How tight you hold the golf club in your hands can directly impact the quality of your ball striking and the speed with which you are able to deliver the golf club along its intended path.
Golf is a difficult game to play tension-free. You have the challenges of the hole you are playing, one that may be riddled with bunkers, towering trees and ponds with unassuming blankets of lily pads that will actually gobble up your ball.
There is tension when playing with certain people, like your boss, who you are trying to impress — or trying not to beat, so you can get your next raise. There is tension when playing a match and trying to win that quarter (or perhaps something more) off your opponent. And there are social pressures at the course to play fast and demonstrate good etiquette for fixing divots and ball marks.
How are you supposed to stay loose with all that pressure?
The best place to start performing better under pressure is with the hands and forearms. When the hands and forearms are choking the golf club, it’s impossible to move the club efficiently and with speed.
Try throwing a baseball from center field to home plate with tight hands and forearms. You can’t! When your forearms are flexed to the max, your arm cannot move fast enough to throw a ball out of your own shadow.
Grip pressure is also key to swinging the club efficiently. The ideal grip pressure is like holding a fresh chocolate chip cookie out of the oven. You have to hold it light to not burn yourself or crush it, leaving it to crumble onto the floor and you without a cookie.
On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 strangling the club and 1 offering little or no grip pressure, grip the club at a 5 or 6. To get all that tension out, take a deep breath and shake your arms out. Once you soften up your hands and forearms, grab a club and move your arms back and forth, feeling the weight of the club head swing as you go.
Most of us create more tension as we deliver the club on the downswing, and this slows the club down. The key to swinging the club with no tension is making sure you remain tension-free during the downswing and through impact. By doing so, your hands and arms will be able to move at the higher speed, delivering the club with more power and better contact on the center of the club face.
Next time you’re faced with that pressure situation, soften up those hands and forearms. Your next shot may be as sweet as a cookie.
Peter Harris is the director of golf at the Fore-U Golf Center in West Lebanon. His column appears in the weekly Recreation page during the golf season.