You reach for and grab a golf club. And hence the golf grip is born! Perhaps not a proper golf grip… but you do have a hold of the club at least.

It seems that so little attention is given to such a large influence of (ultimately) your golf shot.

Developing and getting comfortable with a proper golf grip early on is essential to making consistent golf shots.

Quite simply, your golf grip is the foundation of your golf swing and as such we not only want to see a proper golf grip, but a comfortable one as well.

It’s important to develop an aesthetically neutral grip that doesn’t feel as though you need to make additional adjustments during your swing.

The prototypical golf grip is one where the ‘V’s formed between the index finger and the thumb of each hand end up pointing toward your right shoulder (right handed golfer). If someone is standing directly across from you they should be able to only see the first two knuckles of your left hand.
golf grip the golf grip

Most all lower handicap golfers will not have these said ‘V’s pointing very far off from this position. Variations of this ‘neutral’ position will affect the flight of the ball.

For instance, moving your left hand ‘V’ further toward your right shoulder is known as a ‘strong’ grip position and with such you’ll have more of a tendency to cause more rotation through impact and as a result, more of a tendency to hook the golf shot.

Side Note:
My good friend Jack Moorehouse is considered one of the best golf guru’s in the country and he’s here to help you with his best-selling golf eBook, “How to Break 80… And Shoot Like the Pros.”

I have talked him into not raising the price of his book for me, as he stated he would, so I want you to hurry and get this gem while it’s still half price.  It’s jam-packed with easy and simple golf drills, strategies and advice that will quickly improve your distance, accuracy and handicap.

However, for now and early on, we want you to get comfortable with basic or neutral positioning of your hands in the golf grip.

Get comfortable with this grip and use it as your foundation. Don’t experiment early on with weak and strong grips. We want a foundation or a baseline from which you can work. And certainly, don’t attempt to make radical adjustments to your grip in order to compensate for some other flaw in your golf swing. Stay with the basic grip.

Overlapping golf grip vs. the interlocking golf grip; the lion’s share of golfers today use an overlapping golf grip (otherwise known as the Vardon style). Some players still prefer the interlocking golf grip. No matter your preference, again, let’s keep the hand positioning neutral and build the rest of our swing around a good solid grip.

As far as grip pressure goes, I think the best description I have heard is that you want to grip the golf club as though you are holding a baby bird… not so tight that you will injure the bird… yet firm enough that the bird can’t fly away. Tight grips and muscles restrict flow and movement, while too relaxed muscles offer no control.

In summary, a proper golf grip will reduce your tendency to slice your golf shot. A proper golf grip will help produce a square clubface at impact.

Work to establish a firm but relaxed golf grip when it comes to the pressure you apply to the club.

Establish a good comfort zone with yourself using a neutral grip (your ‘V’s pointing somewhere between your chin and right shoulder).

Experimentation with grip changes can come later once your swing falls into place. Don’t attempt to correct swing flaws with radical (and frequent) grip changes.

Early on work to accept the feel of the proper golf grip by simply taking the time to grip the club and do some mock swings… no golf ball involved here… just learn to love that golf grip!

Now that we have ourselves properly aligned we need now to put the golf club in our hands and discuss the golf grip and what role it plays when it comes to getting rid of your golf slice that you have.

The traditional type of golf grip will have the thumb of your left had down the shaft of the club.

The area between your left index finger and your left thumb that forms a ‘V’ shape should have the point of the ‘V’ pointed back up toward your right shoulder.

Your right hand should wrap over your left with your left thumb coming to rest in the palm of your right hand. The ‘V’ created with your right thumb and index finger should also be pointing toward your right shoulder.

Essentially, with this grip, if someone is standing directly across from you they would be able to see the first two knuckles of your left hand (your index finger and your middle finger knuckle).

In the picture to the right, the student’s right hand is rolled under slightly out of the way to demonstrate the two knuckles of the left hand golf grip.

As far as golf grip pressure goes, probably the best description of proper golf grip pressure that I have ever heard (from one of the best – Sam Snead) was to hold the golf club as though you were holding a small bird. Firm enough that bird cannot fly away, yet not so firm as to harm the bird. A good analogy.

I don’t know if that is helpful for you, but I have always remembered it and thought it was a good way to describe your golf grip pressure.

When it comes to the grip and curing your golf slice the common mistake with the grip is to have what is termed as a weak grip.

By that, I am not referring to the pressure of your grip, rather the positioning of your hands.

A weaker grip will have your left hand rotated in a manner that has the ‘V’ we discussed pointing more toward your left shoulder instead of your right.

The illustration to the left is a bit of an over exaggeration just to show you the direction of the rotation of the hands and hence where the ‘V’s’ are pointing more toward the right shoulder.

When your grip is set up this way a couple of things occur during the execution of your golf swing.

First the club face will have a tendency to open at contact and secondly as you contact the ball you will not be able to get as much rotation of your hands which will have the affect of not getting the club face to begin to close as you pass through the golf shot. This causes not only to impart a slice spin upon the ball but if your swing path hasn’t compensated for this you’ll get the direction going right with the arc flight of the ball taking it even further to the right.

Let’s talk about putting your golf stance, and your golf grip, together with some basic swing mechanics and get that golf slice under control with your golf swing mechanics next.