So did you vote for a NEUTRAL grip????????

[AmandaJR]

Thank you very much, makes more sense now, I would assume I have a neutral/weak grip then.

What are benefits and negatives to these different kind of grips obviously there are more than strong weak neutral etc but there is also baseball overlapping and interlocked?

How you link or not your hands tends to be personal preference although not many use baseball grip where there is no link. Generally bigger hands favour overlapping and smaller interlocking (I interlock). Tiger interlocks and doubt his hands are small though! A strong grip does make it easier to square the club face or at least keep it from opening but too much and a draw can become strong, stronger and then an all out hook. I went strong and was on the left hand side of the course way too much so worked back towards neutral but still strong side of neutral. If I make sure I grip the club in my fingers rather than palm then that makes it easier for me to square the club at impact by not opening it on the backswing.

No reason not to experiment. Just hold the club stronger and take it back and feel the change in relationship to the club face...

 

[Hobbit]

I know what my bad swing is. If I used a strong grip, it would cause problems when, on occasion, I put a bad swing on it. A couple of bad swings, and add in a strong grip, would wreck the card.

Should I aspire to swing like a pro? I would love to but I'm a realist. The grip I have suits my game very well.

 

[Lump]

Very few people have actually had how they grip the club looked at. Thats the biggest problem, problem number two is the grip is such an intrinsic part of the game its very hard to change it fully. Yes, you may be able to show someone a weaker/stronger grip but overtime, without making a very conscience effort to keep an eye on it, you will more than likely head some way back towards your natural grip. I have done the same, I went from a very strong grip, to having a course of lessons and being show/taught to use a much weaker grip. I have over the course of two years slowly slipped back to a neutral/strong grip, but I now understand how a stronger/weaker grip effects my shots.

I believe Westwood has said on many occasions if you don't understand the basics of golf you're fighting a losing battle. I don't think it gets anymore basic than how you hold onto the club.

 

[Fish]

I don't think it gets anymore basic than how you hold onto the club.

Because that is the link between man, club & ball

 

[One Planer]

Luke is on this page Gareth... about the 8th one down... I'm guessing you couldn't be bothered to read the pages then?
http://www.aroundhawaii.com/lifestyle/health_and_fitness/2011-09-pga-tour-grip-styles-part-2.html

I couldn't get the page to open James. No idea why.

My point was comparing Luke's grip to Zachs. If Luke's is considered strong then Zachs must be super strong?

Back to my original point. As I can't open the link, did they give the basis for what they consider a neutral and a strong grip?

 

[JustOne]

Cant believe your sitting at your computer at 03.19 on a Sunday morning calling someone stupid for buying my V-Easy :angry:
Back to the op
Not many pros swing out to in on the downswing.
Most amateurs do.
If most amateurs had a strong grip or a very strong grip, the ball would start left and go further left.
Therefor, neutral or weak grips suit most amateurs.

I didn't say V-Easy, I said putting training aid, not knocking your product Bob more the fact that if someone states golf is for fun then they wouldn't be buying training aids or taking lessons, would they?.

Is it not so that most ams swing left in an effort to square the face seeing as their grip is too weak? :mmm:

 

[Oddsocks]

Zach has a strong grip, most tour players do.

[video=youtube;Soba0sGGML8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soba0sGGML8[/video]

So..... Everything I've been working against (grip wise and top of back swing) for the last four years is infact a text book copy of zj!!!

That pro is right at the top of my sh1t list!

 

[JustOne]

My point was comparing Luke's grip to Zachs. If Luke's is considered strong then Zachs must be super strong?

That's correct, Zach has a very strong grip.

 

[JustOne]

So..... Everything I've been working against (grip wise and top of back swing) for the last four years is infact a text book copy of zj!!!

That pro is right at the top of my sh1t list!

ZJ is right at the end of the spectrum in terms of swing, so are people like Hunter Mahan, Luke Donald, Dustin Johnson, Jim Furyk as they all do something that is different to the 'norm'.

 

[Oddsocks]

All I had for three years is:

Left hands string again
Your shut at the top again

 

[JustOne]

All I had for three years is:

Left hands string again
Your shut at the top again

Which is exactly the point that the writer of those articles is trying to show.

You'd be lead to have a neutral grip so much so that (as proved by my poll) the majority (95%) of people would vote for neutral. SOMETHING (whatever it is) has infiltrated our perception of what is correct. It appears you should err on the side of a stronger grip THEN learn not to flip, rather than flip and change your grip to accommodate your flip.

Had an interesting chit-chat with an instructor the other week, says "you have to give the learner confidence, get them to flip the club so they get the ball in the air, worry about the rest later when they come back for more lessons" :mmm:

...so basically teach people the wrong way so they love the game and keep playing, then make your money putting right all the things that you taught them wrong in the first place. You couldn't make up that kind of stuff!

 

[percy_layer]

Which is exactly the point that the writer of those articles is trying to show.

You'd be lead to have a neutral grip so much so that (as proved by my poll) the majority (95%) of people would vote for neutral. SOMETHING (whatever it is) has infiltrated our perception of what is correct. It appears you should err on the side of a stronger grip THEN learn not to flip, rather than flip and change your grip to accommodate your flip.

Had an interesting chit-chat with an instructor the other week, says "you have to give the learner confidence, get them to flip the club so they get the ball in the air, worry about the rest later when they come back for more lessons" :mmm:

...so basically teach people the wrong way so they love the game and keep playing, then make your money putting right all the things that you taught them wrong in the first place. You couldn't make up that kind of stuff!

Normally I wouldn't comment, but..............

The first thing I teach people is how to hold the club.
Briefly, it starts with how the ball and club are meant to interact, then talk about shaft lean that allows the correct contact and how the grip affects this. Then, how the hands go on the club.


I wouldn't be impressed with any instructor that feels they need to start people by teaching them things they would have to correct at a later date.

 

[Foxholer]

I read some where not sure where but tour pros use a stronger grip for two reasons:

1. Take the right side totally out of the equation
2. Generate more distance

Advocating copying the pros blindly is a bit misleading, and as other people have mentioned, so is the characterisation of their actual grips. However, all that said I recently slightly strengthened my grip and was striking the ball beautifully...

...until I started hooking and shanking it that is

Most Pros seem to be more concerned with taking the left side out of play.

A draw does get more distance, though not as much more as it used to with spinnier balls vs the modern 'power fade'. But the big danger, for them, is the uncontrolled/uncontrollable hook! Hogan's swing is anti-hook; Trevino could 'talk to a fade but a hook wouldn't listyen' and Tiger's big fear is getting 'stuck' on the downswing that causes a hook!

 

[SocketRocket]

I posted this in the voting thread but here it is again:

I use a slightly strong grip, this shuts the face around 10 deg, I do this to allow the clubface to square when the shaft is forward leaning. If you set the clubface square at address and lean the shaft forward you will see the face opens. A neutral grip will see the club face open at impact unless you manipulate the wrists to close it.

 

[CMAC]

I posted this in the voting thread but here it is again:

I use a slightly strong grip, this shuts the face around 10 deg, I do this to allow the clubface to square when the shaft is forward leaning. If you set the clubface square at address and lean the shaft forward you will see the face opens. A neutral grip will see the club face open at impact unless you manipulate the wrists to close it.

Not if you lean towards the target, you must be moving the hands out as well to open the face

 

[SocketRocket]

Not if you lean towards the target, you must be moving the hands out as well to open the face

No! Thats wrong. The club face hinges around the shaft and pivots around the hozel, this opens the face. In your example the shaft would need to be face central.

[video=youtube;Gg8hSHfi1oI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg8hSHfi1oI[/video]

 

[JustOne]

I wouldn't be impressed with any instructor that feels they need to start people by teaching them things they would have to correct at a later date.

I wasn't impressed and don't agree with him, but I do see his point however wrong I believe it to be. It's like applying a quick fix to your crappy swing, you still have a crappy swing but you see a result and go away happy (albeit £20 lighter in your wallet) ready to face another day. Basically it's a con, but one we're all to happy to fall for.

 

[Foxholer]

I posted this in the voting thread but here it is again:

I use a slightly strong grip, this shuts the face around 10 deg, I do this to allow the clubface to square when the shaft is forward leaning. If you set the clubface square at address and lean the shaft forward you will see the face opens. A neutral grip will see the club face open at impact unless you manipulate the wrists to close it.

That may or may not be a good thing to do - for you - but be aware that your position at address is nothing like your position at impact.

And experience (aka reasonably dedicated practice) will unconsciously ingrain the manipulations required to square the clubface for many people. It works in the same way that the proponents of the face at the target guys made an unconscious adjustment!

Though setting up this way certainly encourages a slight face closure - no bad thing for most.

 

[CMAC]

No! Thats wrong. The club face hinges around the shaft and pivots around the hozel, this opens the face. In your example the shaft would need to be face central.

don't think you've understood what I said, I can easily keep the face square and put more shaft lean on a club

 

[SocketRocket]

don't think you've understood what I said, I can easily keep the face square and put more shaft lean on a club

I don't doubt you Darth but most golfers cant, most tour pros have a strong grip. Why?

Shawn Clements video explains the concept very well.