The grip

I was wondering, I’m a mid to high hc’r and one of the problems I’m always fighting is my grip. Some of you guys and ladies are much better players and I was wondering what your preferences are. I’m now using the overlapping pinkie,(9 finger grip) and I’m having trouble with my consistency. I think I’m going to go back to the inter-locking grip on my next trip to the range. Any comments would be appreciated. Jim

You have to play with the grip that most suits your swing and feel. I used to interlock, but changed to the overlap a couple of years ago. It took me a couple of months to feel comfortable with it, but now I wouldn’t use any other grip. With the overlap, I feel as though my hands are working as one.

The grip is one of those things that is ALL about personal preference. I use the inter-lock. Why? Because the first time I picked up a golf club, my hands naturally made that grip. I have been told before that some of the flaws in my swing might be corrected by a simple grip change. I quickly learned that although that may be true, it also opened the door to a new host of problems. The conclusion I came to was, go with what feels best. Deal with the results.

jputt, one of the simple truths about golf that alex touched on is this: deal with the results. If you learn to play with a grip, stay with it unless you just can’t make any headway. I stared with a baseball grip but changed to interlocking. It took me some time to get used to it but once I did, I was better for it. Would I have progressed with the old grip? Sure. Maybe not as quickly as by my changing it but I’m sure I would have improved. Just read abit about grips and choose something. Just be sure to stick with it. Don’t change each time you hit a ball badly. Just stick with it and practice.

No matter which form of grip you take, keep the “two knuckles visible” idea in mind — at address you should, as a general rule, be able to see two to two and a half knuckles of your left hand (if you’re right-handed). Some guys go to three knuckles, making it a “strong” grip, as a defense against opening the clubface and hitting a push or slice. And make sure to keep the grip primarily in the fingers to allow proper hinging going back and release at impact. Grip pressure is important, too — just enough to keep in control, but light as possible at address since the pressure will increase naturally through the swing.

I’ve used a baseball grip ever since I had a nerve injury that left my right hand quite weak. I feel I have my best control with this grip but what I really discovered was that I have more consistency with it. Also I am able to release at the proper time with this grip because of my confidence with it. It is all about feeling strong at impact without much effort and then everything else takes care of itself. I only look at my knuckles during practice but have never thought about them on the course which I think is probably a good thing. I guess what it really boils down to is if you can swing with confidence then however you grab the club isn’t that important. Just grip it and rip it! Have fun on the links! – RK -

Yes, I must agree. Do what feels right. I played with the interlocking grip but the overlapping feels much better.