5 Signs You Need New Grips

In golf, every component of your equipment plays a role, but none is more fundamental than your grip. As your sole point of contact with the club, it provides the critical link between your body and the implement that will hopefully be propelling your ball long and straight! However, as a PGA Professional regularly playing in pro-ams, I often see grips neglected and utilised until they are visibly falling apart.

Playing with worn-out grips is much like driving a car with bald tires – it drastically compromises performance, consistency, and in extreme cases, even safety. Understanding the subtle indicators that your grips are past their prime is crucial for ensuring optimal performance. Here are five of the key signs that might show it's time to invest in new grips…

1. Loss of Tackiness

This is arguably the most crucial and often the earliest indicator that your grips are deteriorating beyond salvaging. Fresh, new golf grips are designed to feel tacky, providing a secure, almost adhesive-like connection with your hands to give you the peace of mind to put a free, uninhibited swing on the ball. If your grips have begun to feel slick, hard, or glossy to the touch, even after a quick rub with a towel, they have definitely lost this essential traction. This loss of tackiness can force you to grip the club tightly, introducing unnecessary tension that can negatively affect your swing mechanics and overall consistency.

Before jumping straight in and ordering a new set of grips, I would advise anyone to give their current grips a light scrub with a brush and warm, soapy water to see if you can breathe some life back into them. Failing that, however, it is time to get some fresh new grips in play.

2. Visible Wear and Tear

While many golfers wait for obvious or catastrophic damage, such as the shaft becoming visible through a hole, visible wear often appears long before a grip completely fails. It is always worth periodically inspecting your grips closely for smooth, shiny spots, particularly in areas where your thumbs and fingers apply the most pressure. These spots can indicate that the original texture and material have worn down. Look for cracks, splits, indentations, or frayed cord if you use corded grips.

Fading logos or discoloration can also be tell-tale signs of material breakdown due to exposure to sunlight, sweat, and oils. These visual cues are clear signals that the grip's integrity is compromised, and it may be time for an upgrade into some of the best Golf Pride grips to give your clubs a new lease of life.

3. Hardening of Material

Over time, the rubber or synthetic compounds used in many golf grips can lose their elasticity and become hard and brittle to the touch. This is often accelerated by exposure to UV rays from the sun and extreme temperature fluctuations, such as leaving clubs in a hot car trunk or, for our UK readers, leaving them in a freezing cold garage for the winter. You know who you are!

A new grip generally feels pliable and offers a degree of soft cushioning depending on the model, whereas a worn, hardened grip feels stiff and unforgiving. This loss of pliability reduces comfort and can make it difficult to maintain a secure hold without excessive pressure, directly impacting your ability to control the club through the swing.

4. Slippage During Your Swing

If you find your club twisting or slipping in your hands, even very slightly, during your backswing, transition or downswing, your grips are no longer providing the necessary friction for optimal performance. This slippage can be incredibly frustrating and confidence-sapping, leading to tentative passes at the golf ball rather than committed, full-bodied swings. Furthermore, it can often lead to inconsistent clubface control at impact, potentially causing pushes, pulls, slices, or hooks through no real fault of your own.

A slick, shiny grip can be a disaster for your game, forcing your hands to work harder to maintain control of the club, often facilitating a severe breakdown in your swing sequence and a loss of power and accuracy.

5. Increased Grip Pressure & Hand Fatigue

As grips lose their tackiness and become harder, many players' natural instinct is to compensate for this loss of traction by gripping the club tighter. As previously mentioned, this subconscious increase in grip pressure will often introduce unwanted and excessive tension into your hands, wrists, and forearms. Not only can this tension severely restrict your swing's fluidity, reduce your clubhead speed, and lead to inconsistent strikes, but excessive grip pressure can actually cause premature hand fatigue, leading to soreness, calluses, or even blisters over the course of a round. If you find your hands aching more than usual after a round, or if you're constantly fighting to maintain control, worn grips could well be a likely culprit.

In conclusion, regularly inspecting your golf grips for these five signs is a simple yet profoundly effective way to ensure you are not losing shots or even damaging yourself physically. I would implore you to stop waiting until they're visibly crumbling before making a change, like so many people unfortunately do.

A fresh set of grips can truly feel like a new set of clubs, offering immediate improvements in control, confidence, feel, and ultimately, your enjoyment on the golf course. Investing in new grips is one of the most cost-effective upgrades you can make to your equipment.

Golf Pride is one of the leading manufacturers of grips globally employed by the world's best players. Explore its comprehensive range on the Golf Pride website and find your nearest stockist.