Getting a grip

Moving slightly away from the mechanics of the golf swing, including my slight reservations about the suitability of Paul Wilson's pitching technique for average golfers, there is another point of contention I want to address.

For many years, golf instructors have been advocating adoption of the Vardon (overlapping) or the interlocking grip for all golfers, except perhaps for children or rank beginners. The argument for these grips as opposed to the ten finger or 'baseball' grip revolves around the alleged need for the hands to work together and some restriction of the power of the usually stronger lower hand.

I believe that aspects of this view are representative of the failure of much golf instruction to explain the real reasons for adopting a particular approach.

The ten finger grip (which I was forced to use for some months because of a hand problem) is actually not ideal because of the restriction it places on the freedom of the wrists. When the hands are separated it is not as easy to feel the freedom that is so essential in the effortless and fluid golf swing. Separated hands can work together, but will probably slightly reduce the wrist cock at the top of the backswing and can potentially encourage tighter grip pressure than is ideal.

I don't subscribe to the view that the power of the right hand (for right handed golfers) should be limited - other than for expert golfers who happen to have a tendency to hook the ball. The average player (generally a fader of slicer) is not likely to be adversely affected by a slightly stronger right hand. After all the slicer needs to release the club better and the stronger lower or right hand can help with this.

There is, of course, one advantage of the ten finger grip that can be overlooked - the fact that this golfer will be gripping down a little on the club. Gripping down can help with control - and is actually important in much of the short game. A ten finger grip is an automatic grip down, but the astute golfer will know when it is advisable to grip down, and can easily do so with her or his more conventional Vardon or interlocking grip.

Some conventional golf wisdom and the instruction that flows from it is sometimes a little lazy. That is, explanations given for certain procedures can be hackneyed or incomplete, and sometimes just plain wrong. Never accept a 'do this' or 'don't do this' golf instruction without fully understanding and evaluating the theory behind it.