How to grip a golf club: Fix your slice and hook by changing your golf grip
By GolfTEC Digital
Let’s start by making an incredibly obvious and unsurprising statement: The vast majority of golfers struggle to consistently hit shots that result in their desired ball flight.
Of course while this is as known in the world of golf as the name Tiger Woods, a sliced golf shot — when what you wanted to hit was a soft push draw toward the target — doesn’t become any less infuriating just because you know you’re not alone in the world. Especially when these offline surprises turn into lost balls and added strokes.
And while there are many contributing factors causing the unexpected and undesired ball flight patterns (which are ultimately all due to the relationship between clubface and swing path), one of the best places to start when thinking about a fix is how you grip the golf club.
So, GolfTEC’s Director of Teaching Quality, Brad Skupaka, is here to explain how various hand positions on the golf club can affect your ball flight. In the two videos below, he also illustrates how to change your grip and convert that slice into a draw, or pull-hook into a straight-launching bullet at your target.
The first step to writing your ticket to better ball flight? Grab a marker and draw reference points on your hands to help get them positioned on the club correctly.
How to grip a golf club: Fix your slice
Golfers who tend to slice the ball often grip the club with their hands turned too far toward the target — commonly known as a “weak” grip.
This leads to an “open” clubface at impact in relationship to your swing path, which, as demonstrated in our Golf Science piece on ball flight laws, causes the ball to slice away from the target. Many also add to this problem by trying to alter just their swing path, instead of the overall clubface-to-swing path relationship, which can make the ball curve more offline instead of less.
VIDEO: Strengthen your grip to fix a slice
How to grip a golf club — Try these steps to aid the clubface-to-path relationship gap causing your slice:
- Draw a dot at the base of your lead thumb
- Draw a second dot on the first joint of your trail index finger
- Grip the club and align the thumb dot with the trail edge of the shaft
- Then, position the index finger dot directly under the middle of the shaft so that it is hidden
How to grip a golf club: Fix your hook
For golfers who struggle with an overdrawing ball flight, we often see a grip that is turned too far away from the target — commonly known as a “strong” grip.
This type of grip can often close (and de-loft) the clubface too much in relationship to the swing path and target at impact, leading to the dreaded duck-hook.
VIDEO: Weaken your grip to fix a hook
How to grip a golf club — Try these steps to weaken your strong grip and straighten out the hook:
- Draw a dot at the base of your lead thumb
- Draw a second dot on the first joint of your trail index finger
- Grip the club and align the thumb dot directly down the middle of the shaft
- Then, position the index finger dot flush with the trail edge of the shaft
For more tips and all the latest instruction, news and equipment information, check out the GolfTEC Scramble daily and find a GolfTEC Improvement Center near you to start playing better golf today!
So, if I grip my driver using the “strong grip” and I end up hooking or hitting to the left…what is going on with my swing to make the ball go left?
Thanks,
Jim B
Hi Jim, thanks for the comment! The content did exactly what was intended…stopping your slice. If you’re struggling with overdrawing the best advice we can give you is to seek out a Coach and have your swing measured to find the best starting point to solve that problem. While you’re looking for that help 🙂 , here is some information to get you moving in a better direction. The ball’s initial direction is the first variable you’d want to pay close attention to. The clubface angle at impact is the variable controlling that. Therefore, if your shots start too straight we’d recommend you aiming it more to the right of the target (if you’re right handed) or turn your grip less to the right as the article demonstrates. Both of those adjustments will help you start the ball further to the right of the target and curve the ball less. Your problem can be fixed, but as we mentioned, your best first step is to have your swing measured at GOLFTEC.