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Whats your grip pressure

tucsoncacti

tucsoncacti

Team Paradise/2021 MC Winner/Heading to Gray Bull
Albatross 2024 Club
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As I am rediscovering my swing after it left me for a month, I have personally discovered besides the obvious of proper alignment, grip pressure also plays a huge role in proper shot technique for me. I know everyone is different but what is yours, and do you focus on grip pressure as you approach a shot or during your preshot routine?

Driver- I tend to go really strong here, as a weaker grip will lead to massive fades
Fairway woods/hybrids- still strong, just a tad less than driver
Irons- a medium strength grip here, too strong and I will pull the ball left, too weak and the club head moves on me at impact
Wedges- its a work in progress and a very fine line for me. I like to play a weak grip here, but this can put me in trouble a few times a round, still trying to figure out what works best for me as a stronger grip feels very unnatural.
Putter- very strong grip here for me. If its less than that I personally create wrist action which then makes a crap shoot of where the ball will go.
 
I would say I am probably in the 4 - 5 out of 10 range throughout the bag.
 
I grip it like when I'm doing the nasty, deathgrip!

No, but seriously, I grip all my clubs, aside from the putter, way too hard in my opinion. I feel like I should grip it as soft as possible but as hard as necessary, but always end up nearly going hard as possible. Another one of those many things to work on this season.
 
Like I'm holding a baby squirrel...
 
When I concentrate on it a "soft" grips leads to much better shots for me. The problem is I don't think enough about making sure I have light grip pressure often enough with the driver.
 
The softer you can grip without the club flying out of your hands is best. The "death grip" causes decreases the club head feel in your hands.
 
Wonton said:
Like I'm holding a baby squirrel...
Click to expand...

Depends on whether I'm trying not to crush the squirrel or not to let it escape.

I'm about a 7 of 10 on my full swing clubs when I know I should be about a 4.

My putter, I have gotten pretty good at holding it at about a 2, and it really has helped. Having a large grip helps me to remember that.

One reason I really liked the Winn Dri-Tac grips was their cushioning reminded me to go lightly every time I used them. Unfortunately, the grips were not durable.
 
I use to grip very tight, read it causes many problems in the swing. Changed things up , helped adding the mc plus 4 grip as well


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You're kind of confusing asking about grip pressure and then using the words strong/weak, which are generally used to describe grip positions, stronger showing more knuckles at the top of the club. For grip pressure the words firm and soft are often used.

I use a very soft grip for just about all clubs, it's all about the forearm muscles, I like them to be relaxed and a firm grip makes them stiff.
 
I have a very light grip.
So light that my left hand will sometimes come off the club at follow through.
 
It used to be a 7-8 on a 10 scale which led to poor contact and fat shots....

Now I am more of a 4-5 and I am hitting it much better overall
 
Lighter pressure lends to better swings/shots for me. New (or at least clean) grips help me hold it looser and hit better quality shots.
 
I have a medium-soft grip pressure throughout, loosens my wrists. Softer still with chips and putts.

If I want to play a fade, I just tighten my grip some. I can't go softer for draw because I already use what feels like the least possible while still having a good grasp of the club throughout the swing.

Firmer grip technique works best for me with the shallower swings of driver/woods/hybrids rather than irons, fwiw.
 
On a scale of 1-10, I’d say around a 6.

If it’s too loose you will have club face control issues, especially on mishits.

It it’s too tight you will have swing control issues.
 
Unfortunately, a lot of times for me it depends on which part of the swing you're referring to. I work on keeping a "light" grip pressure, as light as I can without any part of my hands moving away from the grip during the swing. However, when I start trying to hit it too hard (among other things) my grip pressure tends to increase as I am coming into the ball. This usually does not end well. With putting and finesse shots it's not as prevalent.

I think more important than grip pressure, is consistent grip pressure through the entire swing. It helps to have fresh/clean grips and a fresh glove.
 
I think it's a medium firmness. It's probably white-knuckle tight.
 
I struggle with how tight I grip the club. I'm sure I grip way too hard, but always trying to work on it.
 
I used to grip it at a 3-4. Asked my instructor to show me how firmly I should grip it and I’ve changed to about a 7 when I remember. He gripped the club over my hands to show me the pressure he wanted me at. It’s a firm grip, much firmer than I thought I was supposed to use. Hard to argue with the increased consistency, though.
 
To quote Harvey Penick

Arnold Palmer liked to grip the club tightly, but you are not Arnold Palmer.
Click to expand...
 
Thinking back to my round yesterday and why I started so poorly it all came back to grip pressure. I replayed the bad shots in my head and I had a death grip on the clubs. Once I loosened the pressure it helped smooth out my tempo and I was playing some golf.

It’s crazy that something so simple can have a huge effect on my swing and the results.
 
This is something I mess around with regularly. I always need to remind myself to go looser


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One of the things that have helped me improve was understanding how a light grip leads to a passive release. I do notice that my grip tightens just before contact, I think its a sign that I'm generating club head speed and the centrifugal force is trying to pull the club out of my hands.
 
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Firmly soft, or maybe softly firm. One of the other.

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As an addendum to my above post, since a lesson, and a set up adjustment, I feel like I'm gripping the club about 30% lighter than I was. But, as they say, "Feel is not real."
 
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