The Tour and Strong Grips

[aa034321]

Last Friday I spent the day at Colonial in Fort Worth. On the #3 tee box it's possible to get about 6-8 feet from the players straight on as they hit their tee shots, a mix of drivers and 3 woods as they try to cut the corner of the dogleg.

I would say that somewhere north of 90% had what I would call a "strong" left hand grip regardless of right hand position (saw a mixed bag of strong to weak right hands). Now lately I've been experimenting with a very weak left hand grip and slightly more open clubface which when combined with some twistaway has produced at times much better compression and "kick" with my iron shots.

My hunch was that the pro grips appeared to be strong because they tend to open the clubface slightly at address, but after watching for several hours on Friday, I don't believe this is the case. The majority just have a strong left hand grip.

My question is, what is it they're doing or not doing that makes a strong left hand grip preferred? I assume they are at least slightly cupped at the top or they would hit it left of Hillary Clinton.

 

[texagjosh]

What was their predominant ballfight? I sat on #16 at TPC Las Colinas last week in the same spot as you (directly behind the tee box between the camera guy and marshall).

I didn't notice grip so much, but I would say about of 32 guys I saw tee off from that spot, 30 of them were hitting a fade.

 

[aa034321]

Predominant ballflight on that hole was a slight draw, it's a sharp dogleg to the left and appeared that every player was trying to get some right to left. Only a couple hit cuts/fades and they weren't very happy when the ball was in the air.

To be clear, I was standing face on (front view) not behind the tee box.

 

[wedgeplay]

Tour set up

I watched the PGA at Medinah a few years ago. I was about 6-8 feet away from the players as they hit iron shots on a par 3.

I saw Tom Lehman ,who uses a strong grip , have the clubface open at address and hit a slight draw.

I began to notice most of the players coming through had an open looking clubface at address.The tee box was elevated so my view was from the side and almost "worm camish".

 

[lookingtolearn]

It's really hard to tell how strong a grip is at address. I would bet the majority of Tour players would fall somewhere between 10-20 degrees stronger than "neutral," which isn't that strong at all. Some are weaker and some are stronger, but I don't think too many.

 

[dannyc]

I watched the PGA at Medinah a few years ago. I was about 6-8 feet away from the players as they hit iron shots on a par 3.

I saw Tom Lehman ,who uses a strong grip , have the clubface open at address and hit a slight draw.

I began to notice most of the players coming through had an open looking clubface at address.The tee box was elevated so my view was from the side and almost "worm camish".

not surprising, since draw = clubface open to target, closed to path.