Just grip it and rip it! Some of the sagest golf advice you'll ever hear. Just grab the club and swing and forget about everything else. Grip it incorrectly before you rip it however, and you will end up somewhere in the woods on the right or in the water on the left searching for your $4 ball.
There are lots of pitfalls to avoid if you want to hit it straight. If you position both of your hands too far clockwise on the grip, otherwise known as a strong grip, you will tend to close the face of the club before contact and therefore hook the ball (for a right handed player). If you take a weak grip with your hands rotated too far counter-clockwise, you will tend to leave the clubface open and slice the ball. Hold the club too much in your palms and you will reduce your ability to cock your wrists, leading to a loss of power. Too much in the fingers and it will be difficult to control the club, reducing your consistency.
Now, you can see how important it is to get your hands on the club in the correct way. Of course, there is no single right way for everyone, some players will tend to have a slightly stronger grip, some weaker. Some will use an interlocking grip, some an overlapping. But there are elements of the grip that are common and necessary to everyone, and it is important to master them if you want to lower your scores.
Fortunately, people have already figured out the best elements of a good grip, and there are lots of golf training aids that make it vastly easier than it used to be to correct bad habits. Molded grips, training clubs with molded grips, and grip attachments are all extremely useful to enhance your grip. Here are a few tips for selecting a golf training aid that will maximize your benefits:
1. Make sure the training aid can be used to hit balls. Short clubs with molded grips are useful, but nothing beats actually hitting shots to groove the new grip. I prefer training aids that attach to the grip of your real clubs, so that you can use them during a practice round under game-time conditions.
2. If you use an interlocking grip, make sure the training device allows it to fit comfortably. Some molded grips are designed with only the overlapping grip in mind, so get the thing in your hands and test it out before you buy one.
3. Practice regularly with the training aid, but make sure to alternate it with a regular club so you get used to making the grip yourself without the aid. When hitting at the range, hit 5 shots with the device and 5 without it until the grip is rock solid, then you can reduce the use of the aid, using it to hit 5 or 10 shots only at the beginning of the session.
Good luck and happing ripping!
