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. What is a neutral grip and why is it so

00:09important for your golf? Your hands are the only connection between you and that golf club and

00:14they control the face of the club. If your hands are in a neutral position and by neutral I mean

00:20that they're holding the club how they naturally hang. So everyone's a little bit different but

00:26it's really important that you know how your hands naturally hang. As a general rule most people's

00:30arms will hang down it's important not to have any tension. If you were to clap your hands together

00:35the palms would be looking at each other and you then make gentle fists out of your hands. Your

00:41club then needs to fit into the fingers of your fists. It's a bit of a tongue twister that but it's

00:46quite easy to remember. So the club fits into the top hand into the fingers a little bit sits on top

00:51the other one comes on like a forehand and sits into those fingers there. You link your hands

00:58however you want to on the club. Some people like to link, some people like to overlap, others will

01:03prefer just a baseball grip. That's up to you but the most important relationship is the one that those

01:08hands have to each other. So palms looking at each other, fingers hanging down pointing towards the

01:14ground and gently folded round. That's going to return that club nicely square at impact. If you

01:21don't hold your hands in that way on the club. So say for example you've got a bit of a strong grip.

01:26So a strong grip is where the top hands a little bit more on top, bottom hands a bit more underneath,

01:31they are still going to return to that position where they're facing each other and playing a

01:36forehand to the target like that. That'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, clubs going to return like that, you've got an open face.

01:47So a neutral grip is really really important if you want to hit that ball straight and also you

01:53don't necessarily want to involve any other complications or compensatory movements within

01:57your golf swing. Practice it at home. Lean a club up by the bathroom door, every time you walk past it,

02:02shake your hands, clap them together, make that little channel in the fingers and sit that club in

02:09it. Fold the hands over, have a waggle and put it back. You do that a few times a day and after a

02:16couple of weeks you'll start to hold the club a little bit better on the course and your hands

02:21will be more neutral.