2 fast ways to check if your grip is actually denying you a square clubface

Josh sliced. Like, sliced sliced. That he knew. And why did his ball sail right of right? 

That was where things got maddening. 

Josh and I were talking last weekend with Kelan McDonagh, the director of instruction at Metedeconk National Golf Club in Jackson Township, N.J., and the purpose of our visit was to “save” Josh — my old friend had become so frustrated by golf that he was considering quitting, so I concocted this meeting between teacher and student. Should you be interested, that complete story can be read by clicking here. 

One of the biggest revelations was just how poor Josh’s left and right hands were on the grip — which Kelan showed through two drills, which we’ll review below.    

Is your left hand on the club correctly?

In Josh’s case, his left hand had been set to where he saw maybe one knuckle; the adjustment moved them clockwise. Through a drill, he was shown how effective the left hand had — or hadn’t — been. 

In his Metedeconk training center, Kelan used a device constructed by his mentor, Mike Adams (a GOLF Top 100 Teacher hall of famer), but a two-by-four also works. Kelan duplicated Josh’s grip, placed the clubface at the butt end of the two-by-four, then rotated through, showing an open clubface. That lead hand, Kelan said, has a relationship to the lower body. “Your lower body opens the clubface, so we better make sure that the lead hand is in a position to keep it square.”

Videos demonstrating this are below. 

Is your right hand on the club correctly?

Josh’s right hand had been set to where his right thumb was nearly aligned with the club’s shaft; the adjustment moved the thumb and knuckles slightly counter-clockwise.  

Through another drill, he was shown how effective his right hand had — or hadn’t — been. Holding an iron with just his right hand, Josh took quarter swings, then stopped on the follow-through, which showed an open face — and obvious trouble. “So if you’re wide open with the grip and your body wants to do this as well [come over the top, as Josh was],” Kelan said, “now you’ve got a lot of things moving left.” 

Videos demonstrating this are below. 

Where should the club rest in your hands?

Josh’s palms had also mostly been gripping the club; the adjustment moved the club to his fingers. Notably, Kelan had Josh throw a golf ball, then asked where he held it. The fingers, he answered. “So every time you’re hitting a golf shot, you’re throwing whatever’s on the other end of the shaft [the clubface], so this object [the clubface] is thrown at that object [the ball] to make it go somewhere. … So if we’re throwing an object, we better damn make sure the grip’s in the fingers. If it gets up in the palm, we have no control over it.”

Unsure where you’re holding the club? Kelan had Josh put a club in his left palm, then asked him to try to lift it. He strained. But holding it with his fingers? Easier. You can also hold a club out in front of you and wave it left to right, and the results are the same. 

What amount of grip pressure should you apply?

I was curious about this. We’ve heard you should grip the club with soft pressure. We’ve heard hard. 

What did Kelan think?

“If we’re on a see-saw,” he said, “I’m right in the middle of that conversation. Most of my teachings are just about creating motion and swinging with freedom. If you’re squeezing, you’re not really able to swing it as freely. So if I asked you to throw this as far as you could, that’s kind of the conversation I’ll have with the student. If you’re going to throw it, you need to have enough control over it to hinge it and let it go. … So it’s a happy medium between obviously you can get a little bit too flimsy with it, and some people’s veins look like they’re about to burst when they’re standing over the ball.”

To wrap things up, Josh’s left-hand grip needed to be stronger, and his right hand needed to be weaker. To make square contact previously would’ve been hard, Kelan said. “Maybe one in 10.”

Here, I also asked whether Josh’s new grip was universal, or more specific to him. 

“It’s 100 percent for him,” Kelan said. “The next person that comes in after Josh and for whatever reason I do what I just did with Josh and not measure him, that would be completely wrong. Chances of them needing what he needs are pretty slim.”