Close your hand so your thumb and forefinger create a ‘V’ that points to the middle of your sternum. You should have a sense of the hands being unified, melded together as a single unit. In relation to where the left thumb is positioned on the grip of the club, where the grip will reside inside the left hand can also vary. You should see a “V” formed by the right thumb and right forefinger from the first knuckle to its base. Tom Watson is a Golf Digest Teaching Professional. If you have any questions or comments about this or other articles on Golf Loopy, please send us an email. When we asked the students to put their thumb in the traditional golf grip position with their thumbs near 12 o’clock they found they couldn’t swing the club anywhere near as fast. Once again, apologies to the lefties, for simplicity these instructions are given for a right-handed golfer. The grip is your only contact with the club. Robbins believes the game doesn't have to be so complicated - and by the end of the series, you'll believe him. Then firm it up just enough so you can control the club. The ‘V’s created by the index finger and the thumb of the left and right hands must point to the right shoulder. A short left thumb will allow you to use the bones in your left arm at the top of the golf swing. In the right hand, the middle two fingers do most of the work. In the proper golf grip, your lead hand (top hand) holds the golf club in the fingers, not the palm, with the 'V' (right image) of your thumb and forefinger pointing to your back shoulder at address. By Loopy on Sunday, November 10, 2013 Setup. This website does not provide medical advice and does not direct that you undertake any specific exercise or fitness regimen. It should lie diagonally across the shaft with its tip close to, or touching the tip of the right forefinger. Grip is therefore a difficult topic, because it is easy to mix up two different aspects. To complete your grip by placing your right hand correctly on the golf club, carefully follow the following steps: Figure 1.  Placing right middle fingers on the club. The base of the left thumb, where the lifeline of the right hand comes in and connects down with these two middle fingers, feeling that pressure so that there is a connection there. Will it feel lighter? Power Thumb Grip. So before you spend hours of time working swing changes or thousands of dollars on new golf clubs, start with the fundamentals. But additionally, how the golfer actually places his left thumb irrespective of how far to the left or right can also vary. Top Hand Grip (The Left Hand Grip for Right Handed Golfers.) Despite those labels, the trailing hand is the dominant hand for most people (if you play right-handed, your trailing, or bottom hand, will be your right hand). Total Rating 0%. How the Grip Affects Golf Swing Plane Mechanics. Hogan advised, “gripping the club with the right thumb and forefinger off the shaft helps a golfer to accustom himself to the feeling of a strong, correct grip in which both hands work together as one unit.” He recommended that golfers practice gripping and swinging with the right thumb and forefinger completely off the shaft to ingrain that feeling. For the ideal neutral grip, your left thumb should be positioned just to the right of centre. It should be no surprise that the perfect grip that we describe is, essentially, the Vardon grip (named after the famous British golfer, Harry Vardon).  The Vardon grip has stood the test of time, and is used by the vast majority of professional golfers today. Setup: The Perfect Golf Grip – Your Right Hand is Your Speed Hand 0. My longtime teacher, the late Stan Thirsk, used to remind me to keep the club in the fingers of my left hand and never let it slip into the palm. different web browser. Types of Golf Grips. Please upgrade to Internet Explorer 11 or use a Where Should the "V's" Point? Your right hand is activated, for efficient transfer of energy, by holding the club handle towards the base of your fingers, not in your palm and not low in your fingers. Downswing: The Speed Arm Throw, Golf Wedge Play: The Distance Wedge Lob Shot, Golf Wedge Play Drill 109b Technique: How to Play a Controlled Fade, Golf Pitching & Chipping 114. When you look at the grip from a face-on position, the idea is to have these V’s to be pointing in the same direction. The forefinger and thumb of the right hand should feel relaxed. Step 3: Setting your left thumb Again, without changing the grip’s position, “roll” your left thumb over to the right side of the handle while curling your left index finger around the grip. 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