Sometimes we forget our very first lesson of golf and we keep searching for the cause of our bad game in other areas. It is the rule of every game that when your game is not up to the mark, go-to the basics, and grip is the base of the basics. First of all, when we are standing in front of a coach he does not tell us about follow-through, impact, backswing, weight shift or club head placement in the first lesson, he tells us how to hold a golf club. He tells us about grip.

There are 3 types of Golf Grips:

1 – Ten Fingers grip
2 – Interlocking grip
3 – overlapping grip

Before learning about grip, one must be aware of Trail and Lead hands :

Trail Hand

Trail hand is towards the head of the club while standing for a stance to hit, for the right-handed player its right hand and the left hand for the left-handed players.

Lead Hand 

The lead hand is towards the player and away from the ground while standing to hit the ball, for the right-handed players its left hand and the right hand for left-handed players.

Ten Finger Grip

It is also called a baseball grip and is the most awkward one, and it is the least preferred by the golf coaches. This is usually adopted by those who start learning without a teacher, They start with ten fingers after that they meet the coach and he lets it go due to some reasons. In this grip, all the 8 fingers are around the club grip while both the thumps are holding it from the top, while thump of lead hand is inside the palm of trail hand.

Interlocking Grip

Interlock grip or interlocking, this is among the 2 most used grips in the field. It is adopted by many top players including 2 top players of their era and all-time toppers; Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. To catch a club with an interlocking grip, the stick is captured into 3 fingers of lead hand while the index finger of the lead hand is interlocked with the little finger of trail hand and the remaining 3 fingers of trail hands are around the club.

Overlapping Grip

Overlapping grip sometimes called Vardon Overlap grip is the most common grip among the current top players. This grip is the favorite of thousands of golf teachers. In this grip, lead hand catches the grip of the club with all four fingers while the little finger of trail hand is overlapped between the index and middle fingers of the lead hand. Remaining 3 fingers of trail hand are around the club.

A nice grip produces a nice shot, it does not matter which type of grip one chooses but it should be as per proper science of golf.

How to hold a golf club correctly

1 – One should hold back side of the grip diagonally into the lead hand – from index finger to wrist edge – thump and index of the lead hand should be in the position like capturing a small pistol and index finger is going to trigger. 

2 – Trail hand overlaps the thump of lead hand in a fashion that complete thumb is hidden under the hand. regardless of the type of grip. Both the thumps are catching grip from the top.

3 – Knuckles of the index and middle fingers of the lead hand should be visible to the player.

4 – The index finger of the trail hand should be a little separate from the middle finger.

A grip should not be too tight or too loose, to check it, one should catch the grip properly as told above and then head of the club should be given into someone’s hands to pull it out, if he pulls it with some force it means grip is tight and if he takes the club smoothly, it means now one is holding it the way it should be. On the other hand, it should not be too loose that the club goes out of the hands while hitting.