The Right Golf Grip for Added Distance

By: Bob Boldt

[Editor's Note: Scott Piercy won Sunday's Barbasol Championship for his third career title. Piercy is one of the few players on the Tour who has always used a full-finger grip. Here's Bob Boldt's story about using this way to hold the club.]

There are three main methods that are used in gripping the golf club: overlapping, interlocking and the full-finger grip. The most popular grips are the overlapping and the interlocking. These grips are used not necessarily for hitting the ball farther but for better control of the club head during the swing and at impact. The full-finger grip releases the most power and, if used properly, the straightest shots.

I have been asked the same question about the full-finger grip from all of my students for the last 40 years: Why don't the professionals on the pro tours use the full-finger grip? The answer is very simple. The full-finger grip releases the club head faster in the hitting area creating more club head speed but results in a tendency to hook the ball. This ball flight is what every amateur needs, however: to eliminate slicing.

I have been playing and teaching the full-finger grip for over four decades and I am convinced if all of the fingers are properly aligned it is the best grip for any amateur or professional. There have been over 62 professional wins worldwide using the full-finger grip.

Professionals Who Use the Full-Finger Grip

Art Wall

Masters champion, Vardon Trophy winner, PGA Tour-leading money winner, Player of the Year, three-time Ryder Cup player - still the second-oldest golfer to win on the PGA Tour at the age of 51 in the 1975 Greater Milwaukee Open, Art was a personal friend.

I asked him how and why he used the full-finger grip. His answer was that he didn't have the power for interlocking or overlapping his fingers, and being slight of build, he needed all the power he could muster. Plus he had much more feel around the greens with all of his fingers on the club. I played with Art many times on the Senior Tour and even though he was at the end of his career he could still hit the driver 240 yards with a 46-inch, A shaft that I made up for him. Art also holds the record for the most holes-in-one of any touring professional: 45 aces!

Moe Norman

The "greatest ball-striker ever" according to Sam Snead and Tiger Woods. Moe is a legend with his one-plane swing and over 50 professional tournament victories, mostly in Canada, where he kept to himself and was known for his reclusive nature. He changed to a full-finger grip for more power and because of an arthritic condition in his hands.

Here are some other players who have used a full-finger grip in winning LPGA, PGA and other professional tournaments.

LPGA Tour: Beth Daniel - 33 LPGA titles including one major; oldest winner of a LPGA Tour event at the age of 46; member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. It can be argued that she is the best female golfer of all time, and all her titles were using a full-finger grip. Why full-finger? "Feel and power," Daniel said.

PGA Tour: Bob Rosburg - PGA Tour events 6, professional events 10, PGA Champion 1959. Bob went to Stanford, I went to Cal - but we were still good friends. I was playing with Bob at Richmond Country Club and noticed he had all of his fingers on the club rather than overlapping or interlocking. I asked him why he used that grip method and he said, "I tried overlapping and interlocking, but my hands are small and I can't get the power or feel with those grips."

PGA Canadian Tour: Dave Barr - 18 professional wins, tied for second at 1985 U.S. Open

PGA Tour: Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey - over $4 million in official money earnings at the time of this writing, 9 professional wins.

PGA Tour: Scott Piercy - 2012 Canadian Open champion, 4 professional wins.

Senior PGA Tour: Walter Hall - Senior British Open Champion, over $7 million in official money earnings.

PGA Tour: Jimmy Demaret - 31 PGA wins, 3 Masters, Golf Hall of Fame. Quote: "If I had to start golf again I would use the full-finger grip." Once he retired and started teaching Demaret thought it was the best grip and taught it to his students. "It is more powerful and I can feel the club better."

PGA and Senior Tours: Bob Boldt - I won the 1982 Northern California Open by 10 shots using the full-finger grip, held the Senior Tour 18-hole scoring record for a par 72 course (62), and won the Epson Sand Saves and Driving Distance statistical categories on the Senior Tour in 1988.

My son, Rob Boldt, played the PGA Tour and still holds the amateur course record at Pebble Beach playing the ball down: 64 (and this when he was just 16 years old).

Use These Simple Guidelines

If you are looking to hit the ball farther and with a straighter ball flight, the full-finger grip is for you. Fingers must be held close together and a long left thumb provides accuracy. Ten fingers (or eight fingers and two thumbs) produce longer straighter shots if your fingers are touching each other.

1. Do not change the basic hand position in your interlocking or overlapping grip.

2. Simply move your right-hand fingers against your left forefinger.

3. The "V's" in both your hands should be pointing up to your right shoulder.

4. A basic rule for your left hand is that if you cannot see its second knuckle when you look down your left hand is out of position.

5. Look down at your right hand and the "V" of your thumb and forefinger should point at your right shoulder.

6. Use a long left thumb with the right-hand fingers wrapping around the left thumb (see fourth photo below).

7. You now have all your fingers releasing the club head in the hitting area. (In the overlap grip, the right-hand pinky and ring finger are inactivated, in the interlock the right-hand pinky and the left-hand forefinger are not even touching the club.)

Next Up: Exercises for the Golf Swing

Bob Boldt turned 77 in September 2014. Married for 31 years to Patricia, the father of two - including two sons, Rob and Jason, who are golf professionals and excellent players - played on the PGA and Champions tours for dozens of years, earning multiple victories in his amateur and professional careers.

Boldt, who attended Cal and became the Bears' men's golf coach, is a long-time native of Northern California and currently the director of golf at Vintners Golf Club in Yountville, where he is one of state's most recognized golf instructors. He received the Northern California PGA Section Junior Golf Leader Award in 1999.

Tweet