The grips on your golf clubs have long been something of an afterthought. Even during a clubfitting, there’s often little time spent dialing in your grips. At the end of the process, you’re usually asked a simple question — What grip do you prefer? — and then you’re on your way.
The folks at Golf Pride don’t think this is the most prudent approach.
“We believe we’re designing equipment for your hands,” says James Ledford, Golf Pride president. “Not handles for your clubs.”
For Ledford, that distinction is more than semantics. Golf Pride thinks about grips as a true performance category, rather than just a finishing touch. While clubheads, shafts and balls have been studied for decades with standardized testing and performance metrics, grips have largely escaped the same level of scrutiny.
“There really haven’t been established protocols for how to study grips the way the industry studies equipment,” Ledford says. “We all understand clubhead delivery numbers. We don’t really have those standards yet for grips.”
That gap is what Golf Pride wants to close.
Instead of treating grips as passive components, the company is approaching them as active performance tools that influence strike quality, consistency and, most importantly, confidence. In Ledford’s view, the grip shouldn’t be the final decision in the fitting process, but the starting point. Most golfers think about the clubhead first, then work their way up the shaft, and only finally consider the grip. The company is deliberately flipping that order.
At Golf Pride’s state-of-the-art Performance Lab in Pinehurst, N.C., which will open late this spring, players will go through a Tour-level grip fitting that takes into account hand size, climate conditions, texture and firmness to narrow down possible grip choices. Then it’s time to actually hit shots on a simulator until you find the grip that feels the best for your swing. It soon becomes clear just how influential the grip can be.
“This is where we’re really trying to understand grips as equipment,” Ledford says. “It’s about building real data around how grips influence performance.”
For years, grips have been the quiet constant in the bag. Golf Pride is betting that once golfers start treating them like real equipment — not an afterthought — that silence won’t last much longer.
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