Get a Grip on Your Game

Jeff Fisher
Director of Instruction
Fisher Bryan Golf Academy at Longbow Golf Club
Mesa, AZ
jfisher@obsports.com

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Golf as a game, and golfers in general, tend to do things a certain way just because “that’s the way it’s always been done”. We like to say it needs to be perfectly quiet while someone hits a golf shot. A full round must consist of 18 holes. And, there are basically only two accepted ways to grip a golf club.

I would love to see people relax and play some music or at least be able to talk above a whisper on the golf course. I think a round is as many holes as you can fit in, whether it be 6, 12 or 15. And I think more people should move away from the overlap and interlock grips and move to a 10 finger grip!

Yes, I said it! Forget the way it has been preached since the days of Harry Vardon. In what other sport do we grip our instrument with the fingers on one hand interlocking with the fingers of the other? Not on a baseball bat, hockey stick or tennis racquet. Yet, we continue to say that a 10 finger grip on a golf club is only for beginners or children.

Here is why I say it is a grip for the masses. First of all, the majority of golfers slice the golf ball because they have a hard time squaring the face. And it is very acceptable as a drill for instructors to have a student grip the club with their hands split apart to feel the way a proper release should feel. Why not just close the gaps in that split handed drill and go with it!

I believe the grip is a mistaught fundamental. A weak grip does not cause a slice anymore than a strong grip causes a hook. It is all in how you use that grip. Put a neutral 10 finger grip on pretty much any slicer and show them how to rotate the face of the golf club correctly. The 10 finger will give them more ability to hinge their wrists as well as a greater ability to square and release the clubface. Slice gone! 

Plus, it will feel more natural to them because it is the way they have gripped any other instrument in sport. 

Golf as a sport, and golfers in general, need to break out of the box of doing things the way they have always been done or because Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods or Harry Vardon did it that way. Put all 10 fingers on that club and get a better grip on your game!

Jeff Fisher is Director of Instruction at the Fisher Bryan Golf Academy at Longbow Golf Club. Jeff can be reached at 480.414.9330 or jfisher@obsports.com.