Is your grip pressure too tight? A top teacher shares how to tell

When it comes to grip pressure, Sam Snead has perhaps the game’s most famous guidance on the topic, suggesting that players should hold the club like they would a baby bird.

But GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jason Baile disagrees.

In a video posted to Titleist’s YouTube page, Baile argues that grip pressure itself isn’t the enemy of the golf swing — instead, it’s all about how and where it’s exerted on the club.

“If I were a baseball player hitting a 90-mile-an-hour fastball, the last thing I’d be doing is holding this bat like a baby bird,” Baile says. “We know that power is a big part of our game. So I’d say [to Snead], it’s more about where you grip it and where you apply that pressure.”

The problem, Baile says, is that many players grip the club tightly with downward pressure.

“That’s gonna send a lot of tension to my forearms, my shoulder and probably my lower jaw,” he says. “I want to make sure that I have all that grip pressure pulling up.”

When grip pressure is directed this way, Baile says, it enables you to retain your power as well as your control.

“If I pull up into the grip, I can still have supple wrists, elbows and soft shoulders, but yet have really good control of the face,” he says. “So when I step in there, I want to feel that grip pressure pulling up with my fingers, relaxing my forearms, my shoulders and my jaw. I can make a very intentional swing and still have control of the club face.”

To summarize: make sure that grip pressure feels like it’s pulling up, not pushing down as you swing, and you’ll know you’re doing it right.

To watch a video of Baile’s tip in its entirety, click here.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.