Golf club grips

The term golf grip has two important meanings in golf. The first is the way you grasp the club, i.e. the position of your hands.

Of more interest to us here is the second meaning - the grip is the part of the club you hold when you hit the ball.

You can think of it as the handle of the club. The bit of the club that actually hits the ball is the clubhead. The “stick” part of the club is the shaft, and surrounding the end of the shaft is the grip.

Why is the grip important?

Although you won’t read much about golf grips in the media, it’s actually an important part of the club. The texture and materials used impact on the feel and stability of the club in your hands.

Choosing a grip

There are dozens of different types of grips, using different materials, textures and sizes. But if your clubs come with one of the standard branded versions, then you can’t go wrong; it’s not something to lose a lot of sleep over.

However, when you come to fine-tune your performance at a later stage, then you should consult with your local PGA professional about how a different grip might better suit your game and the weather conditions you typically play in.

Grips do wear out, so you’ll need to replace them now and then anyway. Don’t worry, a typical grip only costs a few dollars, and your favorite golf retailer ought to stock all the major brands and grip models.

When you want to change or replace the grip on your existing clubs, you can get your local golf shop to do it for you for a small fee. Or you can do it yourself (which works out much cheaper in the long run).

If you’re going to change grips yourself, then you’ll also need the required bits and pieces, including…

1) Vise (no special vise is required)
2) A rubber shaft clamp (to protect the club while in the vise)
3) Some kind of utility knife for cutting off the old grip
4) Grip tape (double-sided adhesive tape to wrap around the bare shaft)
5) Grip solvent (the solvent activates the adhesive properties of the side of the tape which will bind to the new grip) 

If you’re ordering custom clubs online, you may be able to choose the grips that go on your club.

For example, if you’re using GigaGolf’s “Build and Buy Online” facility to buy, say, a new titanium driver, you’ll get a choice of around 10 grips in each of five different sizes. And the website shows you how to work out which size is most appropriate for your needs.

Clone grips?

Interestingly, the top grip brands are specialists - they’re not large generalist equipment manufacturers like a Callaway or Titleist.

These top manufacturers also supply many of the brand club manufacturers. So the grips on your new driver or set of irons are probably made by one of the former, though you won’t always see their name on the club itself.

This is also true of clone golf clubs. The clone part is typically the clubhead and not the grip or even the shaft. So when you order a clone driver, you’re likely to get a grip from the likes of Winn, Lamkin, Golf Pride or Royal Precision. These are the same folk who also deliver to the name brands.