Grip Change: HOW?

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Lifter

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My grip is extremely strong and I'd love to make it a little more neutral. It is so hard to do this. Weakening my grip feels very weak and awkward, unless I address the ball with a super-open clubface. Does anyone have any advice for how to get comfortable with this change so I can successfully make it permanent? Another question is what can I do to make sure that the weaker grip doesn't result in slices? For some context, below is my swing. Thanks!

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BeGA2Z5UNfQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Matt 4-L

Matt 4-L

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Going from a strong grip to a weak grip will probably require a better release of the club, generally speaking strong grip guys tend to have more hang on to keep from hooking the ball.
 
lia41985

lia41985

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I think you should change it to something more neutral. Right now you're not tumbling enough and to do that you'll need a weaker grip that will allow you to steepen without pull hooking it! To add more tumble, feel as if you're hands are moving vertically down while your right hand would face more towards a caddy looking at your swing face on and less towards the sky. Once you incorporate those two moves with your current grip, you'll be starting the ball far too much to the left. Adjust your grip from there. You need a "penalty" for your grip but you won't be able to unless you incorporate more tumble, which you absolutely need. You're coming in below plane and your current grip is a "fix" for that.
 
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Kevin Shields

Super Moderator
Id weken your right hand and learn how to let your left wrist bend properly after impact. Forget about the left hand, its not necessary to weaken it. Clubface control is about the right hand.
 
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Lifter

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Wow guys, super eye-opening answers so far!!

Why change my grip? My ballflights are a little lower and spinnier than I'd like.

Lia, I read many references to "tumble" on this forum but it's still not very clear in my head exactly what it is. Are there any good pictures / posts that really illustrate this concept?

Kevin, your thoughts are very interesting. What I'm aiming to do is weaken my grip to the point where the clubface doesn't look so darn shut at the top of my backswing. Can I really accomplish that with just my right hand?

Also, how exactly is the left wrist supposed to bend after impact? It sure is interesting to hear that the left wrist is supposed to bend at all. The thing that TGM really emphasizes is bowing or keeping that left wrist flat through impact. But I guess it's possible to overdo it.

Concepts like swing plane and ballflight diagnosis are very easy to understand. But the grip and release are huge black holes for my knowledge. This very subtle, yet complicated stuff! I'm eager to learn more about them, though. Good thing this forum exists.
 
Todd Dugan

Todd Dugan

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The "strong" grip.....that is, the hands rotated 45* or so rightward of vertical to the plane at set-up, has worked well for the following major championship winners:

Bobby Jones
Paul Azinger
Fred Couples
Bernhard Langer
John Daly
David Duval
Zach Johnson

to name a few.
 
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Lifter

New
Todd Dugan said:
The "strong" grip.....that is, the hands rotated 45* or so rightward of vertical to the plane at set-up, has worked well for the following major championship winners:

Bobby Jones
Paul Azinger
Fred Couples
Bernhard Langer
John Daly
David Duval
Zach Johnson

to name a few.
Click to expand...

Todd,

I agree that those players' grips are strong. The difference is that my grip is extreme--much much much much stronger than even those players' grips. I'd love to weaken my grip to the point where it's equivalent to their grips. If you look at the video of my swing, you'll see that at the top of my backswing, I have a huge cup in my left wrist, yet the clubface is still dead shut. Now that is an extremely strong grip.
 
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spktho

New
For some reason with round grips a real strong grip feels good for me. So I went to ribbed grips for a more consistent club face orientation when taking the grip with every club. I put them on myself and got the tape pretty wet so I could twist the rib to the right spot for both the left and right hand.

With standard round grips, I would have to check the club face orientation prior to every swing by holding out the left arm with the wrist flat and check how the club face is.
 
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Lindsey Newman

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Hey Lifter, I dig the move. Anyway, tell us about your misses and iron shots post impact. Do you fear a particular miss and do you take deep divots or thin shots? Can you hit long irons in the air?
 
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Lifter

New
Hi Lindsey!

Your explanation of the tumble (provided by lia is AWESOME.) My answer to your questions is that with a grip that is too strong, I tend to be a low smother-hooker. So basically pushes and hooks. I've recently improved my swing plane, so deep divots are no longer an issue.

The big thing I'm trying to figure out is why my clubface looks so shut at the top. I'm actually wondering if it could be due to insufficient left forearm rotation on the backswing rather than a grip that is too strong. Is it possible to tell on video whether my backswing forearm rotation is sufficient? Below are a couple recent videos. What do you think?

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WDbgAQci2_o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NVYOhljJRBg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
johnnymarlboro

johnnymarlboro

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Personally, I think the reasons your club looks so shut is because of the combination of your strong grip and low left arm at the top of your back swing. As seen here in Paul Azinger, who also has a strong grip and bent left wrist. You kinda have to pause it at just the right time to really see it though.


Now if you had a more vertical left arm your clubface might look a little more like this. Freddy Couples who also uses a strong grip and bent left wrist.


Of course, these probably aren't the best angles and or quality, but I think you get the idea. Just an observation.
 
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Lindsey Newman

New
Lifter,

You know Fowler, Sergio, Hogan and you have the camera. You have the physical attributes and the athletic ability. Your grip looks nothing like their grips nor does your left arm coming down. Get the grip to match the face to the left arm and get the left arm to operate in a more vertical manner coming down. Stand a bit closer to accentuate the verticality. Be prepare to hit some right shots as you improve the vertical of your attack and learn over time to work back to the plane, left through impact. Don't change your backswing unless your downswing tells you to. You will be mustard in no time.
 
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Lifter

New
Lindsey, thank you for your post. It is incredibly inspiring. And I need inspiration in order to tolerate all those right shots.

So I take it that you're convinced that the problem is my strong grip. Forearm rotation on the backswing has nothing to do with it. Correct?
 
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Lindsey Newman

New
Lifter said:
Lindsey, thank you for your post. It is incredibly inspiring. And I need inspiration in order to tolerate all those right shots.

So I take it that you're convinced that the problem is my strong grip. Forearm rotation on the backswing has nothing to do with it. Correct?
Click to expand...

Rotating your left arm more will open the shaft more. That would put the shaft closer to your left arm plane at the top, but your clubface will still be closed.
 
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