are you too weak?

in the grip. i took the oath to stop the score damning slice this season. it's like a plague that starts with the driver and slowly works it's way through the bag. At least that is the case with me. the path is good inside out, right arm is tucked, so i asked why cant i close the face. i should have started at step number one, the grip. i had been playing with both hands weak. after 6 rounds using the altered grip not a single slice. often a beautiful draw on the ball, sometimes a bit too much, some time way too much. but i can work with that. i have noticed every one of my playing partners, who all struggle, have terrible grips. i will admit that a terrible grip is comfortable but is not conducive to a great golf game, for me, or those around me. simply sharing this because if i have this poor grip, and those around me have it also, there must be others and maybe this reminder can help you enjoy the game more.

Art M said:

in the grip. i took the oath to stop the score damning slice this season. it's like a plague that starts with the driver and slowly works it's way through the bag. At least that is the case with me. the path is good inside out, right arm is tucked, so i asked why cant i close the face. i should have started at step number one, the grip. i had been playing with both hands weak. after 6 rounds using the altered grip not a single slice. often a beautiful draw on the ball, sometimes a bit too much, some time way too much. but i can work with that. i have noticed every one of my playing partners, who all struggle, have terrible grips. i will admit that a terrible grip is comfortable but is not conducive to a great golf game, for me, or those around me. simply sharing this because if i have this poor grip, and those around me have it also, there must be others and maybe this reminder can help you enjoy the game more.

Click to expand...

Interesting. Got any pics of before and after?

Art M said:

in the grip. i took the oath to stop the score damning slice this season. it's like a plague that starts with the driver and slowly works it's way through the bag. At least that is the case with me. the path is good inside out, right arm is tucked, so i asked why cant i close the face. i should have started at step number one, the grip. i had been playing with both hands weak. after 6 rounds using the altered grip not a single slice. often a beautiful draw on the ball, sometimes a bit too much, some time way too much. but i can work with that. i have noticed every one of my playing partners, who all struggle, have terrible grips. i will admit that a terrible grip is comfortable but is not conducive to a great golf game, for me, or those around me. simply sharing this because if i have this poor grip, and those around me have it also, there must be others and maybe this reminder can help you enjoy the game more.

Click to expand...

It's only comfortable because you're used to it. If you make the commitment to changing your grip (preferably to that suggested by pro), then it typically only takes a few weeks for it to stop feeling awkward and to start feeling comfortable. Once the change is complete, your old grip will feel uncomfortable.

I changed my grip earlier in 2014... didn't realize that I was gripping my clubs wrong all these years I've been playing off and on. I'm a left handed player and my stock shot was a slice that wound up outside the left side of the fairway in the trees. It tended to minimize itself into a fade when I slow my backswing way down and try not to kill the ball.

After changing my grip to a slightly stronger one, I'm noticing that my slice is a lot less but I'm less certain of where exactly the ball will go. Sometimes it goes left. Sometimes it goes right. Sometimes it goes straight but I can't count on it for anything other than being inconsistent. That'll go away with practice which I don't do so it's all my fault.

Yep, I'm weak. Working on getting comfortable with a stronger grip.

I used to have a strong right hand and a weak left hand. Surprisingly didn't balance out haha. But once I got my grip corrected, it definitely helped my shot shape tremendously. Felt a little strange at first, but not too bad. Got comfortable with the correct grip real quick.

I also switched from an inter-locking grip to an overlapping grip, which has given me better feel on the club. This step however, was extremely difficult to get used to. I would start out on the range just hitting a couple this way, and I felt like I was going to throw the club and felt like I lost all my power. I worked on it over time and now I have much better grip pressure and have actually added power to my swing.

I used to have a strong grip years ago, but I think I may have gone too weak. Went from a draw to now a big cut, occasionally a slice. I guess that is lack of play over the past few years. May need to hit the range a few times soon to work on some things.

I play with as neutral a grip as possible.

I alter my grip all of time to get the results I want on the course. I try and work the ball on every shot, so I adopt the grip I feel will produce that particular shot. The key is to have a solid grip with the hands working together.

I don't mind my slightly weak grip, I actually like playing a cut vs. a draw TBH. But what I try to do is when I practice on the off season is keep re-setting my grip after every swing so I get more comfortable with a neutral/stronger grip. I currently am doing just that and when I went out to play the few times the weather broke, my shots were going either straight or drawing a bit vs. cutting a tad.

there are two types of weak grips from what my instructor told and taught me last year so it depends which one we are talking about. This may seem like ridiculous "basic golf 101" to many of you but something I honestly didn't realize till just last year and perhaps many others also don't realize or have forgotten.

There is a weak grip from holding the club too loosely and a week grip from not holding it properly.

I was doing the later till last year. I never knew I was doing it. I guess through the years I had gradually little by little began holding the club wrong. I was holding the club too much in my palm and not with my fingers. Did it for so long it became my natural grip. He called that a weak grip and would allow the club to open at impact or even do all kinds of different things in relation to the rest of my swing. I now grip the club with my fingers and then roll the rest of my hand around it vs gripping with the palm first and then doing the opposite. The grip is now much stronger with the very same pressure I was applying.

I know its like "golf 101" but still good to know or remember.
Just have someone (as my instructor did) grab the club head and pull on it. With my weak old grip (in the palm) the club would easily twist as he puled on it. With my new "stronger" grip it is now locked in pretty good with the same amount of holding pressure on my part. Not only would it not twist but would take more force to even begin to pull it loose. So a stronger grip or a weaker one can come from the amount of pressure but also from the way you grip the club. I was actually (during the experiment) able to hold it with less pressure and still was harder for him to pull it and move the head. Just something to think about in case it has been forgotten or never considered as is what happened to me.

Now if I could just consistently get the rest of the 467 things correct I might be pretty good

Art M said:

in the grip. i took the oath to stop the score damning slice this season. it's like a plague that starts with the driver and slowly works it's way through the bag. At least that is the case with me. the path is good inside out, right arm is tucked, so i asked why cant i close the face. i should have started at step number one, the grip. i had been playing with both hands weak. after 6 rounds using the altered grip not a single slice. often a beautiful draw on the ball, sometimes a bit too much, some time way too much. but i can work with that. i have noticed every one of my playing partners, who all struggle, have terrible grips. i will admit that a terrible grip is comfortable but is not conducive to a great golf game, for me, or those around me. simply sharing this because if i have this poor grip, and those around me have it also, there must be others and maybe this reminder can help you enjoy the game more.

Click to expand...

+1 - we go on and on about how to swing the club but if the grip is wrong, changing how one swings is just compounding an error. I rebuilt a lot of my swing last year AFTER changing my grip. With the better foundation, I found I could throw out a lot of what I had been doing with stance, posture, feet and swing and get back to a much more neutral address and on plane swing. With a more neutral grip, I can swing harder yet still hit straight. With the "bad" grip, if I swung harder, I wouldn't get closed and start to slice. The new grip certainly doesn't feel comfortable compared to how I gripped the club "naturally" but why should it be that the most comfortable way to hold a club is also the best way to hold it?

Having too strong of a grip can be bad news too, especially with the trailing hand. I see a lot of people with their trailing hand almost turned under the club (almost with their palm looking upward). They have a lot of big hooks for misses too.

I've tried it strengthening the trail hand to help with my pushes on the driver and it led to hooks on all my irons and occasional hooks with the driver. So I try to be neutral to slightly strong with the lead hand (2 or 3 knuckles visible), and neutral with the trail hand. I try to make sure that both V's made with the thumb/first finger on my hands are pointed somewhere between my right ear and right shoulder area at address. Doing so works very well for me with my irons and okay with the driver when I get everything else right at address.

-CRW- said:

Having too strong of a grip can be bad news too, especially with the trailing hand. I see a lot of people with their trailing hand almost turned under the club (almost with their palm looking upward). They have a lot of big hooks for misses too.

I've tried it strengthening the trail hand to help with my pushes on the driver and it led to hooks on all my irons and occasional hooks with the driver. So I try to be neutral to slightly strong with the lead hand (2 or 3 knuckles visible), and neutral with the trail hand. I try to make sure that both V's made with the thumb/first finger on my hands are pointed somewhere between my right ear and right shoulder area at address. Doing so works very well for me with my irons and okay with the driver when I get everything else right at address.

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i worked on it again today with good success. i have found that a stronger fore hand grip and a weak trailing hand grip leads to a uncontrollable hook. i have to adjust the trailing hand to a neutral to slightly strong position to better control the draw. I am liking it

Grip for me is weak for a fade and strong for a draw with a little change in foot setup as well for each.

My grip has been known to weaken. Its the first thing I look at now when I can't seem to stop fading or pushing the ball.

~Rock

Definitely use a strong grip here. Leads to a pull sometimes, but that's better than the alternative.

But only with the driver. Otherwise a neutral grip works well for me.