Your hands are your only connection to the golf club, making how you hold them one of the most important fundamentals in your entire swing. It’s the steering wheel for your clubface, directly influencing power, accuracy, and consistency on every shot. This guide will walk you through, step-by-step, how to build a perfect golf grip from the ground up, covering everything from hand placement and pressure to the different styles you can use.
Think about it this way: the position of your hands on the club directly dictates the angle of the clubface at impact. The clubface is what sends the ball flying, so if it isn't pointing where you want it to, you’re forced to make awkward adjustments during your swing to try and straighten the shot out. This is where inconsistency comes from.
A poor grip can lead to slices, hooks, and a general lack of power. Conversely, a fundamentally sound grip sets the club in a neutral and powerful position, allowing you to swing freely and athletically without having to compensate. It promotes a natural release of the club through impact, helping you hit straighter, more powerful, and - most importantly - more consistent shots. It might feel strange at first, especially if you’re changing a long-held habit, but getting the grip right is absolutely worth the effort.
For this tutorial, we'll build the grip for a right-handed golfer. If you’re a lefty, simply reverse the hand instructions. The first step is to establish a square clubface. Before you even put your hands on, rest the clubhead on the ground behind the ball. Make sure the leading edge - the very bottom line of the face - is pointing straight at your target. Using a logo on your grip as a guide can help keep things aligned.
Your left hand is your lead hand, it sets the direction and provides a stable framework for the rest of your swing.
A Quick Note: This will feel funny. If you’re new to golf or used to an incorrect grip, a proper hold can feel incredibly awkward. Trust the process. This fundamentally sound position will feel natural over time and unlock a much better swing.
Your right hand acts more as a support system, adding power and helping to guide the club without overpowering the left hand.
Once you know how to place your hands, you have to decide how you want to link them together. There are three primary styles. None is inherently "right" or "wrong" - it mostly comes down to hand size and personal comfort. Experiment with all three to see what feels best.
Just as it sounds, all ten fingers are in contact with the golf club handle. The pinky finger of the right hand rests snugly against the index finger of the left hand.
Who it's for: This grip is often great for beginners, junior golfers, and players with smaller hands or less hand strength. It provides a very secure feeling and can help you generate a bit more clubhead speed.
In this style, the pinky finger of the right hand weaves, or "interlocks," with unresponsive index finger of the left hand.
Who it's for: This is an extremely popular style, famously used by legends like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. It’s excellent for uniting the hands and making them feel like a single unit. It works well for players with average or smaller-sized hands.
With the Vardon grip, the pinky finger of the right hand rests on top of the crease between the index and middle fingers of the left hand.
Who it's for: This is the most common grip used by professional golfers. It's fantastic for players with average to larger hands, as it prevents the right hand from becoming too dominant in the swing. It promotes great feel and control.
One of the most common mistakes golfers of all levels make is gripping the club too tightly. When you have a "death grip," you introduce tension into your forearms, shoulders, and back. This tension restricts your ability to swing freely, prevents you from creating a natural wrist hinge, and kills your clubhead speed.
Imagine you’re holding a tube of toothpaste with the cap off. You want to hold it firmly enough that you won't drop it, but not so tight that toothpaste squirts out everywhere. That’s the feeling you want in your golf grip.
On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is barely holding on and 10 is maximum pressure, your grip pressure should be a 3 or 4. You should feel the weight of the clubhead in your hands. This light, relaxed pressure will allow you to have a fluid, powerful, and tension-free swing.
As mentioned earlier, small rotations in your handscan have a big impact on a shot's direction.
This is when your hands are rotated too far to the right (for a right-handed player). You'll know you have a strong grip if you can see three or even four knuckles on your left hand at address. This position tends to make a player close the clubface through impact, often leading to a golf shot that aggressively curves to the left (a pull or a hook).
This is the opposite, where your hands are rotated too far to the left. You’ll be able to see only one knuckle, or maybe none at all, on your left hand. A weak grip makes it difficult to square the clubface at impact, leaving it open and causing the dreaded slice - a shot that curves significantly to the right.
If you're battling hooks or slices, the first place you should check is your grip. Often, simply rotating your hands back to a "neutral" two-knuckle position can go a long way in straightening out your ball flight.
Taking the time to build a proper golf grip from scratch is one of the best investments you can make in your game. While it may feel awkward at first, your hands will adapt, and a neutral, relaxed, and fundamentally sound grip will serve as the unshakable foundation for a more powerful and consistent golf swing.
Perfecting a new grip on your own can be challenging, but pinpointing how your grip changes affect your ball flight is exactly what I am designed for. As your personal AI golf coach, Caddie AI can analyze your game and help you understand the connection between your technique and your results. You can ask me what drills best fix a slice caused by a weak grip or how to tell if grip pressure is bleeding your power, and get instant, clear advice right when you need it.
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