How to grip a golf club is a crucial part of becoming an adept golfer. Having the proper grip on a golf club, is critical in allowing you to make consistent swings and contact with the ball at its most effective point. A firm but flexible grip will allow you to feel the lie of the clubface on full swings and will give you strong, soft hands at the top of your backswing and downswing. Understanding the many different kinds of grips on a golf club and how they all affect every shot will evolve into a much more enjoyable and consistent golfer, and begin to show you signs of reaching your full potential as a golfer. There are a few common grips out there, and there are also many diverse ones.
One of the main types of grips is the strong grip, which is typically used for power hitters or those who have a lot of energy in their swing. The strong grip enables you to connect more balls together while maintaining a relatively high level of swing speed. One of the biggest advantages of using the strong grip is that it gives you the opportunity to connect several clubhead strikes before you have to put the club back in the air, allowing you more power as you get into the air. While this type of grip is great for power hitters, many golfers use this one solely to facilitate longer drives, instead of really hitting the ball hard.
Another type of grip is the average grip, which is what many beginners begin with when learning how to grip a golf club. The normal grip enables the player to place their pinkie finger on the club’s cross bar, and their thumb on the shaft’s centerline. This is a good beginning grip, as it allows the player to feel some control over the ball’s flight, and it enables them to feel more in control of their swing. However, it does not allow the golfer to create much lag in their shot, so it will not usually help drive the ball far. Most new players will typically begin to improve their game this way.
Many people, including golfers, also use vardon or cross-handed grips, which are not how to grip a golf club at all. These grips differ from the normal vardon grip because they hold the golf club at an angle. The advantage of holding the club in this manner is that the golfer is able to make a side to side motion with the left hand, which is useful for chipping or putting. However, these grips are often used by beginners, because they allow the golfer to create the most amount of lag with their shot. They will not allow the golfer to generate much wrist action, which will cause the golfer to lose control of the ball.
It is important to note that holding a proper golf grip is only one part of the equation when trying to learn how to hold a golf club. Without having proper swing mechanics, or without learning how to properly place your hands on the club, you will not be able to swing the club as well as you could if you had proper grip pressure. Holding the club, the proper way is as simple as interlocking your fingers. You do this by placing your thumb on top of the first finger of each of your hands, creating a proper grip pressure. Then your second finger and third finger, placed above your index finger, and your pinky finger, placed below your thumb, form an overlapping grip.
There are two types of overlapping grips. The first is where your thumb overlaps the rest of your fingers, creating an overlap with the lead or middle finger of the opposite hand (known as a trail hand). The second type of overlap is where the thumb and the rest of your fingers overlap, but not touching. This is known as a zero hand overlap, or a finger on the same hand as the fist or arm. There are other types of overlapping grips, such as circular grips, inside hand grips, knuckle grips, among others, so if you are interested in further learning about how to grip a golf club, you should look into the many different variations of gripping styles before deciding on one.