Your Golf Grip and how it will improve your game (part 2)
To read part one please click here
Next you add your right hand to your grip, by bringing it onto the shaft as close as is comfortably possible to your left hand, in such a way that the palm is pretty much parallel to the palm of your left hand. You should find that the shaft nestles down snugly into the roots of the fingers of your right hand, and that you are gripping the club predominantly with the second and third fingers of this hand. Next, check that your right thumb is slightly on the left side of the shaft; that your left thumb snuggles cosily against the palm of your right hand; and that your right forefinger is “triggered” easily around the shaft.
If it helps to make your hands more of a single unit, wrap the little finger of your right hand around the forefinger of your left (called the overlapping grip); or slip it between the forefinger and second finger of your left hand (called the interlocking grip). Finally, check that the “V” formed by the thumb and forefinger of your right hand points roughly to the same spot as the left hand “V”. This will ensure that your palms are pretty well parallel, which will greatly facilitate your hands working smoothly together as a single unit.
That, then, is the basic golf grip. For the majority of golfers it is, with minor modifications, the way of holding the golf club that will most effectively allow them to return the clubface square to the ball at speed.
But there are those for whom such a grip pattern will not work. Because of age, unusual muscular strength or weakness, flexibility or playing frequency, this “orthodox” grip will not automatically swing the clubface through the ball looking in the same direction as the club is moving. It will either be open or closed to the swing line, causing sliced or hooked shots. Whenever this happens, the golfer must experiment intelligently within the above framework, to find the modification he personally needs to square his clubface to his swing line.
If he is a chronic sheer, almost certainly he will need to reposition his grip, little by little, until he is at least sure that, whatever other faults he possesses, the clubface is not open to the swing line when it meets the ball. This involves positioning both hands, as a unit, more to the right — so that the “Vs” point to the outside of the right shoulder at address, with maybe three knuckles of the left hand showing.
If he is a hooker — the strong golfer’s fault — he will most probably need to adopt more the type of hold on the club used by the majority of top professionals, who spend their lives controlling a tendency to hook shots.
This involves the exact opposite of the sheer’s modification, i.e., gradually positioning both hands more to the left, so that the “Vs” point, say, to the right eye, and only one or maybe one-and-a-half knuckles are visible.
That’s really all there is to be said about the golf grip. It isn’t complicated — it’s just vital that you go out and work and think and experiment to find your correct grip within the framework I’ve explained to achieve the objective I’ve stated. When you have done that, you have mastered 50 per cent of striking the ball well. And if you can add a good set-up to an effective grip, you’ll have mastered 90 per cent.