No I don’t mean use a tee in the fairway or even on the tee box, but sliding a tee between your thumb and forefinger on both hands may be just what your game has been missing. Having a proper grip is one of the most basic fundamentals of golf, and is certainly the #1 most corrected faults in golf. Now the big question, what is a proper grip, or even better, how do I achieve it? Like I said, use a tee. A proper grip is simply getting both hands to be parallel to each other on the grip. There are 3 basic ways to hold the club.
1. Ten finger grip or Baseball grip – All ten fingers are on the club. (Usually used by juniors or players with small hands)
2. Overlap or Vardon Grip – Named after Harry Vardon, the pinky finger on the bottom hand overlaps the forefinger on the top hand. (The most popular grip. Primarily used to help keep the hands more connected than the ten finger grip)
3. Interlocking Grip – The pinky finger on the bottom hand interlocks with the forefinger of the top hand. (Usually used by people with long, skinny fingers)
All 3 of the grips are good grips that will produce straight golf shots, but all 3 must strive to be parallel in nature with the club resting in the fingers and not in the palms.
To find out if you indeed have parallel hands, simply take two tees put them between your thumb and forefinger and see if the tees line up parallel with each other. More times than not your tees will be opposite of each other
indicating that your hands are working against each other instead of with each other. Your hands should be able to rotate the same amount both on the back swing and the down swing.
With your hands opposite they will fight with each other, one wanting to rotate a lot in one direction, and the other in the opposite. By lining your tees up, you will line your hands up, and you will be moving closer and closer to being more consistent with your club face and straighter shots.