How Firmly Should You Hold A Golf Club Golf Tip (Video) - by Pete Styles
How Firmly Should You Hold A Golf Club Golf Tip (Video) - by Pete Styles

So we know that gripping the golf club is important but there’s one area that some people overlook with their grip it certainly changes over time. They might have got their hands in a perfect position, have lined up all of these; have counted all the knuckles and then they ruin their grip because they stand over the ball squeezing the life out of it. Grip pressure is far too tight, it’s very difficult for somebody to see. Only an experienced coach can often see that their grip pressure was too tight and actually that could be very detrimental to their game. So it’s important we understand how tightly you should hold on to the golf club.

And really, the best thing to do here would just be to grip the golf club as tightly as you can to start with a number after the 10 and then very gently loosen off the grip until you get back to almost letting go of it a number after the one. So as tight as I can is a 10, letting that go gently, gently, gently until I get back to a one. Then think about gripping at about a four. If you hold it about a four at setup, that would be good. Then during your swing, your grip pressure will increase slightly because the club gets heavier. Swing to the top, it’s relatively tight, swing down to the ball; it’s quite tight as I actually hit it. It might go up to a seven, eight or maybe even a nine on that 1-10 scale as I hit because don’t forget I’m going to try and take the divot, I’m going to cut the turf, I’m going to have that big follow through, then I’m going to relax my grip off again. So as I finish with the swing, the grip would end up back down as a four again. So it starts off as a four, then it will be five, six, seven, eight, nine and back down to a four in the finish. And if your grip pressure starting off at a four instinctively you will grip tighter and tighter as you hit, it’s just the way the body reacts. If I’m holding on to this and somebody tries to pull it off me, I’ll grip tighter to fight it. So as gravity tries to pull that out of my hands, I’ll hold on to it tighter and then I come through to a nice finish position, I’ll relax off again. Couple of other shots, you might consider where your grip pressure might be different. If you’re trying to hack the ball out of some long grass and heavy ruff if the ball is buried down, you’d be better off gripping it tighter. Likewise for a plugged bunker shot where you need to hit into the sand, power through the sand and splash the ball out. Grip it tighter from the start, so grip it as a six or a seven, smack into the back of their ball, your follow through will be a bit restricted because your grip pressure is tight, but you just need to get that ball out. Well, the shots maybe where you change your grip pressure to lighter might be the high flop shots and putting. So a high flop shot will require quite a lot of hand action, a little bit of a cut underneath the ball, I might just soften my grip down to a two or a three and just feel the club moving gently in my hands and also putting. I don’t need to be gripping it tight for putting; in fact tension would ruin a putting stroke. So grip it may be a two or a three putting as well. But it’s probably with your grip pressure. Understand it’s not just about the position of your hands but also the tension of your hands and I think that’ll help you play better golf. 2014-03-27

So we know that gripping the golf club is important but there’s one area that some people overlook with their grip it certainly changes over time. They might have got their hands in a perfect position, have lined up all of these; have counted all the knuckles and then they ruin their grip because they stand over the ball squeezing the life out of it. Grip pressure is far too tight, it’s very difficult for somebody to see. Only an experienced coach can often see that their grip pressure was too tight and actually that could be very detrimental to their game. So it’s important we understand how tightly you should hold on to the golf club.

And really, the best thing to do here would just be to grip the golf club as tightly as you can to start with a number after the 10 and then very gently loosen off the grip until you get back to almost letting go of it a number after the one. So as tight as I can is a 10, letting that go gently, gently, gently until I get back to a one. Then think about gripping at about a four. If you hold it about a four at setup, that would be good.

Then during your swing, your grip pressure will increase slightly because the club gets heavier. Swing to the top, it’s relatively tight, swing down to the ball; it’s quite tight as I actually hit it. It might go up to a seven, eight or maybe even a nine on that 1-10 scale as I hit because don’t forget I’m going to try and take the divot, I’m going to cut the turf, I’m going to have that big follow through, then I’m going to relax my grip off again. So as I finish with the swing, the grip would end up back down as a four again.

So it starts off as a four, then it will be five, six, seven, eight, nine and back down to a four in the finish. And if your grip pressure starting off at a four instinctively you will grip tighter and tighter as you hit, it’s just the way the body reacts. If I’m holding on to this and somebody tries to pull it off me, I’ll grip tighter to fight it. So as gravity tries to pull that out of my hands, I’ll hold on to it tighter and then I come through to a nice finish position, I’ll relax off again.

Couple of other shots, you might consider where your grip pressure might be different. If you’re trying to hack the ball out of some long grass and heavy ruff if the ball is buried down, you’d be better off gripping it tighter. Likewise for a plugged bunker shot where you need to hit into the sand, power through the sand and splash the ball out. Grip it tighter from the start, so grip it as a six or a seven, smack into the back of their ball, your follow through will be a bit restricted because your grip pressure is tight, but you just need to get that ball out. Well, the shots maybe where you change your grip pressure to lighter might be the high flop shots and putting. So a high flop shot will require quite a lot of hand action, a little bit of a cut underneath the ball, I might just soften my grip down to a two or a three and just feel the club moving gently in my hands and also putting. I don’t need to be gripping it tight for putting; in fact tension would ruin a putting stroke. So grip it may be a two or a three putting as well. But it’s probably with your grip pressure. Understand it’s not just about the position of your hands but also the tension of your hands and I think that’ll help you play better golf.