Hello. I’m Brian Fitzgerald, the golf doctor, and today I’m going to talk to you about the Vardon grip secret that no one talks about. I’ve never ever heard anyone talk about it, other than my golf coach, when I was a small boy.

So, there are three types of grips you can use to play golf. There is the Vardon grip, the baseball grip and the interlocking grip. So, the baseball grip is all 10 digits on the club. Pretty self explanatory, baseball. The interlocking grip is where these two fingers here interlock. So the first or the pointer finger of the left hand interlocks with the little pinky on the right hand. And then we have the Vardon grip, where the little pinky sits on top of the pointer finger of the left hand.

So what is the secret that no one talks about? So it’s actually pretty simple. Lots of people do this. They get their little pinky sitting in the crack between the pointer finger and the middle finger of the left hand, like that. It really should be there. So really, that little pinky should be sitting on top. So the problem with sitting it in that little gap in between those two fingers, is it creates tension and builds far too much tension in the grip, and we don’t want tension in the grip. We want the grip to be reasonably light. But the more tension there is in the middle of the hands, in that middle section, the less you’re going to be able to release the club through the shot, and you’re going to hold the club face, either square or open through impact. That’s going to result in a shot that goes right of the target.

So what is the secret that no one talks about? So it’s actually pretty simple. Lots of people do this. They get their little pinky sitting in the crack between the pointer finger and the middle finger of the left hand, like that. It really should be there. So really, that little pinky should be sitting on top. So the problem with sitting it in that little gap in between those two fingers, is it creates tension and builds far too much tension in the grip, and we don’t want tension in the grip. We want the grip to be reasonably light. But the more tension there is in the middle of the hands, in that middle section, the less you’re going to be able to release the club through the shot, and you’re going to hold the club face, either square or open through impact. That’s going to result in a shot that goes right of the target.

So if we grip the club, as I suggest, with that little pinky on top of that finger there, my right hand actually sits on top of the club. So then I’m free to release the club. I can increase my club head speed and get much better control of what the club face is doing with my hand in that position.

So if you make that change, the two things you’re going to notice that are different, are that one, the ball is going to go higher than normal, and two, it’s going to have less side spin. Now, if you suffer from a bit of a pull hook, most of the people that suffer from pull hooks are having their grip slightly too strong. And having this little pinky sitting in that crack makes it too strong and you will start hitting it left. So then the brain starts compensating for that, and you start not releasing and steering, and then the ball can just as easily go right. So as I said, we just get that grip up there, little pinky up on top of that pointer. And from there, we should notice the ball goes a little higher with less side spin, just a fraction to the right, but no side spin. I just pushed it a little bit, but the ball certainly went high. So that’s the first secret.

The other secret that very few people ever talk about, and I just don’t know why, is the placement of the club in the joint of the fingers. So I’m going to stand here. Most people are tending to grip the club in this part of the hand here. It really should be in the middle joint of those fingers. So that way we get the pinky over the top of that finger there. We get the club resting in the middle joint, and it looks like that from this angle. Okay. We don’t want it to be in there.

Probably the biggest misnomer that I hear, is people talking about whether these are pointing. I honestly couldn’t care less about whether these are pointing. I want the club to be in the right part of your fingers. That pad then sits on top of the left thumb. So then your right hand is very much on top of the club.

And if we can do those two things, we’re going to hit a lot better and get a lot more control of our club face. And let’s face it, the club face dictates where the ball goes, and we really do need to get control of the club face. So we grip it with those two gripping secrets and we’ll see how it travels.

Much better shot, nice and high, gun barrel straight, down towards that blue flag in the distance. So, that’s it. So what sort of grip have you been using? Have you been implementing these two strategies? Leave a comment below. I’d love to hear what’s worked for you in the past, and if you’re going to consider changing, let me know how it goes. So it’s two simple things. It’s not a swing change, it’s a grip change. And I think you’ll find if you make that change, you’re going to get a lot better results. As to which grip you should use. I honestly don’t mind. I always use the Vardon grip. I use it because to me, it gives me the best feel. The baseball grip is okay, but I much prefer the feel of that overlapping. The interlocking I don’t like for me. There’s a lot of successful players using it, and I’m not going to tell you it’s a bad grip. It’s not. But I don’t like it for me because it builds too much tension in the middle part of the grip.

Thank you for letting me help you with your golf. I’m Brian Fitzgerald, the golf doctor, and I look forward to seeing you in my next video.