When looking at notable professionals who’ve had a massive impact on the modern game, even going back to the turn of the 20th century, you can find some fantastic examples, and one of these is Harry Vardon. Now Harry Vardon was a British golfer from Jersey who won the open championship a record six times, but one of his most lasting contributions to the game was the way he actually held the golf club. Now before Harry Vardon, most professional golfers just held the golf club like a baseball bat so all 10 fingers on the grip. Now what Harry Vardon did, was overlap the little finger on the right hand for a right handed golfer, and then laid it in between the index and the second finger of the left hand. It is now known today as the overlap grip, but it is also known as the Vardon grip because this is the grip that he invented.

Now he was one of the best golfers of his generation along with the great Triumvirate and some of the fantastic players of James Braid and J. H. Taylor but Harry Vardon was the best player of them all and really shone out. He worked very, very hard on his technique so much that he invented whole new concepts that still stay with us to this day. Now one of the great advantages of the overlap grip is it links the hands together and it doesn’t allow them to work as separate entities. Now what this means is the connection between the hands, the arms and the body are improved, but also the overall control of the clubface. So if you’re wanting to fit yourself up with a grip, the overlap or the Harry Vardon grip or the Vardon grip is definitely one aspect and one thing to look at, and it is one of the most popular grips still used by today’s modern professionals. Which gives fantastic control over the club, and it’s also the grip I use as well. So if you’re looking for old players, ancient players if you want to look at the history books, who can still improve modern day golfers to this very day, then Harry Vardon is definitely one you should look at.