After years of playing with a glove I decided to stop using one and play au naturel. The decision was made mostly because my glove had ripped to the point of uselessness. I do have a “wet weather” glove but that tends to work better in dry conditions and it doesn’t fit properly. Oddly enough, it’s the right length but whomever’s hand they used as a pattern had the narrowest palm in the world. I actually got a cramp from it.
Now that I’m glove-less I noticed my grips suck. These rubbery sleeves are quite important and are often taken for granted. In essence they are what connect you to the club. Recently at a family friend’s house, who I like to refer to as a band-aid golfer, I saw a set of clubs with new grips. If you’re wondering why I call him a band-aid golfer, it’s because he always try to compensate and patch up his slice with all these little weird stances and adjustments instead of fixing the problem properly.
You know, he faces the rough along the left side in hopes his ball will land on the fairway or rough on the right side. On top of that, he likes to offer swing advice. Yep…that guy. Anyway, his new grips were tremendous and what a difference they make. I wish I never said so because he went on for an hour and a half about them.
New grips might not necessarily help lower my score but I felt more confident swinging his clubs. I can’t wait to get re-gripped! Spring 2014 better watch out because my new grips and I will be out in full force hacking away…confidently. The confident hacker if you will.
Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!
I’m all in with the new grips. It makes me feel better about each and every swing and that’s gotta be a good thing …yes?
I found that I could ditch the gloves…yes, a two-glover…when I shifted to oversized grips. The trick is finding the right grip and the size that works for you . I’ve found that like shaft-flexes, the sizes very-slightly between brands.
The “feel” of the grip both dry…and wet/sweaty…is vital. You might need to experiment with a little variety before regripping the entire set. My favorites were the mid-size half-cord Golf-Pride Wraps which aren’t made anymore. The Winn original wrap grips I found felt great in the pro-shop…but too squishy-soft and vague-feeling at the Tee. My Dunlop irons had Lamkin-style wrap std. grips that were too-small, yet my new Maxfli’s feel fine with Lamkin X10s std. rubber grips. Oddly, I find typically that the woods and wedges need slightly-larger grips than irons do for control; oversize cord-wraps on my fairways and mid-size wraps on my wedges. I use a Avon Chamois oversize grip Driver…and also on my putter rather than a “putter-grip”, just seems more comfortable.
I firmly-endorse the tire-air compressor method of changing grips…a shot of the compressed air and they come right-off, though I still use grip-tape and mineral spirits to put the new grip on. If you can change them yourself, once you find what works, you can change grips each Spring without a major investment in time…or cash.
I had noticed I needed new grips on my irons when I purchased a new driver. The difference in the grips were astronomical. From then on I started to re-grip once every season.