How to Grip the Golf Club

Good iron play requires a good grip. Without such alikened to cracking a whip underhanded. A
grip it is virtually impossible to control your shots totremendous amount of clubhead speed can be
the green and score with any degree of consistency.generated this way, provided you have a proper grip
Most golfers, particularly beginners, fail to appreciateon the club and are on the proper swing plane
the importance of the grip and its influence on thecoming into the ball.
over-all swing.On the other hand, if the club is not gripped properly,
After some 20 years of playing golf, both for funyou lose control at some critical juncture in the swing
and as a profession, spending countless hours ofand the clubhead cannot be accelerated to its
thinking about the swing and how it should function,maximum speed.
and hundreds of other hours on the practice tee, IThe Overlapping Grip. Although there are many ways
have reached one emphatic conclusion: No one whoto grip the club, the most effective and widely
aspires to become a good golfer can do so without aaccepted one is the overlapping grip. This grip
correct grip. It is as simple as that.promotes excellent unity of the hands, allowing them
I experienced trouble with my grip for years before Ito function as a one-piece unit throughout the swing.
finally made a major change in 1958. Prior to thatThe overlapping grip places initial control in the left
time, I had been fortunate enough to win a numberhand and keeps it there throughout the backswing
of tournaments, but I always had a tendency toand early in the downswing. The right hand then
hook the ball. The reason was that I had carried mytakes over and applies the power through the
right hand under the shaft too much, invariablyclubshaft and clubhead.
resulting in a closed face at the top of the swing.Positioning your left hand on the club correctly is the
In the fall of 1958, Paul Runyan, La Jolla Country Clubfirst step toward building a good grip. To obtain this
professional, advised me to change my grip. Heposition, place the open palm against the left side of
suggested that I move my right hand slightlythe shaft and then close the palm and fingers around
counterclockwise, or more on top of the shaft, tothe shaft This puts the shaft under the muscular pad
have the clubface more open at the top of theand slightly above the roots of the last three fingers
swing. These changes were related, and it took me aof the left hand.
month or more to become accustomed to this newIt is a little more difficult to position your right hand
right-hand position.on the club, because it is the overlapping hand. With
By moving my right hand more on top of the shaft,your left hand affixed on the shaft in the correct
there were fewer tendencies to have the right handmanner, extend your right hand down to meet the
exert initial control during the backswing. The rightleft hand. The palm faces toward the target, and the
hand merely rides on the shaft, thus allowing thecenter of the palm fits snugly against, and over, the
clubface to remain square, or slightly open, as thethumb of the left hand. Now close the fingers around
body is turned away from the ball. Also, this new gripthe shaft allowing the little finger to overlap between
prevented my right hand from taking over too soonthe forefinger and middle finger. Actually, the little
at the start of the downswing.finger sort of hooks around the middle knuckle of
In the golf swing, the body movements generate thethe forefinger, creating a firm yet flexible union of
power and the hands apply it through the shaft andthe hands.
clubhead with a terrific lashing action of the rightNow it is just necessary for you to go out and
forearm and right hand. This movement can bepractice.