Pros and Cons of Every Golf Grip Style (Video) - by Pete Styles
Pros and Cons of Every Golf Grip Style (Video) - by Pete Styles

I think most people are aware that when they play golf, they’re only linked to the golf club and one of the most important parts of their set up is making sure they’ve got a good grip; but if we look at the different types of grips and maybe the reasons why some are preferred over others. So we’d start with a right-handed golfer placing the left hand at the top of the club. That’s a pretty standard bit. Then we’ve got the interlinking method where the two fingers cross over. So the index finger of the left hand, little finger of the right hand cross over and we interlink, or we leave the left finger on the grip and we just place the little finger on top. That would be the vardon or the overlapping grip. Now I personally play with an overlapping grip, but I find a lot of my pupils actually prefer an interlinking, and I actually don’t have a preference in how people play.

The vardon grip is generally used predominantly for people with bigger or thicker fingers. If you have thin fingers or relatively weak hands, some people prefer the interlinking grip, but I’ve noticed a lot of my pupils, particularly those with sort of slightly older in age, who have arthritis in their fingers or thick knuckles, actually find linking the fingers here can be quite awkward. But like I say, I have no preference so mess around with each type, try ten shots here, try 10 shots here, try 10 shots here, feel which is the most suitable for yourself. Then looking down at the top of the grip here, we can appreciate how the hands sit from the above position in either a neutral position, a strong position or a weak position. So neutral is going to be defined; one we can see two knuckles on the back of the left hand and the V between the thumb and the forefinger on the right hand points up at the chin. So this position here, I would class as a nice, neutral grip. If I take my hands and relax them, they hang at that neutral position. If I turn my hands to the right of the golf club for the right-handed player, I have more knuckles on the back of my left hand, so maybe three or four knuckles visible. My hand on the right side slips underneath, the V points too much to the right of my shoulder, and that would be classed as strong grip.

Now the benefits of strong grip, a lot of people find it easier to release the club with a little bit of club head speed, and certainly golfers that struggle to stop the ball slicing or fading because the club face sits to open, they would find a stronger grip would help them rotate and release the golf club, maybe even turning it into a draw shot. The downside of the very strong grip is that it can produce a hook or pull hook. So low shots, low and left diving left of target, so if that’s your shot, maybe the strong grip is one of the causes of that problem. Opposite to the strong grip is the weak grip where the hand on the left side is placed too far to the left, showing one or no knuckles on the left hand. The right hand then comes and sits on top too far over with the V pointing more up the left shoulder, so a weak grip would sit here. This can be responsible for not squaring the club face enough so the club face stays open as you hit it, hitting the ball fairly weakly and high from left to right in the air. If you struggle with the big first hook, try and weaken your grip off a little bit more. If you struggle with a big slice to the right, you could experiment with strengthening your grip a little bit more. If you’re a relatively newcomer to the game of golf and you haven’t played a great deal, focus really intently on making sure that is a neutral grip. Even if it doesn’t feel comfortable to start with, get this fundamental right now and that will serve you well for the rest of your golfing career.

 2013-03-28

I think most people are aware that when they play golf, they’re only linked to the golf club and one of the most important parts of their set up is making sure they’ve got a good grip; but if we look at the different types of grips and maybe the reasons why some are preferred over others. So we’d start with a right-handed golfer placing the left hand at the top of the club. That’s a pretty standard bit. Then we’ve got the interlinking method where the two fingers cross over. So the index finger of the left hand, little finger of the right hand cross over and we interlink, or we leave the left finger on the grip and we just place the little finger on top. That would be the vardon or the overlapping grip. Now I personally play with an overlapping grip, but I find a lot of my pupils actually prefer an interlinking, and I actually don’t have a preference in how people play.

The vardon grip is generally used predominantly for people with bigger or thicker fingers. If you have thin fingers or relatively weak hands, some people prefer the interlinking grip, but I’ve noticed a lot of my pupils, particularly those with sort of slightly older in age, who have arthritis in their fingers or thick knuckles, actually find linking the fingers here can be quite awkward. But like I say, I have no preference so mess around with each type, try ten shots here, try 10 shots here, try 10 shots here, feel which is the most suitable for yourself. Then looking down at the top of the grip here, we can appreciate how the hands sit from the above position in either a neutral position, a strong position or a weak position. So neutral is going to be defined; one we can see two knuckles on the back of the left hand and the V between the thumb and the forefinger on the right hand points up at the chin. So this position here, I would class as a nice, neutral grip. If I take my hands and relax them, they hang at that neutral position. If I turn my hands to the right of the golf club for the right-handed player, I have more knuckles on the back of my left hand, so maybe three or four knuckles visible. My hand on the right side slips underneath, the V points too much to the right of my shoulder, and that would be classed as strong grip.

Now the benefits of strong grip, a lot of people find it easier to release the club with a little bit of club head speed, and certainly golfers that struggle to stop the ball slicing or fading because the club face sits to open, they would find a stronger grip would help them rotate and release the golf club, maybe even turning it into a draw shot. The downside of the very strong grip is that it can produce a hook or pull hook. So low shots, low and left diving left of target, so if that’s your shot, maybe the strong grip is one of the causes of that problem. Opposite to the strong grip is the weak grip where the hand on the left side is placed too far to the left, showing one or no knuckles on the left hand. The right hand then comes and sits on top too far over with the V pointing more up the left shoulder, so a weak grip would sit here. This can be responsible for not squaring the club face enough so the club face stays open as you hit it, hitting the ball fairly weakly and high from left to right in the air. If you struggle with the big first hook, try and weaken your grip off a little bit more. If you struggle with a big slice to the right, you could experiment with strengthening your grip a little bit more. If you’re a relatively newcomer to the game of golf and you haven’t played a great deal, focus really intently on making sure that is a neutral grip. Even if it doesn’t feel comfortable to start with, get this fundamental right now and that will serve you well for the rest of your golfing career.