Does Your Driver Grip Matter | Shocking Results Testing Different Grips 

Clay, I want you to know that this video changed my life. I hit 100 balls yesterday and contact was terrible with no distance or compression. Everything was shitty slice. I went back to range today and only had one swing thought; that was you holding the hammer in left hand. So I went to range and completely committed to the new grip. The first 40 balls were pulled but WITH A DRAW!!! the contact was so crisp. So I kept kidding and mentally felt like I was hitting to right field; but the ball was going straight with a beautiful draw on it. I was hitting the ball 30 more yards! Crazy. I'm so pumped. I watch a thousand RU-vid golf videos but yours are the best. The hammer in your hand was all I needed; now at least I can play with solid contact. I'm 57 years old, 6'7 and started to believe I was never going to improve my swing or my 16 handicap. Thanks again. Life changer!!

I was worried about my strong grip until you said that it would affect me most if I had good fundamentals, thank goodness i don't have to worry about that!

Watched my guy do tennis, now he’s helping me with golf. Cheers from Minnesota.

The strong grip helped eliminate my slice & I actually hit the ball straight most of the time. Improved my driving immeasurably.

Best explination I have seen about weak-neutral-strong grip. The visualization you did with the club face compared to your wrist helped so much!

Clay is a lot more knowledgeable than me but what I would say to decent to good golfers is to play with the grip on the range, everyone's swing is unique so changing your grip will have avrying results. I am a near scratch golfer (2 handicap) and one of the reasons I got here from an 8 or a 9 was I found if I weakened my grip I eliminated my bad shots, which for me were hooks. I did loose some distance but hitting it straight was worth a few yards.

Excellent video. I'm dealing with changing my grip and this is very helpful. I used to have a very strong grip and was hooking and duck-hooking everything. The neutral grip is perfect.

I watched this by total chance before i played the next day and it got me back 25 yds plus. Exactly what you said about bowing the wrist is what it helped me to do. all i have to do is make sure i straighten my left leg first and keep my shoulder tilt and i can’t miss. this video for me back my driver distance i lost 2-3 years ago

Great explanation going through this change from a weak to a strong grip as I'm launching the driver too low even on a 10.5 driver. My launch has increased and my accuracy and distance id also lots better so my problems were caused by the weaker grip setup

The checkpoint at 4:14 is very helpful and simple to implement. I watched this in the afternoon, played with it in the evening, and hit it straighter than I have in years. This check is going to be a permanent part of my pre-shot routine. Thanks for that.

Thanks for the great video. Always good to know more about my grip. Great studio you have now by the way. Looks good!

Great lesson. Worked for me first time at the range.

The sideways hammer visual is an interesting swing thought. I’ll give that a try

Very well explained. Thanks Coach.

Moving to a stronger grip to correct a new slice has forced me to correct the stunted rotation of my body through the ball. I can see that my downswing rotation was stopping just before I had got round to the target. This made it hard to get the face closed because you now have to do it consciously which adds a lot of variation and most times, a slice. Now I find if I can finish my rotation properly I am not only generating a lot more lag but the ball forms a really nice tight draw and just goes further. Of course if I forget to rotate properly it's either snap-hook or slice but I don't have to swing as hard as before to get the same result - so the full rotation is actually easier to do - I just have to make sure to do it...or else.

Tried this today (Sept 6 2021)and WOW what a difference in consistently hitting ball where I wanted or close to my target. My ball flight was amazing. Thank you. I tried the neutral and strong grip.

Been using that "hammer" grip for a few months and have been hitting it better than ever.

Really like the way you explain the affects of the different grips Clay. Never realised that it is difficult to shallow the club with a weak grip. Clearly good grip is good foundation to build on for the rest of the swing. Thanks very much keep up the good work.

Shawn Clement recommends this grip Clay..Tried it & my distance has increased significantly

I thought my grip was neutral but learn later it was actually closer to week so I moved it a little more to the right and a little strong. Made a difference in my swing hit the ball more pure when I get it right. I use to use a really strong grip and was doing that to try and fix a slice and then I started hooking it.

I'm a weaker grip person - and I do think it's telling that the two erratic ball striking duffers you mentioned, Hogan & Woods, played that grip. Crazy short-off-the-Tee Bryson also plays a weak left grip - and he specifically mentions that he does it to control the face of the club for accuracy - which I also believe and believe is what Hogan found during his insane practicing. Any good Ice-Hockey player by default has a weaker top-hand grip - it's just the way it works - you also bow your top wrist to keep the puck down during a shot - like golf

I have a hard time keeping the club face open and been struggling with hooking the ball, a weaker grip helps me a little but I find that forward lean and lag helped me a lot more, it takes a lot of time getting used to it

I had a strong grip with my left hand and too much of an underneath grip with my right hand. I hit it left all day with all of my clubs. Unreal how straight I hit it now that I moved my right hand more on top. Something as simple as moving 1 hand a couple degrees more in top has me splitting fairways. Amazing content. Keep it coming coach. Thanks for the lesson.

The problem I have with a strong right-hand grip is that it rotates towards the target during the downswing, shutting down the clubface and causing a low hook. So I have a strong left-hand grip and a weak right-hand grip, which is working quite well for me. I believe Fred Couples had this kind of grip and he did okay. :) Reading the comments, I notice a lot of other people have the same issue and solution.

Awesome work again. A +. excellent it's about time a pro addresses grip MECHANICS .

Saw the video yesterday evening. Used the hammer grip today and hit my driver 60 yards further than normal. Slice is gone. Thank you Clay!

Started caddying/golfing at 13yr in 1960 at many clubs in the Phila area. I am prima facie full witness that Hogan's weak grip in "Five Lessons" generated at least a decade and a half of slicers. It would become a compound of ugly when Nicklaus showed up and recommended they "reach for the top shelf". Sometimes you would have to go looking for a ball in an adjacent zipcode. In those days ya had to carry 2 (doubles) leather "Tour" bags to make your money. It was commonly accepted knowledge on the first tee... if one of your players had the weak grip, and the other had a strong grip.. it was in your best interest to drop the bags and run away. Otherwise you'd spend the day carrying back and forth across the fairway from woods on one side to woods on the other. I'm certain today with carts, that would guarantee a 5 1/2 hr round. Thanks for suggesting the neutral grip. IMHO, I don't think lessons with a Teaching Pro should be a democracy, at least with the grip. IMHO2, give them something workably neutral and tell them "Practice this grip for a week. Jim Furyk practices his grip for a week (this is true) before he hits a ball each season." Maybe not good for business but it would make my Saturdays mercifully shorter.;) Your videos are great.

Great video, clear concepts... thanks for this lesson!

Been struggling with my swing lately,, going to try a stronger grip, thanks!

I've just started using a stronger grip. It works for my slice but some shots go very wrong .I'm sticking with it though .

I had a strong grip but developed tennis elbow as a result. It may be that I went too strong but it’s something to look out for.

I found weak left hand, neutral right ( according to this video definition) works for me. The stronger the grip the worse i hit it. Strong grip has me holding off the shut face. It all depends on if you can feel the face angles.

I watched this last night and a stronger grip, made a nice difference in length and accuracy this morning. I had let my grip get pretty weak without realizing it. Most of my misses were long, but I can work with that. Thank You

Thanks for the video. I have recently returned to the game after 20 + years. I am re-learning to swing and re-experiencing all the frustration that goes along with it. I have a relatively neutral grip leaning towards strong rather than weak but for some reason am having real difficulty getting my body and feet alignment correct as it relates to club face angle at contact. I am making better contact than I did before and my distance has improved but find myself hitting shots left or hitting EXTREME pull hooks. I have a serious mental block with this. Yesterday I played the first hole entirely from the far side of the second fairway before aiming my third shot at the first green and hitting a beautiful shot into the woods over the 2nd hole tee box. I then turned around and sunk a 4 foot birdie on the second hole. Is the problem related to my alignment, my grip, the clubface or am I just crazy for taking golf up again. Any advice?

Thanks yet again Clay, was having problems with my grip on my new irons etc, tending to grip too tight also, thanks for great tips

Could you test which grip tests best between the baseball grip, the overlapping grip or the interlocking grip.

any particular grip you recommend for slow swing players? thanks

You were spot on for the "over-the-top" correction by using the strong grip! It somewhat fixed me. Just have the community be aware of changing the driver draw settings with the super-strong grip (I actually can duck hook it now, which is way worse than my over the top 90 yard slice). I've gotten a couple ball speeds at 180-182 this year with the super-strong grip.

Thanks Clay, good job.

Grip size is important too. Big grips are a dangerous thing for average size hands. I have progressively gone from oversize to mid size and back to standard for a better grip position on the club. A stronger position.

Love the analytics

Look up Shawn Clement grip. He explains this also with the hammer grip.

One if my favorite lessons from you. Been playing since I was 7 and am now 63, I feel like I have weakened my grip over the years to find consistency. I am a scratch player and play and gamble with really good players. I hit my driver between 250 to 270 depending on turf conditions. Using your grip technique my grip is between neural and week, but still have some toe down. With the added age I'm not as flexible and had to weaken my grip for consistency to elimate the dreaded left hook. It sux getting old!

Hi Clay golfers can choose whatever grip they want Everyone should know that our bones and joints can only push and provide direction as our muscles can only pull and supply energy in everything we do in life; whether in a golf swing or walking we must stay balanced. Right! So my 2 swing thoughts that I recommend to everyone are 1 to simple to push back with their lead forearm for their backswing and then 2 push harder forward with their lead forearm for my downswing. Tik/TOK That is it! And then know that all the dominoes will fall into place automatically as well as the Holy Grail some people refer to at the top of the downswing. Cheers and remember your heard “The Fraser Push Push Golf Swing of thé lead forearm” first from me as absolutely no one else in the world teaches how to perform this amazing simple rhythm and tempo of the golf swing; by simply employing the pushing of the lead forearm back and forth. Cheers

Thanks! Love this video

yes i did the "strong grip" at the range today,the interesting thing i noticed was how the "triangle" maintained throughout the takeaway and swing,then i seemed too want too get more wristy,and the power was reely nice,about 250' or so-but-my irons were shit-i lost the ball strike -dont know were it went-and i'm pissed

I have strong grip for irons and hit them great. But driver! Some good laced with low hooks (closed delofted face with in to out swing path). Changed just driver grip to neutral and drives became more consistent. So I use both grips. Am I weird?

Had a strong grip, have been working on changing my grip in the last few months, now have a pretty neutral grip.

You mention Hogan had weak grip but having spent many months learning to duplicate his swing I discovered one of his “hidden in plain sight” secrets was always establishing his grip with bent elbow and shaft handing out in front of him in the air where he first put his left hand supporting it with with hooked finger and thumb pad then applying the two middle fingers of the right and wrapping it over left in what at that point was a rather weak grip. But the secret behind the bend elbows and gripping in the air is that when straightened arms to lower the club - still not grounding it - the hands locked together in the grip forces the two forearms to counter-rotate and the palms of the hands to pronate as the left forearm rotates clockwise inwards and the right forearm rotates counter-clockwise inwards creating the “wringing the towel” counter tension in the arms which stretches the muscles, particularly the Brachioradialis which runs over the top of elbow. It can be seen bulging in any photo or video of Hogan’s swing. When watching videos of his set up closely you will notice his last move before taking the club back was to hyper-extend his arms. That subtle action which is easily overlooked has a big effect on how the arms feel, stretching the muscles in the same way the club force does in the actual swing. What Hogan did is twist the arms together like twisted steel cables and push the hands down from the relatively weak grip established at the beginning into a much stronger pronated left hand orientation. As the push downward straightened the left arm and pronated the left hand he kept the right arm slightly bent and counter rotated it towards the target in opposition to the pronation and backwards rotation of the left hand. That action presses the pad of the right thumb very tightly over the left thumb which increases control of the club without creating any muscular contraction in the fingers. This probably sounds complicated but it is very easy to experience and feel by simply putting your two hands empty together 🙏🏼 under chin with elbows down in a praying posture, interlacing the fingers into a golf grip, then bend forward at the hips into a golf stance with arms hanging down. If grip pressure is maintained between the two hands you will observe the radius and ulna of the forearms rotating and feel the arms twist like ropes to the point they feel like steel rods without any contraction, just stretching. If you then push the left hand palm down and rotate the right hand towards left your arms will feel like Hogan’s did before he took the club back and the left hand will be in a much stronger orientation than in the “How To” illustrations in the book. Hogan put all the hints in the book, but it takes actually trying the techniques and a bit of reading between the lines to figure out how he actually did it. That’s one of the reason so many people over the years have commented on all the “SECRETS” he had in his swing technique. I suspect he wanted it to be a puzzle one had to work at to solve.

I switched to strong grip a couple of weeks ago and got rid of my slice and add 30 yards. I was really struggling to straight the club face at impact.

The grip determines the swing principle. 🤘🏻😎🤘🏻

Strong grip gang! 🙌

I do tend to move right a wee bit. But boy does it fly when I get it right

Excellent.

Can you do a test with a ten finger grip. Club speed versus the other grips.

just curious, is the sledge hammer leanding on your bag for those who don't follow your instructions very well?

Do the same rules apply for irons?

good stuff

How many knuckles do you see on your left hand for weak, neutral, strong grips? And do you see your left toe through the V of your forearms, or does your left hand cover your view of your left foot, or ? Some folks have the shaft of the club more forward of the ball at address, some have the hands even with the ball. Wondering what you see at address in your own setup.

I hit my driver with that really strong grip and my irons weak grip and bowed wrist like DJ and John Rahm. Idk how or why but it works for me lol

Amazing vídeo. !!

Can we just use the strong grip for driver only?

Does the hammer work with interlocking equally as well as overlapping grip?

Omfg every video leads to the tennis racket drill 🤣🤣🤣

Ben Hogan n Tiger has that weak similar grip?!! I’ll take it!! That’s Legendary Grip😂🤙🏻🍻🍻

I have a strong left hand grip but I also wrap my right hand over the top alot too. My hands fight each other so hard that it guarantees a square club at impact. I hit it dead straight 9/10 times.Neither hand can move because the other hand locks it in place.

Why would anyone, like Tiger with Haney, choose weaker grip? Like especially with Tiger who would sacrifice so much distance (grip, spinny golf ball, shorter shaft, blades, etc.) for feel? Could it be that distance was less of a factor 10-20 years back?

Don't like the interlock grip with the hands. cud never do it and have consistent results. Prefer the baseball grip on the shaft, but still have a strong grip. Works good for me anyways.

I started playing golf when I was about 7 years old using a baseball grip. Nothing anyone has ever said could ever convince me to change this grip to over lapping or interlocking my fingers. I cannot think of anything in sports that is more inane and silly than doing that with my grip. I have hit 1970's wooden headed drivers over 300 yards many times yet I am five foot eleven and about a hundred and eighty pounds. Although I'm not a professional golfer, I have shot in the 60's more times than I can count. When I try an overlap or interlock grip I immediately feel like I've removed two fingers from my club. I have a feeling that I've tremendously weakened my grip. And, when I swing with these grips, it feels like the club is going to fly out of my hands. My hands never turn or move with the baseball grip. To think that this is what happens with a baseball grip is preposterous! You can use all three grips and forcefully turn your hands because of the flexible physiology of the hand itself. If the great golfers of our time started out and only used a baseball grip during their careers they would never change it to those other grips.

I like the new guy, clean shaven, young & good looking, intelligent & very well spoken . . . that hairy guy seems little on the gnarly side, chap.

Missing the outdoor videos.... :( @topspeedgolf

How about strongish left hand and a weak right??

I tossed the glove and went to a base ball grip. I can't remember my last driver slice or missing a green on the right hand side. I lost 5 -10 yards on my drives and my 8 iron is my go to 150 yard club now. My mates all laugh , but, they try it, ball goes dead straight and they deny it because tiger doesn't do it.

Does hand size contribute to what grip to feel comfortable playing with, I always thought smaller hands would lean towards a weaker grip or is this wrong?

My left hand (lead hand) is neutral but my right hand is definitely strong.

Learn the Golf Neutral Grip position with this short Golf tutorial video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5enasTwx3XE.html

the only correct way to have a strong grip is to stretch the left hand out and press it up against the shaft, when you take your grip. the back of the left hand should aim above the target and not to the right of the target. but, ultimately if a player can't form the right angle between the left arm and club, and if there is no momentary increase in momentum of the club as it crosses over to the target side of the hands, in the backswing, the grip is faulty.

What about a strong left hand grip and weak right hand grip like rory

Do you really want forward shaft lean with driver?

The 500 K Club is right around the corner TSG.... Congrats to you Big Clay Dawg and the entire Top Speed Crew 💪🏌️‍♂️🍻⛳️

to counter my strong grip that DOES cause me to hook it left, i open up the face before i grip with my right hand

유익한 영상입니다.

💪

"The weak grip isn't good, except for Tiger and Hogan". Maybe the two greatest strikers ever.

Ben hogan had a neutral left hand though

Seems like a stronger grip requires more rotation...weaker grip and you need less rotation..but then you'll end up with less club head speed... correct?

I use strong ģrip for driver and neutral grip for irons.

That's it then....medium/strong grip is the easiest way to hold the club and not break your wrists!

Lesson one.

For some reason I thought your carry distance with a driver would be much higher...

Hi Claaaaayyy 🙌🏼

Video say “driver grip” Are you saying there should be a different grip for your driver than your irons ( or even 3wood ) ?

Are you locking your fingers? Thanks

The weird part is that my grip is softer on the stronger grip than the other 2... 🤔

You need to take in account the individual. You would call my grip strong even though it’s neutral to my body configuration. That is where almost all of you get it wrong. If you want to learn the truth about proper grip, go to Mike Malaska gold. He has much better information for the individual. Sorry but you’re info assumes everyone is made the same and they are not.

I've always been told that you need to see 3 knuckles on both hands.

Everyone's body and synchronization with their own physiology during a swing is different. Look at these options and seek to understand them. Then apply each grip variation in to your swing so you understand what gets your club face square at impact. Just because your 6'6' rail-thin friend fits a weak grip doesn't mean that sync will work for your body, every player is different. There is no one-size-fits-all fix.

2K for half a mill Clay 😛

I thought this was going to be about the actual grips of different clubs

Yeah Tiger Woods was a pretty good player :D