V and how it affectys your grip

Ole Gray

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I think it was Hogan in his book that suggested the V's between your thumb & fore finger should point toward your right or is it left shoulder? I had a guy tell me his right hand V points towards his right shoulder and left hand V points to left shoulder. It helps him control the club face. I've seen people with the V's pointed directly at the center of the chest. Which way do you point your V's when you grip the club and why?
 
If I am not mistaken, they are both supposed to point towards your right shoulder. Do mine? Not always and that is one of the things I am constantly working on by trying different things to improve my grip consistency. Double overlap experiment this weekend...
 
I am pretty sure it's your left shoulder for a right handed golfer and your right if you are left handed.

If you are a right handed golfer and both "V's" point towards your right shoulder that is a pretty strong grip. Having both "Vs" point to the lead shoulder is a much more neutral grip.
 
both should point to your right shoulder for a rh and left shoulder for lh golfers.
 
I am pretty sure it's your left shoulder for a right handed golfer and your right if you are left handed.

If you are a right handed golfer and both "V's" point towards your right shoulder that is a pretty strong grip. Having both "Vs" point to the lead shoulder is a much more neutral grip.
Alright I am retarded. you guys are right. should be towards the back shoulder of whichever handed you are.

don't mind me, just spouting nonsense over here. haha
 
I've always heard inside right shoulder (for RH golfers). Anything more towards your left shoulder is weak, and anything outside your right shoulder is strong.
 
After playing in a scramble a few weeks ago, one of the course owners was on my team, he noticed I had a slightly neutral grip that was producing my left to right ball flight. I mentioned during the round that I couldn't hit a draw to save my life. The next week I was out with my usual group playing 18. Since it's a 9 hole course, it plays as 18 with a few different and longer greens on the back nine, when you make the turn you're at the diving range and clubhouse again. That same owner was out there and asked if I had a few minutes to hit some at the range.

He brought out ten balls and gave me some quick pointers on forming a stronger grip by having both Vs point towards my back shoulder. Within 5 balls I was hitting little baby draws and those that didn't draw where straight as an arrow. I've used this grip the last 3-4 times I've been out and have been seeing a slight increase in yardage and my misses have really stopped turning into slices and more consistent fades, ie I'm making better ball contact with the stronger grip.

Ive still got a lot of work to do with my swing but the stronger grip with both Vs pointing to my back shoulder seems to be a nice building block to improving my ball flight.
 
Started out with a really strong grip, then changed to neutral to play a power fade to block out the left side. Now that I am an old goat I have gone back to a grip that points to the right shoulder for a shot that falls to the left. I think I need another 8000 shots to groove the new (old) grip.
 
I don't know if there is truly a right or wrong that is so specific (or textbook) for everyone. I do think the results obtained from turning the "V's" one way or the other may work similarly but I think we are all too different for one certain specific text book position to be assumed best for every individual. I mean if we all stood relaxingly naturally so with our hands relaxed to our sides, all our hands would not all be the same positions. Some palms would naturally face middle, some more in, others more out. Our joints, flex movements, and measurements are all slightly different even when we bring our hands up and together. And then the way we move them from that position is also slightly different. A little more left or right may not work well for one person and yet work just swell for another. I just don't believe too much in many precise text book positions.
 
I always have had a strong grip, tried to change it to the V's pointing to the shoulder. I know it takes time to do this but it feels very uncomfortable. The club head feels so out of place when I swing like this.


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If I am not mistaken, they are both supposed to point towards your right shoulder. Do mine? Not always and that is one of the things I am constantly working on by trying different things to improve my grip consistency. Double overlap experiment this weekend...

Correct, and mine do. The only time I go weaker, is if a fade is a must.
 
Mine are neutral to weak, it's the grip I was taught when I first started and it offers me what I think is the most control and takes the left side mostly out of play for me. I've fooled with it a bit over the years to try different things and man what a mess I created, I'll stick with being a creature of habit.
 
Thanks folks. Some interesting and educational comments in here.
 
V and how it affectys your grip

For most golfers they say point them towards the right shoulder. Hogan struggled with hooking the ball so he developed a pretty weak grip. Not the best plan for most maybe. I've been weakening my grip this spring, it's hard to get used to but the results have been good, on the range, so far.
 
I always have had a strong grip, tried to change it to the V's pointing to the shoulder. I know it takes time to do this but it feels very uncomfortable. The club head feels so out of place when I swing like this.


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That's been my issue, I'm several months into fixing my grip to stronger. I'm glad I've made the changes so far but its been hard to get used to.

Getting into the world of grip positions has been eye opening to say the least.
 
I read/hear most teaching pros say to have the v's point toward the center of your body line (neutral grip) or between the right eye and right shoulder (strong grip). I haven't heard many advocate having the v's turned left of your center line (weak grip) - (this is assuming your right handed and would be opposite for those playing left handed).

But it really sounds like it depends on your individual swing and how you control the club face. If you hook the ball and aren't interested in looking at other areas of your swing you could try weakening your grip to delay club face closure. If you fade or slice the ball and want to straighten your shots out and/or draw them, you could try a stronger grip.

I'll caution those thinking of changing though. I've played around some with grip and my issues have always been improved by addressing other areas of the swing.

Overall, I think having a pro or pros look at your swing to diagnose a problem is better than trial and error on the range that could lead to a lot more error.
 
But it really sounds like it depends on your individual swing and how you control the club face. If you hook the ball and aren't interested in looking at other areas of your swing you could try weakening your grip to delay club face closure. If you fade or slice the ball and want to straighten your shots out and/or draw them, you could try a stronger grip.


That's the stuff. Taking advice from one person (Hogan fought a snap hook his entire career and his swing was built to counter that.) can mess you up. Watch your shot shape, that should help you clue in to which way you should go - stronger or weaker.
 
I was a neutral grip for many years. I went to a PGA pro who had me strengthen my grip (V's to the right shoulder), and am hitting fewer slices/fades. Still a work in progress.
 
I usually setup with my both hands v pointing to my right shoulder (right handed).

If I'm playing around with my right hand grip and I make it point more towards my left shoulder, does that make it a stronger or weaker grip? Assuming my left hand position stays the same
 
I've been playing with my grip a lot lately. I used to have a very strong right hand grip that caused me to hit a lot of low hooks and I've been working on getting my right hand on top more. Now I'm starting to hit fades and the occasional slice. Still trying to find the right balance.
 
I'm on the stronger grip side. Just outside my shoulder. When I try to weaken my grip is is so foreign I almost can't hit the ball.
 
That's the stuff. Taking advice from one person (Hogan fought a snap hook his entire career and his swing was built to counter that.) can mess you up. Watch your shot shape, that should help you clue in to which way you should go - stronger or weaker.
Sounds like a good switch, keep at it. Any chnage takes 21 to 30 days to take hold.
 
My instructor looks at the v's and forces my left hand around to get it to point at the right shoulder. I don't think he notices the palm of my hand is on the club and if I put it in the fingers the v changes to proper position without cranking my wrists.

I personally like a weak left hand for clubhead control. The right hand is the one that tends to drift too strong.

I never realized but the vee lets the club hitch back without locking up certain muscles. Interesting video that I think is well worth the 12 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alnKPz3GVEE
 
Its amazing what a slight grip issue can do to your results.

Played the other day, managed to start off fine and after the first par on the second hole I went to crap and for the life of me could not work out what I was doing wrong. Everything was a slice, couldn't even chip onto the green, and with 4 doubles in a row it was starting to get to me.

No idea why but I looked down at my grip on the ninth and realised I had a very weak grip, I moved my hand over and proceed to par the next five holes with slightly left or straight hits. Ended up with two more pars and two bogies on the back.

Its a great game that demands focus even with that simple connection you have with the club, from now on if my games starts to get a bit bent out of shape its the first place I am going to look at.
 
After playing in a scramble a few weeks ago, one of the course owners was on my team, he noticed I had a slightly neutral grip that was producing my left to right ball flight. I mentioned during the round that I couldn't hit a draw to save my life. The next week I was out with my usual group playing 18. Since it's a 9 hole course, it plays as 18 with a few different and longer greens on the back nine, when you make the turn you're at the diving range and clubhouse again. That same owner was out there and asked if I had a few minutes to hit some at the range.

He brought out ten balls and gave me some quick pointers on forming a stronger grip by having both Vs point towards my back shoulder. Within 5 balls I was hitting little baby draws and those that didn't draw where straight as an arrow. I've used this grip the last 3-4 times I've been out and have been seeing a slight increase in yardage and my misses have really stopped turning into slices and more consistent fades, ie I'm making better ball contact with the stronger grip.

Ive still got a lot of work to do with my swing but the stronger grip with both Vs pointing to my back shoulder seems to be a nice building block to improving my ball flight.

It is, but if you have this creep too strong, then you'll be hitting duck hooks like crazy. This is something to keep an eye on.

I contend for the high handicap player, grip is probably the most important thing to improve to produce results. Unfortunately for me, I constantly see "creep" in my grip. I'll fix it, and then it wanders back to being a bit strong. It's a very fine line when that happens between dead straight and hook city. Then when I try and get it back to more neutral, I hit these weak open shots.

Right now my right hand is creeping strong. I've noticed it the last two hitting sessions. Uh oh... While I've been hitting it great recently, hacking is on the horizon. :(
 
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