Quite often, golf grips are the most neglected golfing equipment by many golfers both professionals and armatures. Take a tour of any golf course and you will see many golfers with grips that have worn thumb spots, are dry rotten or even torn completely. This often affects their game even though many of these golfers don’t know the relationship between a good golf grip and the accuracy of their swings.
Using the best golf grips is the key to a great gaming experience. As a golfer, the golf grips create a link between your hands and the golf club and if the link is not tight and does not feel good then you will have a horrible game. To improve your game and become a better golfer, you need to invest in getting the best golf grips in the market. If you play golf regularly, then you may consider having a number of different golf grips for different occasions.
Quite often gold grip manufacturers market their grips as the best in the market. The truth, however, is although the grips may be quality golf grips; they may not be the best for everyone. The best golf grips depend on the individual golfer’s characteristics, playing style and preferences.
Choosing the Best Golf Grip
Choosing the best golf grips requires that you consider a number of factors. The best golf grips should improve your performance, be long-lasting and feel comfortable in your hands. Despite knowing this, quite often many golfers make the mistake of choosing their grips from a store based on the appearance or the price alone. This is a big mistake because most of these golfers end up with something worse than what they wanted. Most don’t even recognize that the grips they have are negatively affecting their game. The following are important steps to consider when choosing the best golf grip for you:
Choose the right materials
The material that golf grips are made of has a bearing on the quality of the grips. Most golf grips are made of rubber, leather, cords or even plastic. You, therefore, need to find the material that best suits your playing style and your personal preferences. Golf grips made of cords offer a tight grip and they are quite comfortable, however, when used in wet conditions the cords may absorb water and thus making it difficult to keep the grips dry. Polymers and plastic materials make colorful grips that are both comfortable and water resistant but they do get slippery with time. Rubber is a better alternative to plastic when considering the grip but can have durability and performance issues.
Of later there has been a number of golf grips made from chamois and velvet materials. These grips are comfortable and quite durable but the golfers who use them report performance issues in the long run. Kangaroo and Cabretta leather are other popular materials for making golf grips. These are often fancy golf grips that are comfortable and easy to use but the material tends to lack tensile strength and thus are easily torn hence affecting the durability of the grips.
For many golfers, the pure leather golf grips are their best grips. The leather grips are comfortable to your hands and are quite durable. In case someone suffers from latex allergies then leather grips are the best because they don’t contain carbamates or carcinogens that can affect anyone. It is important to note that leather grips absorb moisture and if used in rain could become slippery.
Choose your right size
Quality golf grips will not be the best for you if they are not the right size. The size of the golf grips you are using is more likely to affect your playing style and your swings which will, in the end, affect your game. Many golfers have different sizes of hands. This means that a golf grip that is perfect for one golfer may not be perfect for the next golfer. For example, junior golfers and ladies use different grip sizes to that used by senior men. The same thing applies to men with small hands and those with big hands.
Having the wrong size grips will affect how your hands work during a golf swing. If the golf grips are too small your hands will focus more on holding tightly the golf club and this will to inconsistencies such as a pull or a hook or larger short dispersion. On the other hand, if your grips are too large for your hands then you will face inconsistencies such as slice, block or push that arise from your inability to release effectively. To have the best from your golf games ensure that you get the right golf grips sizes at all times.
Consider a Two-Piece Grip
Golf grips come either as a one-piece or a two-piece grip. To help improve your game and become a better golfer, consider using a two piece grip as it comes with a relatively firm inner core and a softer wrapping around this core. What this does is that it works to dampen completely any vibration of the club when in your hands. This helps increase your consistency as you can accurately direct the ball. The problem with a number of the two-pieces grips out there is that they are not long lasting. You may get a lot of help if you talk to a professional dealer before making any purchase.
Today there are very many golf grips in the market that you can choose from. To get the best golf grips, therefore, means that you cannot pick your grips haphazardly based on the price and the appearance as most golfers do. Instead, you need to carefully consider all the items listed above such as the size of the grips in relation to your hand size, the materials used to make the grips and the technique used to make them. A number of golfers also prefer to have grips with extra features such as multiple colors, or colors that match their bag or even to feature other important things such as their best sports team. Some may want to have arthritic grips that have raised bombs that make it easy to feel their grip. All this are important features and should only be considered if they will help improve your game.