to for me anyway.

Mr. Larson

realgolfgeek wrote: »

I think it's easier to get a good in to out swing with a stronger grip.

Does an over the top swing happen easier with a very weak grip ? It seems to for me anyway.

I have no idea, sorry. I can only state what works for me and even that will obviously carry the rather large caveat that all internet advice should be stamped with, that I am by no means an expert

spacecoyote

To be honest, I try to keep my grip as neutral as possible and work on my plane to shape the ball.

If you go for any lessons, in my experience the pro would always look to set you up with a neutral grip. I would have had a strong grip in the past, before lessons and find that my control is significantly better with a neutral set up.

John Divney

Slightly strong grip for me. At the top of the backswing the club tends to be more open than I'd like, that means having to rotate it back a lot on the downswing, if you think about that, it's just not going to lead to consistency, and tends to result in way more draw than I want as I'm rolling the face over in miliseconds before impact

So when my grip is slightly stronger, I know that I can square the clubface up earlier and easier, and have less going on in the release and just roll the hands over naturally after impact.

I find it very difficult however, to bring it from the range to the course. Always find myself reverting back to old grip. I suppose it's trust/confidence, any one else experience changing grip, how long did it take before it became second nature ?

This is easy to get rid of, but your wife/partner will probably not like it. It just means having club/s in the living room / tv room, and grip them how you want it during ad breaks, watching tv etc. It becomes second nature and you won't really have to think about grip after that.

GreeBo

^
+1
I would also add that you should never, NEVER hit a shot with the old grip no matter what.

DeanAustin

I have a horrible draw which frequently turns into a big hook. My grip, particularly my right hand, is also very strong so I'm guessing that's what's causing it.

Trying to work it out of my game and although I've weakened my right hand, I'm still hitting a big draw/hook. The temptation is always there to go back to my old grip.

Something still looks a bit wrong about my takeaway as well...hitting a little white ball really shouldn't be this complicated!!!

golferAC

DeanAustin wrote: »

I have a horrible draw which frequently turns into a big hook. My grip, particularly my right hand, is also very strong so I'm guessing that's what's causing it.

Trying to work it out of my game and although I've weakened my right hand, I'm still hitting a big draw/hook. The temptation is always there to go back to my old grip.

Something still looks a bit wrong about my takeaway as well...hitting a little white ball really shouldn't be this complicated!!!

i was out yesterday first time to hit a ball since august... i having the same problem as yourself not much of a draw more straight with slight hook i tried not bringing my thumb on my right hand over as much and seemed to kinda work.

DeanAustin

golferAC wrote: »

i was out yesterday first time to hit a ball since august... i having the same problem as yourself not much of a draw more straight with slight hook i tried not bringing my thumb on my right hand over as much and seemed to kinda work.

Was on the range yesterday after a very ugly 89 in the Curragh on Sunday and resolved to stick with the weaker grip. Still hit some hooks, few slices but the ones I caught well were straight with a slight draw (which is what I want to hit).

I have to stick with it I guess and not take the easy way out. I've also been toying with the idea of a few lessons. I've never had any but have now hit a wall and think I need them if I'm going to improve. I played with a couple of low handicappers in the Curragh and it was glaringly obvious that, on my best day, I'm nowhere near their level.

realgolfgeek

DeanAustin wrote: »

I have to stick with it I guess and not take the easy way out.

This is the hardest part I'm finding....
I guess I just have to settle with the idea that I'll hit some awful shots before it gets better
by awful I mean, more awful that usual
But I don't give a toss, cause I love it

alxmorgan

This was an eye opener for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-89M1vt66FA

Basically in summary the clubface is not the main culprit when it comes to curves on the ball. The clubface is mainly responsible for where it starts and the path for how it curves.

I used to start straight and go right and I thought that meant open clubface. What it really means is that my path was out to in.

GreeBo

alxmorgan wrote: »

This was an eye opener for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-89M1vt66FA

Basically in summary the clubface is not the main culprit when it comes to curves on the ball. The clubface is mainly responsible for where it starts and the path for how it curves.

I used to start straight and go right and I thought that meant open clubface. What it really means is that my path was out to in.

You actually did have an open clubface (to your target) but square to your swing path.
If your club face was square to your target then it would start left and fade/slice back right.

You were probably compensating for the swing path flaw.

alxmorgan

GreeBo wrote: »

You actually did have an open clubface (to your target) but square to your swing path.
If your club face was square to your target then it would start left and fade/slice back right.

You were probably compensating for the swing path flaw.

Are you sure on this ? I mean if clubface determines starting direction and it starts straight then how is it open to target ?

spacecoyote

realgolfgeek wrote: »

This is the hardest part I'm finding....
I guess I just have to settle with the idea that I'll hit some awful shots before it gets better
by awful I mean, more awful that usual
But I don't give a toss, cause I love it

yeah, patience & persistence is key.

For me, when I was changing my grip, the way I knew I was gripping correctly, was that it felt completely wrong. If it felt too comfortable, I knew I'd slipped into the old habits :rolleyes:

Eventually the wrong feel will become the natural feel though

Milkers

GreeBo wrote: »

You actually did have an open clubface (to your target) but square to your swing path.
If your club face was square to your target then it would start left and fade/slice back right.

You were probably compensating for the swing path flaw.

Greebo maybe you are miscommunicating as opposed to misunderstanding but what you are describing here is the old conventional wisdom on ball flight which has been proven to be completely wrong thanks to modern measuring devices such as Trackman.

GreeBo

alxmorgan wrote: »

Are you sure on this ? I mean if clubface determines starting direction and it starts straight then how is it open to target ?

Yep, the only way it can start down the line is if you have the club face open by the same amount that you are swinging across it.
Otherwise if you had the clubface square the ball would start a "little" left and then fade/slice back.

Clubface determines ~85% of the starting direction, so there is still ~15% of initial direction to account for, important when you are trying to bend the ball around something, especially if that thing is close by.

alxmorgan

GreeBo wrote: »

Yep, the only way it can start down the line is if you have the club face open by the same amount that you are swinging across it.
Otherwise if you had the clubface square the ball would start a "little" left and then fade/slice back.

Clubface determines ~85% of the starting direction, so there is still ~15% of initial direction to account for, important when you are trying to bend the ball around something, especially if that thing is close by.

Ok so club face is almost square or a little open then.
But you would agree that out to in path was main culprit for slice ?

GreeBo

alxmorgan wrote: »

Ok so club face is almost square or a little open then.
But you would agree that out to in path was main culprit for slice ?

Yup, its not a matter of "agreement", its physics and facts!

I think part of the confusion is that people use terms like "slice" and "hook" to describe how the ball moves in the air but its vital to know where the ball starts to determine the cause.

You can "slice" the ball with a correct swing path and just having the club open but the ball starts right and goes "righter" and vice versa for a closed club face.

You can also hook the ball with an open club face and slice it with a closed club face.
e.g. If you close it 5 degrees but swing out to in by 15 degrees the ball will move right in the air.

onlyfinewine

GreeBo wrote: »

You actually did have an open clubface (to your target) but square to your swing path.
If your club face was square to your target then it would start left and fade/slice back right.

You were probably compensating for the swing path flaw.

That's wrong. If the clubface is square to the swing path the ball will fly straight, unless you make contact towards the heel or toe which will introduce other variables(see trackman results).

abfromcs

I would agree that the grip is one of the most understated mechanics of the game. A custom grip can help a lot as well. I ordered some custom drivers from golfstoreeurope.com, and my game has improved since. Good luck!

plumber77

:rolleyes:

Ilik Urgee

Definitely a lot of truth in the stronger grip,in my instance anyway. Have played wth a neutral to weak grip for a long time only to be told in a lesson last December to change to a much stronger grip.
It closed everything up and kept all the lines much cleaner(if that makes sense),cue some decent scoring and really began to enjoy the game again.
Going back on Monday as I'm gone back to old habits.

I find that resting the club in the fingers and heel of the palm so uncomfortable,feels like the club is gonna outfly the ball as it feels so alien!