Get A Grip

BY GLENN WHITTLE
MANAGER-NATIONAL COACHING PROGRAMS,
PGA OF AUSTRALIA

Having taught many juniors over the years, I have seen hundreds of parents and juniors concerned with the type of grip younger golfers are choosing from the start. The grip, or placement of the hands on the club, is important. But there are no hard and fast rules about what style of grip you should have. It doesn’t matter if a player interlocks the right ‘pinky’ fi nger and left index finger (for righthanders) into what is known as the interlocking grip (pic 1).

Equally it doesn’t matter if the right pinky finger sits on top of the left index fi nger in an overlapping grip position or the player chooses to place all ten fingers on the club in a baseball grip style. These three gripping styles are not the highest priority when starting out.

Nine out of every 10 juniors, especially younger players, grab a club for the fi rst time and use a baseball or ten-fingered grip (pic 2). This does not mean to say that I endorse the hands being placed on the club wherever the player likes. But as long as the grip you are using gets a tick from each of the following points, you are heading in the right direction.

1. The right hand should be GETTING A GRIP positioned below the left hand. This, of course, is opposite to the way left-handers should put their hands on the club.

2. Keep your hands as close together as possible.

3. The pad of your left hand should sit on top of the grip, not to the side.

4. Your left thumb should point straight down the grip or slightly to the right of centre.

5. You right thumb should point to the left of centre of the grip.

As you mature and your golf begins to improve, your local PGA
professional will probably decide to change your grip to either of the first two styles mentioned earlier. Just so you know there is no one way to grip the club, here is proof. Stuart Appleby uses an overlapping grip, Tiger Woods has opted for the interlocking grip while Greg Norman has used a combination of both grips for most of his career.


From the September 2005 issue of Golf Australia. You can purchase this issue at www.mymagazines.com.au