The Butterfly Grip

Video Transcript

Well my grip certainly allowed me to absorb the shock of impact. But if you look at how my grip opens up, you’ll notice it looks different to what you might have expected. The hands are put on in such a way that I call a butterfly grip. Conventionally we’re told to have the hands together like the prayer grip. To me this is an ineffectual way of holding the club. I prefer to see a slight diagonal in the left hand and a slight diagonal in the right. Why is that? Well it’s because it allows me to use the wrist action more efficiently in the backswing and more importantly, more efficiently through impact. During the backswing my left wrist can make a motion that allows it to bend in a slightly, concave slightly cupped position. The angle between my shaft and left arm then is maximized. During the backswing my right wrist can bend back on itself. The angle in my right wrist is there for maximized as well. Using this butterfly grip allows me to get my left wrist and right wrist to work correctly during the backswing. But not every golfer does it the same way; certainly if you look at Tiger Woods he uses plenty of action in his right wrist but keeps it very firm in his left. If you look at Colin Montgomerie he uses a lot of wrist action in both left and right wrists. My preference for you is to understand that by gripping the club correctly you will be able to find your best choice to the correct amount of left and right wrist action in the backswing.

Denis Pugh
The Wisley
Ripley, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QU
United Kingdom
Tel: 01483 211213

Denis Pugh is creator of "The Swing Map" Teaching Theory and is Europe's most prominent golf instructor. He also taught Greg Turner, Peter O'Malley, and European PGA Tour Player of the Year Colin Montgomerie.

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