Don't Let Your Grip Drag You Down

Tue, 10/27/2015 - 15:00 -- Don Trahan

We received another outstanding message from the Surge Nation regarding the grip. Robert F. wrote in to say that he had a moment of clarity about his grip pressure, so I wanted to share it with everyone today in the hopes that it may help someone's game.

You've all heard it a million times...grip the club like it's a baby bird. In my opinion, that's the worst thought you can have. It's actually quite the opposite. You need to have relatively firm grip pressure so that you have absolute control of the club at all times.

Today, I'm going to get into the different role each finger plays in your swing. Some are the lifters, while others are the pullers. Watch the video above to see what I mean!

Keep it vertical!

The Surge

Comments

Musicbiz60's picture

Submitted by Musicbiz60 on

Don -
I've started to notice advertisements for Doug Tewel's "Square to Square" method. This 3/4 swing, vertical club seems awfully similar to your system which I've been following for quite some time. Did Doug learn this from you? How does it compare to the Surge method?

Many thanks, Jerry Shulman

NeilofOZ's picture

Submitted by NeilofOZ on

This video is a bit of an eye opener for me as the thought of having greater pressure on the last three fingers in both hands, has never been in my mind.

Agree with Surge about the index finger and thumb on the bottom hand and I
suppose I apply a little more pressure here than the other fingers as I have longer and thinner fingers than most, which makes me lock/wrap my index finger around the club much firmer, otherwise I lose the feel of lifting the
club in the FUS and my top hand taking over.

Am going to see whether extra pressure on the last three fingers will be of any benefit to my game now.

Larry B's picture

Submitted by Larry B on

My experience after 58 years of playing golf does not agree with Don's philosophy regarding the right index finger. I am very right-handed, and if I let that right index finger become active during the swing, I will roll the club over through impact and hit a godawful snap hook. The only way I can control the hook is to let that finger just hang there and do nothing. May be just me, but that's sure been my experience...

robb60's picture

Submitted by robb60 on

Much golf instruction tells you what to do without giving the 'why' . Don is excellent at giving both. Quite a few times on the driving range, working on my PPGS swing, I think about the cause and effect in the golf swing . I'm always amazed at how easy and slow I can swing the club, especially the irons, and how far the ball will go with the PPGS swing. Don talked about the feel and touch in your right ( trailng) hand. One day you've got it. Next day you don't. Like a jump shot in basketball. You think you're doing everything right but different results. When I visualize Don's swing I really notice his athletic stance with the pressure on the inside of his knees. When I'm playing my most consistent golf, I've got the ' touch/feel ' in my fingers and Don's stance. Bracing on my back leg in backswing and bracing on my front leg as I pop up as fast as I can. Just a very balanced, in control swing that is very, very repeatable.

robb60's picture

Submitted by robb60 on

My buddy is always joking and telling me I look absolutely nothing like Don swinging the golf club. I always shoot back at him and say maybe I don't, but I think I do and that is much more important. :)

Kevin McGarrahan's picture

Submitted by Kevin McGarrahan on

I developed a problem of bad hooks recently and could not figure it out. Even though I tried Rule #5, "Who cares? Do it right the next time," I just couldn't get it, until this afternoon.

Just as I would reach the top of the BUS, I was slightly straightening my right knee, changing my balance just enough to move too much left too soon. This caused me to try to make a bunch of unconscious adjustments that only made matters worse. Once I figured out what was happening, everything came back to where it should be.

I was surprised at how such a small thing could cause such a big problem.