Your grip can make or break your golf shot—it’s as simple as that. Your hands are your only connection to the club, and if they aren’t positioned correctly, delivering a square clubface at impact becomes nearly impossible. Here are five common golf grip mistakes to avoid.
Incorrect grip pressure
Sam Snead famously said, “Hold the club as if you had a little baby bird in your hands.” Not to discredit Snead, but I’ve only held a few baby birds, and I certainly didn’t hold them like I hold a golf club.
This concept of holding the club too loosely and gently can cause the club to slip during the swing. If you don’t add a little grip pressure, you may not have enough control over the clubface to hit it square.
The best way to determine how much grip pressure is enough is to test different pressures at the range.
Start by gripping the club with a lot of pressure and hitting a few shots. Now, loosen it a bit and hit a few more. Keep experimenting by gradually releasing a little pressure until you can consistently release the club and maximize power. Most golfers find a little extra pressure to be helpful in controlling the clubface.
Gripping in the palm instead of the fingers
Placing your grip too much in the palm of your hand weakens your control. You’ll also notice difficulty with wrist hinge and even forearm rotation. The grip should stay in the fingers.
Incorrect hand position (Weak or strong grip)
A weak grip is where your hands are turned too far to the left. This position can often lead to an open clubface at impact.
For a right-handed golfer, a strong grip has the hands rotated too far to the right, which can cause a hook or a low and left shot. Some players with less hand and wrist strength need a strong grip. The strong grip is great for slicers.
A neutral grip tends to work the best.
The bottom line is to pay attention to how far left or right your hands are shifted on the club.
For a neutral grip, the V-shapes formed between your thumb and index finger on both hands should point between your right ear and right shoulder (for right-handed golfers).
When you look down at your grip, you should see two to two-and-a-half knuckles on your left hand.
Over interlocking the fingers
It’s one thing to interlock your fingers on the club. It’s another to force it.
The interlock (for the right-handed player) simply lets the left hand’s index finger and the right’s pinky join.
If you push too deeply into that position, your hands will turn to the right on the club. This creates a grip that is too strong and your miss is often left and low.
Interlock your fingers, and then just let them be. Don’t force it.
If you overlap your fingers, keep the pinky on the top of the index finger. Don’t let it start to dig into the space between your two fingers.
Thumb positioning on the grip
Finally, look at the thumb on your right hand (right-handed player). If it’s too far to the left side of the club, you may compromise your control over the clubface. This results in inconsistent ball contact and flight paths.
Leave the thumb positioned slightly left of the center of the grip. Keep it flat and don’t wrap it around entirely. This will give you stability without interfering with a wrist hinge during the swing.
Final thoughts
Now, stop pretending to grip a club in front of you while you read this and head out to the driving range. Make some slight changes to your grip and see if that helps put you more in control of the club head. Major grip changes can throw your game off. However, you can make small tweaks like these on the range before you head out to play.
