Tom Watson once claimed that most amateur golfers use a grip that is too weak, preventing them from ever realising their full potential.
The grip is potentially one of the most overlooked parts of a player’s game. It is undoubtedly one of the most important, with only the grip connecting the golfer with the club they are swinging at high speeds.
Many will inevitably start the game with the grip that feels most natural to them. Perhaps that is a baseball grip, where all of the fingers on a right-handed golfer’s right hand sit below all of the fingers on the left.
There are also overlapping and interlocking grips. But every golfer knows how strange it can be to try and change the grip they use once they have become comfortable with how they hold the club.
Tom Watson explains how golfers can check they use the right grip
It is important, however, that golfers persevere with changes if their grip is harming them out on the course.
Writing for Golf Digest back in 2012, eight-time major champion Tom Watson outlined just how vital it is that every player spends time making sure that they are handling the club correctly.
“A good swing starts with a good grip. A bad swing starts with a bad grip. Because most amateurs fail to put their hands on the club properly, they’ll never be able to play as well as they should,” he wrote.
“I use the Vardon overlapping grip. I feel it unifies the hands and promotes better wrist hinging. My left hand goes on first, and I turn it to see two knuckles. My left thumb rests just right of centre on the shaft.
“I like those molded practice grips for learning how to hold the club. The grooves will put your hands in the correct positions. Even though it makes the clubhead feel too light, I suggest you get one and hit balls with it to improve your grip.
“The mistake I see most is a grip that’s too weak. People put their thumbs straight down the shaft, and the result is usually an open clubface at impact – and a shot that peels off to the right.
“A grip that’s too strong, where you see too many knuckles, will likely cause the clubface to be closed at impact. It’s a power grip, especially if you’re a slicer. Still, I’d rather see your grip too strong than too weak.”
Scottie Scheffler would certainly agree with Tom Watson’s comments
Of course, no one would probably agree with Watson’s comment about practice grips more than the current world number one, Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler is arguably the greatest player the game has seen since Tiger Woods. He has already won four major championships and is a US Open victory away from completing the Career Grand Slam.
Despite his success, Scheffler seems to begin every single range session with a training aid that allows him to grip the club correctly as if he has never held one before.
That willingness to constantly work on the fundamentals has certainly played a part in Scheffler becoming the best player of his era.
So there really is no excuse for the rest of us who believe that the correct grip is something we already have figured out.