Grip Control – Lesson by PGA Pros Pete Styles & Matt Fryer
Grip Control – Lesson by PGA Pros Pete Styles & Matt Fryer

A golfers grip is the only connection a player has to his club and therefore to the golf ball. It is therefore imperative that golfers hold the club correctly. In this video tip PGA golf Professionals Pete Styles and Matt Fryer will give you the lowdown on how best you can hold the golf club to ensure you have upmost control over the direction, distance and strike of your golf shots with every club in your bag.

Pretty much every instruction article you've ever read starts with the grip. Matt and I spend our days talking about golf grips golf swings everything else but most often it starts with the grip and there's a good valid reason for that. It is one of the most fundamental aspects of having a good golf game and a good golf swing and there really is no point working on the intricacies of swinging if you're not holding the club in the right way/ The club controls the ball you control the club you control it through the grip. So Matt is now going to give us the one on one of how to hold the golf club in the best possible way. Definitely and you've summarized it really well where what we do know is that it's our only point of contact with the golf club our first and only point. So if we don't got it right we're going to lead to some issues there. So right or left handed people I'm a right handed golfer. OK So knowing that you're right handed golfer what is going to happen is that is going to be a left hand it's going to be our lead hand which means that's it going to be at the top of the golf club as we see here. Now a couple of things that we want from your lead hand in this golf swing if I can just drop this and we're going to get you up here what we tend to see a lot of amateurs doing. As the club sits on the ground it sits on an angle and we just let our hand sit down here what we'll notice is it generally comes up through the palm a little bit too much. So as we'd have the grip there what we'd see if you just turned to face the camera this way for me for one second.

As you've got your hand there now it's almost an extension of your forearm here so we see it running too much up through the palm. So you don't like that position? No I'm not a fan of that position generally what we're going to see for the lead hand now being your left hand is something where we're going to get in the fingers a little bit more to start with and then from here we're going to get the left hand wrapping over a little bit more so now as you open that back up we see that it sits a little bit more through the lifeline in the middle of your hand. From there from here you should feel that you've got good control over that club you should be able to hinge up and down rotate it as where if you were to just pop into your palm again and just close your fingers around that I would imagine hinging it's quite a task. Yeah the wrists suddenly feels very very weak in this position does not feel comfortable, but we've seen this all day long and we see a lot of people in this position. So from here when we've got this good left hand now we're going to be able to create some leverage we're going to be able to control the release of the golf club face which is you know 2 key things we need. Secondly we're going to get that right hand on now as you grip it there's going to be a couple of ways that are going to be the overlap grip and an interlock grip. If we just demonstrate an overlap to start with that would be something now as we see here where the little finger of the right hand for the right handed player sits just on top of the index finger of the left hand there and just sits in nice and comfortably there. We also have an interlocking grip where we see these 2 fingers now just coming in and they start to interlock here very common you know Tiger and Jack Nicklaus the lads who made that very popular. As yourself as a golfer which one would you tend to go towards? I personally play with an overlapping grip that was the grip I was taught many many years ago far too many years to remember ago that was a grip I was taught but I actually prefer to teach the interlinking grip which sounds a bit weird that but my personal preference is one but a lot of golfers that I teach they feel more comfortable with the interlinking grip, but I think the fact that I like one and teach the other shows there's no massive right or wrong here it's very much a personal preference in my own view.

Definitely whatever is comfortable to you as the viewer and as a golfer you know there's no right like Pete said there's no right or wrong way so we've got a good grip. Now and as you just take that grip there again for me there's going to be something as you look down at your grip there's 2 things we can notice number one the back of your left hand I would imagine as you're looking down now at that and you can see some of the back of the hand for one and then you're going to be able to see some knuckles on there. So as you look down what's standing out to you there is it 1, 2, 3 knuckles? Two and a half I think it's fair to say I can always see 2 and sometimes I just catch a glimpse of 3rd but it is only a glimpse so I am going to go with 2 and a half. Two and a half excellent so we can see more of the back of the hand we could see 2 and a half knuckles and if you just put that right hand on again now what will see here from the face on camera is something where this little crease area of the thumb and the forefinger it's looking back up towards the right side of your body now more of your right pectoral or your right armpit. It's pointing back under that will tend to see sometimes a strong or a weak grip a weak grip being one where both hands are turned towards the target and with those 2 checkpoints you've just gone through we've not hit either of those. Can't see any knuckles no right and was too far over yet. Exactly and if we were go to a strong grip which is one where it's turned away from the target again we can't hit those 2 checkpoints you're going to see probably 4 knuckles and that there are lines pointing well back outside of your arm there. So that's how we're going to grip and also tension of the grip I would imagine you know you've seen people who look like they're trying to murder it.

I think it looks like some people use their golf club like security blanket they just they just grab onto and they don't ever want to let it go, and particularly when they're in a nervous situation they've got they've got their mates watching they've got a pond in front of them the grip pressure just goes through the roof. I always think that that can hamper not just the grip but the whole rest of swing. Yes definitely it's going to be too restricted everything to tense so we're not going to get a nice flowing motion as we go through it's going to be too tight. So in terms of the scale of pressure we're looking at 10 being too tight being fully fully fully tight and one letting go? So we want to give it 10 and then give it one trying to loosen it or find somewhere on the scale of 3 to 4 and go from there and see if we can. It feels like when I hold the club sort of 3 or 4 almost like it was a tube of toothpaste and I took the top of it would just be squeezing the toothpaste out of it just gently out and I think I teach a lot of guys who if you took the tube of toothpaste off there would be toothpaste all over the floor. So think about having that good grip as Matt explained but with a relatively relaxed grip pressure to boot. Yeah I think definitely want to got a good grip pressure are going to be able to get a nice flowing swing and hit some good golf shots from there. So Matt thanks to my grip lesson I really enjoyed that I got a couple of good check points to work with with my knuckles and with my V position from my my bottom and my right hand as it is, and I think it's really important to understand that we always start with the grip when we start a golf lesson or a magazine article because it is so fundamentally important spend some time checking your grip using Matt's check points and hopefully a good grip leads to some good golf.

2018-11-14

A golfers grip is the only connection a player has to his club and therefore to the golf ball. It is therefore imperative that golfers hold the club correctly. In this video tip PGA golf Professionals Pete Styles and Matt Fryer will give you the lowdown on how best you can hold the golf club to ensure you have upmost control over the direction, distance and strike of your golf shots with every club in your bag.

Pretty much every instruction article you've ever read starts with the grip. Matt and I spend our days talking about golf grips golf swings everything else but most often it starts with the grip and there's a good valid reason for that. It is one of the most fundamental aspects of having a good golf game and a good golf swing and there really is no point working on the intricacies of swinging if you're not holding the club in the right way/ The club controls the ball you control the club you control it through the grip. So Matt is now going to give us the one on one of how to hold the golf club in the best possible way. Definitely and you've summarized it really well where what we do know is that it's our only point of contact with the golf club our first and only point. So if we don't got it right we're going to lead to some issues there. So right or left handed people I'm a right handed golfer. OK So knowing that you're right handed golfer what is going to happen is that is going to be a left hand it's going to be our lead hand which means that's it going to be at the top of the golf club as we see here. Now a couple of things that we want from your lead hand in this golf swing if I can just drop this and we're going to get you up here what we tend to see a lot of amateurs doing. As the club sits on the ground it sits on an angle and we just let our hand sit down here what we'll notice is it generally comes up through the palm a little bit too much. So as we'd have the grip there what we'd see if you just turned to face the camera this way for me for one second.

As you've got your hand there now it's almost an extension of your forearm here so we see it running too much up through the palm. So you don't like that position? No I'm not a fan of that position generally what we're going to see for the lead hand now being your left hand is something where we're going to get in the fingers a little bit more to start with and then from here we're going to get the left hand wrapping over a little bit more so now as you open that back up we see that it sits a little bit more through the lifeline in the middle of your hand. From there from here you should feel that you've got good control over that club you should be able to hinge up and down rotate it as where if you were to just pop into your palm again and just close your fingers around that I would imagine hinging it's quite a task. Yeah the wrists suddenly feels very very weak in this position does not feel comfortable, but we've seen this all day long and we see a lot of people in this position. So from here when we've got this good left hand now we're going to be able to create some leverage we're going to be able to control the release of the golf club face which is you know 2 key things we need. Secondly we're going to get that right hand on now as you grip it there's going to be a couple of ways that are going to be the overlap grip and an interlock grip. If we just demonstrate an overlap to start with that would be something now as we see here where the little finger of the right hand for the right handed player sits just on top of the index finger of the left hand there and just sits in nice and comfortably there. We also have an interlocking grip where we see these 2 fingers now just coming in and they start to interlock here very common you know Tiger and Jack Nicklaus the lads who made that very popular. As yourself as a golfer which one would you tend to go towards? I personally play with an overlapping grip that was the grip I was taught many many years ago far too many years to remember ago that was a grip I was taught but I actually prefer to teach the interlinking grip which sounds a bit weird that but my personal preference is one but a lot of golfers that I teach they feel more comfortable with the interlinking grip, but I think the fact that I like one and teach the other shows there's no massive right or wrong here it's very much a personal preference in my own view.

Definitely whatever is comfortable to you as the viewer and as a golfer you know there's no right like Pete said there's no right or wrong way so we've got a good grip. Now and as you just take that grip there again for me there's going to be something as you look down at your grip there's 2 things we can notice number one the back of your left hand I would imagine as you're looking down now at that and you can see some of the back of the hand for one and then you're going to be able to see some knuckles on there. So as you look down what's standing out to you there is it 1, 2, 3 knuckles? Two and a half I think it's fair to say I can always see 2 and sometimes I just catch a glimpse of 3rd but it is only a glimpse so I am going to go with 2 and a half. Two and a half excellent so we can see more of the back of the hand we could see 2 and a half knuckles and if you just put that right hand on again now what will see here from the face on camera is something where this little crease area of the thumb and the forefinger it's looking back up towards the right side of your body now more of your right pectoral or your right armpit. It's pointing back under that will tend to see sometimes a strong or a weak grip a weak grip being one where both hands are turned towards the target and with those 2 checkpoints you've just gone through we've not hit either of those. Can't see any knuckles no right and was too far over yet. Exactly and if we were go to a strong grip which is one where it's turned away from the target again we can't hit those 2 checkpoints you're going to see probably 4 knuckles and that there are lines pointing well back outside of your arm there. So that's how we're going to grip and also tension of the grip I would imagine you know you've seen people who look like they're trying to murder it.

I think it looks like some people use their golf club like security blanket they just they just grab onto and they don't ever want to let it go, and particularly when they're in a nervous situation they've got they've got their mates watching they've got a pond in front of them the grip pressure just goes through the roof. I always think that that can hamper not just the grip but the whole rest of swing. Yes definitely it's going to be too restricted everything to tense so we're not going to get a nice flowing motion as we go through it's going to be too tight. So in terms of the scale of pressure we're looking at 10 being too tight being fully fully fully tight and one letting go? So we want to give it 10 and then give it one trying to loosen it or find somewhere on the scale of 3 to 4 and go from there and see if we can. It feels like when I hold the club sort of 3 or 4 almost like it was a tube of toothpaste and I took the top of it would just be squeezing the toothpaste out of it just gently out and I think I teach a lot of guys who if you took the tube of toothpaste off there would be toothpaste all over the floor. So think about having that good grip as Matt explained but with a relatively relaxed grip pressure to boot. Yeah I think definitely want to got a good grip pressure are going to be able to get a nice flowing swing and hit some good golf shots from there. So Matt thanks to my grip lesson I really enjoyed that I got a couple of good check points to work with with my knuckles and with my V position from my my bottom and my right hand as it is, and I think it's really important to understand that we always start with the grip when we start a golf lesson or a magazine article because it is so fundamentally important spend some time checking your grip using Matt's check points and hopefully a good grip leads to some good golf.