Strong vs Weak Grip

Experimenting on the Range

Another long layoff here, couple weeks since I last played, but managed to fit in 12 holes or so last night. I started off quite well, belting a long drive down the middle of the fairway, little draw on it, ended up with a par…but was downhill from there. Another par, some bogies, ended up with a couple doubles. Not so fun. But not so bad considering I haven't been playing much lately.

Ben Hogan’s Grip - Five Lessons

I used my driver on just about every hole (contrary to my late summer push to play conservatively). This resulted in a lot of balls in the trees...bad lies...etc. It makes for an entirely different game. Trying to hit low shots under branches, hooks around corners...not nearly as easy as hitting a longer shot from the fairway

So, onto the subject of this post. A strong grip vs a weak grip. I use a pretty neutral grip with my irons. When I use that same grip with my driver, I have a tendency to fade the ball too much. I am sure there is something wrong with my mechanics that is causing that, but I counter it by strengthening my grip. I end up with 3 knuckles showing, and well it works sometimes. Though, I haven't practiced it enough to know exactly how much to strength it. So the result may turn into a hook at times...and it did several times yesterday. I saw this on Yahoo:

The Hook-Proof Grip

Watching your tee shot dive left into the woods is every bit as frustrating as seeing it peel off to the right. Many players hit hooks because their hand positions are too strong, which closes the clubface at impact. Fortunately, fixing a strong grip is easy. Grip your driver in your left hand and stick a tee between your thumb and index finger. Now pinch another tee between your right thumb and index finger and complete your grip. If the tees point to your right, your grip is strong and the clubface will tend to close at impact. The tees should line up with the shaft. That grip will help you square the clubface and lose the hook.

The tees lining up with the shaft...hmm. It seems to me that if I did that, my grip would be pretty strong. I use an overlap grip, and generally, with my irons, I do the 'Ben Hogan' thing, and v's point to either shoulder, perhaps just inside them. Anyway, it's certainly something I should be 'messing' with on the driving range...not the course 😀

With fall and winter approaching, I still need to find myself a nice, simple workout/training regiment I can use to help strengthen my core for next season. An increase in overall flexibility would be nice too! Any tips? How is your grip setup?