Fixing a strong grip

OldMate

OldMate

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At the start of the year while hitting balls in a shop a guy pointed out that I have a very strong grip with my left hand (I play right handed). After having my round destroyed by 3-4 hooks on Sunday, which has been happening all too often lately, I decided tonight to make an effort on improving my grip. I feel a bit stupid as a single figure handicapper having this problem but better late than never and I think it's something that has just been gradually deteriorating. Throughout the year I've been doing a lot of work on my swing plane and found it relatively simple to improve resulting in dramatically reduced pull hooks with irons and improved ball striking to the point where I was starting to threaten low/mid 70s rounds more often (except when my driver isn't cooperating). However I found tonight working on my grip to be one of the most uncomfortable experiences imaginable admittedly I tried to go from an extremely strong top hand to a neutral position, but it was so unnatural that I felt like I was barely holding the club. Surprisingly I still managed to flush 75% of shots with it but distance control was lacking badly with shorter irons. Has anyone been through the process of radically changing their grip? I assume that it's something that should just be gradually tweaked rather than a sudden drastic change. I think that it's going to be hard for me to make sure I persist with improving it rather than taking the easy way out and working around the problem like I have been to date.
 
Yes. I had a really weak grip with my left hand that was contributing alot to my slice. On my first lesson the pro strenghtened my grip and it felt bloody awfull for about 2 weeks but it did help straighten out my slice on my irons and higher lofted woods. Now it feels totally natural and I can slip into it without even thinking about it.
 
I have a very strong grip and am constantly fighting it (feels comfortable due to cricket), if ever i have time away from the game when i return it tends to be even stronger but is a pig to work on
 
I weakened mine from a reasonably strong grip. I found that the answer, for me, was to do it in one go, stick with it and get to the range as much as I could for a while. I also had a golf club at work and gripped and re gripped it at every opportunity and after a while it started to feel natural and was worthwhile given the end result.
 
It's like any change feels very uncomfortable and awkward but with practice and perserverance it will feel natural again.
Worth the effort though to say goodbye to the nasty snap hook.
Good luck.
 
I did it in 1 go and it took about 3 range sessions and a couple of practice rounds to bed in. I was going from baseball to Varden. Felt very awkward at first with, as you posted, no real control. I believe it's better to change in a single step as the 'out of whack' feeling happens for each change, though if the awkwardness persists, maybe stages could help! I would expect any change with/to the Interlock to be even more awkward feeling at first.

Btw. I know a Pro who is the antithesis of the 'weaken the grip to avoid the hook'! He had a slightly-quite strong grip with the occasional hook and was told (young) to weaken it. After this change, he actually hooked more! He's also inclined to hook more with Stiff shafts than with Regular ones! So if the weaker left hand doesn't work out, don't grind yourself down trying to make it work would be my advice. You must be talented enough to golf your ball very well as you are.
 
chrisd said:
I weakened mine from a reasonably strong grip. I found that the answer, for me, was to do it in one go, stick with it and get to the range as much as I could for a while. I also had a golf club at work and gripped and re gripped it at every opportunity and after a while it started to feel natural and was worthwhile given the end result.
Click to expand...

The above method is what I was advised to use (and did) to make the grip feel more normal.
I had a very strong grip, showing the hole back of my hand and the right hand being completely under. It took a good 6 months to really trust the new grip. I could never go back to how I was, although very powerfull the lack on control was scary.

I think the grip has to one of the 2 things that is correct (IMO its grip and posture)
 
bobmac said:
What's the grip like on your right hand ?
Click to expand...

My right hand is close to neutral bob, slightly strong.

Thanks all. No comp this week, so I'm hoping if I can get to the range both days and out on the course a couple more nights before next weekend I might be comfortable enough to play with it. It felt absolutely horrible last night.
 
I used a club with a leadbetter grip. It was SO hard and the pain lasted months.

I guess it was like a cold turkey approach. Worth it though.
 
I have a strong grip with both hands, been told to change it several times but always end up back where I started as it gets the best results for me - I guess my multitude of swing flaws all work together to hit the ball relatively straight and can't cope if the grip is changed :D
 
Isn't it nice when things just work? I worked on this this afternoon. I took chrisd's advice and gripped/swung a club at home as often as possible at home through the week, which helped a lot as it didn't feel quite as foreign at the range today. Hit 3 buckets of balls, mainly with driver, 3 wood and hybrid - not a single snap hook. It did still feel a bit awkward and I did slice a few drives but they were generally just bad swings and were easy enough to remedy. I was absolutely murdering 3 wood which is usually hit and miss with hooks. Great to come away from a session feeling like I can choose to turn the ball left or right with a high degree of success - my grip must have been so bad that it has been near impossible for the last year or so to hit a fade of any sort. The only downside was I appeared to be hitting most irons 10-15 yards shorter (hard to tell with range balls). Now to take it out on to the course...
 
Thought I'd dig this one up from a few months ago. Pleased to report that without too much pain I've gone from the dark days where a snap hook had invaded my game and I was probably only hitting about 20% of fairways to now hitting 75-90% of fairways primarily through grip change. Admittedly I'm now hitting 3 wood 7 times out of 10 but I used to snap hook that as wildly as my driver. I've ended up finding a happy medium of using a neutral grip with woods and keeping my strong grip with irons (the shorter the club the stronger the grip). I found that I was losing so much distance and distance control with irons using a weaker grip that I decided it wasn't worth it - iron accuracy is decent anyway - I have a solid draw but can easily play for it and don't want to give up the distance it provides. It's a good feeling walking up to every tee with absolute confidence in where I'm going to hit it which wasn't something I could have imagined a few months ago. My achilles heel has now become a strength. Haven't been playing much but have had some promising casual round scores and I'm looking forward to comps recommencing as I feel like I'm on the brink of some good golf.
 
HomerJSimpson said:
If you want something to help I recommend this http://www.direct-golf.co.uk/golf_accessories/golf-grip/swing_aids_grip_training_aid/p14858.aspx

I'm trying to correct a strong grip and its really helping
Click to expand...

Been using one of those too Homer, left hand still wont sit on the club where I want it too and the more I flip the hands the more scared I am to rotate the body (otherwise I end up hitting big pull hooks which are so destructive). Only downside with these grip additions is despite their claims they really dont work on bigger than a standard grip, mine is already badly twisted having been used on midsize grips
 
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