Grip

Grip describes both hand placement and grip pressure. The three common styles are the overlap (Vardon), interlock, and ten-finger (baseball) grips. A neutral grip — where both palms face each other and the lead-hand knuckles are visible — lets the face return square naturally. A "strong" grip (hands rotated away from the target, or clockwise for a right-hander) tends to close the face and produce a draw or hook. At the same time, a "weak" grip (hands rotated toward the target) leaves the face open at impact and tends to produce a fade or slice. Grip pressure also matters: squeezing too tightly restricts wrist hinge and forearm rotation, while gripping too loosely causes the club to move during the swing. Most instruction suggests holding the club firmly enough that it cannot be knocked out of your hands, but not so tight that your forearms tense.

Most chronic curvature problems trace back to grip before anything in the swing itself. Because the grip is set before the swing starts, it is a structural control on face angle. This means changing it alters the outcome of every shot without requiring any in-swing adjustment. A player who reliably slices can often eliminate or greatly reduce the miss by strengthening the grip alone. At the same time, a player who hooks can weaken it to reduce hook bias. This makes grip the highest-leverage fix in the game for most amateurs.

Hand placement in the lead hand can be in the fingers, the palm, or somewhere between. A more "fingery" lead-hand grip allows more wrist hinge and clubhead speed; a more "palmy" grip offers more security but less feel. In the trail hand, the key reference is the crease formed by the thumb and forefinger. This means it should point toward the lead shoulder, not straight up. When both hands are unified by an overlap, interlock, or ten-finger method, they act as one unit through the swing rather than working against each other.