Is your club grip the right size? Here’s how to tell, says 100 Great Teachers

Small hands? A small catch is probably what you should catch. Big hands? A great catch. Make sense.

But is there a quick and easy way to catch where you fall on the catching spectrum?

Kelly Stenzel believes so.

The GOLF Top 100 instructor was referring to a video recently posted on social media, in which he said a balanced club grip goes hand in hand with a properly hit golf ball. It directly affects your distance and release power, he said.

So how do you test? You only need your leading hand. (For right-handers, this is your left hand; for left-handers, this is your right hand.)

Then put the stick in your fingers and close it around.

“You’ll see that my fingers come into the palm of my hand — there’s not a lot of space, or they don’t go too far,” Stenzel said in the video.

“So it’s very important that your club if it fits you properly that your fingers form that nice circle and that’s when you’ll know that your grip is the right size for you.”

For those of us who buy clubs off the shelf – and get hold of them – it’s a good strategy. About my clubs? Notably, after checking out, I’ll be heading right here to grab more.

Let’s keep the club-grip discussion going. In 2020, GOLF.com wrote an article titled “Pay attention to this 1 factor when searching for new golf grips,” and you can read that article by clicking here, or by scrolling below.

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So you’ve started to notice that your golf grips are showing some wear and tear. There are tricks you can try to extend the life of the rubber compound, but sooner or later, there will come a time when you need to install new handles.

The grips are relatively cheap compared to a collection of clubs – prices usually range from $5 to $12 per grip – and now they come in new colors and designs that should add excitement to the search. Of course, you can always stick to your current hold of choice if you don’t want to mix it up.

In any case, there is one factor to keep in mind before buying: the grip diameter. Arguably the most overlooked feature when it comes to golf swings. In fact, even the most advanced grip can affect your swing if it is too much or too little.

If your hands are on the larger side and you play with a normal size grip, the small muscles in the hands have to work harder during the swing. More movement can cause you to overhand and release the club too quickly, negatively impacting turf engagement, consistency and shot dispersion. He also tends to hook the ball when the grip is too tight.

Grips at the larger end of the spectrum will involve larger muscles and take the hands out of the equation. You should expect that the hands will slow down and rotate less during the swing – although that may not be the case for every golfer – reducing your ability to square the face up at impact. If you’re already cutting the ball, a jumbo grip that fits you well will increase your misses.

It is important to note that there are exceptions to every rule. If you hook the ball, you may want to experiment with a larger grip to see if it would help straighten your shot position. That being said, be sure to check with a club certifier before testing different grip diameters.

So how do you decide if your grip is right for your hands? Looking at your glove size is a good place to start. For those who wear a small, medium or small glove, a smaller diameter grip will probably be a good option. Medium-sized gloves can often fit into the standard size range; larger and larger ones are better if they start in the middle to the largest section.

If you still feel like something is off, take your normal grip on your top hand – that would be the left hand for a right-handed golfer – and see how your longest finger meets the edge of your thumb. If you notice that your finger is digging into the pad, it probably means that your grip is too weak. A large gap may mean that your grip is too large.

These days, every manufacturer offers a wide range of sizes to fit every hand size. But if the grip doesn’t fit like a glove, consider putting tape wraps under the rubber to adjust the size.

Finding the right grip size is one way to keep your swing on track and make sure you don’t make any bad habits that you’ll need to correct down the road.