How Steph Curry’s dislocated finger actually HELPED his golf game

The Golden State Warriors came up short, battered, injured and beaten down, in the 2019 NBA Finals, but for Steph Curry, there was a small silver lining to his injury. It helped relax his golf game.

Curry dislocated the middle finger on his left hand in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Houston Rockets. While he grinned through the injury without missing a game, that injury has relaxed his grip of the golf club.

“I think all the professionals I’ve talked to give you some pointers here and there they always talk about keeping your grip nice and loose and fluid,” Curry said Thursday at the American Century Championship.

“So the finger actually helps because I can’t grab the club as hard as I want to, if I get nervous or something, because it will start hurting. I’ve got to kind of back off just automatically. So it puts me in a pretty good spot. Funny how that stuff works out.”

A too-tight grip is the hallmark of a nervous golfer. Curry is right-handed, so his left hand holds the top part of the club. For Curry, as his finger continues healing, that looser grip helps him better deliver the clubface to the ball within his swing. Whether he grips it with a strong left hand or a weak left hand, the grip is not too tight because of the pain he’s feeling in his middle finger. That’s a lesson we can all take from Curry’s tough injury.

To figure out your own grip, start with our Golf Grip Cheat Sheet. Then, when you’re ready to rip it, first remember Steph, then think of what Top 100 Teacher Scott Munroe had to say: a proper grip is one that “sufficiently secures the club in your paws without having to tense your wrists and forearms.”

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