For most golfers, there isn’t much thought put into where they are going to grip the club when making a swing.

For a full swing, the typical golfer will simply grab the end of the club and get to work. For a right-handed player, that means the left hand is going to be all the way up at the top of the grip. There are some advantages to this method, to be sure, including the fact that you get to use all of the club – which means you should be able to maximize your swing speed. Plenty of golfers play quite successfully while using the entire club, so there is certainly merit to this method.

With that said, you shouldn’t ignore the possibility of choking up on the club in order to improve in terms of accuracy and contact. For some players, choking up on the grip by just an inch or two will lead to impressive results, although it may take a bit of practice to get comfortable with this technique. If you’ve been struggling with your ball striking, or you are just having trouble breaking through to the next level of performance on the course, consider changing things up by choking up on the club a bit. As long as you are willing to put in some practice time at the range, this change could wind up being one of the best things you have done for your game.

All of the content below is based on a right-handed golfer. If you happen to play left-handed, please take a moment to reverse the directions as necessary.

Why It Helps?

When thinking about making any kind of change to your golf game, the first thing you need to figure out is whether or not the change will actually help you play better golf. That might seem like an obvious point, but some people make changes just for the sake of making changes – without any thought to whether or not the change is really necessary or beneficial. In order for it to make sense to start choking up on the club, you need to take the time to confirm that choking up on the club is something that is going to make you a better player.

Toward that end, we would like to present a list of potential benefits that you may enjoy if you decide to start choking up on the club.

• Improved accuracy. Everyone would love to be more accurate with their shots. While some golfers do get obsessed with distance, it is really accuracy that is the name of the game when you want to lower your scores. If you can consistently hit targets throughout your rounds, you should be able to play at a higher level. By choking up on the club a bit, you are effectively using a shorter club – and it should be easier to control that club. That means you can more precisely move the club through the hitting area, and you’ll wind up hitting your targets more accurately as a result. We aren’t saying that you’ll hit every single fairway, or green, or anything like that, but you should see a tighter dispersion of your shots once you get comfortable with this technique.
• Cleaner strike. The strike of the ball is something which is commonly overlooked, but it is really at the heart of what this game is about. If you can catch the ball cleanly at the moment of impact, you’ll stand a great chance to produce a successful shot. Of course, as any experienced golfer knows, doing so is much easier said than done. If you can largely take the fat and thin shots out of your game, and also limit how often you miss off the toe or heel, you are going to be in much better shape as a golfer. Not only does striking the ball cleanly help you hit the ball more accurately, it also makes it easier to hit the ball the right distance. Again, the reason you stand to benefit in this area comes back to the fact that you’ll basically be swinging a shorter club. With less distance between your hands and the club head, there is less that can go wrong. If you are a player who has long struggled with the ability to strike a clean shot, trying to choke up on the club a bit is a logical move.
• Take away the power obsession. Some golfers just can’t help themselves. Even if they know that there is more to this game than power, they still feel like they need to swing hard and squeeze every possible yard out of each swing. Needless to say, this single-minded focus is a bad thing for a player’s game. You need to focus more on hitting targets than generating raw power if you are going to be successful. By choking up, you will be sending yourself a clear signal that you are prioritizing control over power. After all, a player who is going after power first and foremost wouldn’t choke up – this is not a technique that is going to lead to maximum power. Hopefully, the act of choking up will pull you away from the focus on power, and you can get down to work on hitting accurate shots time after time.
• Hold up under pressure. Everything that we have already said about why it is a good idea to choke up on the club applies even more so when the pressure is on. If you have to hit a shot in a pressure situation – whether it is in a tournament or just a round with your friends where you are shooting a good score – you’ll want to have confidence in those moments that you can get the job done. The improved accuracy and cleaner ball striking that is often associated with choking up on the club is a great thing in pressure moments. You can feel good about your chances of hitting the ball cleanly, which will help you to relax and simply get the job done.

It’s not hard to make a case in favor of choking up on the club. There are many ways in which you can benefit, and you may find that those potential benefits line up nicely with the areas of your game that need improvement. And, although there is going to be practice involved – there is always practice involved in this game – the work that needs to be done to learn how to choke up effectively is not particularly daunting. In terms of adjustments you can make in order to improve your game, this one comes with a relatively low degree of difficulty.

The Drawbacks

So far, we’ve made a pretty convincing argument that choking up on the club is a good idea. So, why doesn’t everyone do it? Well, just like every other technique in golf, this idea has its pros and its cons. We’ve already highlighted how you can benefit from choking up, so it’s time now to turn our attention to the negative. What will you have to give up as part of this process?

• Distance. Yes – you are probably going to lose a little bit of distance when you decide to choke up on the club. How much? Well, that depends on the player, and the club. With your driver, it’s possible that you’ll only lose a few yards off an average tee shot. However, you may lose more. The losses with your irons should be less dramatic, and you may not notice any difference at all with your short irons. It’s important to understand that losing distance is not something that should automatically turn you away from this idea. Assuming you already have enough power to make it around your local course in decent shape, you can probably afford to give up a few yards without too much trouble. It’s fun to hit the ball a long distance, but it isn’t essential to shoot good scores. What is essential, however, is the ability to control your shots. If choking up on the club means you will gain control but lose a little bit of distance, that’s a trade you should strongly consider making.
• Feel. There is a potential issue that you are likely to encounter with regard to the feel of the club. When you have your hands at the top of the grip, you feel the entire weight of the club at address, and during the swing. As you start to move your hands down the grip, however, some of that feel goes away. The club starts to seem a bit lighter, and that may lead to trouble. Without as much weight to feel during the swing, the club may ‘wander’ on the way back, and even on the way down into the ball. Also, you may find that you tend to rush your tempo when you don’t feel as much weight in your hands. This is one of those things that is going to be a problem for some players and no issue at all for others, so you’ll just have to experiment for yourself and see how it goes.
• Flat ball flight. For many golfers, choking up on the grip is going to lead to a flatter ball flight. This is due to a couple of factors. First, you will be swinging the club at a slightly slower speed, so less spin is going to be produced at impact. Spin provides the golf ball with lift, so a slower shot is going to be limited in terms of how high it can climb. Also, you may feel like you need to move the ball back in your stance a bit when you choke up, which is another factor that is going to keep your ball flight down. While a flatter ball flight can be a welcome change in some situations, you may not like the way this new trajectory plays in all situations.

We don’t want you to ignore the possibility of choking up on the club just because there are a few drawbacks that you may encounter. Remember, there is a list of positives above as well, so you’ll have to weigh one list against the other while trying to make your decision.

Making the Adjustment

In this section, we are going to assume that you have decided to work on choking up on the club. That’s a great first step, and you should be excited about the possibility of hitting more accurate shots in the near future. But the work hasn’t been done yet – you can’t just walk out onto the course and expect to be immediately successful. There is some work to be done in order to make this adjustment, and we’d like to help with a few tips in this section.

The first step is quite obvious – just get out and start hitting some shots! There is no substitute for experience in this game, and the driving range is the best place to rack up a significant amount of experience in a short amount of time. If you can make frequent visits to the range to hit balls while choking up on your clubs, you are sure to get more and more comfortable with this technique.

Too many golfers fall into a comfort zone when on the range, only working on the things they already know how to do. That’s silly, to say the least. If you already have some strengths in this game, don’t waste your time on the range working on the things you already do well. You can touch on them briefly for maintenance, but your main focus should be on addressing your weaknesses.

So, as you start hitting some shots while choked up on the club, be sure to pay attention to how your swing has changed – and what changes you are seeing in your ball flight. Paying attention to detail is another one of those practice habits that can go a long way toward improving your performance. Is the ball flight the same height as it does when you use the entire club? Does the club feel different? Are your shots curving in an unexpected direction? You may be able to keep track of all of these things mentally, or you might prefer to use a notebook to track how your game is progressing. It is worth noting that some of the changes you see may be negative – and that’s okay. Don’t give up just because you notice one or two things that you don’t like. It’s worth giving this technique a fair shake before you decide whether or not it is going to benefit your game in the long run.

As you are practicing and experimenting, be sure to play around with how far down the grip you decide to move your hands. Some players will find their best results by going down just an inch or so, while others will want to leave even more space between their hands and the top of the grip. There is not necessarily any ‘right answer’ here in terms of how far down the grip you should go, so take some time during practice to experiment until you find something you like.

During this process, remember that everything is connected in your golf swing – meaning other changes may be necessary to go along with the adjustment you’ve made to your grip. Specifically, you’ll probably need to stand a little bit closer to the ball, and you may need to add a bit more flex to your knees at address, as well. At the same time, you are experimenting with choking down on the grip, you’ll also need to experiment with these other factors to put them into place, as well.

The Ultimate Goal

It is true that you can hit quality shots while choked up on the grip, and you may decide that this is the best way for you to play the majority of your shots. However, it’s unlikely that you will want to play all of your shots which choked up, as playing that way would limit your flexibility. Therefore, the ultimate goal with regard to this topic is to have the skill and confidence necessary to switch back and forth based on the situation at hand.

What can you do with the ability to hit shots from a variety of grip positions? Consider the following points –

• Fight the wind. One of the best things about being able to hit quality shots while choked up on the club is having the ability to deal with windy conditions. The wind can make playing the game of golf quite complicated, and rather frustrating. By choking up, you should be able to hit the ball lower, meaning the wind won’t have as much of an impact on your game. It’s still going to be difficult to play as well in the wind as you can on a calm day but keeping the ball down by choking up is a big step in the right direction.
• Take distance off your shots. Another huge advantage to choking up from time to time is the potential to take just a few yards off of one of your club’s normal distances. For example, hitting a seven iron shot with your hands at the top of the grip might produce a shot that flies 150 yards. However, if you need to hit the ball 145 yards, you could move your hands down a bit and then make your usual swing. The slight reduction in swing speed will hopefully take a few yards off your shot, leaving you with a ball that travels the perfect distance. Once you get comfortable with this style of play, you will be amazed to find just how often this technique is useful on the course.
• Maximize off the tee. Sometimes, you’ll find yourself on the tee of a par four or par five which features a wide fairway and gives you the opportunity to really go for some serious distance. When that is the case, you can go ahead and keep your hands up at the top of the grip to hit your driver. That will let you have maximum swing speed available, even if it does mean you sacrifice a bit of control along the way. The real trick here is to pick your spots properly – know when to play for accuracy, and know when to feel free to turn it loose in pursuit of maximum distance.
• Deal with pressure. We mentioned earlier that choking up on the club can help you produce nice shots in pressure situations. So, when you find yourself in a tight spot and you need to produce a great swing, go ahead and choke up a little bit in order to improve your control and take a little bit of variability out of the shot. In other situations, where you aren’t feeling nerves, you may wish to go back up to the top of the grip to hit a longer, higher shot. In time, you’ll get to know your own tendencies with regard to when pressure affects you and when it doesn’t. Golf is a game that requires you to stand up to pressure situations with confidence and having the choke up technique in your back pocket is a nice tool to manage your nerves.

Do you have to choke up on the club in order to play good golf? Of course not. Plenty of players keep their hands at the top of the club most – or all – of the time and fare just fine. With that said, if you are interested in elevating your game to a new level, the time you spend on the range working on this skill is going to be well spent. We hope the information provided in this article will be helpful as you work toward expanding your variety of shots. Good luck!

One thing I often hear from golfers when they’re talking about accuracy is that they actually trade distance for accuracy. I often hear, “I don’t want to be any longer Pete, I’d take 20 yards less, I just want to hit more fairways.” But here’s a really good way of being able to achieve that. A bit less distance, but a few more fairways and a few more greens in regulation, a bit more control in your accuracy. And it’s a really simple tip. You take your normal address position here on club that’s this long. By gripping down on the golf club, what we’re actually talking about is choking up, so you grip down on the club by maybe an inch. You might feel you lose about 5 to 10 yards of your shot, but you should gain a bit more control. It’s similar principle we apply when we chip the golf ball, when we chip or pitch the ball. We grip down which costs us power, but gains us control.

It’s a similar principle that you can apply to your long game as well. A full length grip at the top of the club is a powerful thing, drop it down by an inch, you’ll probably lose 5 to 10 yards but gain a little bit more accuracy. Particularly works really nicely on your big clubs like your drive or your 3 wood. Those clubs are designed to hit the ball a very long way and most people won’t struggle with distance but they may struggle with accuracy because the club is a 45 inch long shaft. It can feel a little bit cumbersome and a bit long to control. So gripping down on the club, choking off effectively, that would actually give you a little bit more control with your swing. You just have to make sure that you’re not going to grip down and then top the ball. And obviously the club gets shorter in your fingers; there is a risk that you just go straight over the top of the golf ball.

So make a couple of really good quality practice swings that encourage you to swing down at the right level and hitting into the floor. That way when you choke up, you should still get a good strike. So this time, I’m going to set it to my 6 iron, grip down the club a little bit, make a nice control swing, and I lose a little bit of distance out to my shot but I do get a lot more accuracy with my ball. So next time you’re thinking to yourself, you know what? I trade 10 yards less for a few more fairways, a few more greens and regulation. Just experiment with choking down on the golf club a little bit, and see how that helps you.