Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.
The grip is an absolutely essential fundamental for swinging the golf club with any sort of consistency. Your hands are the only connection between you and the club, so configuring them correctly on the grip should be a high priority.
There are some key points to consider when gripping the club, but that doesn’t mean that everyone should grip the club the same way. The way your body moves, and the way you swing the club, can have a huge influence on some idiosyncrasies when it comes to holding the grip.
If you’ve ever gotten into the weeds on the technique of gripping the club, you’ve likely heard the terms “weak” and “strong” to describe how someone holds the club. For those who haven’t nerded out quite that hard, below is a quick crash course on the terms from GOLF Teacher to Watch Christy Longfield.
Weak vs. strong grip, explained
Weak, strong and neutral are terms used to describe the way golfers hold the club (i.e. the configuration of your hands on the grip). We’ve gone over how to place your hands on the club for a neutral grip, and below we explain the same for weak and strong grips, and the benefits of each.
Weak grip
A weak grip occurs when you place your hands on the club and your hands are rotated counterclockwise over the grip. If you were to look down at the grip while addressing the ball, you’d see lots of knuckles on your right hand (for a right-handed golfer) and no knuckles on your left hand.
“A weak grip corresponds to an open face,” Longfield says. “If the grip is weak in your left hand, you’re going to hit weak shots — unless that’s your style of grip and you’ve got the ability to rotate [the clubface].”
Strong grip
A strong grip is essentially the exact opposite of a weak one. When you hold the club in your hands with a strong grip, your hands will be rotated clockwise so that your right hand is underneath the grip. When you look down at the grip while addressing the ball, you’ll see many knuckles on your left hand while not seeing any on your right hand.
“More knuckles on the left [and] palm up on the right,” Longfield says. “You can’t see that ‘V’ at all, [because] it’s really strong.”
Which is best for you?
You might wonder which grip type is best for you, but the reality is that it’s tough to know without knowing how your body and swing work. Although now you have a good starting point to see which grip you might have to begin with. The best advice would be to go see a coach and have them help you find the grip type that works for you.
“Because it’s the only connection we have to the golf club, people are resistant to change,” Longfield says. “But if you spend 20 minutes on the range hitting balls, you can become more comfortable — it just takes some time.”
