Saturday, April 5, 2008

Grip a Golf Club

The first thing that is done when you pick up a gold club is to grip it. Learning to properly grip a golf club must be pretty important then, right? Yes, it sure is! The fundamentals of your swing are based around a proper grip. It is therefore very hard to correctly swing a club without a correct grip.

There is more than one "correct grip," and I am going to show you three of them. At first, changing your grip may feel uncomfortable, but that is completely normal. You will get used to your new grip eventually.

The Fundamentals:

The fundamentals to properly grip a golf club are the same for each type of grip. Now, when placing your hands on the club, first place your left hand on the club (for right handed golfers). Now, rest the club on the ground. Your thumb should be pointed towards the ground, and your fingers should be wrapped around the club. Notice that your thumb and index finger will make a 'V'. This 'V' should be pointing towards your chin. Next, place your right hand on the club below your left hand. The palm of your right hand should fit right on top of your left thumb. The 'V' that your right hand makes, should point to your right shoulder.

The Baseball Grip:

As its name implies, with the baseball grip, the golf club is gripped similar to how a baseball bat is gripped. The hands will lie next to each other on the golf club. The pinky of the right hand will lie next to the index finger of the left, but not overlap.

The Overlapping Grip

In the overlapping grip, instead of the hands lying side by side, the pinky on the right hand will rest on top of the space between the index and middle fingers of the left.

The Interlocking Grip

My personal favorite is the interlocking grip. In this variation, the pinky of the right hand, and the index finger of the left hand will interlock.

Make sure to grip the club with little pressure; just enough so that the club does not go flying out of your hands when you swing. No matter what grip you choose, if you are not currently gripping the club properly, than gripping correctly may feel uncomfortable at first. Get used to your new grip at the range. Then once you feel relatively comfortable with it, bring it to the course.