William Tipton
Active Member
- Apr 24, 2013
- 436
- 71
- Country
- United States
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.
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.