Grip Pressure Is Personal

One of the questions my students ask me all the time is:

“How tight should I hold the golf club?”

It sounds like a simple question. But I do not think there is one simple answer. We can talk about grip pressure on a scale from 1 to 10. We can say that 1 is barely holding onto the club and 10 is squeezing it as hard as possible. You will hear instructors recommend different numbers on that scale, and those numbers can certainly provide a useful starting point.

But there is a problem: Your 5 may not be my 5.

Grip pressure is personal. Golfers have different levels of hand strength. What feels relatively light to someone with very strong hands could still apply considerable pressure to the handle. Another golfer with less hand strength may need to feel as though they are holding the club more firmly just to keep it secure.

That is why I think we need to consider hand strength before we start telling someone exactly how tightly to hold the golf club.

It Sometimes Starts With a Handshake

Believe it or not, I often begin evaluating a golfer's hand strength before we ever hit a golf ball.

I shake their hand.

I am not trying to turn a handshake into a scientific test. I am simply paying attention.

• Does the golfer have a particularly strong handshake?

• Do they naturally apply a lot of pressure?

• Does their grip feel relatively soft?

It gives me a little information about the golfer standing in front of me. Someone with very strong hands may be able to apply considerable pressure to the golf club without realizing it. Conversely, someone with less hand strength may need to use a greater percentage of their available strength simply to hold the club securely.

Neither is necessarily right or wrong. It is simply something we need to understand about the individual golfer. From there, we can start experimenting with the golf club.

Try the Pull Test

Here is another simple test I like to use with my students. Take your normal grip and hold the golf club parallel to the ground in front of your body. I then grab the club and gently try to pull it away from the golfer. I am looking for two extremes. If I pull on the club and pull the golfer off balance, they may be holding onto the club much harder than necessary.

On the other hand, if I can pull the club right out of their hands, their grip may be too soft to maintain control of the club throughout the swing.

What am I looking for?

Somewhere in between.

I want the golfer to maintain control of the club without feeling as though they have to fight me to keep it.

That is a very different concept from simply saying: “Grip the club at a 4 out of 10.”

The pull test is not intended to scientifically measure grip pressure. It is simply a way to help the golfer experience the difference between too soft, too tight, and secure. And that brings us to the word I really want golfers to understand.

Secure, Not Tight

When discussing grip pressure, I prefer the word secure. I do not necessarily want you thinking about holding the golf club lightly. I also do not want you thinking about squeezing it tightly. I want you to hold it securely.

There should be enough pressure that the club does not move unnecessarily in your hands, but not so much that you begin creating excessive tension in your hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, or the rest of your body.

Try something for me. Make a fist and squeeze as hard as you possibly can. What happens?

You will probably notice that the tension does not stay in your fingers. It travels into your hand and forearm. Keep squeezing and you may begin feeling it in your upper arm and shoulder. Now imagine trying to make a free-flowing golf swing while maintaining all of that tension. You may start to feel a little like a T-Rex.

Your arms feel tight. Your elbows stay close to your body. Your shoulders become tense. Instead of allowing the club to move freely, you may feel as though you are trying to control every part of the swing. That is probably not how we want to begin a golf swing.

At the same time, the answer is not to barely hold onto the club. During a full swing, the club is moving relatively fast and producing forces that we need to manage. We still have to maintain control of it.

Again, we are looking for the middle ground: Enough pressure to control the club. Not so much pressure that we create unnecessary tension.

What Happens When You Grip the Club Too Tight?

Excessive grip pressure can affect much more than your hands. Tension that begins in the fingers can travel into the wrists, forearms, elbows, and shoulders. As that tension increases, it may become more difficult for the wrists and arms to move naturally during the swing.

The result can be a golf swing that feels restricted rather than athletic. Excessive tension may affect your rhythm and speed, but it can also influence your ability to control the clubface. If your arms and wrists are not moving naturally, returning the clubface consistently becomes more difficult. That can contribute to shots that start offline, curve more than intended, or simply do not feel solid.

You may also lose some clubhead speed because you are trying so hard to control the club. Around the green, excessive grip pressure can become even more noticeable. Chipping, pitching, and putting require tremendous control of distance and contact. Excessive tension can make it more difficult to develop the touch and feel necessary for these smaller shots.

Think about the irony: The tighter you hold the club in an attempt to gain control, the more difficult it may become to actually control the golf shot.

What Happens When You Grip the Club Too Loose?

But we can go too far in the opposite direction. You still have to hold onto the golf club. If your grip is too loose, the handle may shift, twist, or change position in your hands during the swing. When that happens, the relationship between your hands and the clubface can change. That can make clubface control and consistent contact more difficult.

There is another potential problem with starting with too little pressure. If the club begins moving in your hands, your natural reaction may be to grab it. Imagine beginning the backswing with very soft hands, feeling the club become unstable during the transition, and suddenly tightening your grip as the club changes direction.

Now your grip pressure is changing during one of the most dynamic parts of the golf swing. Instead of maintaining control from the beginning, you are trying to regain it. That sudden increase in pressure can affect your rhythm, timing, clubface control, and ultimately your contact with the golf ball. So while excessive grip pressure can restrict movement, insufficient grip pressure can sacrifice stability and control.

Neither extreme is particularly helpful.

Find Your Grip Pressure

This is where I want golfers to experiment.

• Take your normal grip and hit a few golf balls.

• Then hold the club a little tighter.

• Hit a few more.

• Now soften your grip slightly.

• Hit another group of shots.

• Do not just look at where the golf ball finishes. Pay attention to what you feel.

Ask yourself:

• Can I control the clubface?

• Does the club feel secure?

• Does the handle move in my hands?

• Do my forearms feel tight?

• Do my shoulders feel relaxed?

• Can I swing freely?

• How is my rhythm?

• What happens to my contact?

• What happens to my ball flight?

When you find a pressure that produces the combination of security, freedom of movement, solid contact, and control, pay attention to that feeling. Mentally record it. Then try to reproduce it.

That is far more valuable than trying to copy someone else's number on a grip-pressure scale. A golfer with less hand strength may need to apply more relative pressure to keep the club secure. A golfer with very strong hands may need to consciously use less pressure because they can create plenty of force without feeling as though they are squeezing the club.

Your 5 may not be my 5.

And that is perfectly fine.

Grip Pressure and the Golf Shot

Ultimately, grip pressure matters because it can influence clubface control, contact, rhythm, speed, and ball flight. Too much pressure may introduce unnecessary tension and restrict movement. Too little pressure may allow the club to move in your hands and make the clubface more difficult to control. The goal is not to find the lightest grip possible. There is no prize for having the lightest grip in golf. And there certainly is no advantage to squeezing the life out of the club.

Instead, find the amount of pressure that allows you to maintain control of the golf club while still allowing your hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders to move freely.

Too tight can create tension and restrict movement.

Too loose can sacrifice stability and control.

Somewhere between those two extremes is the grip pressure that works for you.

Secure, Not Tight

If you remember only one thing from this article, remember this: Hold the golf club securely enough to maintain control, but softly enough to avoid unnecessary tension.

Test it. Experiment with it. Pay attention to your contact and ball flight. Then learn what the correct grip pressure feels like in your hands. Because when someone asks me, “How tight should I hold the golf club?”, my answer is not necessarily a number.

It depends on you.

Stuart Lambert, PGALambert Golf Academy

The Grip Pressure Scale below is intended as a general guide to help you begin finding the appropriate grip pressure for your golf game. Grip pressure is personal and can vary based on hand strength, comfort, and the individual golfer. Results may vary.