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• Junior Golf
• Rupert Hunter

LESSON 1: The Grip

When very young children start playing golf, they can often appear to hold the club with their hands “the wrong way round”, which many parents try to correct instantly. For example, a right-handed child may wish to place his hands on the golf club with his left hand below his right, which would seem to go against what is believed to be conventional.

With young children, I believe it is best to allow them to continue to hold the club the way they want to. Even if the hands appear to be “the wrong way round”, this can be changed at a later date. If the clubhead is being delivered squarely to the back of the ball, and good contact is being made, then it is a good grip to me!

The 'Wrong Way Round' Grip

Ideally, I would encourage children to keep their hands close together, touching is ideal with no gaps between the fingers. With small children, encourage the thumb of the “top” hand to be placed on the top of the golf grip, and then encourage the child to “hide the thumb” in the palm of the lower hand.

Hide the thumb under the palm of the lower hand

As the child develops, a more “conventional” grip can be introduced, but again at a time when the child is willing to change. A grip position where all the fingers are in contact with the golf club is best when the child’s hands are small.

All the fingers are placed on the golf grip

As the child develops, I would advocate teaching a STRONG grip. This is a grip position where one would see at least three knuckles visible on the left hand at the start. It will be easier to hit the ball further and straighter as this position helps in returning the clubface back squarely to the ball.

A STRONG grip has no relation to grip pressure. It is rare to see a child hold the club too tight, as many adults do. This is one reason why children have fluid, tension free golf swings.

The Overlapping Grip		The Interlocking Grip

The grip is important, but not to the extent that it is so drummed into the child that golf becomes boring or a chore. Parents may feel that they are helping their children by insisting that they hold the club “properly”, and do not want their child to get into bad habits, but if their child loses the FUN FACTOR of golf, they will lose interest and, sadly, quite likely give up.