How To Hold A Golf Club For Beginners: Right And Left Handed

When it comes to playing a game of high skill and precision, the role of golf is irreplaceable. But what do you need to master this game? You have to complete the game with as low a stroke as possible. To achieve this precision, your swing and knowledge of golf mechanics are crucial. 

Only after I had mastered them was I able to progress with the game. Depending upon how you hold the club affects your swings. Therefore, the factor can spoil or let you excel in the game. 

But holding a golf club, especially a left-hand golf grip, is not a cakewalk. While you are searching for how to hold a golf club, I have covered you all with it!

Step-By-Step Guide To Holding A Golf Club: How To Grip? 

It’s time to hold the golf club the correct way and begin your journey of golf. Unlike other things, golf isn’t only for right-handers but also for both left and right-handers.

However, here we have covered how to hold a golf club if you are right-handed. Though that of left-handers varies slightly, we will discuss it later in this section.

Step 1: Hold The Golf Club Parallel To The Ground 

Keep your golf club such that its sole should touch the ground straight, and it shouldn’t tilt forward or backward. Keep the club square (perpendicular) to the target.

Step 2: Keep Your Left Fingers And Club Handle Perpendicular To Each Other

Stretch your left hand’s fingers so that the club grip is diagonal to them, and makes a straight line.

Step 3: Grip The Club Using Your Left Hand 

Enclose your left hand around the grip. Hey, doing so, your left Hand’s heel should lie on the top edge of the grip.

Step 4: Rotate Your Left Hand 

Rotate your left hand a bit towards the right. To be precise, rotate until the point that when you look down, you see two knuckles over your left hand. It provides you with a neutral grip, which is advantageous for greens.

Step 5: Place Your Right Hand Over The Left

Next, be in the same position as above and simultaneously place your right Hand’s heel on the left thumb to cover it. Now close your right hand.

Ensure to do it so that the thumb and forefinger of your right-hand form a “V” and point towards the middle of your chest (precisely the sternum: the bone at the center of the ribcage). 

To control your shots and accurately hit your ball, it’s essential to grip the club correctly while holding it. At the same time, practice and adjust the grip as convenient for you and help you get better scores.

To achieve a firm hold over your club, it is essential to maintain a clean grip. Therefore, I recommend reading this article here on cleaning your golf grips.

Types Of Golf Grips

After learning to hold the club and how to grip, it’s time to excel more and advance with your skills. There’s no single way of gripping a golf club. Amongst overlapping, interlocking, and 10-finger grip types, you must know what it is all!

1. 10-Finger Grip or Baseball Grip

If you have small hands and trouble playing golf, 10 Finger Grip is the all-time rescue. Ever since you started your journey, you should remember how, in the initial days, you had all your fingers over the club.

Well, this grip, when all the ten fingers are on the club placed firm, is known as a 10-finger grip. Mediocre to veteran golfers don’t use it, but amateurs find it convenient and easy to practice! 

Yet it is robust since all your fingers are held firmly to the grip.

2. Overlap or Vardon Grip

With larger hands, other gripping styles don’t suit your game quickly. Hence, the overall group would help you!

In it, you have to place the pinkie finger of one hand in the ridge between the opposite hand’s index and middle finger.

3. Interlock Grip

When you want a powerful swing that gives an edge over other players, then an Interlocking grip helps. Since it uses both hands for the shot, it provides additional strength during play. The interlocking grip is another version of the 10-finger grip.

Here, you have to interlock one hand’s pinkie finger and your opposite hand’s index finger. It’s basically to bring you both hands close to each other.

Holding A Driver Vs. A Putter 

Amongst different types of golf clubs, all have varied ways of holding them. Drivers, putters, fairway woods, irons, hybrids, and wedges are the fundamental club types.

They show slight variations, yet the driver and putter are the ones that offer a little more variation.

Holding A Driver

Use your left hand to hold the golf driver at the base of the grip. Now, slightly rotate your hand so that when you look down, you see the knuckles of the index and middle fingers. 

Thus, keep your left hand on the club and retain the right in a way that overlaps the ring and middle fingers of your left hand.

Further, ensure that the right thumb and index finger form the “V” shape pointing towards your sternum (upper torso).

Holding A Putter

Stretch out the fingers of your left hand and hold the putter up to it. The grip should run across your hand’s central position. Follow the same procedure for the opposite hand, and thus, your right hand should be below the left. 

Apart from these, there are various ways to hold a putter. These include overlap, claw, and cross-handed grips. Yet, you should choose the one which you feel comfortable with.

How To Hold A Golf Club Left-Handed

As mentioned earlier, in golf, both left- and right-handed players are equal and given equal opportunity; there would also be that you would be left-handed, but playing with the right hand is comfortable to you or vice versa.

To try these things, you should play with different clubs and decide which makes your swing better. Most golfers use their stronger arms to play golf as it gives maximum power to their swings.

The core difference between left and right-handed golfers is the hand placement of left-handers. You have to use the opposite hand in the steps mentioned above.

Steps To Grip A Golf Club For Left-Handers

1. Keep the golf club straight to the ground; it shouldn’t be titled backward or forward. Alongside, ensure it’s at 90° to the target.
2. Stretch your right hand’s fingers so the grip lies diagonally to your fingers, forming a linear path.
3. Close your right hand around the grip so that its heel pad is on the top end of the grip. 
4. Now, rotate your right hand slightly towards the left so that when you look down, you see its index and middle finger knuckles. 
5. Place your left hand’s heel over the right thumb to fully cover it and close your left hand. The left hand’s thumb and left finger should thus form a “V” shape. 

Thus, left and right-handed golfers can hold a grip at their convenience without much variation. Besides, it doesn’t affect golfing accuracy and swings as well.

Grip Pressure Fix – How You Want To Hold Your Golf Grip?

Despite following the above steps, You might feel inconvenienced while swinging. It’s not that golf is unsuitable for you or the club is wrong; instead, discrepancies are holding the club. 

Below-mentioned are the measures to follow:

1. Prevent Gripping Up 

Hand positioning on the club is of utmost importance while gripping. To determine whether its basics are correct, check if you can see the grip’s tip. If not, then you have held the hand too high. 

Therefore, move it down slightly until you see the tip of the grip. During this time, reposition both hands aptly, as mentioned above.

2. Check The Trail Hand

The trail hand for left-handed golfers is left, while for right-handers, it is correct. When right-handed, carefully check the right-hand placement over the golf club and vice versa. Check if the thumb and forefinger form a V-shape or not.

3. Check The Lead Hand 

The lead hand is the one hand that is opposite the trail hand. Thus, for left-handed golfers, the lead hand is right and vice-versa. 

To check whether its placement is correct, determine if you can see the knuckles of the ring and middle finger of the lead hand. Further, the grip should run diagonally down from your fingers. 

For holding the club, ensure to keep it adequately tight so it doesn’t slide enough. Yet gently so your lead hand doesn’t crush it or get hurt in the long run.

4. Begin With The Fundamentals 

If all of the above doesn’t work, then you need a break. Therefore, keep your club down and step away from the grip. Next, grab a sip of an energy drink and chill. Later on, when you are ready to play again.

Conclusion

Before you think of advancing your game of golf, you need to know the correct way of holding a golf club. For that, gripping it aptly is of utmost essential. There are three ways of gripping, which include a 10-finger grip, overlap or Vardon, and interlocking. 

Besides, the proper grip method for left-handed golfers is the same as that for right-handed golfers. The exception is that the lead and trail hand would be opposite to right-handed golfers. 

Moreover, mistakes are bound to happen, so if things don’t work, prevent gripping up and checking the placements of lead and trail hands. If everything is forest, then a break is all you need.