Golf Advice - Get a Grip on Your Golf Grip

Every once in a while (he says generously) I have a really poor round of golf. Point of fact, I've been tempted to find out if any of my clubs will float by systematically throwing each one into the water hazard to observe the results. I am usually able to resist that impulse, since it tends to get expensive - and messy.

If this rings a bell for you then it may very well be that the source of your problem is in your grip.

See if the following situation sound familiar to you: After a lousy shot you make a mental note that the next shot has to be better to make up for one you just took. So now the pressure on the next shot is raised a notch - and the pressure begins to mount with each shot.

What then happens is that with each increase in pressure, you grip the club harder - not on purpose - but the tightness of your grip increases all the same.

Tension will do that. Who knew?

I think you know where this is going — with the increase tightness of you grip comes a corresponding loss of control. And your game starts to turn into a hack fest. The ball is launched in every direction but the one you desire, and the tension builds ever more, until you look at your knuckles and they are white from the pressure. If your clubs had to breath you would have strangled them by now.

I had a playing partner who had a simple list of instructions that he would read when his game started to fall apart and at the top of that list was 'don't strangle the clubs'

It's simple and we all know about it, but this visual reminder was all that it would take to get his game back on course and ensure that the tension wasn't there in the rest of his game.

Having this written list of instructions turned out to be so powerful that several other people started using it.
It was like having your own personal golf pro tucked into your shirt pocket ready to dispense the advice when things started to going bad.

Those words would allow him to focus on the next shot and release all the tension that would have otherwise crept into his game. Try carrying your own list of 'game savers' around with you next time and don't hesitate to read them at the first sign your game might be falling apart.

You have my guarantee, it will work far better than giving your clubs the 'float test'.

Speaking of golf grip, here is an excellent instructional video I found on how to get a consistent, proper golf grip for your swing: