Adapting to a new grip

[pavaveda]

I went to a lesson a couple of weeks ago and my instructor helped get me on plane in the downswing with a shallower angle of attack, all of which is great. I immediately started pull hooking, and he showed me that this was because the face was closed to the path at impact and explained that I needed to weaken my grip. Once I did, nice straight, high shots. Again, all okay. The thing I'm struggling with is adapting to this new grip. It feels very very strange to me after having such a strong grip and I'm doing my best to get comfortable with it. I have noticed several things that have accompanied this weaker (more neutral) grip:

1. In order to feel as secure in the hand as possible, I have had to change from holding the grip more in the fingers to having a more diagonal, across the palm, grip.
2. This grip allows for less wrist hinging in the backswing (not necessarily a bad thing, imo.)
3. (The big one) The club head feels really weird with this grip. The weight of the head feels like it's in the wrong place to me.

Is this all just a matter of time and practice to get used to this new grip? Does anyone have any recommendation for speeding up the process of getting used to it? I want to continue on with my instructor's instructions, so I don't want to abandon this change.

Thanks in advance.

[Richie3Jack]

you'll get used to a grip pretty quickly because you can grip clubs and grip other things like dowel rods, baseball bats, etc....around the house. takes about a week or two to get it down so it feels pretty normal.




3Jack

[pavaveda]

OK. Good to know that you think it's just a matter of time. I guess it's just been bugging that crap out of me that it feels so strange thus far.

[golfbaka]

Just grip and re-grip a club whilst you watch TV, works a charm

[kamandi]

Wow, coincidence, I also made a major change to my grip recently, to make it more stable through all phases of my swing.

My recommendation, which works for me at least, is to have a consistent gripping routine that doesn't change, so I fidget with it much less. Another thing I do while practicing is to bring it to the top, so I can look at my hands/wrists and the clubface, so that it can erase any notions in my mind that it isn't doing what it's supposed to do. Finally, some relaxed practice swings to make it feel like it's my natural grip and natural swing.

With me, the more I convince myself that it's practically the same grip (even though it isn't), the easier my mind/body trusts it.

[pavaveda]

Good suggestions. Thanks. It was funny because the same day I posted this, there was a post on BManz forum about basically the same thing. I'm slowly getting used to it, but still had to play for my miss last weekend when we played and it worked out alright.

I noticed that when you don't feel comfortable with your grip, that you'll tend to grip too tightly (I caught myself squeezing the living daylights out of it before one shot and wondered how many previous shots I had been doing that), and you also don't feel like you can put as much power behind your pivot leading to loss of distance and inconsistent contact.

It's coming around though.

[kamandi]

Yeah, when doing something new, it's tough not to be a little tense and mechanical. It's like when you first learn to drive a car ... you're gripping the steering wheel tight, your feet are rigid - not relaxed .... now, you're so relaxed driving, it's sometimes hard to stay awake.