Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.
Plenty of you reading this may have played a sport like tennis, baseball, or hockey while growing up. Much like golf, these sports require you to grip around a handle using your thumb — which can hurt the chances of controlling it.
As many of us know, golf requires strong hands in order to grip the club, allowing the path to stay on plane for a flush shot.
Unfortunately, keeping the clubface square at impact is still a major problem lots of players have, which is why inconsistent slices, hooks, or shanks may occur.
But this rarely happens with the most skilled golfers, as they’re able to create a connection between their trail hand and thumb when gripping the club. I like to refer to it as creating a penguin “flipper” with your entire hand.
Despite where your current skill level is as a golfer, you can work towards doing something similar — and it only requires sticking a tee between both your trail hand and your thumb.
Here’s how it should look.
By using a tee in your grip (as seen above), you’ll create a stabilizing point on your club as you take your backswing. So at the top of your swing, the club will have less room to drop down or collapse.
Vice x Nicklaus Collection (60 tees + bag)
Another benefit of this drill is that it will help quiet your hands. So you’ll be able to avoid that feeling of a throwing movement from the top of the swing to the downswing.
I’ve found this drill is not only helpful (but easy) for many of my students, and they’re able to have much more control over the delivery of the clubface. So stick a tee in it and try it out for yourself!
