Should I Change My Grip??

Changing your grip really comes down to one crucial factor, will it improve your swing? The first recommendation I would do is finding out for sure by booking in with a golf coach. The golf coach will then make an assessment of your swing and see whether your grip is hindering your performance. There is of course a recommendation that most golf coaches would prefer in terms of grip position but if it's in a range of acceptance, most coaches would just leave the grip as is.

If for example I see a student struggling with a slice, the first aspect I would check is their grip. If I see the hands positioned too far to the left on the club, I would definitely recommend to start moving their hands more to the right. This means strengthening the grip. I would have them ensure that the lines between their index fingers and thumbs of both hands are pointed at the right shoulder. Vice versa if I see the hands too far to the right, I would then weaken the grip by having the hands positioned more to the left and again having the lines between the index fingers and thumbs of both hands pointed at the right shoulder.

Once I have changed the grip for the student, I would then just have them hit 20-30 balls getting used to the grip. I wouldn't do any swing changes through this time as most times when you change a grip, it can start changing the ball flight quite quickly. It will tend to have a ripple effect throughout the entire swing by not only changing the way the clubface rotates but also the way the body moves. An example for when I wouldn't change the grip would be if the grip was quite strong but the student is still 'slicing' the ball. This is where we would focus on body movement or a technical element of the swing rather than the grip.

One of the most common grips that I see from beginners is the ten finger grip. This is where the hands are on separately without interlocking or overlapping. This grip I would tend to change over time as even though it feels very comfortable and strong, it tends to lead to impact issues. This is because when not joining the hands, the tendency is to 'flip' up during impact instead of keeping the hands forward of the clubface. The reason being is that when we grip separately, the hands tend to get overactive and often slip down the grip.

If you'd like any further help in understanding what grip is right for you, just contact myself at David Waters Golf.