How To Loosen Your Death Grip

When a player is not quite striking the ball properly, maybe slicing or hooking, the first thought he or she often has is to examine the stance and swing. But oftentimes it’s something as simple as grip tension that’s causing the problem.

Bobby Jones himself remarked “You swing your best when you have the fewest things to think about” and it remains as true today as it did then.

Practice swings are often nothing like the real swing in players that struggle with grip tension. That smooth free practice swing is replaced by a vice like grip and jerk. Tension might be best suited to wires, but far too often it finds its way into the golf swing. That sudden tightening of the muscles is often called Death Grip.

Suffers say your mind takes over just before you hit the ball. The fear of hitting a bad shot tenses up the arms, hands and fingers and this actually causes the bad shot.

The place to work on this is on the driving range. Focus on your grip pressure in both good and bad shots. Take a practice swing between each shot. Your practice swing should be as close as possible to your real swing, remember the purpose of the practice swing is to train the muscles to execute the perfect shot.

Pic: Death from Bill and Ted. Suffers from Death Grip

Another technique which helps players with grip tension is give grip pressure a number between one and five. One is very loose, five being white knuckle tight. Try to focus throughout on keeping the grip pressure at ‘two’ throughout the swing.

Developing a pre shot routine is also great for grip tension. Having a short, repeatable pre shot routine helps build confidence and release tension. The routine preoccupies the mind, eliminating bad thoughts.

Colin Montgomerie once compared correct grip pressure to having an open tube of toothpaste in your hands, yet swinging without squeezing any out. Sam Snead used to say that one should hold a golf club as though they were holding a bird -- tight enough to keep it from escaping, but not too tight that you might injure it.

I hope your game is Death Grip free this week!