You can improve your golf game by learning the secrets of the golf club grip. Grips are the least expensive, yet one of the most important parts of a golf club. Remember, the grip is only the part of the clubs that you make contact with, so it's extremely important to make sure that you have the right size and the right quality of material. If you use a club grip that is too small, there is a good chance that the club will twist towards the target just before impact and cause the clubface to be closed. This often happens when the golfer unconsciously grips harder just before impact, resulting in the twist. If you use a club grip that is too big for you, your physical grip will often break loose at an off-center impact causing the club face to be open.
So what grips are right for you? Believe it or not, that depends more that just how big your hands are. Hand size, which is easy to measure, will determine the final grip size that you should have on your club. The size of your golf glove is an easy way to tell how big your grip should be. Basically, grips come in Ladies size, which is also a Men's small. Then there is regular, and midsize, and jumbo.
But here's secret number one about grips - grips have an internal core that is different between styles of grips! And here's secret number two - the end of the golf shaft comes in different dimensions between styles of shafts! What this means is that even if your golf glove size determines you need a particular grip size, you can still go wrong if you put that size with a smaller inner core on a shaft with a large outside dimension. So you see, it's the combination of golf core size and shaft OD that really determines the final true size of the grip. You'd be amazed at how many golf club makers sell people clubs without even mentioning the grip! And you'll find that most (if not all) of the "click and ship" websites don't even take core size and shaft OD into consideration at all. They just ask you how big your glove is, and then stick a cheap grip on the end of the shaft, and that's it. Please don't let this happen, because you'll pay for it in your golf game. Last, but certainly not least, you need to understand a very important piece of advice - change your golf grips often! Over time, grips will oxidize, harden, get slick and lose their grip (sometimes called "tackiness"), especially if you keep your clubs in the truck of you car (which we don't recommend by the way). You should remember to re-grip your clubs often - it will improve your game.
Change your grips at least twice each season if you are an average weekend golfer. Does that sound like a lot to you? Did you know that some of the pros change their grips every week? So change your grips and change your game, and enjoy your improved play and diminishing handicap.
