Holding the Club Wrong?

[Golf Chick]

I'm a righty and I prefer the interlock grip. However, I must be doing something wrong because I get blisters and calluses galore. I get blisters on my right ring finger on the side where it meets my 3rd finger. I've had 2 blisteres there. And then I get calluses on the palm of my right hand where my 3rd finger meet and my 4th finger meet, right at the base of my fingers. Lately, I've either had to tape my finger (I don't know how to tape the palm of my hand in that spot) or wear a glove on my right hand. I've been getting by with a glove on my left and right hands, but would like to know if there's something that I'm doing to prevent calluses and blisters.

Also on my left hand (I just switched to another type of glove) I would get calluses on the palm of my left hand on the lower half just underneath my pinky finger, I guess its from the club shaft? But I just found another glove to use with a little bit more padding in that area, so that's been helping.

TIA!

 

[amollerud]

Golf Gal you bring up a couple of interesting points. First of all blister come from movement of the grip in and against your hands. The calluses are a byproduct of swinging the golf club with some regularity and there isn't much we can do about that. I have calluses on my 2 middle fingers on both hands that I figure have been there for close to 30 years now.

To help with the blisters...to get them where you are I am assuming that you are holding the club in the wrong place in your hands. To grip the club properly lets first talk about the left hand on the club.

Left hand: I want you to lay the grip in the fingers not the hand on your left hand. Next put the pad of your hand on TOP of the grip. We want you to hold the grip in the fingers not the hand. The way to make sure that you are doing this the proper way we can test it. What you do is place the hand on the club this way and once you have the pad on top of the grip with the club parallel to the ground remove all your fingers except the pointer finger...The club shouldn't fall. IF you can do this you are gripping the club in the correct area of the hand.
When you do this you will notice that your thumb "is shorter" meaning there won't be a "V" between the thumb and the hand it will be more of a crease. We want this crease pointing to the right shoulder.

The right hand. I want you to put it on the grip the same way...meaning in the fingers and not the hand. I am a fan of the interlock grip so feel free to stick with that. When we put the right hand on make the thumb a "short thumb" here as well. Make sure that the crease of the right and left hand are parallel to each other and both are pointing up to the right shoulder.

I hope this makes sense. If you need more direction or help with the grip please let me know and I will do what I can to help.

 

[Golf Chick]

Wow, thank you!! I'll have to try it and get back to you. It would be nice to not get blisters. Calluses I can deal with, but blisters....

 

[Golf Chick]

I notice that on my clubs on the grip, there's a V and then another upsidedown V and I'm assuming that is the placement of where your hands go? For righties, the right thumb does not go flat on the club grip but rather off to the side? Instead of center, can you thumb just be off center or does it just need to be off to the side of the club? It just feels strange because when I'm in the takeaway position, it feels odd and almost feels like the club is going to fall (almost) so I end up tightening my fingers (on the left hand) as well as the 3rd and 4th fingers of the right hand. Is this correct?

 

[amollerud]

Golf Gal that is a great point. Many grips have markings on them that can be used for a referance point. I don't know of a grip that will map out thumb postions on it other than a training grip.

The thumb issue. I do prefer the thumbs to be running down the center of the grip not off to the sides. I will give a little wiggle room here based on hand size and ability to control the club head. The important thing with the thumbs and using them for a referance is the "short thumb". What I am looking for here is to form that crease betweent the thumb and hand not a "v" like you would get if the tumb gets to much to the side of the grip. The purpose of this is to get more surface area of our hands on the grip.

In terms of the grip pressure you bring up I would like you to feel like you are holding the club with the middle and ring finger of each hand. You may in your swing experience pressure in different points in your hand and I am ok with that.

As a side note when you mention that the club feels like it might almost fall out of your hands...make sure that grip is getting down into your fingers like mentioned above.

 

[harrinjj]

Golf Gal you bring up a couple of interesting points. First of all blister come from movement of the grip in and against your hands. The calluses are a byproduct of swinging the golf club with some regularity and there isn't much we can do about that. I have calluses on my 2 middle fingers on both hands that I figure have been there for close to 30 years now.

To help with the blisters...to get them where you are I am assuming that you are holding the club in the wrong place in your hands. To grip the club properly lets first talk about the left hand on the club.

Left hand: I want you to lay the grip in the fingers not the hand on your left hand. Next put the pad of your hand on TOP of the grip. We want you to hold the grip in the fingers not the hand. The way to make sure that you are doing this the proper way we can test it. What you do is place the hand on the club this way and once you have the pad on top of the grip with the club parallel to the ground remove all your fingers except the pointer finger...The club shouldn't fall. IF you can do this you are gripping the club in the correct area of the hand.
When you do this you will notice that your thumb "is shorter" meaning there won't be a "V" between the thumb and the hand it will be more of a crease. We want this crease pointing to the right shoulder.

The right hand. I want you to put it on the grip the same way...meaning in the fingers and not the hand. I am a fan of the interlock grip so feel free to stick with that. When we put the right hand on make the thumb a "short thumb" here as well. Make sure that the crease of the right and left hand are parallel to each other and both are pointing up to the right shoulder.

I hope this makes sense. If you need more direction or help with the grip please let me know and I will do what I can to help.

Not sure if you have read Ben Hogan's book "The Five Fundamentals of Golf", but it has an illustration in the book that is similar to what you said above. The left hand is basically exactly what you said above. However, the right hand is a little different. He says to put the right hand on the club in the fingers, right at the base of the fingers, fold over around the the left thumb, and your V should point at your chin. Is there any disadvantages of doing it this way? I tend to be a natural fader.

 

[Golf Chick]

Not sure if you have read Ben Hogan's book "The Five Fundamentals of Golf", but it has an illustration in the book that is similar to what you said above. The left hand is basically exactly what you said above. However, the right hand is a little different. He says to put the right hand on the club in the fingers, right at the base of the fingers, fold over around the the left thumb, and your V should point at your chin. Is there any disadvantages of doing it this way? I tend to be a natural fader.

Funny you mention that because my BF just bought that book haa haa

 

[amollerud]

Not sure if you have read Ben Hogan's book "The Five Fundamentals of Golf", but it has an illustration in the book that is similar to what you said above. The left hand is basically exactly what you said above. However, the right hand is a little different. He says to put the right hand on the club in the fingers, right at the base of the fingers, fold over around the the left thumb, and your V should point at your chin. Is there any disadvantages of doing it this way? I tend to be a natural fader.

With the "v" of your right hand gives you by today's standards a weak grip. This will lead to a fade type of a shot. The one thing people need to factor in when looking at stuff written a number of years ago is the change in equipment. I don't care what some people say but the golf swing has changed with the equipment and this is in my opinion one of the changes that has come with equipment.

When Hogan wrote the book you had a choice of steel steel or steel shafts with 1 maybe 2 choices in kick. There was alot more hands involved in swinging the club versus the clubs of today.

Sorry for getting off on that a touch. You are make a ton of sense with that grip a player should be hitting more of a fade with the occasional miss being a pull.

 

[bik33]

Amollerud, Do you think if someone is having lots of blister issues, that maybe they are gripping too loosely, making the club slip around a lot chaffing the skin?

 

[amollerud]

Bik33 that is exatly what it is from. I think I mentioned that up top but I will double check. Blisters come from improper grip pressure (normally not enough) or from grip pressure in the wrong spots in the hands.