View the HD video lesson HERE

Here is an excellent method to ensure that your grip stays in the fingers and favors the strong end of the spectrum.

Remember – a strong “ish” grip helps the handle get in front of the clubhead at impact and encourages all golfers to keep their hands passive through impact.

Have a friend draw a “channel” on your glove diagonally across the base of the fingers (as illustrated left). Be sure that the guidelines are not too high up in the palm – if this is the case the wrists will have a hard time setting the club and the grip will always look weak.

When gripping the club be sure to position the handle along the lower of the two guidelines – this will make sure that the handle does not sneak up into the palm.

Be sure that once your glove hand is positioned on the club you can see at least two knuckles and the V formed between the thumb and the index finger is pointing to the trailing shoulder.

As we saw with Louis Oosthuizen and his glove – you can draw or write whatever you want on any part of your equipment, in any color too!

View the HD video lesson HERE

For additional information on the grip:

•  Golf Grip: Where should it be?
• Golf Grip: Strong, Neutral or Weak?
• The Grip and how it pertains to Impact

The whole idea behind my philosophy is the above statement.  When looking at the top players of all time, there are no two golfers that swing the club the same way, however they all manage to impact and strike the ball in a similar fashion.  How is it possible that Lee Trevino, Ray Floyd and Nancy Lopez can make the ball get to the target the same way that Ben Hogan, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods do?  The only answer can be impact.  A position where the weight is well on the front foot, the handle leads the clubhead into the ball (with irons) while the head remains over or slightly behind the ball.

Today I will identify a few key factors that facilitate a sound impact position.  Swing the club any way you want, but obey these few simple points, because the vast majority of the greatest golfers follow them. (Sounds like a good idea to me!)

Grip:

A Slightly Strong Grip

Almost every champion golfer has a grip that favors the strong end of the spectrum vs. the weaker side.  I can only find one legendary golfer that utilized a weak grip and that would be Ben Hogan – all the others were strong, with a few being neutral.  A strong grip encourages the hands to lead the clubhead into the strike – an integral part of a proper strike on the ball.

Set-Up:

The Set-Up

At address it is important for the head to be centered between the feet.  This will leave the spine relatively verticle and the shoulders fairly level.  Stance width should favor narrow over wide and the ball should never be too far forward.  Keep in mind this set-up is in place to allow the golfer to get into a proper impact position as simply as possible.

The Pivot:

There are two important points to note in the pivot motion: the plane upon which the shoulders pivot and whether or not the body stays within the 84 degree line.  The plus here is that the better the shoulder pivot, the less likely the body is to move laterally and get across the 84 degree line.

In the shoulder pivot, the lead shoulder must move down and then across vs. simply turning across and behind the ball. Notice how Nick Price’s right forearm is above his left halfway back. This is due to the fact that his shoulder have pivoted on the correct, steeper plane.

The 84 Degree Line

As the body winds to the top and just before transition begins, the back side of the body should be flush up against the 84 degree line.  This loads the energy in the swing efficiently and prepares the body to glide effortlessly into a sound impact position.  If you do happen to break the line with your hips or upper body here, you will be challenged to get to the proper impact position.

Notice how all of the above factors are in place to facilitate the body being able to get to impact in an efficient manner.  This is the secret to all of golf’s greatest players’ swings: they all had different swings, but everything they did allowed them to get into the proper position to deliver the club onto the ball correctly.  You would do well to incorporate a few of these elements into your swing.

Patty Berg's Very Strong Grip

 Here are a few answers to the many ‘grip’ questions I have seen:

• A strong grip is one where both hands, whether you are a righty or a lefty, are rotated away from the target on the club.
• A weak grip is just the opposite – the hands are both rotated toward the target.
• The dominant hand on the club is the top hand on the grip – the one closest to the butt-end of the club and the one most golfer’s buy gloves for.  This is the most important hand to position correctly.
• The club should be held primarily in the fingers, just like a pen or a ball or just about anything else you are trying to control.
• There is very little difference between the Vardon grip, the interlock and the ten finger, baseball type grip.  Use the one that feels most comfortable to you (a novel idea!).  Golfers have achieved success with all of the above grips.

Ben Hogan's Slightly Weak Grip

I selected the two illustrations for this post because I believe Ben Hogan and Patty Berg had the most extreme grips out of all the great golfers.  Patty pushed the envelope in the “strong” end of the spectrum while Ben pushed the envelope in the “weak”  end of the spectrum.  Keep in mind that Ben Hogan was a hooker of the golf ball for the most part of his early career and as a result built this weaker, hook deterring grip.  Not only were Patty and Ben both fantastic golfers who won a total 25 majors between them, but they are an ideal illustration that a golfers grip does not have to be “text book” perfect in order to function.  Remember that your grip should be positioned on the club somewhere between these two extremes; somewhere between the range that these two great golfers have established.  A range within which your grip will be allowed to feel comfortable and most importantly function, think of it as the range of function!

 Position your grip anywhere on the club that falls between the two grips pictured and when coupled with an excellent impact position, you will be able to play the golf of your dreams.  When in doubt favor the strong end of the spectrum – most of golf’s all-time greats have done so for years.

I must first state that the grip is part of the “fundamentals’ of golf.  Well, not really! While the grip and aim and set-up are important to your ability to hit a golf ball, the manner in which you grip the club is by no means fundamental - the grip is not integral.  I have seen far too many golfers with great grips hit poor golf shots and vice versa….

The club should be held primarily in the fingers with the hands kept close together.   I have no preference for the overlap, interlock or baseball type grips.   Success has been had with all of them!

A strong grip is one where both hands are rotated away from the target; a weak grip is one where both hands are rotated toward the target and a neutral grip falls somewhere in between.

A Strong Grip

A Weak Grip

  The grip pictured above is non functional grip.  In this example the golfer is forced to flip their hands through impact in an effort to square the face – everything is based on timing.  This grip essentially promotes active hands through impact – just what we should be trying not to do. There was only one truly great golfer who used a weak grip (and certainly not to the extent illustrated in this photo) – Ben Hogan. It is important to remember that Hogan struggled in the early part of his career with hooking the ball and a weak grip was one of the factors he implemented to overcome that tendency.

A strong grip

This is the first in a four part series looking at the three primary factors that pertain to a solid impact position.  They are:

1. A strong grip
2. A balanced set-up
3. Centered body motion (two parts)

In studying the top golfers of all time it has become increasingly apparent to me that the grip plays a big role in a golfer’s ability to achieve a proper impact position.  The vast majority of major winners has a grip that favors the strong end of the spectrum vs. the weaker end.  In fact the only two golfers I can think of that have had a noticeably weak grip and managed to win a major are Ben Hogan and Jose-Maria Olazabal – all the rest have been neutral to strong! Patty Berg, the winner of more majors than any other woman, had a grip that would rival that of Paul Azinger, David Duval and Boo Weekley- all notoriously strong grippers.  I don’t think this is by accident.

The primary reason why a strong grip is apt to be more consistent, and thus more successful than a weaker grip is because it allows the golfer to lead with the handle into impact without concern for squaring the clubface.  Try this: take an iron and set up.  Now push your hands forward, paying attention to what happens to the clubface.  Two things should have occured; firstly, the face should have been delofted.  Check… we want that!  Secondly, the face should have rotated slightly open… we don’t want that!  This is where a strong grip serves to keep the face square while the handle leads the clubhead into impact.  A player who utilizes a weak grip is prone to active hands and that decreases the player’s ability to lead with the handle and ultimately compress the golf ball.

A secondary reason why a strong grip proves to be more successful is due to the fact that now in order to hit a straight shot, the hands must remain quiet through the hit.  We all know that quiet hands are ultimately more consistent than active hands.  It is certainly easier to keep the hands passive than to attempt to time a flip through the impact zone.

Try a stronger grip – it should ultimately allow you to hit crisp and penetrating golf shots!

Notes from Heritage Week:

• Aaron Baddeley is no longer a Stack-n-Tilter! “Too low!” he said when asked why. The few tee balls I saw were definitely higher than I’d seen from him in the past.
• Trevor Immelman was kind enough to give my son his glove and I was amazed to see he wears a men’s cadet small!
• Zach Johnson has only had two hole-in-ones!
• Boo Weekley is exactly what the PGA Tour needs.
• The players love Heritage week – the whole atmosphere is just so relaxed and enjoyable. Couple that with a great golf course and you’ve got a recipe for success.
• Brian Gay is an example of how the PGA Tour is an ‘equal opportunity’ employer. You don’t have to be 6′5 and hit it 320 to win out there.
• The top five finishers at the Masters were a combined -55 and the top five finishers at Harbourtown were -58. Sure the field is not as strong as at Augusta, but Brian Gay did put up a record performance. The Pete Dye lowcountry gem is as good as any course in the world!
• Did anybody notice how steady Brian Gay was over the ball. No lateral move whatsoever!
• Ernie Els is a great supporter of the Heritage event. The tournament vibe just seems to fit with his own – he’s not the “Big Easy” for nothing!
• Ian Baker-Finch is a class act and I am pleased to see his increased role with the CBS broadcast team.