Cross handed, should I change?

[Dougall360]

Hi there

I love the game of golf and used to play about twice a year. Within the past year though I've been playing every week and I'm loving it. I want to take my game to the next level.
I don't know why but when I stated playing, I gripped the club cross handed (cack handed). This now feels comfortable to me as it's something I'm used to.
Do you think I should change the way I grip the club in order to help my game? I hit the ball as well as the people that I play with but it's not consistent. I struggle to drive the ball well also but I feel this is down to my technique rather than my grip.
Any advice would be welcome

 

[Dougall360]

Your technique and grip are completely intertwined.

It's your hobby, your golf, completely up to you what you want to do.

I want to get better though. Do you think my grip could halt my progress if I were to get lessons?

 

[bobmac]

I don't know what your h/cap is but I know a guy off 5 who grips it like you so its possible to get pretty good.
What problems are you having with your driving, contact or direction ?

 

[Doh]

I’ve told people this before so apologies if you have heard this, I have a mate who played cross handed who played like that for years he got down to 6 so pretty good. Then he accidentally broke one of his thumbs and was laid up for six weeks, so he took the opportunity to change to a more conventional grip. Last I heard he was back down to 6 and has not look back.
So you can get good either way depending on your ability you have to make the choice, have you tried to play with a conventional grip? If bobmac gives you advice listen.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

My first game at my current club was with a bloke who played cross handed. It took me about 4 holes to work out what looked odd. Anyway, this bloke was off 2, drove it miles. Saying that, he was mid 20's, powerful forearms and bullied the ball down the fairway. His swing was restricted but his strength won over. The other noticeable downside was that he struggled to get much loft as his swing angle was restricted but clearly he was good enough to overcome this.

In essence, crack on. There may be some difficulties playing this way but golf is hard anyway so holding the club normally may have as many issues for you. If it works for you, keep going, if you are having problems then try the alternative.

 

[Dougall360]

I don't know what your h/cap is but I know a guy off 5 who grips it like you so its possible to get pretty good.
What problems are you having with your driving, contact or direction ?

I don't have a handicap as of yet. I play with a guy who is off 13 and my dad plays of 11. I know it's nothing special but I am never to far behind either of them.
The problem I have with driving is I struggle to get the loft on it. I always seem to hit down on the ball rather than hitting the up swing.

Thank you so much for the advice. I'm not professional but love the game and really want to take it to the next level

 

[Dougall360]

I’ve told people this before so apologies if you have heard this, I have a mate who played cross handed who played like that for years he got down to 6 so pretty good. Then he accidentally broke one of his thumbs and was laid up for six weeks, so he took the opportunity to change to a more conventional grip. Last I heard he was back down to 6 and has not look back.
So you can get good either way depending on your ability you have to make the choice, have you tried to play with a conventional grip? If bobmac gives you advice listen.

Not at all thank you so much for the advice.
I am going to the driving range today to work on my swing but I'm worried if I change to conventional it will know everything off and I will be starting all over again

 

[Dougall360]

My first game at my current club was with a bloke who played cross handed. It took me about 4 holes to work out what looked odd. Anyway, this bloke was off 2, drove it miles. Saying that, he was mid 20's, powerful forearms and bullied the ball down the fairway. His swing was restricted but his strength won over. The other noticeable downside was that he struggled to get much loft as his swing angle was restricted but clearly he was good enough to overcome this.

In essence, crack on. There may be some difficulties playing this way but golf is hard anyway so holding the club normally may have as many issues for you. If it works for you, keep going, if you are having problems then try the alternative.

I to struggle to get loft but I usually put this down to my technique rather than my grip. Sometimes I get fantastic loft but I find I'm topping the ball a lot which I'm trying to fix.

 

[ger147]

I was in your shoes a very long time ago. I changed to convential and am glad I did. Didn't take that long to get comfortable, probably several weeks but I was on my summer holidays at the time and was able to hit balls, play etc. most days.

 

[Foxholer]

I'd certainly advise it - for 2 reasons.
1. Driving can be tricky 'cack-handed'. As others have posted getting loft appears to be the difficulty.
2. If you want lessons, many teachers won't know how to handle you! Most have images of 'correct' positions at various points in the swing and yours are likely to throw many of them.

That said, I seem to remember a 'cack-handed' player was right up there as a top amateur when I worked up there 20 years ago. Apparently refused to change (having tried) and Scotland Team coaches 'didn't want to know him'!

So if 'normal' doesn't feel normal after a reasonable amount of practice, I'd say go back to cack-handed - and ignore negative criticism. It's only a game after all.

 

[Crow]

Your survey is 100% for change so under forum rules you're now obliged to change.

 

[Dougall360]

Your survey is 100% for change so under forum rules you're now obliged to change.

If that's the rules then it would be rude to go against them.

 

[Dougall360]

If you'd been playing another, probably Irish, sport cack handed and/or had been playing golf for a while to any decent level the same way, I'd say don't bother changing.

But you're just starting out, you don't have anything to give up by changing, so just get some lessons and start gripping it properly now would be my advice.

Great advice. I'll try and get lessons somewhere and see how I get on with the conventional way

 

[jmcp]

Hi,

I played cack handed for many years, kept getting down to 9.6 but couldn’t quite break into the single figures and like yourself, my ball flight was very low and hard to stop when conditions are dry so, in an effort to break into single figures, I spent a full 2 weeks in our practice area changing, felt comfortable in no time at all but, my ball flight became very high and weak ( lost a lot of distance) and my handicap drifted up a couple of shots Over the next 2 seasons.

if going for lessons, you really need a coach that is bought into improving your crack handed swing, I went for one with our club pro at the time and it was a waste of time, told me I hit the ball great and don’t change anything which was far from true lol

cheers, John

 

[clubchamp98]

I hit down on my driver and it does become a problem if your timing is off.
It delofts the club face and results in a very low flight.
Convention is you should change as nearly all books , YouTube etc would be for a conventional grip.
So any advice would be with this grip.

If you are going to you need to do it now .
Good pro would be my advice ,he will check your grip and make sure you are on the right path.
I use a Skilz grip trainer. .it fits on your club and is a brilliant trainer..

It’s difficult to change something like this and takes time.
Good luck.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

I believe a guy won the Scottish Amateur and was runner up in the Amateur Championship a few years back playing cack handed.

Just another unorthodox way to grip the club, up to the OP to decide where to progress from here but it would be interesting to see what some teaching pro's take on it is.

 

[Dougall360]

Really appreciate all the feedback and comments.
I think I could continue playing the way I'm playing and not changing anything however I would need to get really good myself.
I think by taking a few weeks to get used to the conventional grip, I will find it easier to take action on advice that I get from my swing etc.

Although there are people who play cack handed, I don't think there are enough that convince me its okay to not change anything.

A tricky one but I guess all golfers need to make adjustments in their game at some point if they want to improve.

 

[Orikoru]

Have you ever tried playing left-handed?

 

[Wellens89]

I play cross handed myself as a regular grip just feels too unnatural. Problems regarding loft will go with practice as I had the same issue but now hit a straight 290+yd drive. I find that standing behind the ball, then walking into the shot to set up and taking 10% out of swing speed has worked wonders. If you have only played twice in a year before now then you are still at the beginning and you should keep practicing. It'll come. Don't switch.

 

[AliMc]

One of our Assistant Pro's at Dunbar (fully pga qualified) plays cack handed, played off +4 as an amateur, his father was also a Pro and told him just to stick with it if that was what he was comfortable with