How To Hold A Golf Club

Learning how to hold a golf club correctly helps you build a fundamentally sound golf swing that produces better golf scores. Several different golf grips are popular. The most widely used is called the Vardon or overlapping grip developed by Harry Vardon, who won the British Open six times.

1. Start with your left hand. In a motion almost like shaking hands with the club, reach out and grasp the club with your left hand, turning your thumb slightly to the left. The key to the Vardon grip method of how to hold a golf club is to place the right hand on the club with the right little finger overlapping the left forefinger and middle finger. Fitting the right little finger into this space allows the hands to work together during the swing.
2. Form a “V” shape. When you learn how to hold a golf club the right way, the forefingers and thumbs of each hand form a “V” shape. The left hand V points slightly to the right, and the right hand V is turned a bit to the left.
3. Use a weak grip to fade the ball. As you become more advanced in your knowledge of how to hold a golf club, you learn variations that can help you hit shots with different trajectories. If you want to curve the ball from left to right, or fade it as golfers say, turn the Vs to the left. This is known as a weak grip.
4. Use a strong grip to hook the ball. With what is called a strong grip, the Vs are rotated slightly to the right. This allows you to more easily hook the ball, meaning to curve it from right to left.
5. Don’t grip too tightly. The best way how to hold a golf club is with moderate grip pressure, just enough to control the club. Tightness in your grip causes tension in your arms and shoulders, making it harder to make a full swing and generate the power you need.
6. Fingers that control the club. As you get a feel for how to hold a golf club, you will find that grip pressure comes mainly from the last three fingers of your left hand along with the ring and middle fingers of the right hand.