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Old July 15th, 2007, 08:11 PM
Tradewind4 Tradewind4 is offline
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What is a "neutral" grip?

There are many theories on what a "neutral" grip is. Many on this board (Ringer particularly) have posted videos on how to get a neutral grip. But I just saw another video on Video Golf Instruction - Over 600 Free Tips From McLean, Haney and More - GolfSpan.com about neutral grip that get's me thinking. In many videos, including Ringers, the neutral grip is taught as "palms facing each other." But is this really a neutral grip.

Let's take a look:
-Turn left forearm counterclockwise so your palm faces up: you will note this is about as far as your leftarm can turn counterclockwise.
-But note, if you turn your left forearm clockwise, palm down is NOT as far as you can turn it. In fact you can turn it so your left palm faces your left.
-This means the half way point in the turn is not when your palm faces right in the "palms facing each other" position.
-The midway point between the 2 extremes of how yoru forearms can turn is actually half way between when your palm faces right and when it faces the ground. i.e. when you can see 2-3 knuckles.

So can what we might think of as a 2-3 knuckle "strong" grip might actually be the neutral grip? And the "neutral" grip actually be a "weak" grip? In fact, if you just let your arms hang loosely by your side, the palms don't face each other. They're more in the "2-3 knuckles" position.

Would like to hear your comments.
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Old July 16th, 2007, 03:35 AM
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Bignose Bignose is offline
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Re: What is a "neutral" grip?

Please don't take this as me being aggressive or belligerent, since it is not in any way how I mean it (it is tough to convey tone over the written word).

But, apart from changing the semantics, i.e. re-defining what is meant by "neutral" etc, how does this change anything?

Golf already has a set of semantics that mean specific thing to golf only. The best example is probably the "torque" rating golf shafts get -- because the way "torque" is used by golfers is very different from how "torque" is used by engineers and physicists. But, golf is full of other terms, like "open", "closed", "hook", "slice", "birdie", etc. that have pretty much arbitrary meanings that have their meanings today due to common usage. There is no real reason that a "slice" couldn't be a shot that curves back to the same side of the ball that the golfer was standing ... except that is a "hook" and if you started calling a hook a slice, all you'd end up doing is confusing people.

So, what I am trying to say is that today a "neutral" grip has a pretty specific meaning, so trying to change that meaning probably doesn't have much merit. I think that most people are most comfortable with a slightly strong grip anyway -- they've settled down to that grip because it is the most comfortable which is what I think you are saying.
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Old July 16th, 2007, 12:29 PM
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Ringer Ringer is offline
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Re: What is a "neutral" grip?

I'll make this a simple demonstration.

Clap your hands out in front of you.

Now keeping them together, rotate them clockwise so that your thumbs are pointing to your right. Now hold them there for 30 seconds.

Feel how your arms start to tire out? Now put them back to where the thumbs point to the sky and hold them for 30 seconds. It's a LOT easier to hold.

Your body is designed to align itself this way, and THAT should be the baseline of neutral.
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