Why Your Grips Should Be The First Checkpoint If You’re Looking To Play Better Golf

Ask a teaching professional to name the most common mistakes, or faults, with club golfers’ equipment, poor golf grips would be somewhere near the top of the list.

If you want to wind up your club pro - other than admitting that you’ve not hit any balls between lessons - show them a set of worn grips.

The grip is our only point of contact with the golf club, which makes it a key item of equipment - yet so many golfers overlook just how crucial they are, and ignore the general rule of thumb that grips should be replaced every 30-40 rounds.

To say that playing with worn (or unsuitable) grips could be costing you shots, is no exaggeration. Think of driving a car with bald tyres: performance and consistency becomes significantly compromised.

Quite simply, a lot of our enjoyment from this game comes down to how well we control the face angle of the club but also the confidence we have over the ball - and this is where our grips play such a key role.

How Worn Grips Can Affect Performance

Fresh, new golf grips have a tacky feel, which provide an adhesive-like connection with your hands. If they’ve started to feel slick, hard, or glossy, even after a rub with a towel, they’ve lost some traction. Not good.

In the worst cases, you might feel the club slipping in your hands during the backswing, but it's not always that obvious that your grips are in urgent need of a change.

Other telltale signs that your grips need replacing include cracks, splits, indentations, fading logos, and discoloration. Smooth shiny spots will also sometimes appear, particularly in areas where your thumbs and fingers apply the most pressure.

Your teaching pro can give you all the best swing tips in the world but if you’re having to strangle your club tightly because of worn grips, your ability to make an efficient swing will be severely compromised.

It’s the tension that can slowly build, subconsciously, in the hands, wrists and forearms that, as well as restricting your swing’s fluidity, can reduce your clubhead speed and lead to very inconsistent ball-striking.

Excessive grip pressure also causes the hands to fatigue prematurely, which can lead to loose shots, while calluses and blisters make it difficult to grip the club without suffering pain.

Using The Right Grips For Your Game

If your grips are showing signs of wear and you've decided to replace them, think of this as a fresh opportunity to get a suitable set.

Let’s start with size. Maybe your hands have a tendency to become quite ‘twitchy’. Your teaching professional, or custom fitting expert, might suggest that you try using a set of jumbo grips to keep them 'quieter' and minimize face rotation.

Perhaps you have large hands. Have you ever tried playing with smaller grips? Doing so might help you to promote a faster release.

Another important consideration is feel. Corded grips, such Golf Pride’s Tour Velvet Cord of the MCC Plus 4, offer a firmer feel and a rugged texture, popular with better players because it creates control and feedback during the swing.

At the other end of the spectrum, you have rubber grips, such as Golf Pride’s CPX and popular Tour Wrap, which offer a softer feel in the hands, making them popular among high handicap golfers and beginners.

Sceptical? If you get the chance to go on a launch monitor and experiment with different types of grip, you’re sure to notice how dispersion can be tightened up, strike location improved, and ball speed increased, just by changing the grip.

Finding the right model might sound complicated - which may explain why a lot of golfers never bother sampling different types - but a fitting expert will help you find a suitable model in to time at all.

Before you know it, your clubs will feel like new - and you'll start striking the ball better than ever.

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.