Foundation 01
The grip
How you hold the club quietly decides everything that follows. Get this right first and the rest of the swing gets easier.
2 min read
Your hands are the only contact you have with the club, so the grip is the first domino. A good one lets the clubface return to square without any conscious effort; a bad one forces you to make compensations for the rest of your golfing life. Spend real time here — it feels awkward for a week and natural forever after.
Build it in order
- Lead hand first (left hand for a right-handed golfer). Let the club run diagonally across the base of your fingers, not the palm. Close your hand so the thumb sits just right of center down the shaft.
- Check two knuckles. Looking down, you should see roughly the first two knuckles of your lead hand. None means too weak; three-plus means too strong.
- Trail hand covers the lead thumb. The lifeline of your trail hand sits snugly over your lead thumb. The two hands should feel like one unit.
Pressure
Hold it like a tube of toothpaste with the cap off — firm enough that nothing slips, soft enough that nothing squeezes out. On a scale of 1–10, aim for a 4.
The myth that costs beginners distance
You'll hear
Squeeze tightly so the club can't twist in your hands.
What's true
A tight grip floods your forearms with tension and kills clubhead speed. Light, secure pressure lets the wrists hinge and release — that's where easy power comes from.
There's no single "correct" grip style — interlock, overlap, or ten-finger all work. Pick the one that feels secure for your hand size and keep it consistent.
Key takeaways
- Club in the fingers of the lead hand, not buried in the palm.
- See about two knuckles of the lead hand at address.
- Light pressure (a 4 out of 10) — tension is the enemy of speed.
- Any grip style is fine; consistency matters more than which one.