“Grip Feel”
For those of us who have owned classic or cars from the ‘60’s and earlier, remember the steering wheels? My ’68 Dodge Charger’s was cool looking but hardly offered the comfort or quick reaction of today’s quality rides. Think of your grip as a steering wheel. If it doesn’t feel right you will be fidgeting around looking for a comfortable position. This can happen on the course too. You’ll know it when someone in your group offers an encouraging comment like “C’mon Sergio, hit it already!”
Like the steering wheel, the grip is your sole connection with the club. You should at least make sure you have the right grip size, material and style that suit you. If the grip size is too large you might find yourself choking down to where it is smaller. If it is too small there is sometimes a tendency to “regrip” the club at the top of the swing or just grip too tightly. Some clubmakers believe there is only one way to determine grip size. Grip the club, look at the space between the fingers and heel of the palm. A perfect fit is when the finger tips barely touch the heel. I say yes and no to that method. For most golfers it works well. But some golfers (myself included) have medium sized hands but a large palm heel. When I grip a club my fingers dig into the heel but the fingers and upper palm feel fine. I would need a jumbo size grip to create a space between the heel and finger tips – no way am I doing that!
There are too many materials out there today to detail here. Not only have grip manufacturers come up with new rubber compounds but they are also using multiple material types in a given grip. Do you need shock absorption, do your hands sweat a lot, does a hot red color match your new pink Grafalloy shaft? All important questions! And how about putter grips – you can throw all the fitting rules out the window. If it feels good and the ball rolls into the hole – buy it. Did you know that there are companies that sell machined aluminum grips that are precision installed using lasers? Would you pay $200+ to shave 3-4 strokes? Gimme a minute, I’m thinking about it!
Do you know what a reminder rib is? It’s that raised bead that runs length-wise along the bottom of the grip. It is designed to help align the clubface but of course that all depends on how precisely they were installed. Even if they were installed perfectly should you be concerned that they might have “drifted”. Think about that the next time you pull those sticks out of a 150 degree trunk! But with proper care, they should be fine. I suppose my point here is that you should use ribbed grips because you like the feel. If you want good alignment, square the clubface not the grip.
Don’t forget to ask about the cost of grips before you commit. You should be aware that although there are many options, you can expect to pay 2-3 times as much for a premium grip as you did for those Tour Wraps that you regripped with six years ago!
Patrick Blair
Blair Golfworks
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