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Grip

William Tipton

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Apr 24, 2013
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Hello all.

I have been playing 19 months now and am starting to finally understand how crucial the grip actually is.
I'll play a round and do really well for my skill level, best scores are 91 so far, but until the other day was still having trouble with the army golf thing...right, left, right, left...not enough to keep me from playing, but enough so that I cannot figure out what I have to do to get better.

So the other night Im sitting here thinking trying to figure out why the clubhead is not consistently coming thru square and what would I do in some other area of life to 'restrict' waywardness and it dawned in me to use a stronger grip. Id been at 3 knuckles on the left and probably 1 on the right hand (I am right handed, btw) and getting a LOT of left fairway/rough shots.
I upped it to 4 knuckles on the left hand and about 2 to 2-1/2 on the right and right out of the gate started bombing balls down the middle.
Yesterday I played 18 and on a longish par 5 I used a 3 wood off the tee and then on the second shot and ended up about 15 feet from the green dead center fairway (a small miracle for me) which nearly ended up in an eagle when I bumped it up onto the green. ran over the hole but had just a little too much speed to drop in. Not something I'd have been doing just 72 hours before with the old grip.

So I got to looking around the web and sure enough there is a ton of grip information I apparently missed when researching the golf swing that pretty much says the same thing that I have been seeing with this new grip.

I use the overlapping grip since it seems that most pros use it and since Ive gotten comfortable with it its hard to even try any other grip now, feels natural at this point.

I jumped over the the range this morning to check it all out and just took my 3 wood and another 16 degree hybrid.
From ball one using this new grip the first ball shot out dead straight down the little "fairway' that I used that is basically two rows of distance markers.
Other than the 4 balls I shagged from pulling up (I do that sometimes) about 80% of them went right down the middle of the 'fairway', with a few of them pulling slightly, but seemed to be corrected immediately by turning the right hand over counter-clockwise (stronger? Weaker?) about 1-2 degrees, which straightened it right up.

I actually parred a hole yesterday that is a real nightmare for me on the one course I play a lot. On in regulation and two putted, which had me about to do a little dance up there.

A question I have is....if your swing mechanics are on....say youve got a nice swing that looks very typical and is 'correct' is the grip basically the final say in what the ball is going to do...ie going straight most of the time, fading or drawing when you change the grip/stance, etc?

I read someone somewhere who said to get the swing down and once that was set then adjust your grip to tie it all together.

Thanks for any thoughts.
 

TEA Time

Grumpy Gilmore
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Mar 23, 2011
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In my experience, if you find a grip that works for you, don't mess with it. You can work the ball with the same grip by manipulating your setup, ball position, and/or swing.

Again this is MY EXPERIENCE, but anytime I tried to change my grip, my ball striking went to hell.
 
OP
William Tipton

William Tipton

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Apr 24, 2013
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I really cant figure something out.
Ive signed up for about 2 dozen golf forums and this 'troll' BS comes up every damned time I ask something.
Im just about fed up with it. Are golfers so damned insecure that a new member cant ask a question without being called a troll?
 

azgreg

"Don't count that."
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William, first off, welcome to the forum. Second, don't mind TEA Time, he's just mad that we found out about his sex change operation.

To let you know we can get a little snarky around here and like to joke with each other. This is a small forum, but one of my favorites. Stick around a while and I'm sure you will like it a lot as well.
 
OP
William Tipton

William Tipton

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Apr 24, 2013
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William, first off, welcome to the forum. Second, don't mind TEA Time, he's just mad that we found out about his sex change operation.

To let you know we can get a little snarky around here and like to joke with each other. This is a small forum, but one of my favorites. Stick around a while and I'm sure you will like it a lot as well.
Thanks.
Im not overly concerned about the snarkiness, its just a bit much when its the first post and on so many golf forums. Ive had to walk away from a lot of them because there seem to be a lot of really miserable people who golf.

Anyway, I do appreciate the first response. Ive been trying a lot of different swing styles and nothing seems to be getting the consistency Im sure we're all looking for. The results of the grip change makes me think it wasnt the swing so much as the grip that I should have been working on. I talk to guys here but they are so contradictory that its hard to tell if one of them is wrong, or if its just a matter of personal style or something.

Im starting to think that golf is more an art form than science seeing so many varied swings out there.
 

TEA Time

Grumpy Gilmore
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We've been hit by some sneaky trolls lately. Usually they just jump right in and their first post is seemingly innocent but winds up quite the contrary. And since you didn't post in the introductions forum, I had my doubts. Obviously you're legit, so grab a beer and stay a while.

My initial response was sincere. If you find a good grip, keep it. :cool:

And it wasn't a sex change per se. More like a sex addition... best of both worlds, baby!
 
OP
William Tipton

William Tipton

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Apr 24, 2013
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We've been hit by some sneaky trolls lately. Usually they just jump right in and their first post is seemingly innocent but winds up quite the contrary. And since you didn't post in the introductions forum, I had my doubts. Obviously you're legit, so grab a beer and stay a while.

My initial response was sincere. If you find a good grip, keep it. :cool:

And it wasn't a sex change per se. More like a sex addition... best of both worlds, baby!
I see.
Maybe thats what was going on with some of the other forums too. Some of them Id tried to post for a few weeks but it seemed like there was always a small group of asstards who were just insulting regardless of the topic.
Ive only been playing about 19 months or so and that means I still have tons of questions and its a bit much to deal with insults when I ask questions. Thats why I jumped at the troll remark.

The grip thing is new to me.
I just recently regripped to oversized grips and absolutely love them but still had some serious inconsistencies.
I was amazed at the results with the grip change the other day and so I thought Id ask people whove been playing for a while. My instructor lives in another state and is busy most of the time so its not always so easy to get hold of him to talk things out. Figured Id try to find another forum and see if I could get some input after reading a dozen articles or so that seemed to say that we all will end up with different grips based on our body and swing style.

I may end up actually liking the game a lot better if things keep going the way they have been lately.
 
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William Tipton

William Tipton

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Apr 24, 2013
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Played 27 holes today. Seems that this must be the right grip for me because I was able to actually keep my left arm more straight thru the swing (like my instructor teaches and like I see Tiger Woods do in that one slow motion video of his on youtube) which has been a real issue. It almost always resulted in an extremely long straight shot (for me) but 99% of the time went left enough to not be able to play it at all most of the time (think water, trees, other fairways, etc).
I decided to try it again with the grip change and no more lefties so far.
Really getting the feeling that this grip thing has been my problem for over a year now.

When you all started playing was there a point where you finally 'got it' with the grip like this?
Im just wondering if Ive not been paying attention to something like I should have or if this is just the natural evolution of a golf swing and I just need to keep working at it and stop getting so annoyed that I want to toss the whole bag in a pond.
 
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William Tipton

William Tipton

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Apr 24, 2013
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played 9 more this evening. Had a couple holes that got entirely away from me. I dont know what my problem is but I cant help myself but to keep tinkering while Im playing. STuff I should be trying out at the range I insist on doing in the middle of playing a game and all it does is get me all jabberwokkied up and pissed off.
Only seems to be a problem with the 3 wood (dont carry a driver right now). My irons and hybrids (2h,4h,6h, 7i, 8i,9i,pw, 52w and 60w) always seem to be fine. I'll hit good shots and then want to experiment on the second shot of a par 4 or something and really screw the shot up instead of just going with what I know works for me.
I think I need a shock collar and someone with the control to zap me when Im doing anything out of the ordinary. Its the only way I'll ever learn.
 

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