If you’ve golfed for any length of time, most likely you’ve gone through a period of time where you just can’t seem to consistently hit the ball straight. A wicked slice or a wild hook can oftentimes be the result of your grip. You may or may not know the best golf grip for accuracy but just in case it is a question in your mind, let’s talk about how the grip works.
Notice that I didn’t say incorrect grip. There are times when you may want to have a certain grip to hit a specific shot. But that shouldn’t be the grip you use for the majority of your shots. Yes, there will be some that say the grip should be unique to the person. You can look more into the three types of grips in golf with the baseball grip, interlock grip, and overlap grip.
Best Golf Grip for Accuracy
What is known however is a certain placement of your hands on the grip of the golf club may set you up for a certain type of ball flight. Let’s see if we can do this with a visual. We will first start with the 3 common grips that golfers use and then go on to show why a specific grip may result in a certain ball flight path.
Weak Grip
Talking about a right handed golfer here. I see this grip as having the right hand more on top with the left hand being more underneath the club. When looking straight down at the hands on the golf club grip, you might see one knuckle on the left hand. Notice how the crease (or what some call the V) on the right hand is pointing more towards the left shoulder.
Neutral Grip
The right hand has backed off a little as compared to the weak grip so the V between your right thumb and index finger will tend to run up somewhere between the right ear and the right shoulder. The left hand should now be showing a couple of knuckles. This is often said to be the proper left hand grip on the golf club.
Strong Grip
This is the grip that I primarily used over the past couple of years. The reason is because I had been slicing the ball and it was recommended that I move to a stronger grip. Unfortunately, and maybe also due to my swing path and release, I started to develop at the very least a draw with every shot and at worse a hook. I realize many amateurs would relish a draw, just not the hook.
How Does A Strong Grip Look?
With a strong grip you would typically see 3 or 4 knuckles on the left hand and the right hand is almost underneath the golf club. The V with the right hand is pointed way off to the right side, past your right shoulder. Some call this the best golf grip for power and I can tell you from personal experience that it did lead to increases in distance. Yet, can you see the shot bias I have below? Now imagine if I am hitting an 8 iron 17 yards offline to the left, what the offline yardage could be for driver.
Here is what my SkyTrak launch monitor tells me about how I’m hitting several clubs.
How The Clubhead Interacts With Each Grip
Clubhead Movement for Each Grip
We can see through the above video how much potential clubhead movement can occur with each of the grips.
With the weak grip, the clubhead will almost assuredly be open upon contact with the ball. Look how far the clubhead can move to the right (right handed golfers) and how little it can move to the left. That is unless you have a tremendous release. Amateurs (and I’m looking in the mirror here) tend to not have such great release through the ball. Amateurs also tend to slice the ball. So should we just rule out using a weak grip? Ummmm no. If it works well for you and you don’t have a tremendous slice, why not stick with what works. Having said that, Ben Hogan, Rory McIlroy, and Jordan Spieth are examples of golfers with a weak grip. Oh yeah… that guy called Bryson as well.
What About A Strong Grip?
I’ve mentioned how I have been using a strong grip which lends towards a draw and sometimes hook bias. With a strong grip, you can see how easy it is to move the clubhead face to the left while there is hardly any potential movement towards the right. If you have any type of release through the ball, you will hit with a closed/shut clubface and even if the golf ball starts straight, the clubhead will impart spin which will create a draw or hook. So, forget about the strong grip? Tell that to Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson. Oh yeah… someone you may know who goes by the name of Tiger.
The Neutral Grip is the Best Golf Grip for Accuracy
Which leads us to the neutral grip. When you go to grip the golf club this may or may not seem like a natural grip. After playing for the last couple of years with a strong grip, I can tell you the neutral grip feels awkward to me. By and far, though the neutral grip is the best golf grip for accuracy. Watching the video above, a neutral grip allows for a similar opening or closing of the clubface but neither (unlike the weak or strong grip) are too extreme.
A Golf Grip Trainer Can Help
I’ve had some help in transferring to a neutral grip by using a Links Golf Grip Trainer. It sets the hands in the right position and if practiced enough using this golf grip trainer and then hitting the same number of shots without the device, it promotes muscle memory when you end up hitting the course.
The Best Golf Grip For Accuracy Considering All Other Factors
The bottom line is there are a lot of intricacies which go into the golf swing. Some golfers swing from the outside to in which in itself can promote a slice while you have golfers like myself lean towards an inside to out swing which can cause a hook. Then you have golfers who have fast moving hips while others have fast moving arms. All of these individual movements can cause the clubhead to interact differently with the ball. What most of us want to see is a clubhead which is neither shut nor open as it comes into contact with the ball. for that we are best off using a neutral grip.
So we say that having a neutral grip is the best golf grip for accuracy but there is nothing that prevents you from moving the hands slightly to the right or left to get the ball flight of your choosing.