Golf Loopy Deck 3 THE GRIP,

Question 1

Golf Swing 104a. Setup: The Perfect Golf Grip

A good grip is fundamental to playing good golf, you can’t make a good swing with a bad grip.

A lot has been written about the golf grip over the years, but the vast majority of amateur golfers get it wrong. As we’ll describe here, though, a great golf grip is simple to get right once you understand how the hands work in the golf swing.

Your grip influences the club path, swing plane and club face position throughout the swing. It is also your only contact with the golf club, it provides the crucial sensory feedback that you need in order to move correctly and control the club, and it is the conduit through which the energy you generate in your swing is transferred to the golf club. you need to time your swing correctly.

A bad grip will change your whole swing, from the moment you start to move. With an imperfect grip, you will need to introduce compensations into your swing just to be able to hit the ball, you won’t be able to transfer energy to the golf club efficiently, and you won’t receive the sensory feedback that you need to time your swing correctly.

With a bad grip, a good swing will produce horrible results. The only way to achieve a reasonable outcome with a bad grip is through compensations — by making your swing worse!

Answer 1

Once again, apologies to the lefties, for simplicity these instructions are given for a right-handed golfer. What Makes a Good Golf Grip? For the grip to meet the needs of a great golf swing, it must:

• Allow you to square the club face at impact, without too much manipulation;
• Make the club face as stable as possible through impact;
• Enable you to feel the position of the club face and shaft throughout the swing;
• Enable you to transfer the energy of the swing through to the golf club, as efficiently as possible, in the form of club head speed through impact;
• Let you feel the lag you generate in the golf club;
• Allow your hands to work together during the swing, without independent action;
• Provide good control over the club face, and the plane and position of the club;
• Enable you to precisely manipulate the club face when you want to, in order to shape your shots;
• Be as natural (anatomically ideal) as possible, allowing your body to work efficiently and safely, avoiding undue stress on your joints.

Question 2

Changing Your Golf Grip is Very Difficult

Your senses are highly tuned to change. Your grip is your connection with the golf club, it provides the majority of your sensory feedback during the swing,

The first thing that you need to do is to get comfortable with your new grip. Keep a golf club to hand, and practice your grip as much as you can. Regularly check your grip carefully in the mirror and on video. Keep practicing until it feels natural. With enough practice this will only take a few days until it feels comfortable, although fully ingraining and integrating your new grip into your golf swing is a 2 to 3 week process.

Answer 2

Once it is correct, never let it change. One of the problems with the golf grip is that you never know it’s wrong until you actively look for errors. When you make a bad swing you may think “I came over the top” or “I was too quick”, when in fact it could just be that your grip has changed slightly without you being aware. You will need to check your grip regularly, it’s easy for faults to creep in unnoticed, and these quickly lead to compensations and swing flaws. And if you try to fix those swing faults without fixing your grip, you will just be compounding the problem. Things can get pretty ugly, pretty quick!

You will learn to use exactly the same grip for every full swing; for hitting the ball straight, a fade, a draw, high or low. Tinkering with your grip between shots will severely disrupt your proprioception, and it’s then incredibly difficult to recover during a round of golf.

You should never have to think about your grip during the swing.

Question 3

A Good Golf Grip Starts With Good Posture

The Myth of Opposing Hands

You may have been told that you should try to maintain a completely flat left wrist, perhaps by putting a ruler under your watch strap. This is incorrect, and would give you a weak grip. When your wrists are relaxed, they will naturally be a little cupped (extended), and you want to maintain this cupping as you take your grip so that the hands can be placed naturally on the club. Your left arm will turn slightly as it moves across your body, and thus the cupping looks more pronounced.

Answer 3

As mentioned in Golf Swing 103 – Setup: The Perfect Golf Spine Angle, there is a common golf instruction myth that tells you that your hands will turn in opposite directions, in towards your thighs, when your arms are relaxed and hanging under your shoulders naturally, and that, because of this, your grip should have the hands turned in a similar way — the right hand with a weaker grip, the left hand stronger, or alternatively that you should have both hands in a very strong grip position.

If you have good posture, with your shoulder blades retracted and down, then your hands will not naturally turn in towards your thighs.

Following this ignorant advice will lead to numerous swing faults and potential injury, as it places undue stress on your shoulders and right elbow.

Question 4

Golf Swing 104b. Setup: The Perfect Golf Grip – Your Left Hand is Your Control Hand

The correct placement of your left hand on the golf club has a number of benefits which are crucial to making a great golf swing. It will enable you to:

• Square the club face through impact by default, without reliance on manipulation and perfect timing;
• Generate more club head lag in your golf swing;
• Stabilize the club face by adducting (unhinging) your left wrist fully through impact;
• Feel and control the position of the club face and shaft throughout the swing;
• Freely release the golf club, transferring the energy of the swing through to the golf club, as efficiently as possible, in the form of club head speed through impact;

Answer 4

• Adjust the club face angle easily and precisely when you want to shape your shots — hitting the ball high or low, a draw or a fade;
• Keep your hands, wrists and arms as natural (anatomically ideal) as possible, allowing your body to work efficiently and safely, and avoiding undue stress on your joints.Placing the Golf Club in Your Left Hand

To place the golf club correctly in your left hand, carefully follow the following steps:

• Start by holding the club out in front of you, in your right hand at the bottom of the handle, with the club face exactly vertical (the grooves on the club face pointing straight up)
• Place the muscle bulge on the heel of your left hand directly on top of the club, near the end of the handle.
• The bony ridge on top of your wrist (the lower extremity of the radius bone) should be exactly over the center of the handle .

Question 5

ALIGNMENT OF THE LEFT HAND

Answer 5

Alignment of the left hand.

• Now place the handle diagonally across your lower palm so that it crosses the fleshy pad between the first and second knuckles of your index finger, and wrap the trigger of your index finger around the handle — see Figures 1 and 4. You should be able to support the weight of the club with just the heel pad and the trigger finger of your left hand.
• When you close your hand around the handle, your three smallest fingers are primarily responsible for gripping the club — it will feel like you are gripping the club mostly with your little finger. If your club grips are sized correctly, the tips of your middle and ring fingers should just lightly brush the ball of your thumb.

Question 6

left grip 2

Answer 6

The completed left hand grip

• The trigger of your index finger should rest lightly around the handle, it is responsible for providing feel and should be free of tension — see Figure 5.
• Place your thumb slightly along the right side of the center of the handle. It should rest lightly and be free of tension. Your thumb should be touching the base of your index finger, but not pressed firmly against it — see Figure 6.
• Hold the club up in just your left hand and check again that the club face is exactly vertical, and that the bony ridge on top of your wrist is exactly over the center of the handle.

Question 7

Left grip 3

Answer 7

Question 8

Why this works

Why This Works

As stated earlier, the perfect golf grip will provide the best combination of stability, control, energy transmission, and sensitivity.

Control is provided by having a direct relationship between the back of your left hand and the club face. You will be able to adjust the club face angle precisely through small adjustments of your hand position, and to feel the exact position of the club face, coming into impact. The position described achieves this by placing the back of your wrist, and the little finger side of your hand, parallel to the club face. You will feel the precise position of the club face through the position of your hand and wrist.

Control is also achieved by placing the club in line with the axis of rotation of your wrist, both in the plane of the hand and marginal movements (see Wrist Articulations), by placing the bony ridge on top of your wrist (the lower extremity of the radius bone) over the center of the club handle. Again, this ensures a direct relationship between the position of your hand and the club face.

Answer 8

This also means that you can abduct (cock) and adduct (unhinge) your wrist without altering the club face angle, and by adducting the wrist fully through impact it is made highly stable. Stability is further provided by placing the club handle under the muscle bulge on the heel of your left hand (the hypothenar eminence). This enables you to support the weight of the club easily without it moving in your palm.This also enables you to generate more club head lag in your golf swing, because the hypothenar eminence provides leverage on the club with your left wrist, without any special muscular effort, so your wrist is still soft. This enables you to maintain the lag late in the downswing while bowing your wrist to close the club face correctly coming into impact.

By placing your thumb alongside your index finger, you will be better able to support the club and stop it moving around at the top of your backswing. This also places your thumb in the correct position to accept your right hand (see Golf Swing 104c – Setup: The Perfect Golf Grip – Your Right Hand is Your Speed Hand). Energy transmission is primarily provided through your right hand, but, by holding the club in this anatomically ideal position with the left hand, that energy can be transferred as efficiently as possible. This position also enables you to hold the club securely without tension in the wrist and arms, thus enabling the free release of the club through impact.

Sensitivity is provided through the index finger, which is not needed for “holding on” to the golf club and so can maximize feel.

Question 9

Your Right Hand is Your Speed Hand

Answer 9

Your right hand is primarily responsible for transferring the energy that is generated by your body through to the golf club, in order to maximize club head speed through impact.

It plays a role in helping your left hand to control the golf club, and it must work in close harmony with your left hand, not overpowering it and disrupting its precise control. It must encourage the free release of the golf club with your left hand, not restrict it.

Placing Your Right Hand on the Golf Club

To complete your grip by placing your right hand correctly on the golf club, carefully follow the following steps:

• Start by holding the club up in front of you in your left hand, with your left arm bent at the elbow, gripping the golf club as described in Golf Swing 104b, ensuring that the club face remains exactly vertical.
• Place the proximal phalanges of your middle and ring fingers on the bottom-right of the handle, with your ring finger snugly alongside the index finger of your left hand. Your hands should sit snugly alongside each other on the club handle, but don’t squash them together — see Figure 1.
• As you do this, either overlap or interlock your little finger (see below).

Question 10

Folding right thumb over left.

Answer 10

Question 11

The completed golf grip.

Answer 11

Question 12

The right grip.

Answer 12

The completed golf grip.

• Fold your right palm over the top of your left thumb, so that the left thumb fits snugly into the pocket formed by the life line of your right palm — see Figure 2. This should feel like a perfect fit. As you look down on your grip, your left thumb should be hidden completely — see Figure 4.
• Now place the handle in the trigger of your index finger. There will be a small gap between your middle and index fingers — seeFigures 2 and 3.
• As you close your grip, the tips of your middle and ring fingers should just lightly brush the ball of your thumb (the thenar eminence) — see Figure 3.
• The proximal phalanx of your index finger should be across the right side of the handle. Roll the big knuckle at the base of your index finger up the right side of the handle a little, so that it feels slightly more on top of the club — see Figure 4.

Question 13

Right grip photo 5

Answer 13

Figure 5. Correct position of the golf club in the right fingers.

• Place your thumb lightly along the left-top of the handle. It is responsible for providing feel and should be free of tension. Your thumb should be touching, but not firmly pressed against, the base of your index finger. The tip of your index finger will touch (or be very close to) the pad of your thumb — see Figures 3 and 4.
• The club handle will be running across the proximal phalanges of your index, middle and ring fingers — see Figure 5.
• Check once more that the club face is exactly vertical, and that the bony ridge on top of your left wrist is exactly over the center of the handle.

Your completed grip should feel solid, secure, snug and compact. You should have a sense of the hands being unified, melded together as a single unit.

Waggle the club and be very aware of the proximal phalanges of your middle, ring, and index fingers, as well as the big knuckle at the base of your index finger. Feel how energy is transferred to the golf club through these points, and work to develop your awareness of them, they will be of crucial importance as you build a great golf swing with the Swing like a Champion system.

Question 14

Why this works

Why This Works

One of the key features of a good right hand grip is that the hands are joined so that they don’t have any independent action. You achieve this by putting your left thumb snugly in the life line of your right palm.

This position will also ensure that the ulnar (little finger) sides of your hands are parallel (palms facing), and thus working in concert. They will also be parallel to the club face.

Answer 14

Your right hand is activated, for efficient transfer of energy, by holding the club handle towards the base of your fingers, not in your palm and not low in your fingers. The transfer of energy, generated by your body during the swing, through to the golf club takes place primarily through the proximal phalanges of your middle and ring fingers, and also your index finger.

Placing your thumb alongside the base of your index finger enables your right hand to properly support the club at the top of your backswing. It also helps to ensure that your right index finger stays in the correct place on the grip. Whenever we see a student who has a gap between their right thumb and the base of their index finger, we know, before we even see them swing a club, that they don’t use their right hand to transfer energy to the golf club properly.

Your index finger is slightly separated from your middle finger as it forms a trigger, this increases your feel, especially your ability to sense the lag in the golf club generated in the downswing. This sensitivity is crucial for timing your downswing correctly.

Question 15

Overlap or interlock?

Answer 15

Overlap or Interlock?

It should be no surprise that the perfect grip that we describe is, essentially, the Vardon grip (named after the famous British golfer, Harry Vardon). The Vardon grip has stood the test of time, and is used by the vast majority of professional golfers today.

Whether you choose to use the overlapping or the interlocking grip is up to you, they are both equally effective, it’s a matter of what feels best for you.

Most amateurs do, however, make mistakes with both of these techniques.

Question 16

Overlap grip

Answer 16

The overlapping grip.

Question 17

Example of incorrect interlocking grip.

Answer 17

Figure 8. Incorrect interlocking grip.

With the overlapping grip, it is crucial that the proximal phalanges of your middle and ring fingers are placed securely on the club handle. Many golfers reach over with their little finger such that they lift the ring finger off the club slightly. Your little finger is just along for the ride, it doesn’t need to be gripping your left hand in any way, just resting on it, so you don’t need to reach over to the notch between the left index and middle fingers, just resting on top of the index finger is fine — see Figure 6.

With the interlocking grip, many amateurs that we see entwine their right little finger and left index fingers too far. When you do that, it is difficult to get your right hand out from under the club handle in order to fold it properly over the left thumb. You should only interlock the fingers just enough so that the knuckles of those fingers are touching, and not jam them together

Question 18

104d; Grip Strength

The strength of your grip, strong or weak, is determined primarily by the position of your left hand — your control hand.

The grip recommended here in the Swing like a Champion system would be considered by purists to be a slightly strong grip. It will lead to a slightly steeper club plane than would a neutral grip, and a slightly closed club face at the top of your backswing — with a flat left wrist at the top, the club face will be angled slightly more towards the sky than will your left arm.

This slightly strong grip, however, is anatomically ideal, and it will give you the best control over the club face through impact.

With a slightly stronger grip, it is easier to square the club face at impact for most golfers. You will have less reliance on timing and manipulation as you release the club through impact. A strictly neutral grip can cause amateurs to try to flip the club through impact in an attempt to “slam the club face shut” and avoid a slice or blocked shot.

Answer 18

This grip will also gives you more control over the club, and it will enable you to generate more club head lag in your golf swing, because placing the club handle under the muscle bulge on the heel of your left hand (the hypothenar eminence) provides leverage on the club with your left wrist, without any special muscular effort, so your wrist is still soft. This enables you to maintain the lag late in the downswing while bowing your wrist to close the club face correctly coming into impact.//The grip we describe is not so strong that it will impact adversely on your feel, your shot-making finesse. You will still be able to work the ball, to feel the rotation of the club face as you draw the ball, or hold it off for a fade, etc.

Note that we don’t reference your “Vs” or your knuckles very much, which are normally used by teachers to describe grip strength. We prefer, instead, to talk about the position of the golf club in your hand and use the bony ridge on top of your wrist to precisely position your grip. We don’t want you to have a “V”, as such, your thumb and index finger should be touching. The notch between your thumb and index finger isn’t straight, but if you follow the instructions above then it will be, broadly, pointing up to somewhere just outside your right ear, but never outside your right shoulder.//When you look down at your left hand grip you will see 2 to 2.5 knuckles. This happens automatically by placing your hand as described above. It can be useful to confirm this in a mirror or on video when you are checking your grip — you should see 2 knuckles from face on.

Question 19

Grip strength

Answer 19

Many high-handicap golfers have a left hand grip that is too weak. This means that they don’t get the control and stability that is provided by the hypothenar eminence, the club often moves in the palm during the golf swing, and they can’t create or maintain club head lag.

Many amateurs have a grip that is far too strong, especially with their right hand. High-handicap golfers often have the destructive combination of a too-weak left hand and a too-strong right hand.

They may have strengthened their right hand in an attempt to get the right thumb behind the club shaft. The thumb is very powerful, and so they feel like they have more control.

Or they may have been told to strengthen their grip in order to fix their slice.

Both of these are horrible. They completely misunderstand how to use their hands in the golf swing, and while a “quick fix” might provide some small help, the result is that they will never have a good golf swing until they fix their “wrong thinking” and adopt a proper grip.

You should never adopt an imperfect grip in a “quick-fix” attempt to compensate for a swing fault.

Question 20

Grip Pressure

When you take your grip it is important that the club is secure, that the handle won’t slide around during your swing.

However, it is also crucial that there is no tension in your wrists and arms, which is caused by gripping too hard.

You should think of power in the golf swing as club head speed through impact. Club head speed is created by transferring energy from your body, through your arms and and wrists to the golf club. This energy is transferred through your hands, not created by your hands — you should never try to “muscle” the club with your hands and forearms in a normal full swing, just control the club as you let the energy pass through them.

Think of your wrists as being part of a whip, near the tip. In order to generate maximum speed in the golf club, by “cracking the whip”, your wrists must feel free and loose.

A tight grip firms up your wrists, and thus costs you club head speed and control.

It is surprising just how lightly you can grip the club and still keep it secure. It is important that you try this in order to get a feel for it. Hold a club and slowly adjust your grip pressure, from barely enough to hold the club, up to as hard as you can squeeze it, then slowly back again. Grade these pressures from 1 (lightest) to 10 (tightest). The ideal grip pressure is about a 2 or a 3 — the club should be secure but the wrists and forearms should be loose.

Answer 20

Waggle the club and feel how loose you can make your wrists and forearms while still holding the club securely — foster that feeling in your golf swing.

Most amateurs grip the club way too tightly, usually because they have a poor grip and they are subconsciously trying to gain control. If in doubt, you are gripping the club too tight.//Pressure Points//Most of the pressure on the club handle is applied with the smallest three fingers of your left hand. These fingers have primary responsibility for “holding on” to the golf club, especially through impact.

Your right hand is responsible for transferring energy through to the golf club, primarily through the proximal phalanges of your middle, ring and index fingers. Your right index finger is responsible for sensing the lag in the golf club generated in the downswing.//Keep it Constant//You will instinctively increase your grip pressure through impact, everybody does, as the club becomes very heavy. It should, however, feel as if your grip pressure remains constant throughout the swing.

Question 21

Practicing with your grip.

Practice!

Go fetch a golf club and try out the things we describe as you perform this drill, and carefully re-read the articles in this section a few times, starting with Golf Swing 104a – Setup: The Perfect Golf Grip.

Once you’ve understood the perfect grip, how and why it works, and you start to get feel for it, keep a golf club by your side, day and night if you can, and practice your grip as much as you can. Then practice some more!

Answer 21

Remember what you learned about how your mind works in How to Learn a Great Golf Swing. Use deliberate practice, really focus on the feel of the golf club in your hands, and of your hands against each other. Focus on each finger in turn as well as on your grip as a whole. Do this as you place each hand on the club, as you hold it still, and as you waggle it.

As you waggle the club think about how your hands transfer power to the club, about the pressure points on the fingers of your right hand. Feel the club lagging behind your arms, even with a such a small swing, focus on how you can feel that lag through your right index finger. Imagine the energy of your swing coursing through your wrists as they stay loose, imagine the whip cracking through impact.

Question 22

Don’t Hit Up on the Ball! Every day we see teachers advising golfers to hit up on the ball with the driver for more distance. This is very bad advice! It sends completely the wrong message about how the golf swing should work, it causes golfers to get into inefficient and potentially harmful positions, and it has ruined many a good golf swing.//Yes, for maximum distance, you want to hit the ball with a positive angle of attack. The club head should be moving upwards at impact, and the club face should be pointing slightly more towards the sky.

A positive attack angle is achieved by releasing the club correctly through impact, just like you do with any other club. The only difference is that the club face encounters the golf ball slightly after the bottom of its arc, just after it starts to move upwards.

Your swing should be the same as the swing that you use for any other club, for a full-swing shot. Your swing plane will be a little flatter, because of the longer club and your small setup changes, but your swing sequence and timing will be the same.//With an iron, that means striking down and through the ball — the club face “collects” the ball on the way to the bottom of its arc. With the standard driver setup, we’ll move the ball slightly forward so that the club collects the ball just a fraction before the bottom of its arc. With the max distance setup, the ball will be further forward in a wider stance, and the club will collect the ball just after the bottom of its arc, as it starts to move back up away from the ground, giving a positive angle of attack.

Answer 22

It is important to understand that, in order to play great golf, you must develop a consistent position for the bottom of your swing arc. And, for efficiency, this position should be precisely under your left shoulder, with your body positioned correctly over your left side through impact. This is the key difference between a good ball striker and a poor one, and between a powerful swing and a weak one, and it is one of the most important things that you will learn in the Swing like a Champion system.

Trying to “hit up on the ball” will cause you to tilt your spine too far away from the target, you’ll probably try to move the bottom of your swing arc back, get too steep, and try and scoop at the ball, even sometimes getting your weight stuck on your back foot.

Don’t Swing Inside-Out!

This is another piece of advice that we hear every day, swing from in-to-out. We can’t begin to describe how much we hate this destructive, pernicious nonsense!

Yes, you do want to attack the ball from inside the target line. But every good golf swing is inside-to-square-to-inside, and not inside-to-out.

Trying to swing “out” past the target line will destroy your golf swing.

Through impact he was inside-to-square-to-inside, just like every good golfer.Never try to manipulate the golf club through impact.

Question 23

So I’ll Hit it Left?

Ah, we’re glad you noticed!

With the max distance driver setup, we want you to hit the ball with a positive angle of attack, which means that impact takes place after the bottom of the club’s swing arc.

But the club plane is at an angle, let’s say 45 degrees for simplicity. So if the attack angle is 5 degrees up, then the club face, if it’s still square to the club path, is pointing 5 degrees to the left.

Note that 5 degrees is a very small angle – less than one second on a clock (6 degrees).

The club head swings inside-to-square-to-inside, as well as down-to-level-to-up. The “up” bit is our positive attack angle, the “inside” bit is the club face pointing left.

So, if you don’t alter your swing or manipulate the club in some way, if you have a 5 degree positive angle of attack, the golf ball will fly 5 degrees straight left.

We want you to correct for this simply by aligning your whole body 5 degrees to the right, and not through complex manipulations that require impossibly precise timing.

Answer 23

That’s your whole body, no manipulations or contortions, please! Your feet, knees, thighs, hips, arms, shoulders, and eyes, as well as the club face should all be aligned 5 degrees right, so that the ball will fly straight to your real target.

You’re aligned right, towards your alignment target, but you’re really “aiming” straight at the real target.

Be very careful to fully commit, and to align yourself properly. Any feeling of trying to pull or draw the ball back into the middle will cause you to subconsciously manipulate your swing,

Many very good golfers prefer to hit a fade with their driver, it takes the left side out of play and means that the ball is less likely to roll into trouble.

How to Practice

We strongly recommend that you practice hitting your driver with your normal setup, with the same ball position and stance width that you use for every other club. Tee the ball low and hit down on the ball (just like you would with a long iron, hybrid, or 3-wood), scuffing the ground after the ball as you take a “divot”. Learn to feel that your swing is exactly the same as for any other club.

Once you can do that successfully, then change your setup, as we describe above, and make exactly the same swing. Don’t let yourself adjust your thinking or your timing, don’t “react” to the new ball position, just accept the fact that the club face will collect the ball a little later in your swing, and that the ball will go straight left.