One mile west of Northumberland Links Golf Course
Main (902) 243-2248; Fax (902) 243-3039; Cell (902) 669-2483
Get A Grip
I was on the driving range one day when the club’s defending champion decided to hit a few balls. Unfortunately he and his driver were not on speaking terms as everything he hit was a full blown slice. As frustrated as one can get, he approached me and asked, “Can I borrow your driver”? Being the nice guy that I am, I handed him my favourite club immediately. He hit five screamers with that perfect draw that he used to have. While he ranted on as to how this could be happening, I looked at his club in horror. Not only was the grip worn out on the pressure points, but it was eroded down to the shaft to the point of having a hole the size of a quarter where his right thumb would normally be. I showed this to him and sheepishly asked if he knew about the hole and if so why hadn’t he changed the grip? He said that he didn’t want to change anything on his clubs for fear that it would mess up his game. After a quick lecture on physics and how the erosion of the grip was causing the head to slip at contact, it was off to my shop to replace the grip. Now the Hollywood ending would be that he went back and successfully defended his title but that didn’t happen. It was his putting not his driver that let him down.
Most people who understand anything about the game of golf also understand the need to have a nice set of clubs. Avid golfers are usually willing to spend a lot of money to get the clubs they want and will also happily spend money on the best golf training aids that they can find to help them get lower scores. However, many people fail to realize that simply changing their inexpensive golf grips regularly will do a lot to improve their game.
Outfitting your golf clubs with new grips is a very inexpensive and effective way to quickly improve your golf game by helping you have more consistency simply because you can get a better hold on your clubs. With a better and firmer grip, you will also be able to improve your golf swing.
If you have worn out golf grips on your clubs, then even the best golf training in the world will not be enough to help you play golf to the peak level you are capable of. Every serious golfer knows that keeping their golfing equipment in top condition is as important as any other aspect of the game.
Most amateur golfers never even think about the need to change the grips on their clubs. Novices can play for years with the same set of clubs without changing the grips and then wonder why they don’t see any improvement in their game, even though they put in time to practice and buy other golf improvement aids and tools, watch all the golf training videos they can get their hands on, and constantly talk about wanting to be a better golfer.
Professional golfers know exactly how important it is to change the grips on their clubs regularly. In fact, some pros will have their clubs re-gripped at the end of every round of a golf tournament or other competitive event they are participating in. The reason they do this is so that their clubs feel exactly the same in their hands every day that they start a new round of play.
This may be overkill for the average golfer, but in the highly competitive environment of today’s golf tournaments, the pros are looking for every advantage they can find and they don’t like to leave things to chance. If the professional golfers put that much emphasis on making sure their grips are in great condition, then that should be a strong signal to everyone else interested in lowering their scores and improving their game.
The general guidelines for how often to replace grips are as follows. If you play golf an average of one time per week, then the grips on your clubs should be changed once every year. If you frequently play a round two times a week, then you should increase the frequency of replacing the grips to twice a year. If you also get to the driving range once or twice a week, then you should change those grips even more often than that.
You may not need to replace all of the grips on your club set at the same time. It really depends on how often you use your clubs. You can choose to only replace the grips on the clubs that are used more and are starting to feel worn. However, some golfers like to have all of the clubs re-gripped at the same time so that, for awhile at least, all the clubs have the same feel to them.
It is recommended that you monitor the condition of your golf grips and give them a thorough inspection about once every month. If you play more than once a week, then you might even want to check them more frequently. If you notice that your grips look shiny and feel slippery, then they need to be replaced. New grips will feel somewhat sticky and will feel good in your hands. You should enjoy a nice sense of confidence as well.