What’s Your Pressure?

How tightly are you holding the grip of the club with your hands? There, that should clear it up. I like to describe a grip pressure scale from 1 to 10. One is your holding a baby chick by its neck and ten is your holding onto gymnastic rings for your dear life. The most common response from students is somewhere between a 7 and 9. Well….this is way too high, and here’s why. Tension! This is an enemy of the golf swing. In order to properly and consistently hit the golf ball, we need to have control of our fine motor skills during the swing. If you are gripping the club too tightly, you’re creating tension in your hands. The longer you hold the club this tight, the quicker tension begins to creep up into your arms and eventually into your shoulders. The first thing to go is your “feel”. Since our only connection to the golf club is our hands, the brain uses this connection to process millions of bits of information during your swing. The lighter your grip, the better your “feel” will be. The second problem we have with tension is the timing and control of your hands in relation to the club face. You must be able to square the club face to your target line as you impact the ball. A tight grip pressure causes most players to be late in squaring the club head, causing them to hit the ball to the right. Now that you’ve waded your way through all this technical jargon, “what is the right grip pressure?” First off, a lighter grip pressure does not mean the club is going to fly out of your hands (unless you’re using grandpa’s clubs with leather grips that have been sitting in the garage for the last 40 years). My students all know the long winded technical answer to this question, but simply put, your grip pressure should be about a 4 or 5 on the scale mentioned above. This will allow the brain to gather the “feel” info it needs as well as allow your hands to flow smoothly through the ball, making it easier to square the club head at impact. The next time you practice your swing, chipping, or putting, I want you to ask yourself, “what’s my pressure”, and see what happens.