Switching from 'hurley grip'

CackHand · 02-09-2020 9:33am #1

Just wondering if anyone has gone through or knows anyone that has gone through this process. I am a right handed golfer who plays left hand low. I have recently joined a club and play to 17. I am toying with the idea of switching grips.

For some background, I played casual golf (par 3 mostly) when I was younger and have never had any lessons. Interestingly, many of my friends who I played with have the same grip.

Initially the thought of being absolutely awful for 6 months or so makes the thoughts of switching grips off putting. But i also worry that I couldn't find a pro to give me lessons while sticking to my current grip so this would restrict my chances of lowering my handicap.

Interested to hear any thoughts.

spacecoyote · 02-09-2020 9:44am

You're probably getting to the right part of the year to make the commitment. Maybe once the qualifying season closes it would be worth going for it as a long term improvement plan.

You'll have about 6 months of off season to get set and comfortable over the winter

Neewollah · 02-09-2020 9:59am

I think if you really want to improve it's the right thing to try. Most left below right golfers will have a mid to high handicap at best (few exceptions in my club to be fair) but it's very hard to be consistent.

I would say give it a try. Nothing to lose and if it's just not working it's east to revert back

Whiplash85 · 02-09-2020 10:48am

I know a cack handed golfer who plays off 8 and has won most of the clubs majors. He is one of the purest strikers of an iron I have played with and hits a cracking 3 wood. His putting is very solid. If there was one weakness in his game it would be if he had to play a chip with a lot of loft or sometimes bunker play and this is probably attributable to right hand on top.

REFLINE1 · 02-09-2020 11:02am

Padraig Harrington posted a good video on importance of grip and how to do it correctly recently.Mine is poor so going to try and improve it based on this over the winter.

https://twitter.com/padraig_h/status/1300471006222520322

brick tamland · 02-09-2020 11:11am

I changed a good few years ago, took few lessons and then practised across a winter. First few games were a disaster :-) but got up to speed quick enough. Now I'm a better golfer in general ( playing less these days so not currently showing in HC).

At the start I kept chipping cackhanded but after a while that felt to odd and switched as well.

The odd time i try to hit a few balls with the hurley grip when practising and i cant, I literally cant hit it more than topping 10 yards.

My tip would be to get a couple of lessons of a pro on correct grip and go from there

Mantis Toboggan · 02-09-2020 11:24am

Why would you want to switch from the 'hurley grip'?

I'm a left hander but don't right handed golfers not have their dominant hand on top?

CackHand · 02-09-2020 11:28am

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Why would you want to switch from the 'hurley grip'?

I'm a left hander but don't right handed golfers not have their dominant hand on top?

I guess its twofold. There is a pre conceived acceptance that the correct way to hold the club is left hand on top and secondly, i am not sure how likely it is that a pro will give me lessons with my current grip. I'm not sure which way to go, this is very much an info gathering excercise.

BraveDonut · 02-09-2020 12:09pm

I made the change many years ago.
It does take a bit of time, but you will not regret it.

As noted above, It might be a good idea to continue to chip and putt cack-handed to give you time to develop feel - allowing you to concentrate on your swing.

In my experience, cack-handed golfers seem to rely on swing speed to create distance which can cause problems when they are not playing well.

blue note · 02-09-2020 12:24pm

I'd say switch. There must be a reason 99% of golfers hold the club that way.

I've only ever played with one proper golfer (playing to a handicap). Who has the cack handed grip. He was playing off 14 and had about 40 points that day. His distance and ball striking was perfectly good for a guy in his early 30s.

The other strange thing about him was that his bunker technique was awful, but the results were great. There was no follow through regardless of the distance of shot he looked like he was just drilling the ball into the sand. Every one of his efforts was a good shot by any measure.

the lawman · 02-09-2020 12:49pm

I started golf when I was 30 and like you I was left hand low. I picked this up playing P&P and it stuck.

I got to 12 and I was pretty happy with that and I refused to change to orthodox gripping. Then the pro I was with showed me how much better my shoulder turn would be and that I was actually hindering distance staying that way. So I gave it a shot and to be honest it was much quicker than I thought. A few buckets on the range and my brain was already trained. I got to 7 afterwards so this was the best change I ever made.

I still putt and use 60 degree wedge with hurley grip as I have much more control on these shots like that (must be the years playing P&P like that).

Hope it works out whatever you decide but from someone who was terrified to change don't worry. It's nothing like 6 months of bad golf. Put the practice in and it will take a few weeks.

ronnie3585 · 02-09-2020 3:40pm

I started playing about 5 years ago and used a cack handed grip. I was absolutely sh*te and struggled to play off 24.

I decided to change to an orthodox grip after about a year playing. I thought it would be impossible to change, but it was actually a lot easier than I had expected. I spent several sessions at the range hitting balls with the new grip. The first trip to the range was horrible but it was a lot easier after that first session. I got a couple of lessons, practiced all winter and was night and day better the following season, getting down to 15.

I still putt using the old grip. It works, so I don't change it.

Ottoman_1000 · 02-09-2020 6:57pm

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Why would you want to switch from the 'hurley grip'?

I'm a left hander but don't right handed golfers not have their dominant hand on top?

Sorry this bit confused me, dominant hand on top? The orthodox way for a right side golfer to hold the club is left hand on top regardless if its his dominant hand or not.

blackbox · 02-09-2020 7:03pm

OP have you tried left handed clubs?

hurleronditch · 02-09-2020 7:32pm

I also played on and off as a kid cack handed. Never had a handicap but broke 80 a few times and on my day I could play. Unbelievably inconsistent and the lack of capacity to compress the ball on iron shots is a big hindrance, as one of the other posters alluded to the only way to then increase distance is to ramp up the swing speed which exacerbates existing problems. The other thing is that the hurling grip (and a hurling swing in general) leads to more of a sway motion, rather than a proper rotation of the spine, so a proper few lessons to address these fundamentals early on post switch is key.

I found the switch fine, the first few range sessions were a bit hairy, and I played a few P&P rounds so as to get the feel for the short game judgement free away from a big boy course before I got going. I still putt cack handed but half the pros and putting coaches on tour advise to do so so no harm there.

It’s not like you are starting from scratch either, you already have a massive advantage in feel and rhythm as someone who plays already, once you get the fundamentals right and get a workable swing grooved in you will never look back

boccy23 · 01-06-2021 3:08pm

Resurrecting an old thread here as I am in the same boat.

A question to anyone who has done this, when starting was it with a wedge and work from there, or a mid iron? And how long before I would look at longer clubs?

Switching from 'hurley grip'

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