Making The Golf Grip Decision (Video) - by Pete Styles
Making The Golf Grip Decision (Video) - by Pete Styles

A lot of people might consider that there is no bigger decision to be made about your golf game and certainly improving your golf game and deciding to change how you hold the club. And I think for many golfers, it might have been a case that they didn’t necessarily make a conscious decision of how to hold a golf club right back in the first place. You know the very first time you picked the club up, you probably chose to grip it in exactly the way you were told to grip it. And I this happened to me, I went for a golf lesson, the guy says, “This is how you hold the club.” It feels awkward at first of course in both grips overlapping or interlinking would have felt awkward at the first time you ever held a golf club. So you just kind of go with what you were told, you very quickly get used to that grip that then becomes your grip. So a few years down the line, if somebody says, “Well actually there is a different way of holding the golf club, how about we try it like this?” And that can actually be quite a big step for a golfer than to take it on themselves to make that change. And I think generally speaking when you first try it, many golfers would feel that they get worse before they get better. The feeling isn’t going to be very good. There’s a good chance the shots aren’t going to be very good. And therefore, most golfers, three or four swings into their new grip, club straight back in the bag, I don’t think they be trying that again and they go back to their old grip. And that’s okay, but if you decide well actually my old grip doesn’t feel very nice anyway, sometimes my fingers hurt, my arms hurt, I don’t hit the ball as well as a I want to. Maybe changing your grip is the thing that you shouldn’t be putting off and you can have a go. So it’s quite a big decision to change your grip. So if you were going to do this properly, you probably want to put a bit of time aside in your diary and in your schedule where you can actually spend plenty of time down on the driving range making these changes and trying to make these changes stick. Now the first thing to do, would probably be to grab a relatively short club, maybe just a pitching wedge or a nine iron, something of that nature, go to the range and just hit shots at 75% of power. Pick a target that’s not full distance, maybe 75 yards away for a wedge; get yourself 50 golf balls and just focus on good grip, nice move tempo, good grip, nice move tempo. Try not to shuffle the grip around too much around trying to make it feel too comfortable. Get your hands on a nice set position and your hands would soon learn to become comfortable in that position. By changing to what might feel more comfortable, there’s a chance you are making an incorrect grip and that’s actually going to do your golf a disservice rather than help you get better. So set your hands on the club in a good position, stick to that that will soon become comfortable. And when I say soon I mean a couple of a 100 golf balls, this is isn’t going to be like 10 balls in and oh I’m fine with this, I’m happy with this now. A couple 100 balls and then it might start to feel a bit more natural, a bit more normal, but I bet you still find yourself going back to your old grip and I’m here to remind yourself to try your new grip. Hitting the ball on the range at 75% power at first to get controlled with that, then start moving up the clubs and eventually get up to the driver, but don’t run down to the driving range and try to hit driver first off because your grip will feel really awkward. You will get worse and then you will give up the grip change. So if gripping the golf club is something that has been playing on your mind for a while, you want to make that change, hopefully these videos have helped you understand how to make that change. I would encourage you to go ahead and experiment and find the right grip for your game. 2015-10-16

A lot of people might consider that there is no bigger decision to be made about your golf game and certainly improving your golf game and deciding to change how you hold the club. And I think for many golfers, it might have been a case that they didn’t necessarily make a conscious decision of how to hold a golf club right back in the first place. You know the very first time you picked the club up, you probably chose to grip it in exactly the way you were told to grip it. And I this happened to me, I went for a golf lesson, the guy says, “This is how you hold the club.” It feels awkward at first of course in both grips overlapping or interlinking would have felt awkward at the first time you ever held a golf club. So you just kind of go with what you were told, you very quickly get used to that grip that then becomes your grip. So a few years down the line, if somebody says, “Well actually there is a different way of holding the golf club, how about we try it like this?” And that can actually be quite a big step for a golfer than to take it on themselves to make that change. And I think generally speaking when you first try it, many golfers would feel that they get worse before they get better. The feeling isn’t going to be very good. There’s a good chance the shots aren’t going to be very good. And therefore, most golfers, three or four swings into their new grip, club straight back in the bag, I don’t think they be trying that again and they go back to their old grip.

And that’s okay, but if you decide well actually my old grip doesn’t feel very nice anyway, sometimes my fingers hurt, my arms hurt, I don’t hit the ball as well as a I want to. Maybe changing your grip is the thing that you shouldn’t be putting off and you can have a go. So it’s quite a big decision to change your grip. So if you were going to do this properly, you probably want to put a bit of time aside in your diary and in your schedule where you can actually spend plenty of time down on the driving range making these changes and trying to make these changes stick. Now the first thing to do, would probably be to grab a relatively short club, maybe just a pitching wedge or a nine iron, something of that nature, go to the range and just hit shots at 75% of power. Pick a target that’s not full distance, maybe 75 yards away for a wedge; get yourself 50 golf balls and just focus on good grip, nice move tempo, good grip, nice move tempo. Try not to shuffle the grip around too much around trying to make it feel too comfortable. Get your hands on a nice set position and your hands would soon learn to become comfortable in that position. By changing to what might feel more comfortable, there’s a chance you are making an incorrect grip and that’s actually going to do your golf a disservice rather than help you get better.

So set your hands on the club in a good position, stick to that that will soon become comfortable. And when I say soon I mean a couple of a 100 golf balls, this is isn’t going to be like 10 balls in and oh I’m fine with this, I’m happy with this now. A couple 100 balls and then it might start to feel a bit more natural, a bit more normal, but I bet you still find yourself going back to your old grip and I’m here to remind yourself to try your new grip. Hitting the ball on the range at 75% power at first to get controlled with that, then start moving up the clubs and eventually get up to the driver, but don’t run down to the driving range and try to hit driver first off because your grip will feel really awkward. You will get worse and then you will give up the grip change.

So if gripping the golf club is something that has been playing on your mind for a while, you want to make that change, hopefully these videos have helped you understand how to make that change. I would encourage you to go ahead and experiment and find the right grip for your game.