I Got New Grips On My Clubs And I Was Amazed At How Much They Boosted My Confidence

When your form unexpectedly deserts you, a reset with your equipment can often initiate a reversal of your fortunes. This could be fixing a genuine fault somewhere within your bag or making a more subtle change with your technique, like a new tee height or swing thought, to stem the flow of bad shots and introduce more frequent successful ones.

One I tried recently was a new set of grips. My existing grips weren’t especially old, but they were beginning to show signs I needed new grips, like being shiny, a little slippery and quite a few of them had started to split at the bottom.

As your only point of connection with the club, you need to have total confidence in what you’re holding and that it will stand up to the stresses of hitting a golf ball. Especially when under pressure and you have more than enough to think about without also worrying that your clubs might fly out of your hands and hit one of your playing partners! Any slipping in your hands or unnecessary movement could initiate a chain reaction of compensations that leads to poor strikes, bad results and avoidable frustration.

So I went all out and put on a fresh set of grips on all of my clubs excluding my putter (and even got to witness the process, which was fascinating!). Specifically, I went for the Golf Pride MCC Plus 4 Align grips. It was an enlightening experience going to my local pro shop, trying the different types of grips and having a conversation with my head pro about the things to consider on grips - many of which I hadn’t even thought about before.

First up, the feeling of new grips on your clubs, regardless of make or model, is just a very pleasant experience that made me wonder why I didn’t do it six months ago. I’ve traditionally played Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips, widely regarded as one of the best Golf Pride grips down to the soft, well - velvety feel, they offer, but I fancied something a little firmer and more robust. The MCC Plus 4 is a hybrid grip with a corded section at the top but it also doesn’t taper as much in the bottom hand, which should come in useful as someone who is trying to make the hands be more passive through the ball to stop the clubface turning over.

I also discovered that a slight increase in size (specifically thickness) felt noticeably better in my hands. Just by adding one more wrap of tape underneath made a considerable difference in how it filled the space under my fingers and it really helped lighten my grip pressure and the resulting tension, without reducing the amount of traction I had with it. I genuinely believe this has helped me swing a little more freely, resulting in marginally more speed - especially with the driver.

Arguably the most significant change for me was switching to an Align grip in 11 of my 13 full swing clubs for the first time ever, which features a ridge or spine down the back of the grip. I thought this feeling would be too off-putting initially, but I now really appreciate it as a reference point to help me position the club in my hands more consistently on every shot. I tried the new Align Max grip where the ridge is more prominent, but that felt too large a transition as a golfer who had never used Align grips before. But if you already use Align grips, upgrading to the Align Max could be the way to go.

Remember if you do choose to have Align grips not to have them on clubs where you tend to manipulate the clubface open or closed. So if you like to tinker with the loft sleeve on your driver, it could have a knock-on effect on where the spine sits afterwards. Likewise if you like to open the face of your wedges, you probably want to go for non-Align versions of the grips, which I did on my 54° and 58 wedges°, so you can continue to be creative around the green without the spine being in the wrong place. I also got a new grip added to my 2-iron, which subs into my bag during the firmer summer conditions - don’t forget about any extra clubs you might call upon when getting new grips!

It’s perhaps too early to fully conclude the impact the new grips have had on my scoring but there’s no question that I feel much more confident over the ball, which counts for a lot in a game of such fine margins like golf. If you feel more confident that you’re about to hit a good shot, the chances are you will more often. A fresh set of grips just brings about not only an invigorated feeling in your hands but also an intangible sense of assurance, that you’ve set yourself up in the best possible way to hit better shots.

Golfers (like myself up until now) that neglect their grips or don’t replace them as often as they should will soon get a sense of the impact they can make once they go through the process. It can also unearth new things about your game that you didn’t know before - whether that’s how a ribbed grip can help with your fundamentals or how a new size can eliminate a certain miss. So if your grips are showing signs of wear and tear, have a chat with your local PGA pro to see which type and size will work best for you.

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.