• Las Vegas Golf

The choice of words for the title of this article purposely avoids the use of the word “grip” because gripping something implies a forceful act and I don’t think that should be the aim in handling a golf club. This relates primarily to the pressure used in holding a golf club, but I want to impress on you from the start that you will be better served in your golf game if you think hold, and not grip.

For most people, the Vardon overlapping hold is the best. It is the most often used, anyway, which seems to prove that statement. The Vardon hold has the little finger of the right hand laying on top of the crevice between the index and middle fingers of the left hand. The Vardon hold offers a compact connection of the hands on the club so they can work as a single unit with good flexibility and feel.

But Jack Nicklaus, who can play a little golf, uses an interlocking finger hold. His right-hand little finger intertwines with the index finger of his left hand. Also, Gene Sarazen has always used a left-hand hold that is baseball style. The left thumb does not run down the shaft but is swung around to form his left hand into a fist. He then interlocks his right-hand finger as Nicklaus does. The grips on Gene’s clubs, by the way, are much thicker than usual, probably because of that left-hand position of his.

Jack and Gene developed their styles because they felt their hands were too small to take a Vardon hold on the club. It could also be that they just didn’t like the feel of the Vardon. It may be the same for you, and you shouldn’t avoid trying to hold the club the way they do just because their technique is not generally used. By the same token, you shouldn’t force yourself to go their way simply because they are or have been outstanding golfers.

Before going any further, I want to emphasize one thing. As said, you may feel comfortable holding the club in a manner not generally used. Do so, by all means. But working on the premise that the standard, “conventional” hold is what you will use, there is no reason in the world, given you are reasonably sound of limb, why you can’t hold the club like Sam Snead or Gene Littler let’s say. You may be unable to make the smooth and fluid swings we do (I think I qualify under “smooth and fluid,” although I’m sure I don’t make as “pretty” a swing as Sam or Gene), but it takes no unique’ physical gifts reserved only for top players to hold the club well. That goes for the rankest beginner, too.

Hand Formation

The really important part of the hold you take on a golf club has more to do with the formation of the hands on the handle than with the positioning of the fingers. Despite their “unconventional” finger positions, Nicklaus and Sarazen have excellent hand formation.

It has long been a dictum of golf instruction that the vees formed by the index finger and the thumb of each hand should point to the right shoulder. I subscribe to that concept. However, the vees do not have to point exactly to the right shoulder. Your physical structure may not permit them to do so, and I don’t believe you should force yourself into that position. They should come reasonably close, though, because that will mean each hand is basically in a sound position. That is, neither is twisted too much to the right or left.

You may feel more comfortable turning your left hand slightly toward the right into what is called a “strong” grip. I believe most average golfers should do this, as it allows a bit more flexibility for swinging the club smoothly and forcefully through impact. The check point is the number of knuckles you can see when looking down at your left hand. Three knuckles is probably too many showing. Probably-not necessarily. The answer for you is in how each feels and the flight of the shots you hit.

If you hook the ball too much, you’ve probably twisted the left hand too much to the right. It has become too “strong,” which is to say, too active in the hitting zone. It turns over too much.

If you push or slice your shots, you are likely to be in the oneknuckle position. The hand cannot turn enough to allow the clubface to come square to the ball at impact.

Fiddle around with the grip within these parameters. Find the position that is both comfortable and produces the kind of trajectory you like. You may be a one-and-a-half knuckler, which I happen to be. So be it.

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