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Strong Grip

DonMega884

DonMega884

Get in the Hole!
Joined
Feb 5, 2020
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Location
Romeo, Michigan
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It’s a curse. One teacher tried to fix my strong grip to a weaker grip.... it cause me to have the worst two years of Golf misery. I got the Shan@$$## , lost distance, everything became difficult. I almost quit golf. So I had a pro tell me to learn how to play with your strong grip. So changing my grip is out of the question. I have a video uploaded on another thread if you want to check that out.

Soooo...Strong Left Hand grip for the Right Handed Golfer, Tell me how you compensate for that, things you try to remember, instruction videos to watch..I’d appreciate any advice.

Thank You, Sean
 
I know you said it's out of the question, but I feel I must say, I fought the same thing for a while. It committed to not playing at all and going to the range regularly for a while and changed my grip. I was a very strong left hand right handed player for a long time. It definitely felt weird at first (and still does at times), but when I can get it in a groove, it just works.

Good luck with your game!
 
Nothing terribly wrong with it - just match it up! Plenty of good golfers with a strong grip
 
Molten said:
Nothing terribly wrong with it - just match it up! Plenty of good golfers with a strong grip
Click to expand...

I agree. Just depends on how strong we're talking about. As with anything, it can definitely be overdone.
 
DonMega884 said:
It’s a curse. One teacher tried to fix my strong grip to a weaker grip.... it cause me to have the worst two years of Golf misery. I got the Shan@$$## , lost distance, everything became difficult. I almost quit golf. So I had a pro tell me to learn how to play with your strong grip. So changing my grip is out of the question. I have a video uploaded on another thread if you want to check that out.

Soooo...Strong Left Hand grip for the Right Handed Golfer, Tell me how you compensate for that, things you try to remember, instruction videos to watch..I’d appreciate any advice.

Thank You, Sean
Click to expand...
I fought an overly strong grip and worked a long time with a coach to weaken my grip quite a bit. With a strong grip you have to make sure your hands are well forward at impact or else the ball is going left.
 
I went down the reverse path trying to change my weak grip to a strong one. If you use a strong grip to hit a fairly straight ball, or even a cut, you really need to get the feel of holding off the release and rotating strongly through impact and beyond.

Now I'm comfortable varying my grip to move the ball one direction or another.
 
I actually went to the driving range today. I just worked on weak’n the grip. I could tell right away I wasn’t pulling the ball. It’s definitely gonna take some getting used too, but when my grip is weaker my ball flight is better. It feels smoother. I think that’s the better route thank trying to hold off my hands and clear my body very fast. Idk. We shall see.
 
DonMega884 said:
I actually went to the driving range today. I just worked on weak’n the grip. I could tell right away I wasn’t pulling the ball. It’s definitely gonna take some getting used too, but when my grip is weaker my ball flight is better. It feels smoother. I think that’s the better route thank trying to hold off my hands and clear my body very fast. Idk. We shall see.
Click to expand...

If you don't already, take a club in the house and spend a week taking a few swings or a few dozen swings each day ( no ball ) and don;t worry about anything than setting your hand position properly and taking a swing. It will feel uncomfortable at first. Ignore the other stuff for now. The goal is to get that hand position to be more muscle memory and more comfortable so your focus on the range or at a lesson is less on the position and more on the swing. If you are focusing on striking a ball, you aren't really reinforcing the feeling. You'll find over time that you can migrate your strong grip to a weak grip, knuckle by knuckle. It's not that can't grip and swing a weaker grip, it's that your body and mind are comfortable with that. Just a habit that needs breaking.
 
I'm going through it ATM strong left hand grip, I'm doing ok with the change lots of work changing a grip but I'd sooner see a baby draw than a snap hook ob.

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk
 
DonMega884 said:
It’s a curse. One teacher tried to fix my strong grip to a weaker grip.... it cause me to have the worst two years of Golf misery. I got the Shan@$$## , lost distance, everything became difficult. I almost quit golf. So I had a pro tell me to learn how to play with your strong grip. So changing my grip is out of the question. I have a video uploaded on another thread if you want to check that out.

Soooo...Strong Left Hand grip for the Right Handed Golfer, Tell me how you compensate for that, things you try to remember, instruction videos to watch..I’d appreciate any advice.

Thank You, Sean
Click to expand...
A strong grip needs to come with an internally rotated target shoulder (elbow facing towards the target). This stays constant from takeaway to well into the follow through on normal swings. This is another fundamental that gets overlooked in popular golf instruction.
 
DonMega884 said:
I actually went to the driving range today. I just worked on weak’n the grip. I could tell right away I wasn’t pulling the ball. It’s definitely gonna take some getting used too, but when my grip is weaker my ball flight is better. It feels smoother. I think that’s the better route thank trying to hold off my hands and clear my body very fast. Idk. We shall see.
Click to expand...

I agree. The more you have to compensate, the harder this game can get.

Try adjusting that grip in small increments. It's going to take some time, but the rest of your swing looks so good, it actually might be the easiest thing to adjust in the long run.

Good luck!
 
When I first started playing I had a strong grip and hooked everything. One day at the range I was hooking every shot and
the guy next to me was watching and saw my frustration. He asked if he could tell me something that would help. So he did,
and it helped me tremendously. He had me take my normal grip and stance with the club behind the ball. Then he had me
slide my hands forward a little which opened up the face, then in the downswing he told to almost pull down with me left arm
allowing it to lead the swing thru impact. I still hit a draw, but not a hook. Over the years of playing now, I hit a slight draw and
can even fade them occasionally. Maybe this will help. Let me clarify, I know nothing about golf swings. I just hit the ball. LOL!!!!
 
SunnyWalker said:
I agree. The more you have to compensate, the harder this game can get.

Try adjusting that grip in small increments. It's going to take some time, but the rest of your swing looks so good, it actually might be the easiest thing to adjust in the long run.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the compliment. I hear people tell me I have a good swing, I just get frustrated because I struggle with it consistently. But many people on here have addressed the strong grip and I’ve addressed it. I can notice the difference right away. So I appreciate the guys mentioning that. No if I can just get this weaker grip become more of a smooth process. I know it won’t be easy.
 
Tevenor said:
If you don't already, take a club in the house and spend a week taking a few swings or a few dozen swings each day ( no ball ) and don;t worry about anything than setting your hand position properly and taking a swing. It will feel uncomfortable at first. Ignore the other stuff for now. The goal is to get that hand position to be more muscle memory and more comfortable so your focus on the range or at a lesson is less on the position and more on the swing. If you are focusing on striking a ball, you aren't really reinforcing the feeling. You'll find over time that you can migrate your strong grip to a weak grip, knuckle by knuckle. It's not that can't grip and swing a weaker grip, it's that your body and mind are comfortable with that. Just a habit that needs breaking.
Click to expand...
This is great advice as you want the new grip to feel comfortable. If you introduce hitting too early you might not get comfortable with the grip
 
Advice is free and we’re all different so this may help. It may not.

Instead of adjusting your grip, rotate the club shaft slightly in your grip to compensate for the overly open or closed face during your normal swing. That way you aren’t changing your grip.
 
Do what works for you.....It's not like your the only one to play with a strong grip.....
 
Bumping this thread. My strong grip is back! Bringing it back was intentional because I had developed a wicked two-way miss. I’m not having any issues pulling/hooking the ball and I can still shape shots (low percentage play for me) if I need to. I’m playing consistent but not fantastic golf currently and don’t have any plans to make a mid-season change, but may revisit my grip at the end of the season now that I have the SkyTrak to practice on all winter.
 
I agree with others, as long as you have the right Combo, a strong grip can work really well. Can you post a pic or video of your SetUp Face On? Depending on how strong it is, the advice you got could have been horribly wrong, especially if the teacher you saw tried to pigeon hole you into his model of "perfect".

A strong grip shuts the face, and needs to be accompanied by better rotation through the shot, passive hands & arms, and a body release (there are some bad combos as well, but you don't want to know those 😉), and feeling like you're pulling the ball hard while you rotate. It's counter intuitive, but that's the combo you need. It's a very reliable way to hit the ball as well, and can be super consistent. Typically more consistent than someone who stalls, and releases earlier, and simpler than someone who has the same combo as above with a weak grip and adds flexion on the way down to square the clubface up.
 
DonMega884 said:
It’s a curse. One teacher tried to fix my strong grip to a weaker grip.... it cause me to have the worst two years of Golf misery. I got the Shan@$$## , lost distance, everything became difficult. I almost quit golf. So I had a pro tell me to learn how to play with your strong grip. So changing my grip is out of the question. I have a video uploaded on another thread if you want to check that out.

Soooo...Strong Left Hand grip for the Right Handed Golfer, Tell me how you compensate for that, things you try to remember, instruction videos to watch..I’d appreciate any advice.

Thank You, Sean
Click to expand...

Being self taught back in 1982, I developed a pretty strong left hand almost immediately with my right hand fairly neutral. I developed a fairly steep, inside, shut faced, and shorter swing while trying to eliminate blocking. I never had that long flowing swing like most tall players have because I never had the flexibility. My swing is about about 2/3 - 3/4 depending on the club and I tend to crowd the ball a lot more than most golfers. My friends used to tease me by saying that I look like Mother Goose trying to protect her eggs. The club pro's I've played with over the years pointed out that it was different, but to stay with it.

My ball flight is on the low side with a draw.

Pro's
It is a simple swing for me.
I don't struggle in the wind as much as my friends.
I know that I can almost eliminate "missing it right" when I'm striking it well.

Con's
If my hands get too active, I will hit smothered hooks ....... especially with the driver. Bad tempo, and a lack of weight transfer back to the front foot tend to get my hands too quick .
I have to manipulate the face of the club a lot more to hit a fade.
Playing in wet conditions can be tricky.
 
Like some others said, a strong grip is not a killer. Plenty of Tour pros have a strong grip. If you have an early release it will kill you, but otherwise you should be fine. I don't know why the pro tried to change your grip because your grip probably fits your swing. All that said if you're yanking balls way left all the time you probably need to weaken it a tad LOL!
 
I read these strong threads with much interest. Whenever I adopt a stronger grip, I slice the ball more. I believe it cups my wrist and creates too much tension and stays open face through impact. When I go with a weaker left hand, I am able to have a flat left wrist and get better contact and direction.
 
Molten said:
Nothing terribly wrong with it - just match it up! Plenty of good golfers with a strong grip
Click to expand...
This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ is exactly what I was going to say. I've been playing with a strong grip for over 40 years .. it works you just have to put in the work :eek:
 
My grip is very strong at times it’s a huge downfall but I tried to change it . Just feels strange to keep it neutral for me but I learn to play around it with somewhat success.
 
I weakened my grip for the last round. Result was no pull hooks with the driver and hybrids, but I still managed three awful yanked irons.
 
A strong grip fixed my slice pretty quick. I practiced in my yard for a couple of weeks. I had a push slice at the time, so I know I was coming from the inside just fine. Once I got comfortable, just a matter of aiming at the right half of the fairway and letting the ball draw back to the middle. BUT- that was with older, smaller heads, where I could “feel” the club head during the swing. When the lighter shafts and heads came into vogue, that affected me a lot. I no longer knew what the club head was doing, and that gentle draw morphed into to odd smothered duck. I weakened the grip a bit (still on strong side) and it helped a bit, but I still get handsey if I think the club is lagging a bit and I try to compensate. I tried a neutral grip and went straight to push slice pop ups.
But I think I’m an oddity out there. I always played a draw off the tee and a fade with irons, so my grip was different for each- neutral with an open stance for irons, and a strong grip and slightly closed stance with Driver or FW off the tee. Never had any trouble keeping them separate (other than trying to work the ball) when playing. One tip that helped lately with the smother was to try and keep (or at least Feel like) the back of the left hand (for righties) going down the target line past impact. Seems to help avoid ‘flipping’ the club at the ball. It seems to work pretty well... when I remember to do it.
And besides, there are plenty of pros out there with extremely strong grips that do pretty well. If they can play like that, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
 
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