Golf Smart Academy
A stronger grip can absolutely help you close an open clubface. That is why so many golfers ask, “Why not just strengthen my grip and be done with it?” The issue is that clubface control is only part of the puzzle. If your slice also comes from poor low point control—meaning the bottom of your swing arc is too far back or inconsistent—then a grip change may solve one problem while making another one worse. To understand when a stronger grip helps and when it creates new misses, you need to look at how your body and arms move the club through impact.
Why a stronger grip seems like the easy fix
If you tend to arrive at impact with the face too open, strengthening your grip can make the face easier to square. In simple terms, a stronger grip places your hands on the club in a position that encourages the face to close more readily.
That is appealing because it can reduce the need for a conscious “roll” or a more complicated wrist motion in the downswing. For a golfer who dislikes the feeling of rotating the shaft or bowing the lead wrist, a stronger grip can feel like a shortcut.
And sometimes it is a workable shortcut.
But only if the rest of your motion supports it.
The real problem: face control and low point are connected
Many slicers are not just fighting an open face. They are also fighting a swing pattern that leaves the low point too far behind the ball. That usually shows up as scooping, adding loft, flipping, or brushing the ground too early or not at all.
This matters because one of the key benefits of better wrist and shaft rotation mechanics is that they do two jobs at once:
- They help close the clubface.
- They help move the low point forward.
That second piece is the one golfers often miss. If you only strengthen your grip, you may improve face angle, but you have not necessarily changed where the club bottoms out. So you might hit fewer weak slices, yet still struggle with heavy shots, thin shots, or inconsistent contact.
That is why this question is so important. You are not just trying to stop the ball from curving right. You are trying to build an impact pattern that produces solid, predictable strikes.
What the “motorcycle” pattern does for you
When instructors talk about the “motorcycle” feel, they are usually describing a lead-wrist motion that helps rotate the shaft and align the clubface earlier in the downswing. Whether or not you like that feel, the pattern tends to improve more than just direction.
Used well, it helps you:
- Square the face earlier instead of throwing it closed late
- Maintain arm extension and arc width through impact
- Shift the low point forward so you can compress the ball more consistently
Think of it as a move that organizes impact. It does not just change the face; it changes how the club is traveling through the strike.
That is a major reason better players tend to have this look of the club moving away from the chest through impact instead of immediately collapsing inward. Their arms are extending, the arc is staying wide, and the bottom of the swing is more predictably in front of the ball.
What happens if you strengthen your grip without changing your motion
If you make the grip stronger but keep the same underlying swing, you often create a new problem: now the face wants to close too much unless you make compensations.
And most golfers do exactly that. They instinctively find a way to “hold off” the stronger face.
The trouble is that these hold-off patterns usually hurt contact.
The arm-driven compensation: swinging more from the inside
One common response is to swing the arms more in-to-out and more low-to-high to keep the face from shutting down too quickly.
This can temporarily prevent the ball from going left, but it comes with a cost. That arm-driven path tends to move the low point backward. Instead of trapping the ball with the bottom of the arc ahead of it, you start to pick the ball off the turf.
Now your pattern may look something like this:
- The grip is stronger, so the face closes more easily.
- You swing more to the right to stop the ball from hooking.
- The club bottoms out too early or too shallow.
- Contact becomes sweepy and inconsistent.
When you add speed to that pattern, the club can really start to pass your hands and body. Then you get the classic miss: a sweeping pull-draw or a shot that starts left and keeps turning.
That is not an easy pattern to manage on the course because your timing has to be perfect. Miss it slightly and the face-path relationship changes dramatically.
The body-driven compensation: early extension
The other common response is more body-based. Instead of letting the club release naturally with proper rotation, you stand up through impact—what is often called early extension.
This move pushes the handle more vertical and helps delay the closing of the face. In effect, you are trying to stop the stronger grip from turning into a hook by changing your posture and delivery.
The downside is that early extension can create its own set of misses:
- Shanks, because the hosel gets driven closer to the ball
- Poor low point control, because your body motion disrupts the strike
- Held-off contact, where you never fully release the club with speed and structure
So while the compensation is different, the underlying issue is similar to the arm pattern: you changed the grip, but instead of improving the delivery, you found a way to manage the stronger face.
The better version of a stronger grip
A stronger grip is not automatically wrong. In fact, it can work very well if you pair it with the right body motion.
The key is this: if you strengthen your grip, you need to keep rotating your body so the club stays more behind you and the low point continues moving forward.
In that version, you are not trying to hold the face open with your hands, arms, or posture. You are letting body rotation control the delivery.
That can be a perfectly functional pattern because:
- The stronger grip helps the face square more easily.
- Your rotation helps prevent the club from overtaking too soon.
- Your low point can still get forward enough for solid contact.
In other words, yes—you can strengthen your grip if you also improve how your body turns through the shot.
What you do not want is a stronger grip combined with a stall, a scoop, or a stand-up move through impact.
Why elite ball strikers usually do more than just change the grip
One of the most common traits among elite ball strikers is that the club continues moving away from their chest through impact. Their arms are not immediately collapsing, and the club is not racing past their sternum too early.
This is a huge clue.
Good players tend to preserve arc width through the strike. That helps them control both contact and face orientation. If the club reaches its widest point too early, or if the lead wrist moves back into too much extension, or if the trail arm bends too soon, the club starts passing the body prematurely. That usually leads to weaker strikes and less predictable low point control.
So when you improve your arm and wrist mechanics—not just your grip—you build a motion that supports:
- Better face control
- More forward low point
- Wider, stronger impact geometry
That combination is why better release mechanics tend to be a stronger long-term solution than simply putting your hands in a stronger position at address.
How to know which solution you need
If you are considering a stronger grip, ask yourself what your ball striking pattern actually looks like.
A stronger grip may help if:
- You tend to leave the face open
- Your contact is already fairly solid
- You can keep rotating through impact
- You do not rely on scooping or flipping to find the ball
A stronger grip alone probably will not solve it if:
- You hit behind the ball often
- You struggle with thin and heavy contact
- You pick the ball rather than compress it
- You early extend or stall through impact
- Your slice comes with weak, glancing contact rather than just an open face
In that second case, your grip may be a minor part of the issue, but your bigger opportunity is improving how your arms and body deliver the club.
Why this matters on the course
Golfers often judge changes by curvature alone. If the slice shrinks, they assume the fix worked. But on the course, you need more than a face that is less open. You need a strike pattern that holds up under pressure, with different clubs, from different lies, and at different speeds.
A grip-only fix can sometimes survive on the range, especially at moderate speed. Once you swing harder or face a tighter target, the hidden compensation tends to show up:
- The ball starts left
- The club bottoms out too early
- The strike gets thin or sweepy
- The occasional shank appears
That is why understanding how the body moves the club matters so much. You are trying to build a motion where face control and contact quality improve together, not separately.
How to apply this in practice
When you practice, do not evaluate your grip change by direction alone. Pay attention to both start line and strike quality.
- Test your current pattern honestly.
Notice whether your miss is only an open face or whether it also includes poor turf interaction and inconsistent contact. - If you strengthen your grip, pair it with rotation.
Make practice swings where your chest keeps turning through impact and the club does not immediately flip past your body. - Watch for hold-off compensations.
If you start swinging excessively in-to-out, picking the ball, or standing up through impact, the stronger grip is creating a compensation pattern. - Train arm extension through the strike.
Feel the club moving away from your chest after impact rather than collapsing inward right away. That is often a sign of better arc width and low point control. - Use contact as your main feedback.
Solid, compressed strikes with a predictable start line are a better sign than simply hitting fewer slices.
The bottom line is simple: yes, you can strengthen your grip. But if your slice is tied to a scooping motion and poor low point control, that change alone is unlikely to be the best answer. The more complete fix is improving the way your arms and body deliver the club so you can square the face and move the low point forward. That is the kind of change that not only straightens the ball flight, but also makes you a much more reliable ball striker.
