New grip and a new me

It’s amazing how something so strange can suddenly become so familiar. Since I first picked up a club I’ve had a baseball grip. Even though I’m a hurler, I’ve never had the urge to try a cack-handed grip. It doesn’t feel unnatural to go from one grip to the other when I change weapons but in the search for an improvement, I started experimenting with different golf grips.
In the end necessity dictated a change. Having upgraded to a new set of clubs over a month ago, replete with bigger and better grips, my little finger on my right hand has fallen victim to the new equipment. With my basebell grip on the new clubs, there’s no way for my little finger to get comfortable. There is enough to be worried about before a golf shot without feeling the pinch of an irritated finger. It was simple – I had to change.
The thought had been in my head for a while anyway. Most of the good golfers I know use an interlocking grip – the little finger on the right hand locks in with the index finger on the left – but it looked and felt alien to me. And yet now I don’t know how I ever held the club any other way.
I’m not sure what the new grip has contributed to my game but it sure feels like it’s making a difference. The club feels more natural in my hands, as if it’s become an extension of my arm – the way a good hurl becomes over time. Of course the new clubs have played a part too but I can safely say without fear of contradiction that I’m playing better golf now than I ever did. That doesn’t mean I always score well but every time I get behind a ball now I feel like I’m in charge of what I’m doing.
The ball is coming off the sweet spot more often and distances are consistent with each club. Some days the putter doesn’t work too well and, although stating the obvious, I know now that the difference between a good score and a score better than your handicap is dependent on a good day with the putter. For the time being I’m comfortable playing off 11, I’ve averaged eight pars in my last five rounds and feel still that there’s better golf in me.
Someone said to me last week that you get to the stage when you wonder how you ever played bad golf. And it’s true but it’s always dangerous to think that way – you never know when the game might decide to slap you in the face again. That’s why learning to accept good scores, even though they may not be as good as you think they should be, is as important as forgetting the bad scores. Perfection, as they say, is the enemy of the good.