Instruction
Golf 101: How to properly grip the golf club
I’m sure you’ve heard by now that a good grip is one of the cornerstones of a good swing. Clichés become clichés because they’re true, and putting your hands on the club is extremely important… for reasons you know, and for some reasons you probably haven’t heard before.
Let’s start with the big, obvious one you already know. Your grip establishes the default relationship between the clubface and the golf ball. If you set your grip in a way that promotes bringing the club back to impact open or closed, you’re going to have to do something else in your swing to compensate for that. In other words, a sound grip makes the job of squaring the club easier.
The less obvious reason that a good grip is important is speed. If you set the club in your hands correctly—so that the handle runs across the base of the fingers in your left hand and not across the palm—you’re giving your wrists much more freedom to move. This wrist “mobility” is what allows the final transfer of energy from the body to the club. A great swing thought is to envision that your wrist joints were just greased up. They should feel like they are unrestricted and “oily.”
Another less obvious problem caused by a bad grip is that it tends to perpetuate itself. If you have a bad grip and repeatedly make off-center contact on the clubface, the off-center hits will actually jar the face of the club more off-line, and you’ll hit it even more crooked. And the bad feeling those shots produce in your hands will cause you to continually adjust it. There’s no consistency or feel there. It’s like hitting a whole bunch of baseballs off the end of an aluminum bat on a 39-degree day. A recipe for pain.
To fix your grip, start with your left (top) hand. Set the handle along the first joints of your fingers, and hold it like you would carry a suitcase or briefcase by its handle.
When you get the grip in this position, you’re creating an angle (and a lever) between the club and your left arm, and you’re giving the wrist freedom to move. If you turned the handle so that it crossed your palm diagonally—like a putting grip—you’d immediately feel how your wrist would be much more restricted in how it could bend or turn. That’s why it’s great for putting—because it restricts how the face turns. But on a full swing, you want to take full advantage of the range of motion that comes from rotating from open to square. (this is what the club is designed to do!)
Get a firm grip on the handle with all of the fingers of your left hand and get as much of the thumbprint pushed onto the grip as you can. Now, place your right hand on the handle so that the underside of your right thumb covers the left thumb as much as possible, and get as much of the thumbprint on your right hand onto the top of the grip as possible.
Where you place your hand on the grip is more important than if you decide to interlock, overlap or play with all 10 fingers on the handle. I prefer the overlapping grip because it keeps the index finger of your left hand on the handle, and that extra finger can make a difference for many players.
If your grip isn’t great and you make these changes, it’ll definitely feel strange at first. But I’m betting that straighter and longer shots will make up for it.
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Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
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Instruction
The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic
My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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James J Gutierrez
Apr 22, 2020 at 1:07 pm
I have a question.
I am right handed in everything I do but my grip for a golf club is left hand down the shaft and right hand above. (Cross handed). I’ve tried changing grip to the natural right handed one but cannot do it at all. Would you recommend keep trying to learn to play the natural right handed way or play the way I feel a lot more comfortable?
Dr. Freud
Nov 1, 2018 at 3:45 pm
You should grip the club handle with your lower dominant hand the same way you hold your member when you pound it… 😮
Jr.
Nov 12, 2018 at 3:02 pm
Hairy palm grip??????
skip
Oct 24, 2018 at 3:35 pm
I dunno, his grip looks sloppy and in the palm.
steve
Oct 27, 2018 at 7:45 pm
He’s got fat-palmed hands… so thin grips fill his hand gripping style.
allanengineering
Oct 16, 2018 at 12:12 am
Michael and Brian sound so amateurish trying to explain Dr. Sasho’s scientific sham… so pathetic…
steve
Oct 24, 2018 at 12:50 am
If you understand the alpha-beta-gamma torques you have your golfswing aced… but it only applies to the lead hand/arm…. a one armed swing… lol
James
Oct 15, 2018 at 3:24 pm
A good grip starts with the right size grips! The most underlooked part of even most ‘high-end’ fittings. It’s ‘too hard’ to go through shafts/heads/loft/lie adjustments – then test 5 grip sizes. Not practical – yet we all know about the tour player with ’12 wraps under left hand & 5 1/2 under the Rt” (etc). We just LOVE the guy who needs mizuno’s – off the wall – but ‘with ONE extra wrap’ pulleeze…
I am constantly surprised when new students who can palm a basketball MAYBE have std midsize grips – or guys with 90+mph 6iron speed – who can crush walnuts in their paws come in with MUSHY winn oversize wraps! Ruin an otherwise good fitting….
Anyway, the STRONG HAND MUST BE positioned in a position to function – at speed as the article says based on Functional Human Anatomy & the size & shape of the head of the Radius bone. How much ‘on top’ of the lead hand’s thumb is relative to the person’s size , strength & rotational flexiblity – as well as the right platform to place the hands on.
geohogan
Oct 15, 2018 at 4:49 pm
5 different grip sizes is bound to change the SW.
Std grips are 50 grams and oversize up to 100 grams. That is serious counterbalancing, which will significantly change feel.
Many great ball strikers with large hands use(d) woman’s grips.
allan
Oct 16, 2018 at 12:07 am
Only if they have fat hands… and thin skinny hands may need oversized grips to fill the hand grip volume/
geo
Oct 19, 2018 at 9:01 pm
Control is the pinkie of the top hand.
Grip hand volume has nothing to do with control of a lever.
oversize grips work for some golfers because of the change in SW as a result of heavier weight at the butt end of the lever.
steve
Oct 24, 2018 at 12:39 am
The pinkie is the weakest of the all the fingers… and you depend on ‘control’ with that weakness??!!! The club is NOT a “lever”… it’s just a simple segment that flips over and around. Stop with the “lever” nonsense…!!!
geohogan
Oct 26, 2018 at 10:02 am
There is more than one way to swing a golf club for sure. Some like you are flippers… carry on.
steve
Oct 27, 2018 at 7:47 pm
…. and you don’t know the difference between kinematics and kinetics… btw it’s you who flips out… 😛
geohogan
Oct 26, 2018 at 10:09 am
Now you understand why a small diameter , womans grip is preferred by many.
It is easily controlled by a pinkie.
steve
Oct 27, 2018 at 7:51 pm
No… you need a bigger grip butt diameter to counteract the gamma torque which twists the club axially…. and the weak pinkie finger need a bigger grip butt end to apply more counter-torque. You are ignorant about shaft torque science.
the dude
Oct 15, 2018 at 8:14 pm
well done sir….
geohogan
Oct 15, 2018 at 11:31 am
But on a full swing, you want to take full advantage of the range of motion that comes from rotating from open to square. (this is what the club is designed to do!)
beg to differ. Our body turn is what causes the clubface to square not the club(or hands)
steve
Oct 16, 2018 at 12:15 am
The clubhead flips square because it’s eccentric from the shaft. It’s all in the hands and arms. The body will align the swing path only. Do I have to teach you everything?!!
geo
Oct 19, 2018 at 8:24 pm
Good luck squaring the clubface consistently with hands
when it impossible to even know where our hands or club is in space during the 1/4 second of DS and when impact is
5, 10,000th second.
Whereas we can rotate and consistently square the clubface to the target, SIDE ON.
steve
Oct 24, 2018 at 12:36 am
No… I didn’t say that duufus…. I said the eccentricity of the clubhead squares the hands and arms…. if you time it correctly with body aligned swing path. Jeez, you are non-scientific … lol
Tom
Oct 14, 2018 at 9:59 pm
Suggestions for next articles; tying ones golf shoes, teeing up the ball and how to use the ball washer….deep deep info…
geohogan
Oct 14, 2018 at 8:40 pm
The key to a good grip is establishing the proper fulcrum point. The proper fulcrum is fundamental to lag, IMO.
allanengineering
Oct 16, 2018 at 12:19 am
You are confusing a static fulcrum with dynamic torque pivot points. Sheesh, you are really engineering ignorant.
geo
Oct 19, 2018 at 8:58 pm
Lag increases radial acceleration
The proper fulcrum established by the hands
maximizes the kinetic energy of lag.
Ke=1/2mv2
Another example is the “one inch punch”
steve
Oct 24, 2018 at 12:44 am
What a pile of nonsense!!!!
Lag decreases accelerations because it interferes with the Kinetic Chain.
There is no “hand fulcrum” because you “release” the club approaching impact. There is no time to apply any hand leverage effectively.
What is the “one inch punch”… references?
geohogan
Oct 26, 2018 at 9:27 pm
Clubhead behind the hands at P6, means when arms decelerate (kinematic chain),
there is maximum (maximum radius) for radial acceleration of the clubhead to impact.
steve
Oct 27, 2018 at 7:40 pm
What is P6? Define “maximum radius”.
“decelerate” is a Kinetic Chain term… NOT kinematic!
Kinematics is positions… kinetics is energy. Sheesh you really lost it now.
Tom
Oct 14, 2018 at 6:57 pm
WOW, breathtaking!
steve
Oct 14, 2018 at 4:59 pm
How does the hand grip affect gamma torque? Thanks.
allan
Oct 16, 2018 at 12:03 am
…or…. how is gamma torque affected by the hand grip?
Greg V
Oct 14, 2018 at 8:41 am
Funny, I’ve never seen a really good professional golfer’s grip with the thumb on the top of the shaft.
I would also generally see more of the two knuckles on the left hand.
When your hands hang down naturally from your shoulders, they are not perfectly aligned. The left hand will be turned a bit to the right, while the right hand will be turned a bit to the left – if the arms are relaxed. They should be this way on the club as well.
But the most important thing, which few reveal, is that the left hand heel pad should be mostly on top of the club, not beside it.
JD
Oct 14, 2018 at 10:54 am
Fantastic and excellent review! The article is most beneficial a single We have knowledgeable, and contains served me personally. Hold on to undertaking of which
Don Underhill
Oct 13, 2018 at 8:25 pm
Picture shows a baseball grip with back of top hand facing target and back of lower hand facing the opposite way = a weak grip resulting in club face open at impact. Need to place club in fingers of top hand and position top hand to see 2 knuckles when looking down. Then interlock lower hand = a stronger grip that allows the club head to square at impact.
Kevin B
Oct 15, 2018 at 12:01 am
Unless the picture has changed, that isn’t a baseball grip. Are we looking at the same article? Also, are you trying to say using a weak or neutral grip means you cannot square the club up at impact?
Jeremy
Oct 15, 2018 at 1:53 pm
Way too weak of a left hand grip. Will encourage slicing which is the biggest problem in amateur golf. Why not at least recommend a neutral grip?
David B Tupper
Oct 13, 2018 at 6:06 pm
Decent article but cover topic thoroughly. Hands work together. They are parallel and backs of hands are vertical. Put your palms together as if praying, then separate them enough to allow room for club. Non-dominant hand goes on top – this is your steering wheel. Dominant hand goes below – this is your engine. Overlap, interlock, 10-finger baseball grip is personal choice. Grip pressure is light – just enough to keep from throwing club; as if holding a rabbit or a bird… firm enough to prevent escape but not so hard as to hurt it.
geohogan
Oct 15, 2018 at 8:02 pm
We keep a light grip and feel by using small diameter grips
A surgeon would not use scalpel the size of a baseball bat, nor do we use oversize pen.
steve
Oct 16, 2018 at 12:21 am
Then why do so many tour pros have extra wraps under the lower hand? Ever think of that?!!
geo
Oct 20, 2018 at 9:02 pm
Extra wraps of tape add weight .. counter balancing.
A softjoy golf glove adds 25 grams to the grip end. Ever think of how that changes swing weight?
Jack N said he added weight under his grips, as did Ben Hogan.
Bobby Jones’ hickery shafts were tapered solid wood, therefore counterbalanced. Ever think of that?
Chip
Oct 22, 2018 at 10:37 am
So you think the only reason people use extra wraps or midsize grips it to change swing weight? Because that’s not the case at all.
geohogan
Nov 9, 2018 at 3:02 pm
I am saying that golfers who think an oversize grip changes their stroke or ‘feel’ is simply because the grips size is larger are fooling themselves.
To prove it to yourself (because it means nothing to me that you dont believe this)
Measure Swing Weight of the putter with the original grip(a), then with the oversize grip(b). With oversize grip on, now add lead tape or other weights, to the putter head until the swing weight is back to the original(a) SW.
Now how does the putter work for you?
steve
Oct 24, 2018 at 12:48 am
But tape under the lower hand will be on the wrong side of your “counter balancing”… if you believe in “hand leverage” with the fulcrum between the hands. You are so disoriented in your analysis… lol
geohogan
Oct 26, 2018 at 10:37 am
The shaft is counterbalanced with weight at one end relative to the opposite end of the shaft.
Articulates like you will find any excuse to polarize.
steve
Oct 27, 2018 at 7:43 pm
Okay…. where is the “fulcrum” in your balance-counterbalance set of leverages of or on the shaft ?!!
Tiger Noods
Oct 16, 2018 at 6:32 am
I really hate to break it to you, but you can see through a simple amazon search that scalpels have widely varying grip sizes.
steve
Oct 27, 2018 at 7:54 pm
…. ouch ….!