You might be amazed or at least surprised at how many players there are who work routinely on their swing but rarely (if ever) work on their grip. In this case, I mean the grip of their hands, not the rubber grip on the shaft. If you think about it though, the whole swing starts with the grip, which should increase its importance in getting it right.
If your grip doesn't work, why should anything that follows work?
There is a neutral grip for any golfer! That grip is where your arm hangs down from the shoulder socket and the angle of your target side hand. It makes no difference whether you use an overlapping, interlocking, or ten-finger (baseball bat) grip. What IS important is the angle the club lies in your hand.
To find your neutral grip, first take your address position, but without a club, and let both arms hang downward from the shoulder sockets. Stay relaxed, there should be no tension in your arms or hands. Most golfers find that their target side arm hangs somewhere between the middle of the target side thigh to the inside of the thigh, depending on the width of stance and or the width of the chest.
As you look down at your target side hand pay attention to the angle it hangs. Some of you will see two knuckles of the hand, some will see three, and some may even see four. It doesn't matter how many you see!
Whatever the number, this is your body's way of telling you its natural tendency and that is the neutral angle for your grip.
When you place your target side hand on the club it should be at the same angle you just saw.
The club then runs diagonally from between the first and second joint of the index finger to the base of the pinkie finger. Close the fingers and then close the hand with the heel pad on top of the shaft with the thumb to the backside of the shaft.
This supplies pressure from the heel pad downward and the last three fingers exert pressure upward. Then take the lifeline of the trailing hand, located between the thumb and heel pads, and place it on the thumb of the target side hand.
The lifeline against the thumb exerts the pressure. The right forefinger should be separated, in a "triggering position", but with no pressure. It is important to understand that the forefinger and target side thumb both be on the same side and angle of the shaft for the best support.
The trailing thumb should be on the target side of the shaft. You never want the thumbs to exert any pressure. Finally, in order for the hands to work together, they must be parallel to each other.
This may all sound complicated, but try it and see for yourself if finding the proper grip angle doesn't improve your shots. |
