Most instructors avoid touching a player's grip. It's uncomfortable to correct, and there's a real fear the student won't come back. I do it anyway. In 25 years of teaching, I've found exactly one non-negotiable in the entire golf swing: your left-hand placement on the club.
Everything the clubhead, the face, and the shaft do through the swing traces back to how that hand sits at address. Get it wrong, and you're not fixing a swing — you're fighting a compensation your grip created in the first place.
The Procedure
I build every grip with the club held above the waist — not down at the ball, the way most players set up on their own.
- Mark a dot in the middle of the glove, in line with the anatomical snuffbox — the small indentation in your wrist. That's your reference point for controlling the clubface.
- Hold the club in front of your body, butt end pointed toward your belly button at a slight angle.
- Bend the left wrist back slightly, like prepping for a push-up, and set the heel pad on top of the grip — pressure point number two.
- Let the thumb pad rest gently on the grip. The detail almost nobody gets right on their own: the left thumb is never centered. It sits slightly right of center.
That's neutral — "tour neutral." It'll feel wrong at first, since most golfers' natural grip is stronger than true neutral. That's expected.
Strong and Weak Don't Mean What You Think
Strong and weak describe face closure tendency, not grip pressure. A strong grip tends to close the face — ball goes left. A weak grip leaves it open — ball goes right. A flat left wrist at address with the thumb dead center is a severely weak position, and the only way to compensate is an incorrect right-hand placement that creates its own problems downstream.
The Glue: Point Number One
Once the left hand is set, the right hand slides in — and here's the most overlooked detail in golf instruction. It's not about how the fingers interlock. It's about the right hand resting on the left thumb. Homer Kelley numbered this "point number one" in The Golfing Machine — not because it comes first, but because his numbering ran by importance. This connection is the glue that holds the grip together, controls your arc, and controls low point at impact.
To find your correct trail-hand position: rest the club on your shoulder and mimic a fishing cast. If the face closes as your arms extend, your grip is too strong.
Why I Hold the Line
I've had lessons "go sideways" over this. I hold the position anyway, because I've never seen a player build a repeatable, powerful swing on top of a grip working against them from the start. Get it right first, and problems you've been chasing for years simply stop showing up.
Not sure if your grip is helping or fighting your swing type? Take the In-2-It Golf Swing Diagnostic.