Do you make this mistake with your grip pressure that could be costing you 15 yards or more off the tee? In an effort to pick up a few more yards on your drive, do you grip the club really hard, thinking that if you could just put a little more power into the shot you could launch a bomb?
If you were to measure your grip pressure using a scale of 1 to 10, your grip pressure with your driver should be in the range of 5: strong, but not tight. Anything beyond strong will cost you distance and accuracy. For irons and fairway shots, use a grip pressure of 4: firm. For shots around the green, use a grip pressure of 3: light to moderate.
You may be making another grip mistake that is robbing you of forearm rotation, and therefore robbing you of distance. If you have your right thumb on top of the grip – called a 12 o’clock position – you will tend to push down with the thumb and squeeze with the right forefinger on the downswing.
This results in too much grip pressure as well an early release. The problem is that using the thumb and forefinger activates a set of muscles on top of the forearm that prevent rotation, thus slowing down club head speed.
Your right thumb should be in a 10:00 position, on the other side of the grip logo. Making this change is awkward at first, but the reward will be more club head speed and square club face at impact. That will translate into more distance off the tee, and more drives in the fairway.
