Neutral Hand Grip Explained

Katie Dawkins PGA Professional demonstrates what a neutral grip is.

Transcript

00:00Hi there, I'm going to talk today about the neutral grip.

00:07What is a neutral grip and why is it so important for your golf?

00:10Your hands are the only connection between you and that golf club and they control the

00:15face of the club.

00:17If your hands are in a neutral position, and by neutral I mean that they're holding the

00:21club how they naturally hang.

00:23So everyone's a little bit different but it's really important that you know how your hands

00:28naturally hang.

00:29As a general rule, most people's arms will hang down, it's important not to have any

00:33tension.

00:34If you were to clap your hands together, the palms would be looking at each other and you

00:38then make gentle fists out of your hands.

00:41Your club then needs to fit into the fingers of your fists.

00:44It's a bit of a tongue twister that, but it's quite easy to remember.

00:47So the club fits into the top hand, into the fingers a little bit, sits on top.

00:52The other one comes on like a forehand and sits into those fingers there.

00:57You link your hands however you want to on the club.

01:00Some people like to link, some people like to overlap, others will prefer just a baseball

01:04grip.

01:05That's up to you, but the most important relationship is the one that those hands have to each other.

01:10So palms looking at each other, fingers hanging down, pointing towards the ground and gently

01:15folded round.

01:16That's going to return that club nicely, square impact.

01:20If you don't hold your hands in that way on the club, so say for example you've got a

01:25bit of a strong grip.

01:27So a strong grip is where the top hand's a little bit more on top, bottom hand's a bit

01:31more underneath.

01:32They are still going to return to that position where they're facing each other and playing

01:36a forehand to the target like that.

01:39That's the effect you're going to have on that club face and vice versa.

01:42If you've got the bottom hand too much on top, club's going to return like that.

01:46You've got an open face.

01:48So a neutral grip is really, really important.

01:50If you want to hit that ball straight and also you don't necessarily want to involve

01:55any other complications or compensatory movements within your golf swing, practice it at home.

01:59Lean a club up by the bathroom door every time you walk past it, shake your hands, clap

02:04them together, make that little channel in the fingers and sit that club in it.

02:10Fold the hands over, have a waggle and put it back.

02:14You do that a few times a day and after a couple of weeks you'll start to hold the club

02:18a little bit better on the course and your hands will be more neutral.

02:25Go to www.coachingbadminton.com If you have any questions or other problems, please post them in the comments.