The Proper Golf Grip

While teaching at the Golf Expo this past weekend the vast majority of golfers have a few mistakes in common. The first is the Grip. It is fun to see some of the home made versions that golfers will try; most people try to solve their golf ball flight or lack thereof by changing their grip.

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of the grip. We want to have the palms facing each other and the V’s that are formed by the gap between our thumb and the knuckle of the pointer finger going the same direction. We do not want any gaps in our V’s of the left hand if you are right handed, learn to use what we call a short thumb. We want to see equal amounts of both hands (see photo here). A good grip will help to use the wrists correctly.

Another common error was the balance in the address position. I saw person after person bent over way to far at the waist. We want to get into an athletic position with our knees flexed slightly and our bottoms stuck out. It’s very similar to sitting on a bar stool. We would like your shoulders to be supported by the knees. We want our weight to be between the balls of our feet and the heels of our feet.

Once we have a good setup we are able to keep the triangle which consists of our shoulders and are two arms working in the correct sequence with the rotation of our torso (see video here)

When we come back towards the impact area we want to feel like we are carrying a 50 lb. bag of sand. What I mean by that is we must maintain the athletic position to support our move back to the ball. So to feel that both of your elbows will be pointed towards your hips. Your right elbow to the right hip and the left to the left hip. This will prevent you from driving the left hip towards the target, making the rotation easier.

Teachers call this staying connected. So while swinging with the automatic swing trainer your want your elbows pointed to your hips while letting the bottom of the telescoping tubes slide along the slide bar. Also, remember to do some initial practice swings focusing solely on maintaining the correct spine angle throughout the swing. Hinging up properly while maintaining the same spine angle throughout the swing helps to create an automatic, repeatable swing. A swing that you can take to the course and rely on.

The Golf Expo was a great reminder of the importance of the fundamentals of golf and the need for golfers to learn simple, repeatable moves. Starting with the correct grip and finishing with the correct position at Address / Impact.