A lot of factors need to come together to play your best and it starts with honing the perfect golf grip for your game. One of the things that can go wrong here is that golfers hold the club too loosely or, more commonly, too tightly. In the video and article below, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Paul Foston runs through everything you need to know.
Knowing how to grip a golf club with the right pressure is essential because you need relaxed forearms to make a free-flowing, fluid golf swing. If this is something you're struggling with, try this...
First, grip the club as usual and hold it out in front of you so that your arms are horizontal. Now reduce your grip pressure so the club slowly drops down. Now increase the pressure gradually until the club raises back to its original position. Once the club is back up, do not squeeze it any tighter. This is the ideal grip pressure - enough to be in control of the club but without strangling it and restricting your own swing.
If you can groove a grip that is tight enough to control the clubhead while ensuring the muscles in your forearms remain relaxed, your accuracy and power will both benefit.
This is well worth taking time to check while you're on the practice range because under pressure on the course, the tendency is to squeeze the grip too tight.
Grip test
To see how effective your grip is you need to test it. Hit five balls consecutively without adjusting your hands on the club between shots. At the end, check the position of the clubface and if it’s not perfectly square to the target, there is a problem.
Place a tee peg between your left hand and the top of the grip. Again, hit a series of shots ensuring that the tee remains in place. This simple drill will prevent your left hand from moving and changing position during the swing. Knowing how to choose the right golf grips for your game will also help.
Another handy check can be done using just your lead hand (left for right-handers and right for left-handers). Remove your thumb, middle, ring and little finger and see if you can still hold the club between your index finger and the fleshy part in the palm of your hand. If you can't, that's a sign that you need to make a change. Do your homework first before making wholesale changes, though, as the fix could be as simple as upgrading into a set of the best golf grips.
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