The Golf Grip
The Foundation of a Good Swing

The immortal Ben Hogan said, "A player with a bad golf grip, doesn't want a good swing". And you know what? He was right. A good, or bad, golf grip will severely impact how you strike the ball. Often times I'll here people say, "I slice the ball because my shaft is too whippy." or, "I mis-hit that because I lifted my head." Not only are these two of the over used and misunderstood excuses of our time, but they're just plain wrong.

Almost 90% of the major problems with ball striking ability while a mid to high handicapper stem from a poor golf grip. Too string a grip will have you hooking the ball around corners; while to weak a grip will have you hitting more slices than a fat kid at an all you can eat Pizza Pizza.

Let's review the basic steps to a good golf grip.

1 - Let your left hand hang naturally from the shoulder, then place it against the grip and close your hand around it, being sure that the shaft starts at the top of your palm and goes to the middle of your index finger, with only a 1/4 inch of the end of the shaft butting out.

2 - Your thumb should be just right of centre, and I mean just right, this isn't a baseball bat we're grabbing here so make sure that it's just slightly right of centre.

3 - You should see a "V" shape formed in your left hand now, between your index finger and thumb. This "V" should be pointing up at your right shoulder. If you see it's pointing at your chest or your left shoulder. you may have to force it by turning your hand over slightly. If you're not used to this you may feel awkward for a while, but not to worry, you'll get used to it.

4 - Now for the right hand; from its natural position lay the club into your fingers. For an interlocking grip you'll want to inter-twine your right pinky finger with your left index finger. Not too tightly, just enough so that each sits in its appropriate knuckle groove on the opposite hand. Your right index finger should be slightly separated from your other fingers, almost forming a "trigger" of sorts around the grip.

5 - After all this You should be able to see at least two, almost three, knuckles on your right hand. If you see none, or only one, you have a "weak grip". If you see fully three knuckles or more, you have a "strong grip". Each has it's own pitfalls, and to know how both works will help in certain situations, but as a whole to get a fundamental grip working you should aim for a neutral grip.

6 - Finally, don't grab the club and strangle it, you should be able to hold a tube of tooth paste in there with out squeezing the life out of it.