Golf Tips, Lessons and Strategies | How tight should your grip be?

Many people approach golf the same way they approach other sports that have “sticks” like hockey, baseball or tennis. They view the club as an extension of their arm, and therefore, hang on to it as if it were their arm. They squeeze it so hard that their knuckles turn white, and the blood runs out of it. In some sports, this may be correct. In golf, it most certainly isn’t. The easy thing to say is that you should grip the club tight enough to maintain control over it – but no tighter. Easy to say, but hard to explain.

For normal shots, you want to have a medium grip on the club with your top hand, strong enough to maintain full control over the club throughout the entire swing. With your bottom hand, you want to hold on a little bit looser, but not so loose that you risk having the club turn over in your hand during your swing, or worse, that you find yourself re-gripping the club mid-flight. If you hold it too loosely, you may lose your control of the face of the club, causing you not to hit the ball where you intended. However, if you grip it too hard, you’ll lose speed and power on your swing.

Another thing to keep in mind is the effect the tightness of your grip will have on your arms. If you are holding onto the club extra-tightly, then your forearms and shoulders are also clenching more than they should. This is going to lead you to have a swing that’s less fluid and less flexible than you need to hit a quality shot. As long as you can maintain control of the club and the face throughout impact, you are probably holding the club tightly enough.

As with everything in golf, there are exceptions. If you have a shot where you need to bear down, say you are in heavy rough, or in a deep sand trap, then gripping harder might be called for – though it comes at the expense of club speed. If you are in a position where you need to let the ball fly, or you have a wide opening ahead of you, and a small miss is okay, then gripping looser may serve you well, you’ll get better speed, just less control.

“As tightly as you need to, but no tighter” is an easy thing to say, hard thing to do. Out on the course, though, remember you want to maintain a loose enough grip to speed the club through the striking zone, while not losing it on the way through. Unless called for, don’t squeeze too hard.

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