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LPGA Teaching Professional Meredith Kirk shares her favorite trick for achieving the ideal grip pressure during your full golf swing: The Banana Drill. Too much tension in your hands travels up your arms and shoulders, leading to lifted shots, thin contact, and inconsistency. Meredith explains why a grip pressure of a six or seven (on a scale of ten) is perfect for iron shots and drivers, and how to practice the feeling of holding a banana just soft enough so you don’t bruise or break it open.
Show Transcription
Hey everyone, I'm Meredith Kirk, LPGA Class A teaching professional. Today I'm at the beautiful Grande Dunes Golf Resort, one of my favorite courses in Myrtle Beach. If you have not played this course, you need to come out here and play—it’s totally worth it.
I have a golf tip for you today, and we're going to be talking about softening your grip pressure using a banana.
When it comes to grip pressure, you want to keep your hands nice and soft. Now, it’s not going to be the same softness that you would have on the putting green. Out here on the range, when you're hitting full-swing shots, you want your grip pressure around a six or seven.
So how do you achieve that, and what does that feel like? Well, there are two things you can use. One is a tube of toothpaste—we often joke about that as golf instructors. You want to pretend you're holding a tube of toothpaste upside down and you don’t want to squeeze the paste out. That's a really good analogy.
But I think the one I like even better is simply thinking about gripping a banana. You want to grip the banana so you’re not going to bruise it, and you’re not squeezing it so tight that the banana breaks open. Hold it nice and soft. So I’d suggest that maybe while you’re eating breakfast—if you happen to have bananas at home—grab one, feel that banana, and play around with your grip pressure. Then bring that feel out to the golf course.
When you do that and get set up, after you’ve experimented with different grip pressures, you want to add a little waggle to the club. If you have a tendency to grip too strong, I want you to waggle a bit right before you swing. As you're setting up, relax those hands and get the right “banana feel.” Waggle, get nice and comfortable, and soften the hands.
That was a nice soft shot. I didn’t force it. But here’s the issue: if you have a tendency to grip too strong, that tension is going to run up through your arms into your shoulders. And what's going to happen? You're going to lift, you’re going to miss the ball, and you’re going to hit thin shots. If you want to hit down and through your shot, softening the grip pressure will actually help you do that.
So again, next time you're at home and you have bananas around, practice with the banana to soften your grip pressure and see if that helps you.
I hope you liked that golf tip. If you did, comment below and tell me—did you try the banana softening grip drill? I want to know. Also, don’t forget to follow us for more golf tips. And if you want to come play Grande Dunes, this beautiful course that I'm at right now, visit myrtlebeachgolftrips.com.