Back To Golfing Basics
19. Dezember 2023
Back To Golfing Basics is a short golf blog post that looks at the importance of taking a look at the basic skills required in Golf.
Every now and then, every golfer should take a step back and look at their basics.
This should involve taking photos and videos of your set-up including grip, posture, stance, balance, alignment, aim etc.
Think of the golfing set-up like a wall. Every brick should be present and correct for the wall to be complete.
Every brick is a basic component that can be looked at and improved upon.
Start at the beginning and build up your wall from the ground up.
What is the most important component in the golfing set-up?
Back to Golfing Basics
The Grip
How you hold the golf club is the most important brick in your wall.
Remember that the grip is our only contact with the golf club, so this should be as good as possible.
If the grip is incorrect, then how can we consistently return the clubface to the ball in a square/neutral position?
Position of the club in our hands – Left-Hand
The left hand is the most important of the two. This is one of the reasons why we only wear one glove.
Place the grip in the left hand using either of the options in the image below. I recommend the Palm & Fingers Grip.
Position of the club in our hands – Right-Hand
There are many ways that the right hand can hold the club whilst having a connection to the left hand.
Baseball Grip – When all 8 fingers are on the back of the grip. This grip option is very rarely seen.
Overlap Grip – When 7 fingers are on the grip and the little finger of the right hand sits on the back of the forefinger of the left hand. A more popular version.
Interlock Grip – When 7 fingers are on the grip and the little finger of the right-hand interlocks with the forefinger of the left hand. The most popular grip option as most golfers feel more connection with the hands.
What I have found over my many years of teaching is the following…
Many golfers with small/weak hands and wrists will tend to hold the club with a Baseball Grip.
Most golfers with large/strong hands and wrists will hold the club with an Interlock Grip.
Golfers with average-sized hands and wrists are prone to have an Overlap/Interlock Grip.
When you look at the grip, from the front, in the address position. The grip should be Neutral.
What is Neutral? Place a tee in between your thumb and forefinger of your right hand.
When in the address position, the tee should point straight forward. This is what we call Neutral.
Neutral Grip
If the tee points too far to the left, this is known as a Weak position and should be adjusted.
Weak Grip
If the tee points too far to the right, this is known as a Strong position and should be adjusted.
Strong Grip
Grip Pressure
There are many ways of describing Grip pressure.
First of all, it is important to recognise that the Left Hand should be more dominant than the Right Hand.
In other words, the dominance should be around 60% in favour of the Left Hand leaving only 40% for the Right Hand.
The pressure in the golf grip should be enough that the club doesn’t fly out of your hand.
You do not want to strangle the club as this will restrict movement in the wrists, elbows and ultimately the shoulders.
We used to teach beginners to hold a tube of toothpaste without squeezing the bottle hard enough that the paste came out.
There was also talk of holding a baby bird in your hand without hurting it.
They should at least get the message through that the grip should be lighter than you think it should be.
When talking about the grip, one could go on and on and on, but the idea of my golfing blogs is that they are short and precise.
Because who wants to read a novel?
What are your thoughts about Back to Golfing Basics?
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