The weak grip is a grip where the hands are rotated more towards the hole with the V’s formed between the thumb and the forefinger pointing to the left shoulder for the right handed golfer and the right shoulder for the left handed golfer.
If you check out any PGA Tour event you will see golfers with a strong grip and some golfers with a weak grip.
While some instructors might try to convince you that there is a perfect grip, realistically one can play golf with a variety of golf grips.
Three professionals from different eras that come to mind with weak grips include Ben Hogan, Jim Furyk and Matt Wolffe.
All three have played great golf or have shown glimpses of being a major champion winner.
Overall. There are some advantages to the weak grip that I will dive into below.
Benefits of the Weak Grip in the Golf Swing
The weak grip has some benefits, especially for the more advanced player. These include:
- The ability to eliminate the hook or the overdraw.
- The ability to allow your hands to be active and rotate through the ball.
- Elimination of the left side of the golf course.
Many golfers grow up trying to hit the draw or the hook to add additional distance to their game. Eventually, this draw can turn into a hook and can be a devastating shot, especially with the driver. As a result, golfers will attempt to develop a swing that helps eliminate the left side of the course, which can be accomplished by weakening the grip.
Ben Hogan spent years battling the hook and was able to reinvent his game by moving to a weaker grip, which has been talked about at great length with the release of his book.
Advantage #1: Eliminates the Hook or Overdraw
Most beginner players struggle to eliminate the fade or the slice, while many advanced golfers fight the hook shot in golf. The weaker grip will help eliminate the hook or overdraw. IN my own game, I find my grip getting really strong and I have to balance it out every so often to eliminate the overdraw that makes it difficult to keep the ball in play.
Advantage #2: Active Hands
The weaker grip allows the hands to be active. Ben Hogan is famous for saying that he wished he had three right hands. I believe this gives us great insight that from the top of the swing he was firing his right hand through the shot and wanted to hit it hard, but trust that it wouldn’t go to the left.
If you are someone that has active hands and wants to trust your hands, having a neutral to weak grip can allow you to keep the ball in play and truly go at it with some quality speed.
Advantage #3: Eliminate the Left Side
Many advanced or professional golfers want to know where they are going to miss. The two way miss is devastating to golfers, especially off of the tee. By utilizing a weaker grip, many golfers feel that they can aim slightly left and understand that the ball will fade away from the left side. This allows them to eliminate one side of the course and navigate their way around the course, controlling their misses and giving them a legitimate chance at par on every hole.
Resource: Strong grip vs Weak Grip in Golf!
Who Should Use A Weak Grip?
The more advanced player who is battling the hook or overdraw. Test it out and measure your shot dispersion with the weak grip compared to a stronger grip. The ultimate goal is to still hit some great shots, but make your bad shots better.
Golf is a game of confidence and if you can eliminate one side of the course, this will allow you to swing through the ball without hesitation.
Resource: Best Swings of All Time Post: Check out which golfers had strong or weak grips!
Who Shouldn’t Use A Weak Grip?
The beginner golfer who is struggling with the slice. This golfer should use a strong grip and swing more from the inside.
The negatives of the weak grip.
- Ben Hogan’s book might have helped create a decade or more of golfers with weak grips that fight the slice. I believe most golfers should start with the stronger grip and learn to hit a draw or hook and then work the grip back to more neutral. This will help create a swing path that works and keeps the golfer from struggling with the dreaded slice.
Weak Grip: 3 Tips
Tip #1: Keep the Club in Your Fingers
Regardless of your grip, you want to ensure that the club is more in the fingers than in the palm of your hands. This provides better control. If you are wearing out the heel portion of your golf club, this is a great sign that your grip may be off.
Tip #2: Monitor Your Grip
On occasion, take a video of your swing from the side view and take note of your grip. If you start to struggle, go back to the video of when you were playing well and compare to see if there are any differences in your grip. Sometimes, without being able to realize, our grips can change over time and get stronger or weaker and lead to some issues with our swings.
Tip #3: Work on the Fundamentals
While many might believe the grip is the fundamental, I would go along with the argument that one can play great golf with a weak or strong grip, so it really isn’t a fundamental. However, the fundamentals I believe are rooted in what the Stack and Tilt Instructors once wrote about in their book:
- Fundamental #1: The golfer’s ability to control the bottom of the golf swing. The best golfers will hit the ground in the intended spot, close to 100% of the time.
- Fundamental #2: The golfer’s ability to control the curve of the golf ball. The best golfers are able to start the ball to the right or left of the target line and have the ball curve towards the target without the ball over curving past the target.
- Fundamental #3: The golfer’s ability to have enough power to play the golf course. This means they are able to hit the ball far enough to play the course in regulation.
You can reach your full potential with different golf stances, setups and alignments as long as your 3 fundamentals stay strong.
Drill For Fundamental #1:
The Low Point Control Drill
- Take some yard paint and patina a 1-2 yard long line.
- Setup with 55% of your weight on your front side.
- Try to hit the target side of the line and see how many times out of 10 you can do this successfully!
- Repeat this drill every day for a month, tracking your progress and your ability to to this successfully in trials of ten.
- You may need to start with half swing and progress to full swings.
Drill for Fundamental #2:
Stock Shot Drill
Here is a wonderful drill you can use to build a stock shot:
- At the driving range, set up an alignment stick about 6-8 yards in front of you, straight down your target line.
- If you have a second alignment stick, set the stick 3-4 feet right of the first stick (for a draw) or left of the first stick (for a fade).
- Complete your initial assessment see how many times out of 10 you can start the ball to the right or left of your target. Pick one side and measure your game at this point.
- The goal is to eventually get 7 out of 10 shots to start to the correct side and draw back towards the target.
Here is the drill being explained by Kyle Morris:
Drill for Fundamental #3
OverSpeed Training Drill
I believe many used to believe, well this is just how fast I can swing.
Recent training tools have started to change many minds. We have seen many of the professional golfers get longer and longer with their tee shots as a result of additional swing speed. You will find many touring pros using the SuperSpeed System, which I highly recommend.
SuperSpeed Golf is one option to increase your swing speed through a science based overspeed training approach. In simple terms, you train by swinging a lighter club (20%) faster than you swing your driver. Over time, by training at a higher speed, your mind and body feel safe to swing that fast with your normal driver, resulting in an increase in driver swing speed.
The SuperSpeed System provides 3 different weighted sticks and takes the golfer through a training protocol every other day for about 15 minutes. The golfer can expect to see a 5-8% increase in swing speed, resulting in 20-30 yards for most golfers. The great news is that the 5-8% can be expected as early as the first training session. The additional speed will become more permanent after about 30-60 days of training.
My own experience has been an increase of 7-10 miles per hour on average from between 98-101 all the way up to 106-109. My goal is to hit the PGA Tour average of 113 mph in the coming months. I will continue to train every other day and watch in amazement as I am hitting drivers longer now than ever before!
Phil Mickelson has been known to increase his swing speed in the past year or so and is close to 120 miles per hour in his swing speed. There are potential results for golfers of all ability levels and age!
Check current price on SuperSpeed Golf System, here!
| Original Swing Speed | After 4-6 Weeks | New Carry Distance | Total Distance |
| 95 | 102 | 245 | 265 |
| 100 | 108 | 259 | 279 |
| 105 | 113 | 271 | 291 |
| 110 | 118 | 283 | 303 |
Closing Thoughts: My Secret To Golf Improvement
Let’s face it, in order to get really good at golf, we must practice frequently. About three years ago, I made the leap and invested in a golf simulator build for my garage.
I went with a SkyTrak Launch Monitor and the TGC software and can now play over 100,000 courses including Augusta, Pebble Beach, Bethpage Black, Whistling Straits. St. Andrews and many other of the top 100 courses in the world.
This golf simulator setup, which is more affordable that you might imagine, has been a game changer. I can now play golf everyday of the year regardless of rain, snow, cold weather or time of day. I can practice or play rounds of golf. I can stand in the 11th fairway at Augusta and with the auto-rewind feature I am able to practice my approach shots from various differences.
It is worth checking out through Rain or Shine Golf as they offer some incredible packages along with financing offers that are difficult to beat.
Some direct links to Rain or Shine Golf for pricing and financing:
Take Action – What You Can Do Today to Get Better
What does this mean for you? I believe in the following recipe to get better:
1 – Improve your motion in the golf swing by identifying a golf instructor. Here are some options:
Here is a list of golf instructors that we have reviewed:
2 – Train to swing faster and improve your swing speed. Here are some options:
Looking to gain more Speed and Distance in your swing. Two Options:
3 – Understand course strategy and work to break through your next barrier. Here is a series on breaking through:
We have provided guides on how to break 100, 90, 80 and 70. Check out more below, if interested.
4 – Practice Frequently
Did you know that I build a golf simulator in my garage and have played over 500 rounds of golf on my SkyTrak system? It has been a game changer and one worth checking out. Here are some of my other posts on golf simulators frequently asked questions:
- Is a Golf Simulator Worth It?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator?
- What is the Best Golf Simulator?
- Golf Simulator Accessories?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for under $7000
- Top 11 Reasons to Buy a SkyTrak
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for Under $1000
- Why Build A Golf Simulator?
- What Space is Needed?
- Can A Golf Simulator Improve My Game?
- How Much Does A Golf Simulator Cost?
- Don’t Forget to Check out our 15 best golf swings of all time.