“Trying to build a sound swing technique without a decent grip is like eating spaghetti with chop sticks – it’s possible but the probabilities are endless!” Keith Williams

The grip or hold is undoubtedly the most important part for building a consistent golf swing. The grip is what connects you to the golf club and is the only point of contact with the club. It needs to be functional in that the player should be able to move the clubhead on two planes: vertical and horizontal.

The two common golf grip faults we often see in golfers during a lesson are referred to as too weak or too strong. Your grip will be too strong if your hands are rotated too far to the right in a clockwise direction. The V formed between the thumb and index finger of both hands will point towards the right shoulder or beyond.

Your grip will be too weak if your hands are turned to far round to the left in an anti-clockwise direction. The V formed between the thumb and index fingers will now point towards the players left shoulder.

The reason we don’t categorise a grip that is too weak or too strong as functional is one has the ability to move the clubhead horizontal but not vertical. An analogy of this would be when one grips the handle of a hammer in either a grip that is too strong or too weak one has the ability to move the hammer in a horizontal direction, however, moving it in a vertical direction would be severely limited rendering it dysfunctional.

A neutral grip is a grip between strong or weak. To obtain this grip one would need stand in front of a mirror in order to view the position of ones hands.

  • Starting with your left hand, place the grip of the club at the base of the fingers making sure that the ‘V’ formed between the forefinger and thumb should point somewhere between your right eye and right shoulder.
  • Similarly, place the right hand on the club making sure you grip it more with the fingers than in palm of the hand. The ‘V’ should point to the same area between your right eye and right shoulder.

By following these instructions your grip should now be functional enabling you to move the clubhead in both directional planes.