Scratch By 50: Why is Changing My Grip So Hard?

In the immortal words of Patrick Swayze, “It’ll get worse before it gets better.”

Swayze was talking about the biker bar he was hired to protect in the cult classic film Road House but he might as well have been talking about golf. Or, more specifically, my golf game. I’m undergoing a massive swing overhaul, the first step of which is changing my grip. And it’s killing me.

Maybe I’m naive but I had no idea that how I held the club would make such a dramatic impact on my swing. OK, just writing that down sounds dumb, but it’s the truth.

There are basically three ways to hold a golf club. There’s the 10-finger grip, where the hands are stacked on top of each other like you’re holding a baseball bat. This is how most of us new to the sport of golf will approach gripping a club. It feels natural, especially if you grew up playing baseball like I did. But the most common way to hold a golf club is the interlocking grip, where the right pinky and left index finger are interlaced together. Reverse that if you’re left-handed. Then there’s the Vardon grip, named after British pro golfer Harry Vardon who popularized the version where the right pinky overlaps the left index finger. Both the interlocking and the Vardon grip are designed to join your hands and remove one finger off of the club.

I grew up playing baseball and never had a golf lesson, so naturally, I’ve played golf with a 10-finger grip. My father was the only person who ever showed me how to swing a club when I was 13 years old. I’m willing to bet he showed me a 10-finger grip.  

My golf guru and the guiding light for this Scratch By 50 project, Sam Hahn, says it’s not absolutely essential to change my grip but getting away from the 10-finger approach could set me up for greater success. 

“Joining the hands makes them work as one unit rather than independent motors,” Hahn says. “There’s less that can go wrong and it generally produces more speed and allows the club to move a bit more freely.” 

I like more speed and a club that moves freely. That sounds sexy. And I definitely like the idea of less going wrong with my swing so, a few weeks ago, I decided to change my grip. Like an idiot, I made that decision during the middle of a round. My thought process was simple: I’m just adjusting a pinky finger—how hard could it be? Turns out, pretty freaking hard. I completely lost the low point of my swing. I spent a couple of holes digging trenches and topping balls and abandoned the change, retreating to my comfortable 10-finger approach for the rest of the round. 

Adjusting the grip is one of the hardest swing changes a golfer can make. But the grip is also the foundation of a good golf swing and I know that if I want any chance of success with this project, I’m going to have to pay attention to those fundamental elements. So I dedicated myself to the process. A friend loaned me his SKLZ Grip Trainer, a small piece of plastic that slips onto the grip of a club with slots that put your thumbs in the correct position. I got to work trying both the interlocking and Vardon styles while hitting hundreds of balls into the net in my backyard where nobody could see my experimentation. 

My swing felt … foreign. I didn’t understand my body all of a sudden. It was like puberty all over again. Just taking one pinky off of the club and moving my right hand up a couple of centimeters up the grip completely offset my equilibrium. The club felt so much longer. So much heavier. It was as if I never played the sport before. 

Fortunately, the backyard net was basically designed for this kind of work. I wasn’t concerned with ball flight or spin; I was just trying to get comfortable with the new grip and make solid contact again. At first, my handle on the club felt so tenuous and loose like I barely had hold of the thing. I thought I was going to lose the club with every swing. 

I spent weeks obsessing over the change. I consulted everyone who would listen, even my barber, about the process. I took my grip trainer on ski trips with me, sliding the piece of plastic over my ski pole and practicing the new grip in the condo at night. 

I settled pretty quickly on the Vardon grip because it felt less claustrophobic than the interlocking option. Is that weird? When the grip got more comfortable in my backyard, I moved it to the range and then the course for practice rounds.

The process took longer than I wanted but after about a month, I’m happy to say that the Vardon grip no longer feels awkward. Other parts of my swing are still a mess (I’ll get into that later) but the club itself feels natural in my hands, resting easily in the creases of my fingers. I’m not squeezing the life out of it but it feels secure in my hands. Clean contact comes easier now and when the stars align and various elements of my swing work together, the club feels like a whip at the end of my hands. That’s the free, fluid, feeling that my golf guru was talking about. 

“That’s the goal,” Hahn says. “I always say the golf club is a whip, not a hammer.” 

Changing my grip is a massive transition and transitions are tough. Life is full of these awkward between times. Puberty. A biker bar trying to become respectable. Golf swing changes. These are all beautiful, frustrating examples of life in transition. All of them are awkward and even painful at times but they’re all moving towards something good.

Swayze was right; it will get worse but it will also get better.