Mythbusting grips shock horror

Having finally found what I regard as the most efficient and effortless swing for me, I'm ready to start addressing some of the myths that I believe pervade the golf instruction industry.

Many of these myths may be found in the instruction provided by club teaching pros, television hosts and internet gurus, many of whom I have listened to attentively over a number of years, and most of whom truly believe in their own systems or methods, and who are well intentioned and not 'completely' commercially motivated.

Two of the first myths I would like to address relate to the grip (the hands, not the handle).

1. The Vardon grip, the most commonly taught grip, touted as the grip that reduces the tendency of the dominant right hand (right-handed golfers) to take over the swing. Now, this makes some sense for elite golfers who have problems with an overactive lower hand and therefore hooking the ball. This doesn't make sense for the average golfer who has rarely hooked a ball in their entire golfing life. The interlocking grip used by some players is a variation that works for some, but has some of the same limitations as the Vardon.

The ten finger grip, however, will be far more effective for golfers of average ability because it (a) re-asserts the power available in the right hand and helps the golfer close the club face at impact and (b) places the right hand (right handers) lower on the grip, providing greater stability and control of the club. Awareness and control of the club and club-face are critical for consistency of ball striking.

There are those who will argue that the ten finger grip is for children and arthritis sufferers, and that is true, but there are many other golfers who are using a Vardon grip because they have been told it is the norm and now subscribe to the myth that the right hand must be kept out of or minimised in the stroke. This makes no sense for the average golfer.

2. The other grip myth that I want to address is the Neutral grip. This is the old 'v's' pointing to the right ear (right handed golfers) or thereabout. This grip is touted as being the best for good for achieving good wrist break (leaving out the technical terminology) at the top of the swing in preparation for the downswing and release. This sounds fine, but the reality is that many average golfers have a tendency to open the club face during the backswing and more importantly a tendency to leave it too much open through impact. Elite golfers can manage any kind of grip because they know how to 'release' the club (the club face). That is, they know how to time the rotation of their arms, wrists and hands through impact. Average golfers cannot cannot release the club consistently.

The grip I advocate is a so called 'strong grip', and I don't mean 'firm' (the opposite of light). A strong grip is one in which the left hand (for right handers) is rotated behind the grip (clockwise from the golfer's perspective) so that four knuckles of the left hand are showing. The right hand (for right handers) simply fits into the forefinger/thumb gap as usual. It will be in a slightly strong position, but it is the left hand position that is the most crucial.

By gripping the club in this way, the club face, which incidentally should look and be square at set up, will naturally tend to close throughout the actual swing. Most importantly, the club face will tend to close, quite considerably, up to thirty or more degrees, through impact. Without going into the physics, this is what produces straight and drawn shots and is what the average player needs to achieve in order to avoid the common, habitual slice. The average player needs an automatic mechanism for closing the club face since they don't have the ability to consistently close it by conscious action.

Adjusting to such a grip is not easy at first because the occasional hand release that the golfer has been attempting to make for many years (though usually failing) will kick in and a gigantic hook will result. It takes time to realise that with a very strong grip the hands must be passive, that the release must be achieved simply through body rotation. This body rotation will vary in speed according to the ability and athleticism of the golfer, but the key is that the hands remain passive and that the golfer simply allows the club to swing freely through to the target.

There are a number of advantages of this kind of swing, including greater consistency (see Zack Johnson's record). It also offers much greater simplicity, with far less need to think about timing or, for that matter, the myriad of other do's and don'ts that tangle up many a golf swing. This grip also seems to place the golfer's upper body more behind the ball, but without the swaying that contributes to inconsistent ball contact.

In short, a strong grip seems to give the golfer more opportunity to focus on shot-making because s/he is no longer worried about whether the dreaded slice will come into play. The pin becomes a realistic target; avoiding trouble subsides as a major objective; and golf actually becomes more fun.

Combining a strong grip with a ten finger grip, gives the average, slice-battling, golfer a chance to make substantial improvements to her or his ball striking game, and with a minimum of effort. Trying to improve one's game by doing more of the same, year after year, but doing it better, is frighteningly reminiscent of the common definition of insanity: doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different outcome.

Grip myths are made to be busted.